Fosdem:2009

FOSDEM 2009 took place in Brussels, Belgium on 7/8 February, 2009.

What and Where is FOSDEM?

FOSDEM is probably the most developer-oriented European Free and Open Source conference. It is taking place in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 February 2009. Apart from having many invited speakers, the conference offers developer rooms, stands and lightning talks to projects from the Free and Open Source community. More info...

FOSDEM will take place at the ULB Campus Solbosh.

ULB Campus Solbosh
Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, 50
1050 Bruxelles
(see map)

Registration

A maximum of 75 participants can be sponsored to attend the event. All participants who receive an official invitation email by Mozilla can be sponsored. The invitation email contains a link pointing to an online registration form.

Mozilla DevRoom

Every year Mozilla developers and contributors have a dedicated room (ie. Mozilla DevRoom) for the 2 days, in which to hold talks and sessions.

This year, Mozilla will have :

• a room on Sat 7th from 12:00 to 18:00 and on Sun 8th from 10:00 to 17:00,
• a video projector (with VGA cable)
• power (C/E plugs)
• wired (RJ-45) network with Internet access at the speaker's desk,
• best-effort shared wireless Internet access (a and b),
• publication of the schedule on the FOSDEM website, including speaker bios and talk abstracts.

Schedule

The Schedule is finalized. If you have any questions about it, please contact one of the program committee, this year made up of Axel Hecht, Brian King, Chris Blizzard and Paul Rouget.

Mozilla Booth

There will be a booth manned by Mozilla volunteers in the main conference building. The goal is two-fold:
1) to evangelize and answer questions
2) distribute merchandise.

If you would like to volunteer to help man the booth, make sure to sign-up in the chart below. In general, if you notice that someone has been at the stand for a while, please don't hesitate to switch places with him/her!

       Flore (Frenchmozilla)

       Sipaq (Calendar Project)

Food and Beverages

Breakfast will be served for all sponsored Mozilla participants who are staying in one of the two hotels Mozilla has secured for the event.

A dinner for Mozilla participants will be organized on Saturday, 7 February. The details of the dinner were sent to sponsored participants who have signed up to the registration form. NB: only people who have signed up on the Mozilla FOSDEM 2009 registration form will be able to attend the dinner. If you're registered and haven't received info on the restaurant, please contact William (william at mozilla dot com) .

Any other food or drink expenses (including room service and in-room minibar charges) are at the expense of the attendee.

Friday Beer Event

As every year, there will be a FOSDEM beer event on Friday night before FOSDEM (6 February 2009).

For more info, visit http://fosdem.org/2009/beerevent

Sponsored Mozilla participants will receive a FREE beer token in their hotel welcome pack good for ONE drink at the Delirium Taphouse on Friday night.

Getting Around in Brussels (MAP)

All sponsored Mozilla participants staying in a NOVOTEL will receive a 3-Day travel pass in their hotel welcome pack.

On the day of validation, this pass allows an unlimited number of journeys on the entire public transport network of the STIB (except for the NATO-Brussels Airport section of lines 11 and 12 and the Noctis night network).

A practical Google map is available with all the relevant spots for Mozillians during their stay in Brussels.

Traveling by air to Brussels

...the airport is less than 20 minutes from the city centre. From 6am till nearly midnight, the AIRPORT CITY EXPRESS train brings you to Midi, Central and North stations four times per hour. A one-way ticket costs 2,60 € second class and 3,90 € first class. The city express train is located in the basement (level -1) of the terminal building itself.

Map from airport to Brussels town center

Traveling by train to Brussels

If you are traveling by train to Brussels, it is best for you to get off at the Central Station stop.

Hotels

Mozilla guests will be staying at the Novotel Brussels Grand Place and the Novotel Toure Noire. Please note that we strongly encourage guests sponsored by Mozilla to share rooms so that more Mozillians can be invited to participate at FOSDEM this year.

Here are the hotel details :

Novotel Brussels Grand Place
120, rue du Marché Aux Herbes
1000 BRUSSELS
BELGIUM
Tel:  (+32)2/5143333
Fax :  (+32)2/5117723
E-mail:  H1030@accor.com
Nearest metro stop : Brussel Centraal
See website here

Novotel Brussels Centre Tour Noire
Rue de la Vierge Noire 32
1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +32.2.5055050
Fax: +32.2.5055000
Nearest metro stop : De Brouckere
See website here

Hotel Alternative

Local residents renting couches and private rooms for as little as $30. Also some have reviews.

WiFi

At Fosdem

At FOSDEM, a FREE WiFi network called "FOSDEM" will be very "strong" and there should not be any ambiguity about which network to use. Most 802.11 stacks will likely do the Right Thing[tm] automatically. :-)

At the NOVOTEL

For sponsored participants who are staying at a NOVOTEL hotel, WiFi access is available but itis very expensive.

If you ABSOLUTELY need WiFi access in your hotel room, please contact William (william at mozilla dot com) or at +33 6 26 05 17 84.

Getting from the Hotel to FOSDEM

From station GARE CENTRALE, take Bus 71 traveling towards DELTA. Get out at the station ULB. From there its a 9 minute footwalk. The total travel takes about 34 minutes.

A detailed map of the ULB campus and of the FOSDEM entrance, go here : http://fosdem.org/2009/maps/campus

Detailed instructions on how to get there by public transportation can be found here : http://fosdem.org/2009/practical/transportation

Leaving FOSDEM to leave Brussels

From Sunday afternoon till Sunday evening, FOSDEM will provide free transportation by bus from the conference site (ULB Campus Solbosch) to the Brussels-South railway station which has the best connections to Brussels Airport and neighboring countries.

The FOSDEM bus will pick up people at the main bus stop on the 'Adolphe Buyllaan/Avenue Adolphe Buyl' road about 100 meters away. We will provide signalization so you'll have no problem finding it.

The FOSDEM articulated bus has a capacity of 140 travelers. We hope you enjoy this free service!

Here is the bus schedule:

Departure from FOSDEM

15:30 16:20 17:10 18:20 19:15 20:05

Arrival at Brussels-South

15:55 16:45 17:35 18:45 19:40 20:30

Sponsorship for Travel and Accommodation

All travel and accommodation costs for participants who have received a personal email invitation by Mozilla Europe will be covered by Mozilla Europe. Please note that if you are sponsored by Mozilla, we strongly encourage you to share your room so that more Mozillians can be invited to participate at FOSDEM this year.

All invited participants will be staying at one of the above-mentionned hotels Mozilla has secured for the event. Emails containing detailed information on their hotel has been sent to all sponsored participants who have registered.

Reimbursement Policy

For those sponsored participants who have purchased their own travel, please fill in the Mozilla Europe expense form and send it to William Quiviger (william at mozilla fot com). Also, please make sure to send William a scanned copy of ALL receipts relevant to your expense form.

once their expense form has been received and reviewed, participants will get full reimbursement via wire transfer.

Contact Persons

If ever you need anything during your stay in Brussels, or if you need more information, please don't hesitate to contact:

William
william at mozilla dot com
(+33) 6 26 05 17 84

or

Delphine
delphine at mozilla-europe dot org
(+33) 6 77 02 99 98

IRC

We have set up the #FOSDEM Channel on irc.mozilla.org !

The Aftermath

Photos, Blogposts etc. are linked here.