Communication & Coordination

Matrix channel

We have a public matrix channel for volunteering: #volunteers.fosdem.org.

Please make sure to add your Matrix ID to your Volunteering profile. Depending on the task you sign up for, you may be pulled into a *-backstage room for private communication.

Mailing list

We have a volunteers mailing list where you can receive important announcements via email. Subscribe at https://lists.fosdem.org/listinfo/volunteers.

Note that we primarily use this for communications before and after the FOSDEM weekend. During the event, Matrix is the main communication channel.

Phone support

Emergency phone line: +32 2 788 74 72

This should be used in emergency cases during the FOSDEM weekend (Thursday-Monday) only. Use this for urgent coordination issues, safety concerns, or when you cannot reach anyone via Matrix.

Contacting coordinators

Where possible, we ask that you don’t reach out to people directly. Instead, where possible (and if it’s not a private matter), please try to reach out via the public Matrix channel or mailing list first.

This helps ensure:

• Your question/issue is visible to the whole team
• Someone can respond even if a specific person is unavailable
• Others can learn from the discussion
• We maintain transparency in volunteer coordination

For private matters, you can contact the volunteer coordinators:

• Kristian Schuhmacher: Kristian [at] fosdem [dot] org
• Dan Clark: Dan [at] fosdem [dot] org
• Pieter De Praetere: pieter [at] fosdem [dot] org