Every year in Brussels, Belgium, the first weekend of February is dedicated to the Free and Open source Software Developers’ European Meeting (FOSDEM) This is the largest open source, developer-oriented conference of the year. As expected, the conference is going online for the 2021 edition, which gives open source enthusiasts from everywhere the opportunity to attend. You can participate with the Fedora community virtually, too.
The Fedora Project has a long history of attendance at FOSDEM (since 2006) and 2021 will not be an exception. Every year a team of dedicated volunteers, advocates, and ambassadors staff a booth, hand out swag, and answer questions related to the Fedora Project. Although we will miss seeing everyone’s faces in person this year, we are still excited to catch up with friends, old and new.
FOSDEM 2021 will be held on February 6th & 7th and we expressly invite you to “stop by” our virtual booth, check out what’s new in Fedora, and what is planned for the upcoming year. The Fedora Project has its own web page where you can join us and find out what we have planned for the FOSDEM weekend! Visiting a FOSDEM stand this year is little different. Here’s how you can participate with the Fedora community.
Chat
The FOSDEM organizers have created a Fedora room on a dedicated server. You can either join the room directly and create a new Matrix account or join with a pre-existing account.
To join with a pre-existing account:
- Go to the Element home page
- Click “Explore more rooms”
- Click on the dropdown list in order to add the FOSDEM server
- On the bottom of the dropdown list click “Add a new server”
- Enter “fosdem.org” and click “Add”
- Join the Fedora chat
Welcome Sessions
Immediately before the start of each day’s sessions, there will be a “Welcome Session” for each stand from 0830-0900 UTC (9:30-10AM CET). There will be a group of Fedora folks hanging out in our chatroom during those times. Join us in our virtual booth.
Social Hours
Due to pandemic life, Fedorans have been meeting for a weekly social hour since April 2020. We have found them to be a fun way to stay connected, and we want to connect with you at FOSDEM! This is a great opportunity for conference attendees to meet the faces of Fedora. There will be two Social Hours: one on Saturday, 6 February at 1500 UTC and one on Sunday 7 February at 1500 UTC. Join us in our virtual booth!
Raffle
What would FOSDEM be without swag? In order to get that sweet swag into people’s hands this year, we are holding a raffle contest!
Join our chat room to find the raffle entry link. You will need to enter your name and email address to enter. We will randomly draw 100 winners on 8 February at 1700 UTC. The winners will receive a follow up form to provide shipment information. Terms & Conditions are available on the entry form.
Videos
The FOSDEM organizers have created a dedicated space for us to upload some videos to show-case our project. If you haven’t already watched we will have:
- “State of Fedora” from Matthew Miller from Nest 2020
- Unboxing of Lenovo laptop running Fedora
- Fedora 33 Release Party videos
- Budapest community video from Flock 2019
Katsuharu Tanaka
It was a pity that I couldn’t participate because it was held online this year. However, looking at the materials such as sessions, there were many very interesting topics. I hope it will be held next year as well.