[Ambassadors] Some words about FOSDEM (was: fosdem 2012)

[Christoph Wickert]

Hi there,

some words about FOSDEM for those of you planning to go to Brussels,
from somebody, who has been attending the event several times:

      * FOSDEM stands for "Free and Open Source Software Developers'
        European Meeting" and it's really a developer's meeting. It's
        the most geekish event I know and the talks target a very
        advanced audience.
      * Nobody comes for FOSDEM for the exhibition but just for the
        talks. The stands are located on a narrow hallway. It is
        overcrowded and the air is really bad.
      * Given that it's a developer meeting and nobody really cares
        about the exhibition anyway, I'm not sure if it makes sense to
        have a booth. I doubt we will be able to recruit new
        contributors because whoever is there already uses Linux for a
        while and most have settled with their favorite distribution
        ages ago.
        Nevertheless I think Fedora should be there and have a booth,
        just because other projects like Debian and OpenSUSE have one,
        too. But I suggest to not put too much effort into it for the
        reasons I just outlined.
      * The food at FOSDEM is awful but it helps to survive.

So much for the negative side. On the positive side we have:

      * FOSDEM is a place to meet other developers. All the rockstars of
        FOSS are there.
      * The social event is called "Beer event" and it takes place at a
        pub called "Delirium". These names say it all.
      * FOSDEM is the only event I know where people drink beer during
        lectures.
      * FOSDEM is fun. It is badly organized, loud, overcrowded and you
        have a hangover. Yet though - or for this very reasons - it's
        quite a lot of fun!

Last but not least: There was an unwritten rule, at least for the EMEA
or European ambassadors: If you go to FOSDEM, it's your own decision but
not an official Fedora event. You will have to pay for yourself and not
receive funding.
This rule has changed recently, I know we sponsored some people and IIRC
I have been sponsored my hotel room once (in four years, everything else
was paid from my own pocket).

If we are to sponsor contributors, I'd prefer people with a strong
technical background. This doesn't mean we'll not sponsor any
ambassadors, but IHMO it should be ambassadors who are involved in other
groups of Fedora, too and/or have clear agenda of things they want to do
or achieve at FOSDEM.

If you think you meet these criteria and you should be at FOSDEM, please
follow the usual process for funding. For details refer to
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Sponsoring_event_attendees

Regards,
Christoph