Archive:FUDCon:Blacksburg 2012



Blacksburg, Virginia :: January 13 - 15, 2012 &mdash; General event owners: Ben Williams, Robyn Bergeron, Jared Smith

Event Details
The 2012 North America FUDCon will be held in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the campus of Virginia Tech, January 13 - 15, 2012.

FUDCon is the Fedora Users and Developers Conference, a major free software event held in various regions around the world, usually annually per region. FUDCon is a combination of sessions, talks, workshops, and hackfests in which contributors work on specific initiatives. Topics include infrastructure, feature development, community building, general management and governance, marketing, testing and QA, packaging, etc.

FUDCon is always free to attend for anyone in the world.

Location
Blacksburg, Virginia, on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Hackfests: Friday, Sunday (2nd Floor McBryde Hall) (tentative) (Room Survey)

BarCamp: Saturday (100 and 2nd Floor McBryde Hall) (Tentative) (Room Survey)

FUDPub: Breakzone, Squires Student Center (Tentative) (Reservation Form)

catering corkage fees and license fees

Dates
January 13-15, 2012

Pre-registration

 * Instructions:
 * Please add your name to the list if you will attend. Also, please indicate the following:
 * Put an X in the $$$ column if you need funding to attend, and visit the FUDCon ticket tracker to make a funding request. We have a limited budget and will work hard to fund as many people as possible. We'll use these answers to help figure out budgeting for the event.  We are making arrangements for attendees from other geographic regions to encourage specific initiatives such as future FUDCon events, but preference may otherwise be given to people in North America.
 * Put a V in the Veg column if you would like vegetarian fare for any meals that we provide during the event. If you prefer vegan fare, please mark that column VV.  We will do our best to make sure everyone is accommodated! Note: "Hell No" and similar statements are offensive to some and should not be included in this column.
 * Put your T-shirt size in the Size column, so we can have an idea about what sizes to have available. Only Unisex (Mens Sizes will be ordered)
 * Roomsharing: If you want or need to share a room, mark yes in the "Roomshare?" column.Once you have a roommate, both of you should mark your roommate's name in the block as well.If you need a roommate, look for someone with just a yes in the column, and contact them via email. If you encounter any problems, let the organizers know.
 * Use the Comments section for anything else you think organizers need to know, or to offer or ask for space or rides.

Lodging / Hotel
The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center.

901 Prices Fork Rd Blacksburg, VA 24061

Reservations: Click the Link or Call the Hotel Directly at 540 231-8000 or Toll Free 877-200-3360 and ask for the Fedora room block. Block will Expire December 28, 2011. Cost: $90 per night plus tax (5%) -- Parking $3 per night

Travel and transportation
If you are trying to coordinate travel with other attendees, you may want to visit the travel planning page.

Getting to Blacksburg
Roanoke Regional Airport (Airport Code: ROA) is the major airport servicing the Roanoke Valley area, approximately 35 miles from the VT campus. The following airlines have flights going in / coming out of Roanoke Regional Airport:


 * Allegiant Air
 * Delta
 * United Airlines
 * US Airways

The closest general aviation airport is Virginia Tech/Montgomery Executive Airport.

The driving distance from Raleigh, NC is 200-233 miles (depending on route).

Directions from Airport to Hotel
Roanoke Regional Airport 5202 Aviation Drive Northwest, Roanoke, Virginia 24012

The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center 901 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0100
 * 1) exit Parking lot Take the 1st right onto Aviation Dr NW
 * 2) Take the VA-101 W/Hershberger Rd ramp to I-58
 * 3) Merge onto VA-101 W/Hershberger Rd NW
 * 4) Merge onto I-581 N/US-220 N via the ramp to Lexington/Bristol/I-81/Blacksburg
 * 5) Take exit 1S on the left to merge onto I-81 S toward Salem/Bristol
 * 6) Take exit 118B toward U.S 460 W/Blacksburg
 * 7) Continue onto US-460 W
 * 8) Exit onto VA-412 N/Prices Fork Rd/State Route 685 toward Downtown
 * 9) Left at First Stop Light
 * 10) Arrive

Airport shuttle
Smartway Bus to/from airport: http://www.smartwaybus.com/schedule.htm

Consult the bus schedule before booking flights (there is no bus service on Sunday). The closest stop to the hotel and FUDCon is the Squires Student Center. (Call the Hotel Directly at 540 231-8000 for shuttle when you get off at Squires)

Map To Event, FUDPub Hotel
Map


 * A = Inn At Virginia Tech
 * C = Squires Student Center (FUDPub)
 * D = Event Location (McBryde Hall)

Local Transportation
Local Mass Transit Blacksburg Transit http://www.blacksburg.gov/index.aspx?page=791

At the hotel
The hotel has a significant amount of parking and has told us they don't believe there will be a problem accommodating some out of town drivers there. (Get Parking passes at Visitors center and Parking at the Inn is Free).

Virginia Tech
VT visitor parking information

Network Access
Virginia Tech operates a campus-wide 802.11g network, with 802.11a and 802.11n also supported in some areas. (802.11b-only devices will not work!) You will need to register for a guest wireless account before arriving (see below).

There is also wireless ethernet available at the hotel. Refer to the information provided by your hotel for details.

The four major mobile phone providers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon) have coverage in Blacksburg, but most of them have poor coverage inside buildings on campus. Of the four, Verizon has the best coverage. Prepaid mobile phones are available at several businesses on University City Boulevard, within walking distance of the hotel.

Wireless Registration
Everyone needs to sign up for a guest wireless account (before arriving at the event, please).


 * 1) Go to the guest wireless registration page
 * 2) Enter Start Date: 1/13/2012, for example
 * 3) Enter End Date: 1/15/2012, for example
 * 4) Sponoring Department: Select Mathematics
 * 5) Contact Person: Ben Williams
 * 6) Purpose: FUDCon
 * 7) Click the Create Request button
 * 8) Enter email address and select New Guest
 * 9) Fill out form including check the secret questions and password boxes and agree to the Acceptable Use Policy
 * 10) Click Create Account

Packing List
Everybody:
 * Appropriately warm clothing &mdash; it will probably snow in Virginia in January (weather forecast)
 * Laptop with 802.11g wireless
 * Extension cord
 * Ethernet cable (for hotel and/or hackfest)
 * Optional: Bring a Fedora Friend Finder (power strip)
 * Credit card (VISA or MasterCard) or small amount of cash (List of ATMs on VT campus)
 * Your presentation slides or anything needed for the hackfest

International visitors:
 * Passport/visa and any other official documentation needed
 * Converters for power (reference link )

If staying at the hotel:
 * Optional: swimsuit, gym clothes.

Agenda
FUDCon is a community event in which the complete schedule is developed interactively starting with an opening orientation session. Attendance at orientation is recommended for those who are new to this format, or to FUDCon, Fedora, or free and open source software community events in general.

General Schedule

 * Friday, January 13
 * Starting at 9:00am, McBryde Hall, 2nd Floor. Hackfests / Workshops.
 * Saturday, January 14
 * 8:30am - 5:00pm. Meet up at McBryde Hall, Room 100 in the morning; 2nd floor of McBryde hall for the afternoon.
 * Morning: FPL State of Fedora, Barcamp pitches. Later in the morning, for duration of day: Barcamp sessions.
 * FUDPub: Squires Student Zone, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
 * Sunday, January 15
 * 9:00am - 5:00pm, McBryde Hall, 2nd Floor. Hackfests/Workshops.

Saturday, January 14
Sessions last 50 minutes, with 10-minute breaks between each session.

Hackfests & Workshops
Instructions: If you want to have a hackfest or a workshop, please list it below for possible early scheduling of room space.

Hackfests are collaborative sessions to work on a problem, issue or area of Fedora.

Workshops are a classroom style session session (with varying levels of interaction) teaching about software or processes.

Proposed Barcamp Sessions
Please fill in the following grid with proposed BarCamp sessions: (If listed here will be Printed and at the Site ready for your Pitch)

Meetings
Meetings are on Wednesdays in #fedora-meeting at 17:00 UTC (9am US pacific, Noon US eastern.)

FUDCon:Blacksburg_2012_meetings

The current spreadsheet for subsidy requests is here.