FOSDEM 2026 was an absolute blast! 🚀

I spent most of the weekend at the Fedora booth, and honestly, it felt like the booth never slept – people were constantly stopping by, and the energy was amazing.

A lot of them were happy Fedora users just dropping in to say thanks and share their positive experiences, which was really nice to see and always heartwarming. 🫶🏻 It was encouraging to see how much appreciation there is for the project and the community behind it. We also met quite a few gaming enthusiasts who were excited about their experience running games on Fedora and eager to share their feedback.

In addition to users, we had several contributors visiting the booth, as well as people interested in becoming contributors. Some were curious about where to start, how the community works, and which teams they could join. These conversations were valuable and showed continued interest in contributing to Fedora.

We also spoke with attendees exploring Linux more broadly and wanting to understand the differences between Fedora and other distributions. Questions about stability, release cycles, and gaming support came up frequently. These discussions were a good opportunity to highlight Fedora’s strengths (4F’s: Freedom, Friends, Features, First).

The stickers were a big hit. The Fedora mascots were especially popular, and many visitors asked about Beefy Miracle. 🎉 It was great to see how much nostalgia and affection people still have for past Fedora releases and artwork.

This year, we also did a booth giveaway, which was super fun and a great way to engage with visitors. And we even had a new friend drop by to say hi – openSUSE’s gecko came by to check out the booth! 😄 💚

On Sunday, I managed to sneak out to catch a few talks in the Community Devroom:

• Accessible Sovereignty: Why the Four Freedoms Depend on Inclusion – Mike Gifford
• Neurodiversity in tech: how to build, mentor and motivate every mind – Diana Todea
• Companies vs. Foundations: Who Should Steer Your Open Source Project? – Ray Paik and Fatih Degirmenci

I also spent some time visiting the LibreOffice booth to hang out with community friends – always nice to catch up with familiar faces. 💜

All in all, the Fedora booth was lively, and full of energy. From chatting with users and contributors, to sharing stickers, it was such a fun weekend full of community vibes. Can’t wait for next year!