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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 2018 will take place in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday February 3th and 4th. 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 the event page mentioned here above.

Sponsorship for Travel and Accommodation

All volunteers who are official speakers in the 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, and this is the Call for Papers.

Mozilla staff (including speakers) who are interested in attending FOSDEM must book their own travel and hotel. If you need more information, feel free to contact the two event coordinators: Ziggy Maes or Anthony Maton.

Reimbursement policy

All volunteers eligible for sponsoring have received an e-mail containing unique information on how to proceed. Please follow those instructions, and contact Ziggy or Anthony if you have any questions.

Mozilla DevRoom

Every year Mozilla developers and contributors have a dedicated room (Mozilla DevRoom) in which to hold talks and sessions. On our Discourse Topic you can find details about the call for papers, deadlines, topics, etc.

This year, Mozilla will have:

room UA2.118 (Henriot) on Saturday from 10:30 to 19:00
246 seats
power (C/E plugs)
a video projector (VGA)
best-effort shared wireless Internet
video recording equipment

Code of Conduct

As in every event where Mozilla is involved, we have the Code of Conduct from the event, but we will also have a Code of Conduct for our Devroom.

Schedule

The schedule with all details can be found on the official FOSDEM page.

Mozilla Booth

There will be a booth manned by Mozilla volunteers on building K. Unfortunately, and this is different from previous years, we have only been assigned one table which will be our booth. The goal, however, remains the same and is three-fold:

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

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?

It will be located in the K building (Map in the Official page), level 2. It should be the third stand. For those that attended in 2017, we should be located one booth over from last year.

Booth Policy

There are some rules (guidelines) for those running the booth, please check the booth policy, where you can find suggestions and recommendations to attend FOSDEM.

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.

On Saturday and Sunday night we will be organizing group dinners for sponsored Mozillians.

Friday Beer Event

As every year, FOSDEM promote a Beer Event at Delirium Tremens You can find more information on the Friday Beer Event page. Please note that Mozilla won't cover beverages, and that the place has a limited space, and it will be very crowded.

Mozilla Dinners

Historically, a dinner for Mozillians has often been organized on the Saturday and Sunday nights. For the last couple of years though, Mozillians are encouraged to meet and dine with folks from other open projects.

This year, we will be organizing dinners for sponsored volunteers, Tech Speakers and staff only, due to budgeting reasons and space limitations we are not able to invite all Mozillians that come to FOSDEM.

If you would like to join us at the Saturday- and Sunday night dinners, please sign up using this form. Please note that your registration is not guaranteed until you have received a confirmation e-mail.

Getting Around in Brussels (MAP)

All sponsored Mozilla speakers will receive a travel card with credit on it for the whole weekend (to cover the trips from and to the ULB). If you haven't received one, contact Brian or Francisco to see if you can get one. Mozilla cannot guarantee that you will have one. If you do not have one, don't panic, you can easily buy a bus ticket on the bus :) (be aware that buses accept only up to 10€)

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 8.60 €. The city express train is located in the basement (level -1) of the terminal building itself.

When returning to the airport after the event, don't lose or throw away your train ticket too early since the Airport station is equiped with automatic gates.

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 4.50 € if you buy it at the airport bus station (level 0, platform C) or 6.00 € in the bus. The same ticket is valid in the metro or any public transport in Brussels.

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, €14) 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

This year, sponsored Mozillians will stay at:

Hotel details: Atlas Hotel
Website
Rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains, 30
1000
Brussels
Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)2 502 60 06
Fax. +32 (0)2 502 69 35

Closest Bus/Metro station: De Brouckere

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 FOSDEM Accommodation info.

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 De Brouckere, 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: FOSDEM page

Leaving FOSDEM to leave Brussels

On Sunday afternoon, FOSDEM provides a free shuttle bus service from the conference venue to Brussels South (Midi) railway station which has a regular service to many popular destinations within Belgium and to surrounding countries.

Three buses will provide the service between 15:30 and 19:30. The journey takes approximately 20 minutes. The departure location will be confirmed nearer the event.

Between 15:30 and 17:15, a bus is scheduled to depart every 15 minutes. Based on previous experience, we expect the buses to be busiest from 17:30 on. We will abandon our fixed schedule then with buses departing as soon as they are full to maximize throughput. The last departure will be at 19:30.

Contact Persons

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

Ziggy Maes (Mozilla Belgium Community) - ziggy DOT maes at mozilla DOT org DOT uk - +32(0)478/64.43.54
Anthony Maton (Mozilla Belgium Community) - me AT anthony DASH maton DOT me

Emergency Plan

Just in case something happen, or if you need a pharmacy, we have an Emergency Plan document.

IRC

We have a #FOSDEM Channel on irc.mozilla.org !

Devroom Presentations

You can find the full devroom schedule on the official FOSDEM website.

The Aftermath

Photos, Blogposts etc. will be linked here.

Fosdem:2018

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