Fosdem:2015

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FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting) is a free event offering open source communities a place to meet, share ideas and collaborate. It is renowned for being highly developer-oriented and brings together 5000+ geeks from all over the world. No registration necessary. More info…

Practical Information

Fosdem 2015 is taking place in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday 31st January and Sunday 1 February 2015. See http://fosdem.org/ Mozilla's presence at Fosdem is organized as a Mozilla Reps Event.

Registration

As a Free event, no formal registration is needed to attend Fosdem. If you are a Mozilla Rep or have an Mozillians.org profile, you can say you are attending on the Event page.

For practical purposes, if you want us to know you are in the area, please add yourself to Fosdem:2015:Attendees.

Sponsorship for Travel and Accommodation

All volunteers and community members who are official speakers in the by Mozilla DevRoom and a limited number of Mozilla volunteers helping with our participation at the event will be eligible for sponsorship. Here is the call for volunteers to help run the booth and other practical stuff.

Mozilla staff (including speakers) who are interested in attending FOSDEM must book their own travel and hotel.


Mozilla DevRoom

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

This year, Mozilla will have:

  • room U.218A (next to Chavanne) on Sunday from 9:00 to 18:00
  • 363 seats;
  • power (C/E plugs)
  • a video projector (VGA);
  • best-effort shared wireless Internet;
  • video recording equipment which can be operated by volunteers.

Schedule

The schedule is now finalized, check the schedule on the official FOSDEM page where the selected talks are beginning to appear. Speakers have been contacted already.

Mozilla Booth

There will be a booth manned by Mozilla volunteers in the main conference building. The goal is three-fold:

  1. to evangelize and answer questions
  2. to recruit new volunteers;
  3. distribute merchandise.

We also would have some activities like a Firefox OS flash station, a Firefox Clinic, and some surprises.

This year we could only sponsor 6 Reps. But if you are a Mozillian or a Rep, and you will come on your own, but would like to help, please contact Francisco Picolini, or Benoit Leseul, for more information.

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! Also, please help to keep the place clean and tidy!

Where is it located?

The location of the booth is on the building K.

See this map

Food, Beverages, and Saturday evening party

Breakfast will be served for sponsored Mozillians staying in one of the hotels Mozilla has secured for the event.

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

Friday Beer Event

To be announced


Saturday night Party

Historically, a dinner for Mozillians has often been organised on the Saturday night of FOSDEM. For the last couple of years though, Mozillians are encouraged to meet and dine with folks from other open projects. Please watch this space for suggestions.

Getting Around in Brussels (MAP)

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

Traveling by air to Brussels

Brussels Airport

…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 7.80 €. The city express train is located in the basement (level -1) of the terminal building itself.

Airport to Brussels.gif

There is also a Bus service (Airport Line 12 or 21) but it doesn't go straight to the hotel. If you take that bus, get off at Schuman and take the metro from there to Gare Centrale. The cost is 4.00 € if you buy it at the airport bus station (platform C) or 6.00 € in the bus.

Brussels South Charleroi Airport

Some low-cost flights (Ryanair, Wizzair, …) are operated from there. It is approximately one hour away from the city centre. A shuttle bus (1 hour, €13) will bring you from there to Brussels South Railway station. For your return flight, it is recommended that you take this shuttle bus 3 hours prior departure.

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.

Most High-speed trains (TGV, Thalys, Eurostar, ICE) stop at Brussels South (Gare du Midi) instead. From there, you can either find a local train to Central Station, or take the Tramway/Metro (line 3 or 4 to De Brouckère, then metro line 1 or 5 to Gare Centrale).

Hotel

Most Mozilla speakers and staff will be staying at the Novotel Brussels Grand Place.

Hotel details: 

Novotel Brussels off Grand'Place
Rue du Marché Aux Herbes 120
1000 BRUSSELS
BELGIUM
Tel:  (+32)2/5143333
Fax:  (+32)2/5117723
E-mail:  H1030@accor.com
Nearest metro stop: Gare Centrale/Centraal Station (lines 1/5)

Warning: there is another Novotel called Novotel Brussels Centre Tour Noire a few hundred meters away (near De Brouckère). It is not the same hotel but is equally good and is at walking distance from Novotel Grand Place.

Other hotels in the neighborhood

There are many hotels around the Central station, and in the city center in general.

You may try:

Hotel discounts

A number of hotels in Brussels offer a discount to FOSDEM visitors. See https://fosdem.org/2015/practical/accommodation/

Other accommodation options

Other great accommodation options exist in Brussels. There are local residents renting couches and private rooms for as little as $30. Also some have reviews.

WiFi and mobile data

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. :-)

SIM cards/Mobile Data

If you have a GSM-compatible phone and need data connectivity (EDGE/3G/4G) without paying prohibitive roaming charges, you can buy a prepaid SIM card with a data plan in most mobile phone shops, including some in the Airport arrival terminal.

Here are a couple of plans that you may find interesting:

  • BASE: 10€ prepaid card with 5€ top-up (100MB) or 10€ top-up (1000MB)
  • Proximus: 15€ Pay&Go Max prepaid card (250MB included)

Getting from the Hotel/Central Station to FOSDEM

It takes about 35 min from downtown Brussels to FOSDEM by public bus.

From station GARE CENTRALE, take Bus 71 (live waiting times) traveling towards DELTA. Get out at the station ULB (22 mins, 14 stops). From there it's a few hundred meters footwalk. The total travel takes about 35 minutes.

Google transit will give you good Public transport directions. If you have a mobile data plan (beware of roaming charges) or are connected to a wifi network, you can also check for waiting times and vehicle positions on the STIB mobile website or with the Android Brussels Transports application.

Useful tip: If you are waiting in the cold at ULB for a bus to get back to the city center (towards De Brouckère) and it doesn't come or you fear it will be too crowded, you may want to take it in the other direction instead (to Delta, a few stops away). Delta is actually a metro station on line 5, which also goes to Gare centrale and De Brouckère.

A detailed map of the ULB campus and of the FOSDEM entrance, as well as detailed instructions on how to get there by public transportation can be found here: https://fosdem.org/2015/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.

Contact Persons

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

  • Benoit (Mozilla Belgium community) - benoit.leseul at gmail dot com
  • Brian King - bking at mozilla dot com
  • Francisco Picolini - fpicolini at mozilla dot com

IRC

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

Devroom Presentations

The Aftermath

Photos, Blogposts etc. will be linked here.

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