FOSDEM Tips

My number one recommendation is to wear good shoes / boots. My first year at FOSDEM it snowed and I only had some old tennis shoes which means I spent a lot of time with freezing soaked feet. It gets cold and talks are in different venues, so prepare accordingly.

Rooms can fill up and some are quite small, so if there’s a talk you really want to see it pays to get there on the previous talk, even if you don’t care too much about it, to save a good seat. Don’t stress too much about it, though. Talks are recorded and it’s common that something you thought was going to be awesome turns out to be boring and something you didn’t care for at all is fascinating.

You shouldn’t have much trouble with public transportation, especially because you’ll probably see other attendees making the same trip. But I do prefer walking and in all my visits I didn’t mind walking thirty minutes or more each way. It’s only two days and it’s my preferred way to visit a city.

There are going to be booths too so you can visit them for some stickers and to strike up a conversation with people if you want.

It is easier to "connect with people" when they are also nerds like you.

Don't bother trying to attend all the talks - unless you have a high interest in a particular talk. They're all recorded anyway, the rooms fill up quickly, and you literally cannot attend them all because there are several parallel tracks. I found that meeting and chatting with FOSS developers outside was actually the most valuable part of the event.

Also, come to Bytenight no matter how scary it seems.

From re-reading, it sounds like your lack of experience isn't just conferences, but going to places in general.

If you want to not be in a hurry, plan to get there the day before the first day you want to be there, and leave the day after you want to be there. Trying to travel before/after the event will put you in a hurry, even though it's cheaper. You decide how much you value your money versus your sanity, especially since you're new to traveling.

Rail travel: If you're accustomed to air travel, rail travel will feel very casual. Be on the platform when the train gets there, and then get on the train. Depending on where you're coming from you might need to get off the train in a certain place and get on a different train, once or twice. You'll know this when you buy the ticket. I heard in some places there's security like airports, but it's not typical in Europe. If you paid extra for a flexible ticket, if you miss one train you can take the next one (depends on the company and the kind of ticket).

Getting to the venue: if you're good at walking you can walk all the way around Brussels. I did. You can also take the trams in places the trams go. You tap your credit/debit card on a reader when getting on the tram. I'm not sure if you're supposed to tap again when you get off, and no one else from FOSDEM could explain it either (someone please share this info) - but the maximum payment is only about 10 euros each day so it's not a disaster.

Hotels: go on a platform like booking.com and book one in advance. There might be better ways to get hotels but stay with what's easy and works. Remember that cheap rooms are cheap for a reason - check the reviews (but they aren't outright scams and you do get what you paid for). The sooner you make your booking, usually the cheaper it is.

Food: plenty of restaurants and takeout places around, like in most cities. There's also plenty of food at FOSDEM. You can also bring snacks with you on the train - even liquids over 100mL :)

Language: you didn't mention it, but the official languages of Belgium are French and Dutch. All signposts are in French and Dutch. I guarantee that everyone at FOSDEM speaks English, and so do a lot of people outside of FOSDEM. Brussels is the capital of the EU, so lots of people from different countries visit, and English is widely spoken as a second or third language in Europe. And if someone like a food seller doesn't speak English, they should be very used to people coming in to get food without speaking to them. So basically, don't expect major problems.

Meeting people: FOSDEM is busy. Go say hi to someone who looks idle. Go listen to conversations and say hi if someone is talking about something interesting. Go say hi to someone based on the FOSS project logo on their T-shirt. Go say hi to people running project stands, when they're not busy. Go to Bytenight, the mid-FOSDEM party at HSBXL (Hackerspace Brussels) no matter how scary it seems. Most people at conferences are open to interaction with people or they probably wouldn't be at conferences (at least not the ones you don't get paid to attend!).