[ghaff]

Aspects of FOSDEM are really great but there are way too many people and trying to move from room to room is pretty much impossible for the most part. Last couple I went to, I pretty much camped out at a Devroom that interested me and that was much better. Also CfgMgmtCamp in Ghent which is right after FOSDEM holds less interest for me than it used to as that space has changed a lot.

I feel somewhat badly being negative but probably not my thing any longer. I'm very selective about the events I attend and there are probably other ones I prioritize.

[Tomte]

It‘s my first FOSDEM, and I just learned that queuing up half an hour beforehand doesn‘t necessarily mean you get inside.

But enough negativity, it really is awesome!

[BiggusDijkus]

The popular hallway track! Talk to the people while you queue up, what they are working on, what their interests are etc may be super interesting than the actual talk itself. It may be intimidating at first but almost everyone I have encountered at fosdem are fellow nerds and easy to talk to. Remember there (almost) always streaming and recording, don't be so disappointed if you miss a talk.

[evacchi]

what are your favorite events? :)

[ghaff]

I like some of the smaller events a couple of analyst firms put on. I like the Linux Foundation's Member Summit; that's invite only but I've spoken there a number of times. Also their Open Source Summit. Kubecon has gotten pretty big but I will actually be going to the one in London because I'll be over there anyway. When I was at Red Hat, I usually went to their Summit which I liked--in part because I knew so many people there. Devconf.cz. Also have been to Devconf.us but Red Hat may be rationalizing some of the pure open source US events they're the primary sponsor of.

I have liked FOSDEM in the past. But, as I say, it's gotten pretty big and crowded and some other events in Europe that have been timed to coincide with it aren't of as much interest to me these days.