Summits, Conferences and Meetups workgroup - 2025-10-09

OK, I've found another room which they seem to be claiming is €1076.90 for the two days, can fit 26, central Brussels.

They can do catering as well if we want, though it looks basic. But, also, cheap.

In what seating arrangement?

Long/thin, I'm afraid, rather than "open U" as we had last time in Thon.

Like Cisco?

MattJ, Yeah, that kind of thing.

I guess that's fine. As long as it's not multiple rows facing the same direction

Daniel, I assume it's best if I forward you the message to take it from here? Place is near Arts-Loi.

Yes please do

Done, but I'm happy to help directly on this rather than just handing it to you entirely.

(I have some wry amusement that their catering treates allergies and vegan as the same thing, and charges extra for both...)

Is it common to be allergic to vegans? :)

Should we get catering there?

Prices seem reasonable...

I *think* supplying catering for the summit is probably a Board decision really. My view is yes, it lowers effective cost to participants.

But yes, I'd lean toward lunch, cookies etc as well, given the costs are very low.

I don't expect this to change but just for the record, I think the right move would be to move away from Brussels rather than making the hurdle even higher for attendees. Brussels is already amongst the most expensive cities you can find in Europe, plus FOSDEM and other events make accomodation even harder to find and more expensive around Summit. Adding another fee on top (250 Euros?) is a direction I really don't agree with. The Cisco buildings are no longer a reason to do Summit in Brussels, and my impression in the past years was that most attendees did not feel strongly about FOSDEM either. If the only reason Summit is in Brussels is tradition, I think that tradition should be challenged rather than adding an attendance fee just to deal with Brussels pricing.

I understand that perspective completely, but part of the reason is that it's cheaper and easier for people who also attend FOSDEM (which is a bunch of us, since we traditionally have a presence there are are likely to continue to do so)

Having the summit elsewhere means I have to make 2x trips to Europe annually instead of 1x

Right, I am aware of that, however I don't think convenience outweighs the cost (not even close). My impression is that not many Summit attendees are passionate about FOSDEM, and you can get roundtrip flight tickets London->Brussels->London for less than the planned daily fee of 125 Euros.