FOSS.IN/2009 is barely two weeks away, and this week, all the big announcements will start going out.

So before things get totally buried in the excitement, we’d like to put out this post detailing some of the things that have changed since we last met, and what you can expect at the event. The next few posts will each address a specific aspect of FOSS.IN/2009.

Let’s start with the talks and event timings.

Overview

First of all, you must remember that FOSS.IN has a lot of great talks happening, but at the same time, FOSS.IN is NOT about the talks – it is about what you do there. The core of the event is contribution and activity based – that means the FOSS WorkOuts, the discussions between existing and potential FOSS contributors, the interaction between people, etc.

This is why we don’t have a a huge deluge of talks over the 5 days of the event, and as we saw last year, some people will not attend a single talk because they are way too busy having fun in the WorkOuts.

The Role of the Talks

That does not mean that the talks are of any less value, but FOSS.IN is an event that is trying to change mindsets. Especially here in India, audiences tend to be very passive – they like to sit back in auditoriums and listen to speakers, learn something and go home. That’s NOT what we want to see! At FOSS.IN, talks have specific a purpose: they are meant to trigger you into action, so that when you leave the auditorium, you head for the hack-centers on the first floor of the venue, find/form groups and start working on stuff that you were just exposed to.

Keynotes

For this reason, we have also changed the position of keynotes in the schedule: instead of having a keynote at the start of the day, each keynote will be in the evening. And as usual, it will be by a speaker who isn’t some big-wig chief of some company, but by a FOSS contributor who will be talking about his or her actual work. Interesting and exciting stuff only.

Timings

There’s another reason why we are holding keynotes in the evening:

We understand that many of you will be at the event at varying times of the day. Unlike in the past, we have much more room and time this year at the new venue, and because of this we are able to move the “event window” from the usual 9am to 7pm to 11am to 10pm – more “hacker friendly” hours. This allows some people to attend office or college, and still make it to the event and participate gainfully.

And yes, that includes the entertainment.

The venue itself will be open from 9am as usual, to allow people to register, collect kits, gets acquinted, set up their expo stalls, get some work done in the workouts, etc.

Dinner

Because of the late hour, some people will probably want to have dinner at the venue. We recognise that this doesn’t apply to everyone, and therefore have made the dinner optional – if you wish to have dinner at the venue (after the keynote and entertainment), you can register and pay for that by 2pm every day, or simply pay up front for dinner for all 5 days. The charge will be minimal (we will let you know next week), but we don’t want to charge you when you know that you wont be around for dinner, hence this decision.

Right that’s it for this post. Stay tuned, more tomorrow.