NixCon 2024 venue proposal: Brussels, Belgium

[drupol]

Venue proposal

Square – Brussels Meeting Centre has 27 meeting rooms of 40sqm to 1200sqm for a total capacity of 7000 attendees, and an exposition zone of 4000sqm.

Official website: https://square-brussels.com/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_%E2%80%93_Brussels_Meeting_Centre
Maps: OpenstreetMap / Google Maps

Context

Having attended events here multiple times, I can attest to its suitability for conferences. Its impressive facilities aside, there are several other benefits:

1. Location: In the heart of the capital of Europe, ideal for exploring the city by foot (map)
2. Public transport accessibility:

• 5-minute walk from the nearest station
• One train stop away from Brussels Midi international station (map)
• 25 minutes by train from the airport (link)

3. Accommodations: numerous hotels nearby, including Hilton, Novotel, Agora, Ibis, NH, Thon, etc.
4. Parking: available within a 5-minute walk (map)
5. Local curiosities:

• The Grand Place (link), the Hotel de Ville (map)
• The King's Palace (map)
• The Royal Park (map)
• The Cathedral Saint Michel (map)
• Magritte museum (map)
• Natural sciences museum (map)
• Musical instruments museum (map)
• Manneken Pis (map)
• Europeen Commission area and headquarters (map)
• Cinquantenaire (map)
• European Parliament (map)
• The Atomium easily accessible with the subway (map)

Statistics

This section has been achieved with the help of Eva, an employee of the venue.

• Total capacity: 7000
• Capacity in the main track room: 1200
• A/V equipment in the track room, e.g. Projector: Yes
• Hacking day capacity: Yes
• Number of tracks possible: 10 (at the same time) (need clarification on this),
• Hallway track possible? Yes
• Mini-conference (BoFs) tracks possible? (< 100 persons => nope)
• Distance (time) from an airport or train station in public transports: 25 min by train - (link)
• Average price for a hotel room in the city: < 200€
• Potential costs to pay to the venue owner: /

Local team

Pictures

• From the architect: https://www.a2rc.be/squarebrusselsmeetingcentre
• From Google Images: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sca_esv=587665533&q=brussels+Square+conference+center&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwin37Lj7fWCAxVxdqQEHcIAA2sQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=1600&bih=829&dpr=1.2
• A couple of pictures I took on the 7-8 December 2023, during SymfonyCon:

[asymmetric]

@drupol is this still WIP, or have you gotten all the info you wanted to get?

[drupol]

Yep I have all the infos I need. I don't have time for working on this now, but I will continue in ~3 weeks.

[AkechiShiro]

Thanks for the proposal @drupol ! any news worth sharing ?

[drupol]

Nothing concrete on my side any more. To go further with this venue, an official quote needs to be sent, which is out of my responsibility at this point.