
From April 27th to 30th, 2024,
MiniDebConf Belo Horizonte 2024 was held at
the Pampulha Campus of
UFMG - Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Belo
Horizonte city.

This was the fifth time that a MiniDebConf (as an exclusive in-person event
about Debian) took place in Brazil. Previous editions were in Curitiba
(
2016,
2017, and
2018), and in
Bras lia 2023. We had other MiniDebConfs
editions held within Free Software events such as
FISL and
Latinoware, and other
online events. See our
event history.
Parallel to MiniDebConf, on 27th (Saturday)
FLISOL - Latin American Free Software Installation Festival
took place. It's the largest event in Latin America to promote Free Software,
and It has been held since 2005 simultaneously in several cities.
MiniDebConf Belo Horizonte 2024 was a success (as were previous editions) thanks
to the participation of everyone, regardless of their level of knowledge about
Debian. We value the presence of both beginner users who are familiarizing
themselves with the system and the official project developers. The spirit of
welcome and collaboration was present during all the event.

2024 edition numbers
During the four days of the event, several activities took place for all
levels of users and collaborators of the Debian project. The official schedule
was composed of:
- 06 rooms in parallel on Saturday;
- 02 auditoriums in parallel on Monday and Tuesday;
- 30 talks/BoFs of all levels;
- 05 workshops for hands-on activities;
- 09 lightning talks on general topics;
- 01 Live Electronics performance with Free Software;
- Install fest to install Debian on attendees' laptops;
- BSP (Bug Squashing Party);
- Uploads of new or updated packages.

The final numbers for MiniDebConf Belo Horizonte 2024 show that we had a
record number of participants.
- Total people registered: 399
- Total attendees in the event: 224
Of the 224 participants, 15 were official Brazilian contributors,
10 being DDs (Debian Developers) and 05 (Debian Maintainers), in addition to
several unofficial contributors.
The organization was carried out by 14 people who started working at the end of
2023, including Prof. Lo c Cerf from the Computing Department who made the event
possible at UFMG, and 37 volunteers who helped during the event.
As MiniDebConf was held at UFMG facilities, we had the help of more than
10 University employees.
See the
list with the
names of people who helped in some way in organizing MiniDebConf Belo Horizonte
2024.
The difference between the number of people registered and the number of
attendees in the event is probably explained by the fact that there is no
registration fee, so if the person decides not to go to the event, they will
not suffer financial losses.
The 2024 edition of MiniDebconf Belo Horizonte was truly grand and shows the
result of the constant efforts made over the last few years to attract more
contributors to the Debian community in Brazil. With each edition the numbers
only increase, with more attendees, more activities, more rooms, and more
sponsors/supporters.

Activities
The MiniDebConf schedule was intense and diverse. On the 27th, 29th and 30th
(Saturday, Monday and Tuesday) we had talks, discussions, workshops and many
practical activities.

On the 28th (Sunday), the Day Trip took place, a day dedicated to sightseeing
around the city. In the morning we left the hotel and went, on a chartered bus,
to the
Belo Horizonte Central Market. People took
the opportunity to buy various things such as cheeses, sweets, cacha as and
souvenirs, as well as tasting some local foods.

After a 2-hour tour of the Market, we got back on the bus and hit the road for
lunch at a typical Minas Gerais food restaurant.

With everyone well fed, we returned to Belo Horizonte to visit the city's
main tourist attraction: Lagoa da Pampulha and Capela S o Francisco de Assis,
better known as
Igrejinha da Pampulha.

We went back to the hotel and the day ended in the hacker space that we set up
in the events room for people to chat, packaging, and eat pizzas.

Crowdfunding
For the third time we ran a crowdfunding campaign and it was incredible how
people contributed! The initial goal was to raise the amount equivalent to a
gold tier of R$ 3,000.00. When we reached this goal, we defined a new one,
equivalent to one gold tier + one silver tier (R$ 5,000.00). And again we
achieved this goal. So we proposed as a final goal the value of a gold + silver
+ bronze tiers, which would be equivalent to R$ 6,000.00. The result was that
we raised R$7,239.65 (~ USD 1,400) with the help of more than 100 people!
Thank you very much to the people who contributed any amount. As a thank you, we
list the names of the people who donated.

Food, accommodation and/or travel grants for participants
Each edition of MiniDebConf brought some innovation, or some different benefit
for the attendees. In this year's edition in Belo Horizonte, as with DebConfs, we
offered bursaries for food, accommodation and/or travel
to help those people who would like to come to the event but who would need
some kind of help.
In the registration form, we included the option for the person to request a
food, accommodation and/or travel bursary, but to do so, they would have to
identify themselves as a contributor (official or unofficial) to Debian and
write a justification for the request.
Number of people benefited:
- Food: 69
- Accommodation: 20
- Travel: 18
The food bursary provided lunch and dinner every day. The lunches included
attendees who live in Belo Horizonte and the region. Dinners were paid for
attendees who also received accommodation and/or travel. The accommodation was
held at the
BH Jaragu Hotel. And the
travels included airplane or bus tickets, or fuel (for those who came by car or
motorbike).
Much of the money to fund the bursaries came from the Debian Project, mainly
for travels. We sent a budget request to the former Debian leader Jonathan
Carter, and He promptly approved our request.
In addition to this event budget, the leader also approved individual requests
sent by some DDs who preferred to request directly from him.
The experience of offering the bursaries was really good because it allowed
several people to come from other cities.

Photos and videos
You can watch recordings of the talks at the links below:
And see the photos taken by several collaborators in the links below:
Thanks
We would like to thank all the attendees, organizers, volunteers, sponsors and
supporters who contributed to the success of MiniDebConf Belo Horizonte 2024.

Sponsors
Gold:
Silver:
Bronze:
Supporters
Organizers