
FOSDEM 2017 Schedule - kasbah
https://fosdem.org/2017/schedule/
======
Jedd
I (a Strine, free software advocate, sysadmin / devops / something living in
Europe for a few years) went to four FOSDEMs between 2008 and 2013 -- and even
in that short space noticed the increasing difficulty in getting into rooms I
thought would be interesting.

Happily they're rapidly approaching, or have just reached, the state where all
talks are filmed and made available online.

The Delerium Cafe event on the first night was (and likely still is) one of
the most memorable events for free software tourists.

~~~
ghaff
Sort of my feeling as well. I'm usually over in London for another event the
week before and I used to take the train over to FOSDEM (and Config Management
Camp) afterwards. But as it became more crowded, I basically lost interest.
Even the Delirium Cafe event became just too mobbed to be interesting.

I wouldn't really discourage anyone from attending but it just stopped working
for me a couple years back.

------
jcastro
Shameless plug for Config Management Camp, which is in Gent, on the Monday and
Tuesday after FOSDEM:

[http://cfgmgmtcamp.eu/](http://cfgmgmtcamp.eu/)

Great conference for sysadmins/devops!

~~~
justincormack
Sold out though now isnt it?

~~~
jcastro
We usually have more room, I don't think it's hard limit, I'll talk to the
organizers and see if we can open up more tickets, thanks!

------
maxdemarzi
The niche rooms are the best. In my case I get to meet with 45 people who are
all extremely knowledgeable about Graphs. We can talk about the heart of the
issues we have and the different ways we cope with them.

First time I went I felt I had found my Tribe.

------
wiz21c
When I look at the schedule, I feel I'm more and more away from Fosdem. There
are so many talks on so many subjects that look so "niche", I don't know where
to go. What would you attend, as a generalist coder/project manager ?

~~~
karambahh
That is exactly why I consider fosdem as a very interesting conf: I am myself
somewhat generalist, and attending a room almost "at random" leads to very
interesting discoveries. Last year I saw a talk about the internals of the
jvm. It lead us to drastic performance improvements in the last year. Two
years ago, a talk about measuring time lead me to dive into theoritical
physics in my spare time.

Alongside these discoveries, I will attend devrooms directly in line with our
technological stack.

In short we will learn stuff, aligned with our core needs, learn to think
outside the box and finally meet great people in a great city, Brussels.

~~~
specialist
I regret missing FOSDEM every year. Even when it was tiny. The announced
schedule always has a lot of meat. Doesn't feel like filler, resumeware, fads,
or corporate pap.

I imagine its like the difference between PAX and E3.

------
avar
For anyone going to FOSDEM, there's Git Merge 2017 also in Brussels just a day
before FOSDEM starts: [http://git-merge.com](http://git-merge.com)

~~~
modin
There's PGDay as well.

[https://2017.fosdempgday.org](https://2017.fosdempgday.org)

------
brendangregg
Nice to see there are three back-to-back eBPF talks on Saturday, starting at
1pm:

[https://fosdem.org/2017/schedule/room/ua2114_baudoux/](https://fosdem.org/2017/schedule/room/ua2114_baudoux/)

The focus there is networking, but we're also using eBPF for performance
observability, and security monitoring.

------
jamesblonde
We have a talk here on the Big Data track on integrating Tensorflow with our
Hadoop Distribution, hops.io. I haven't been before, but I've heard great
things about it being a real tinkerers' conference - where developers go to
actually find projects to work with and work on.

------
sjackso
Planning to go, first time to Brussels. Any advice from regulars about making
the most of the experience?

~~~
andygrunwald
Been there the last 5 years. Here a few small tips:

\- Plan your interesting talks before (via iOS / Android-App)

\- Be early in the rooms (some rooms are _really_ crowded, e.g. when an
engineer of Youtube presents something in the Go devroom -> Popular speaker,
popular topics / technology)

\- If you want to meet people there for a chat / beer / coffee, get in touch
with them before via twitter, slack, you name it

\- Want to make the best out of it and come from abroad? Events before FOSDEM:
GRIMOIRECON EU 2017
([https://grimoirelab.github.io/con/](https://grimoirelab.github.io/con/)) and
Git Merge ([http://git-merge.com/](http://git-merge.com/)) and after: Config
Management Camp ([http://cfgmgmtcamp.eu/](http://cfgmgmtcamp.eu/))

\- Get a hotel near by or with a tram station near by. Location is quite good
reachable by tram.

\- If you join by car and want to drive to FOSDEM directly be early every day.
Parking spots on the campus are very limited. There are some near parking
spots at the street here:
[https://goo.gl/maps/4gf2Ag2YktA2](https://goo.gl/maps/4gf2Ag2YktA2) (dont
park on spots reserved for goverment persons)

\- If you love books, get some money with you, i think O'Reilly has a big
booth there and sell books for lower prices

\- If you love to met new people (FOSS, tech people) and don`t fear crowdy
places and drink beer, join the Friday beer event in the city:
[https://fosdem.org/2017/beerevent/](https://fosdem.org/2017/beerevent/). But
be aware: If you don`t feel well joining crowded places (i mean really crowded
like a music festival in front of a stage), don`t join. Personally i love the
event. Every year i meet know people. Last year some people from the VLC
project. The year before some people who running big public accessible
networks in a private college from Scotland with support from the goverment,
and so on. Nice chats

\- If you are part of a technology / community / project that is represented
there (e.g. Go, MySQL, Jenkins, etc.), get in touch with them before on the
mailinglist or slack and ask who is there. Often those groups are going for
dinner on friday, saturday or sunday evening to meet people they know often
from internet only. Most of these groups are open to join, just ask before

\- According to your behaviours on breakfast: There will be a small booth
where you can buy belgium breakfast (mostly crossaints). If you more like
bread, buns with cheese or sausages or whatever, have breakfast before you
join the event in the morning. Do it in a bakery, hotel, or in a rush on your
way.

\- According to your behaviours on lunch: There are small foodtrucks there who
sell food like sandwiched, fries, noodles, etc. Mostly fast food related
things. If you a more used to salad and eat in a calm location, go outside
(you have to leave the campus for this)

\- Get your notebook charger: There are hacking rooms available

\- Hold a few bucks / euros back to buy a FOSDEM shirt and support the
organizers.

These are a few tips that comes into my mind. If you have dedicated questions,
feel free to ask them. I do my best to answer them.

PS: I will be joining this year again. Starting with a car from Düsseldorf,
Germany. ~2h ride.

// Edit: Only formatting

~~~
icebraining
_\- According to your behaviours on lunch: There are small foodtrucks there
who sell food like sandwiched, fries, noodles, etc. Mostly fast food related
things. If you a more used to salad and eat in a calm location, go outside
(you have to leave the campus for this)_

I've attended the past two editions, and this was the only thing I disliked.
The first year was OK-ish, though the food is not great even for fast good,
but last year was pretty crappy, waiting in the rain in long lines.

As an alternative, I recommend a shop nearby[1] which makes decent sandwiches,
and as a bonus it's located right by a beer shop with a wide selection.

[1]
[https://www.google.pt/maps/@50.81787,4.3799702,3a,90y,225.61...](https://www.google.pt/maps/@50.81787,4.3799702,3a,90y,225.61h,87.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCyWXOSDCho-t6nDwLx8dTg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en)

------
Insanity
The location is just 20 minutes away from where I live now so it would almost
be silly not to go. :-)

------
BuuQu9hu
[http://linux.conf.au/](http://linux.conf.au/) is another great open source
conference.

------
elcct
Given the current situation, is it safe to go there?

~~~
wyoh
The current situation?

