[Swlug] FOSDEM 2017 4th and 5th Feb 2017

[Dave Cridland]

On 23 Aug 2016 20:45, "matt via Swlug" <swlug at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm quite keen to attend a big techie conference.  As FOSDEM 2017 is
coming up in a few months time, that's awfully tempting.  Would anyone else
be interested?
>

I've been going to FOSDEM as part of the XMPP Standards Foundation's
outreach efforts for years. I also did two talks there last year. If you
happen to be interested in XMPP, there's a two day Summit beforehand - and
you'll find there are a slew of other specialist events around the weekend,
too.

It's absolutely not anything like any other tech conference in the world
(I'm told there are a couple that come close, mind). It's amazingly
crowded, highly non-commercial, and has very little central organization
(most "devrooms" are semi-independent).

Most of the talks I've attended are really good quality, serious technical
talks, and whiling away a random hour in the lightning talks theatre will
seriously blow your mind.

> There's a wide range of talks, lightning talks, devrooms for all
languages and a lot of OS stuff as well.  So it's good for anyone really.
>

As a note, the "devrooms" don't have any development in them. They're all
talk tracks, in effect, curated by representatives from that community.
When there's an XMPP (related) devroom, it's usually higher level talks,
since we do the low-level hardcore talks in our own event - but most
devrooms are back-to-back low-level talks.

> The conference itself is on Sat 4th and Sun 5th of Feb 2017.  It's held
in Brussels at the university.  I've looked around for flights and it's
about £80 depending as to where you want to fly from.  Bit more if you want
to pick your seat.  As I'm enough of a plane geek that I'd like to fly in a
Dash 8 Q400, I'll probably get the train up to Birmingham, as that's where
FlyBe (operating for Brussels Airlines) fly Dash 8s to Brussels from.
>

I'd recommend looking at Eurostar; though it's not hugely convenient for
getting back across to Wales. The Eurostar has the advantage that it dumps
you right in the middle of Brussels.

> Rooms aren't particularly cheap, but there are some cheap and cheerful
places which aren't that expensive.
>

I don't know where the XMPP crowd will be staying, quite yet, but I'll let
folks know here, since it's a friendly, English-speaking crowd who've all
been attending FOSDEM for years, and know all the best places (including
the truly amazing ribs place).

> More details here:- https://fosdem.org/2017/ (including accommodation
details)
>
> Also obviously as it's Brussels there's lots of good beer and food.
>
> So who's keen?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matt
>
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