5 ms·

went last year. Many talks were so far over capacity you couldn't even squeeze in to stand, let alone get a seat. If there was a talk you really wanted to atten

by bil7 7y ago

went last year. Many talks were so far over capacity you couldn't even squeeze in to stand, let alone get a seat. If there was a talk you really wanted to attend, the only way to have a good chance was to go and queue outside 15 minutes before it started, meaning skipping/leaving another talk. Glad I am watching this year's talks from home.

ghaff 7y ago
I didn't go last year and just dropped in quickly the year before to give my talk. My strategy this year was pretty much to spend a good chunk of each day hanging out in either a devroom or somewhere that you're likely to have serendipitous hallway track encounters. Trying to constantly move from often packed room to room across a somewhat spread out campus is mostly an exercise in frustration.
koffiezet 7y ago
Yeah it's getting too crowded... Didn't go this year although it's just a 30min drive for me. Last time I just found myself a quiet spot somewhere on-campus and followed the livestreams of the rooms I wanted to see, didn't even bother trying to enter the rooms...
- ghaff 7y ago
  I'm often at events mostly to meet people, aka hallway track etc. I do go to sessions too, in part because video posting can be unreliable/very delayed but also because I know I'll often never get around to watching the videos anyway. That said, keynotes at large events I tend to watch streaming as I have very little interest in getting crowded into a room with 10,000 of my closest friends so I can watch the speaker on the distant stage up on a monitor :-)
- hujjji 7y ago
  Really? You are always able to get into Janson or the other big one. I think the atmosphere is definitely worth it.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    >You are always able to get into Janson or the other big one. Not always. The one time I tried on the morning of the first day it was full.
    - hujjji 7y ago
      Yes okay sry. If you are trying to get inthe first and only talk in the morning (the keynote which explains what fosdem is) then you might not be able to get into that one.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        It was the one after that. But fair enough that a lot of people show up for the opening keynotes to start out. That said, the event was very crowded generally and you really did need some sort of strategy that took that into account. I was a lot more organized this year than I've been in some years past and was able to better use my time and minimize frustration as a result.

by bil7 7y ago

ghaff 7y ago

I didn't go last year and just dropped in quickly the year before to give my talk. My strategy this year was pretty much to spend a good chunk of each day hanging out in either a devroom or somewhere that you're likely to have serendipitous hallway track encounters. Trying to constantly move from often packed room to room across a somewhat spread out campus is mostly an exercise in frustration.

koffiezet 7y ago

Yeah it's getting too crowded... Didn't go this year although it's just a 30min drive for me. Last time I just found myself a quiet spot somewhere on-campus and followed the livestreams of the rooms I wanted to see, didn't even bother trying to enter the rooms...

ghaff 7y ago
I'm often at events mostly to meet people, aka hallway track etc. I do go to sessions too, in part because video posting can be unreliable/very delayed but also because I know I'll often never get around to watching the videos anyway. That said, keynotes at large events I tend to watch streaming as I have very little interest in getting crowded into a room with 10,000 of my closest friends so I can watch the speaker on the distant stage up on a monitor :-)
hujjji 7y ago
Really? You are always able to get into Janson or the other big one. I think the atmosphere is definitely worth it.
- ghaff 7y ago
  >You are always able to get into Janson or the other big one. Not always. The one time I tried on the morning of the first day it was full.
  - hujjji 7y ago
    Yes okay sry. If you are trying to get inthe first and only talk in the morning (the keynote which explains what fosdem is) then you might not be able to get into that one.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      It was the one after that. But fair enough that a lot of people show up for the opening keynotes to start out. That said, the event was very crowded generally and you really did need some sort of strategy that took that into account. I was a lot more organized this year than I've been in some years past and was able to better use my time and minimize frustration as a result.