Hi Fares, I'm Maren from Kiel, Germany - so our conditions here are likely also very different from yours, but perhaps some of our ideas from Kielux (2.5 day Linux and Open Source conference in Kiel) can still be useful. Tech talks, an exhibition, a support corner are also parts of our event here. Q1: For keeping up a good energy throughout the event: Food / beverages: We have / had multiple kinds of those: 1. Sale of stuff we bought in advance (disadvantage: you need to have the money for that and you need to know how many will come) 2. Food stalls / food trucks: advantage: it's the owners' risk whether they will sell something; and there may be a larger choice (disadvantage: in our case, the food we bought to sell did not sell well, but also, it turned out that the food truck's food was not good - but it looked better at first, so people bought that, rather than ours) 3. Having a barbecue and also a breakfast together. Everyone brings something, and we have fun as a community, chatting away about open source things. Some things, like bread rolls, were provided by us, but other food, like salads and fruit and marmalade, were brought by the community. A fun event: What we had was an 'active break', meaning that there was an offer of taking part in a fun sports routine in the lunch break. Some of us dressed up as penguins, and everyone was invited to do some light kickboxing. We were all sweating and laughing. Games: We put some computers there where people could play Tuxracer / Supertuxcart. A riddle: One of us designed a multi-part riddle for people to solve, and we bought prizes for the winners A raffle: As our event is sponsored, we are lucky to have our sponsors provide prizes that we can give to participants. Merch sale: (may be out of scope for your event at the current stage) T-Shirts, penguins, mousepads, ... Q2: For the local impact: Jobwall: allowing local businesses to find their next IT person via a small poster on a pinboard Check out whether open source is being used in schools / governmental institutions near you and invite them to talk about it. In the past, we also had LPI exams. Offer some kind of maker thing that is useful to people in your area. Or offer a course for children/adolescents to learn programming (e.g. with Scratch). Q3: venue This is difficult for us, too. We're cooperating with a local startup center, which has a presentation room for the talks, and meeting rooms for workshops and a large hallway for the exhibition. But it's always too small, and one of the rooms we had was really difficult to find, because it's only reachable via multiple stairs and hallways and bridges in a different building...We also have a tent, but haven't used that, because it often rains in September and we have no place to let the thing dry afterwards, so it won't smell / mould. Maybe a school or a part of the university could be used in Aleppo? If you do your event at a time when there's no school, it could work. If you're really running out of options, maybe even something like a shopping gallery or a market hall could work? For the shopping places, it could even be useful if there are more people around... although that may make the talks really difficult. Or perhaps you know someone (who knows someone) who has a café / restaurant? --- For our support corner, we've 'dressed that up' as a doctor's office, which is kind of fun. A penguin figure with a bandaged wing, some lab coats, a stethoscope, and then some printed decorations.(Let me know if you'd like a printable penguin skeleton or an eye test poster with fish instead of letters/symbols... ). We also printed flyers that were meant to help people install Linux on their computer. What also really helps is having a good team of people who organize it, so if you can get some of your most enthusiastic friends to help (even family), that will be good. Wishing you good luck and lots of fun with your event! Maren Am 25.09.25 um 10:57 schrieb Fares Alkhaled:

Hello SFD Community,

My name is Fares, I’m based in Aleppo, Syria, and I’m currently working on coordinating a Software Freedom Day event here. This will be one of the first SFD events of its kind in Aleppo, and I’m really excited about the opportunity to bring people together around free and open-source software.

The event is planned to include four main activities:

1.

*Technical Talks* – on digital freedom, open-source software, and their role in developing both the technical and civil society sectors.

2.

*Interactive Exhibition* – showcasing open-source software across different sectors.

3.

*Support Corner* – offering technical help to install FOSS software from the exhibition and providing guidance for visitors.

4.

*Hackathon* – where young people can participate in solving 3–4 technical challenges using open-source tools, with clear participation rules.

Right now, the main challenge I’m facing is finding a suitable venue. I’ve been looking for theaters or halls that can host the event, but so far it’s been difficult. Because of this, I may need to push the date to October 2nd instead of the official day.

I’d love to hear your advice on:

1.

*Program design* – What have you found most effective in engaging participants and keeping the energy high across multiple activities in a single-day event?

2.

*Maximizing local impact* – From your experience, what strategies can help make SFD more meaningful in regions where the FOSS community is still in its early stages?

3.

*Flexibility* – If I cannot secure a large hall, what creative approaches (smaller venues, hybrid formats, outdoor spaces, etc.) have worked for you?

I want this to be a strong and inspiring start for the FOSS community in Syria, and I’d be grateful to learn from your experiences.

Thank you in advance for your support and guidance.

Best regards, Fares Aleppo, Syria

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