Fosdem:2010
FOSDEM 2010 will take place in Brussels, Belgium at the Université Libre de Bruxelles on 6/7 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 6 and Sunday 7 February 2010. 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)
Sponsorship
Mozilla will have a budget to sponsor around 75 participants to attend the event. The invitation process will be based on various criteria, including the proximity of the participant to Brussels and past sponsorships to attend Mozilla events. In other words, priority for sponsorship will be given to Mozilla contributors who live furthest to Brussels and on the number of times they have been sponsored in the past.
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 6th from 13:00 to 19:00 and on Sun 7th from 09:00 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 currently being prepared. If you have any questions about it, please contact one of the members of the programme committee, this year made up of Axel Hecht, Brian King, Gerv Marlham and William Quiviger.
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!
| Hours | Name |
| 10h00 | William (Mozilla) |
| 11h00 | |
| 12h00 | |
| 13h00 | |
| 14h00 | |
| 15h00 | |
| 16h00 | |
| 17h00 |
| Hours | Name |
| 09h00 | |
| 10h00 | |
| 11h00 | |
| 12h00 | |
| 13h00 | |
| 14h00 | |
| 15h00 | |
| 16h00 | |
| 17h00 |
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 2010 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 (5 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.
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.