[FOSDEM] FOSDEM 2016: Call for Participation

[Alasdair G Kergon]

FOSDEM offers open source and free software developers a place to
meet, share ideas and collaborate.  Renowned for being highly
developer-oriented, the event brings together some 5000+ geeks from
all over the world.

The sixteenth edition will take place on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st
January 2016 at the usual location: ULB Campus Solbosch in Brussels.

We now invite proposals for main track presentations, developer rooms,
stands and lightning talks.

Main Tracks
-----------
Previous editions have featured main tracks centered around security,
operating system development, community building, and many other
topics.  Presentations are expected to be 50 minutes long and should
cater to a varied technical audience.  The conference covers
reasonable travel expenses agreed in advance and arranges
accommodation for accepted main track speakers.

Proposals for main track presentations should be submitted using
Pentabarf:
  https://fosdem.org/submit

This year, submissions will be reviewed in two batches, beginning with
those received by 16 October.

Questions or remarks?  Contact us at program at fosdem.org.

Key dates:
    16 October
       - deadline for first batch of main track proposals
    
    30 October
       - final deadline for main track proposals
    
    2 November onwards
       - main track talks announced (in batches)

Developer Rooms
---------------
Developer rooms are assigned to self-organising groups to work
together on open source and free software projects, to discuss topics
relevant to a broader subset of the community, etc.  Content may be
scheduled in any format, subject to approval.  Popular formats include
presentation tracks, hacking sessions and panel discussions.
Proposals involving collaboration across project or domain boundaries
are strongly encouraged.

Developer room proposals should be submitted through the form at
  https://fosdem.org/devroom
which contains further information.

Questions or remarks?  Contact us at devrooms at fosdem.org.

Key dates:
    9 October
       - deadline for developer room proposals

    19 October
       - accepted developer rooms announced

    2 November (or earlier)
       - developer rooms issue Calls for Participation

    18 December (or earlier)
       - developer rooms publish complete schedules

Stands
------
FOSDEM offers open source and free software projects the opportunity
to display their work during the event. At its stand, a project can
share information, demo software, sell merchandise, give away goodies,
and so on, and personally interact with the visitors.

What we offer:

- one 180x80cm table, positioned in one of the buildings with
  developer rooms, for the entire duration of the conference. In some
  cases, a second table may be possible, if you have a good reason to
  need two.
- two chairs per table
- one power socket type C/E (if you require adapters or additional
  sockets, please bring them yourself)
- fast uplink shared wireless Internet access

To apply, please fill out the form at:
  https://fosdem.org/stands
which contains further information.

Questions or remarks?  Contact us at stands at fosdem.org.

Key dates:
    13 November
       - deadline for stand proposals

    30 November
       - accepted stands announced

Lightning talks
---------------
Lighting talks are short - 15 minutes - talks on a wide variety of
topics.  Anyone who has something interesting to say about an open
source or free software topic can apply.  We particularly encourage
topics that do not fit in any of the developer rooms.

Proposals for lightning talks should be submitted using Pentabarf:
  
  https://fosdem.org/submit
  
Please select "Lightning Talks" in the "track" field.

Questions or remarks?  Contact us at lightningtalks at fosdem.org.

Key dates:
    27 November
       - deadline for lightning talk proposals

    14 December
       - accepted lightning talks announced

All deadlines are at 23.59 UTC.