Are you planning on joining us for LibrePlanet 2019, coming up this weekend, March 23-24, at the Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)? If you haven't registered yet, there's still time -- registration is open through Tuesday, March 19 at 10:00 EDT, and we also welcome walk-ins (space permitting)! Remember, students and Free Software Foundation (FSF) associate members get in gratis.

We also hope you'll join us for the Friday night open house at the FSF office, here in Boston -- you can pick up your badge early to skip the line Saturday morning (more details below).

Here's your guide to maximum enjoyment of LibrePlanet:

• If you haven't seen it yet, the full conference program is now available.

• Badge pickup, registration, and coffee begin at 09:00 on Saturday at the conference site, the Stata Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.

Social events

You're invited to social and community events happening before the conference and during the conference weekend. All ages are welcome at all social events, and we strongly recommend using public transportation.

• On Friday evening, the FSF is hosting an open house at the FSF office, 51 Franklin Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02110 from 17:00 to 19:30. The FSF office is a short walk from the Downtown Crossing, State, and Park Street MBTA stops. The FSF office is an accessible space. We will provide beverages and light refreshments.

• After the open house, all women, genderqueer, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people interested in free software are invited to the Welcome Dinner. This is a gratis meal with some great people in free software -- keep an eye on the social activities page for the details.

• We'll celebrate on Saturday, March 23rd, after the Free Software Awards, from 19:00 to 22:00, at Scholars Bistro, 25 School Street, Boston, MA 02108, near the FSF office. All ages are welcome until 21:00. Gratis snacks will be provided, and your first drink is on the FSF. A full dinner menu is also available for purchase. The venue is accessible.

• Prefer a quieter social space? The FSF office will be open late for hacking and hanging out on Saturday from 19:00 to 21:30. Snacks, beverages, and power are provided. This is an alcohol-free event.

• On Sunday afternoon, during the lunch break from 12:35-13:35, we'll be holding an FSF members meeting at the LibrePlanet site (room TBA), where you can join other associate members to discuss successes from the past year and what you'd like to see in the future of the FSF. Pizza and salad will be provided. Please RSVP at https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2019/sunday_members_lunch.

• On Sunday night, starting at 21:00, join us at Grendel's Den, a Cambridge pub that is popular with local free software and free culture folks, located at 89 Winthrop Street in Harvard Square. This afterparty is not an official conference event, but is a standing tradition of many years. There is elevator access upon request. Call 617-491-1160 to have someone from Grendel's assist you.

• Want to plan a group dinner or other social gathering during LibrePlanet? Use the wiki to plan an event or join someone else's event.

More at LibrePlanet

• We're continuing our popular five-minute lightning talks by conference attendees about their free software passions. Sign up to give one!

• We're hosting an exhibit hall for a select group of projects and businesses in the free software world. Come by from 09:00 until 18:00 on both days of the conference to check out tables from 3NWeb, CivicActions, FreedomBox Foundation, GNOME, MIT Libraries' Program on Information Science, Private Internet Access, Purism, Technoethical, ThinkPenguin, and the Tor Project.

• You can use the #libreplanet IRC channel on freenode (irc.freenode.org) to participate in the online discussion before, during, and after the conference. You can also use Mumble voice chat on the mumble server at mumble.fsf.org. We provide these resources, along with video streaming, so that free software supporters who are unable to travel to the US for economic and/or political reasons are still able to participate.

• You can pre-order your LibrePlanet 2019 T-shirt until Wednesday, March 20, at midnight EDT -- or, just wait and buy yours at the GNU Press table at the conference!

Resources

• Logistics info, including transportation, accommodations, and restaurants, is available to make it easy for you to figure out travel and choose lodging near the conference.

• The libreplanet-discuss mailing list is great for planning ride-shares or social events during the conference weekend, and also for participating in the year-round conversation about free software events and issues.

• Are there two LibrePlanet sessions you want to see, and they're at the same time? Fear not, recordings will be available after the conference at https://media.libreplanet.org.

Win a raffle prize!

This year LibrePlanet will be having another awesome raffle. Buy tickets to support free software while also getting a chance to win:

• Hosting, routers, and gift certificates from Vikings GmBH;

• A LulzBot Mini 2 3D printer from Aleph Objects;

• An S3 smartphone with Replicant and a Respects Your Freedom-certified T400s laptop from Technoethical;

• A gift certificate to ThinkPenguin;

• Subscriptions to JMP;

• ChaosKeys from Altus Metrum, LLC; and more!

All attendees get a gratis raffle ticket, FSF associate members get a second gratis ticket, and everyone can buy more chances to win at the GNU Press table during LibrePlanet, as well as at the Friday open house and Saturday evening social events! Buy one ticket for $2, 3 tickets for $5, one arm's length for $20, cash or credit. FSF staff and board members are not eligible to participate in the raffle.

Weather

Keep an eye on the weather and dress accordingly.

Thank you to our sponsors!

LibrePlanet 2019 is supported by several generous sponsors. Big thanks to Red Hat and Private Internet Access!