Attendee Guide 2024
Welcome to the Heart of Clojure 2024 Attendee Wiki! If you’ve got your ticket—congratulations! Below you’ll find everything you need to know to make the most of your trip to Leuven, Belgium, where this year’s event will take place from September 18th to 19th, 2024. We’ve included travel tips, venue details, and practical advice. This is a living document, so feel free to check back (or add!) updates.
This blog article "When a Plan Comes Together" is a fabulous resource and describes a more detailed high level schedule that will help you prepare for the event!
- Getting There
- Venues and Directions
- Communication & Community
- Tickets
- Programme & Additional Info
- Food and Drink
- Practical Information & FAQ
- Things to See and Do
Heart of Clojure is governed by the Berlin Code of Conduct. By attending the conference you agree to have read this document, and to abide by it. Heart of Clojure is a fun and playful conference, but it is still a professional event, and we expect everyone involved including attendees, speakers, organizers, volunteers, and venue staff, to be courteous, polite and respectful.
If for whatever reason you feel unsafe, or you have a negative experience with someone pleasant, please find the nearest person with a "CREW" t-shirt, and we will do our best to help, mitigate, or mediate.
You can also at any time reach out to these safety contacts, including using Signal secure messenger:
- Arne Brasseur (+32 496 945563)
- Bettina Shzu-Juraschek (+49 163 1647045)
We take all reports seriously, and reserve the right to revoke people's access to the conference, or to involve local authorities.
Heart of Clojure 2024 will be held in Leuven, a beautiful city just a short train ride from Brussels. Main conference activities will take place from Tuesday afternoon, September 17th, through Thursday, September 19th, but fringe activities will likely continue into the weekend. We recommend arriving early and staying a little longer to enjoy the area!
Getting to Leuven
If you’re coming from outside Belgium, the easiest way to reach Leuven is by train from Brussels. Whether you’re arriving from neighboring countries via Eurostar (London, Paris, etc.) or from Brussels Airport (BRU), the train is the fastest and most convenient way to get to Leuven.
- From Brussels Airport (BRU): There’s a direct train from the airport to Leuven, which departs regularly. No need to book tickets in advance—you can buy them at the airport and simply board the first available train. The ride is quick and efficient.
- From Brussels via Eurostar: If you’re arriving by Eurostar from London or other European cities, you’ll need to take a local train from Brussels Midi/Zuid station to Leuven. Be aware that there are two similarly named destinations: Leuven (Louvain) and Louvain-la-Neuve. You want Leuven/Louvain. It’s helpful to use the local train app, SNCB, which can provide up-to-date information on platform changes and departure times. If you’re unsure, don’t hesitate to ask the train conductor before boarding.
Tips:
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Platforms can change at the last minute in Brussels, so keep an eye on the signs and use the SNCB app for reliable updates.
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In Belgium, train destinations are typically displayed in both Flemish (Dutch) and French, so you may see Leuven or Louvain—both refer to the correct city.
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Louvain-la-Neuve is a different location, so double-check that you’re heading to the right one!
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Contrary to some neighbouring countries, Belgian trains don't have seat reservations. This also means if you miss a train you can simply hop onto the next one, tickets are valid for any train on the given route on that day (International trains like Thalys/Eurostar do have seat reservations and require a specific ticket.)
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A "weekend ticket" gets you a return trip to any destination at 50% discount. You can leave from Friday 7pm, and return until end of day Sunday.
The closest airport is Brussels Airport (BRU). Some budget airlines also fly into Charleroi Airport (CRL), but this is further from Leuven and involves additional bus and train transfers. If possible, fly into BRU for convenience. Charleroi has also seen some strikes in recent days, which may affect your flight.
Heart of Clojure 2024 will take place across two venues:
- Hal5: Community Space, here we will host workshops and the hallway track, and have space for people in the community to host their own activities (see Using the Compass App).
- Het Depot: A larger venue for keynotes and talks
Het Depot is located in the right hand corner of the square in front of the train station. If you take the pedestrian tunnel to the other side of the train station, and follow the path for 5 minutes, you get to Hal 5.
Both venues are conveniently close, with a short walk of about 8 minutes between them.
Leuven isn't huge, and you should be able to get anywhere you want to go on foot. If you want to explore the city center, then from the station take either the Diestsestraat (recommended, pedestrian only, starts in front of the bus station), or the Bondgenotenlaan, until you get to a big church. This is the central square (Grote Markt), where you also find the beautiful historic city hall, and you can explore from here.
- Your starting point for all things Heart of Clojure is Compass. You find both the official schedule there, and any fringe activities. You can even add activities of your own!
- In Compass you'll find a button to Sign-in with Discord. Doing so will add you to our official Heart of Clojure 2024 Discord. Next you can register your ticket using the registration code from Ti.to, this will unlock additional channels in Discord, so you can stay updated and connect with fellow attendees. This is the best place to reach organizers quickly (just tag
@orga) and receive the latest news and updates!
Social media has changed a lot since the last Heart of Clojure five years ago. We are now all in on the Fediverse (Mastodon and friends), and recommend you follow us there: @[email protected]!
If you don't yet have a Mastodon account, you can consider these instances, where you will find plenty of other functional programming enthousiasts.
As a scrappy grassroots conference, we depend on the support of volunteers. Join the Discord, fill out a quick Google form, and throw yourself on the schedule! These are a preview of the roles available:
- SUPERVOLUNTEER: I will be part of orga for one full day of the event (will rest on the other). (Ticket refunded)
- STEWARD: Help keep the space tidy, answer questions, move stuff around if necessary, refill fridges, and attend to the reception/volunteer desk.
- STAGE HAND: Help run the stage: assist hosts, wire up mics, set up laptops, run around with mics during Q&A, etc.
- BUILDUP & WIND-DOWN: Help with the venue setup before and/or after the event.
Links:
- Late Bird (€349) and streaming tickets (€45) are available on Ti.to.
The final schedule will be released soon. You can read session abstracts here on the website.
The Compass App will allow you to view the full schedule, sign up for activities, and even create your own events. To access the app:
- Visit the Compass App Website
- Browse the schedule, sign up for activities, or create your own events!
- A long "siesta break" will be held on both days, giving attendees the opportunity to relax, socialize, and participate in activities.
All attendees are encouraged to create new activities in the Compass app. This can really be anything, anywhere. Whatever seems like a fun thing to do with a bunch of other people.
At Hal 5 we have multiple zones available for this, and you'll also find these in Compass when creating an activity
- Workshop Area: this is set up like a classroom, with a projector at the front. It can fit 30~40 people. Keep in mind that most of the scheduled workshops and office hours already take place here, so check the schedule before booking this place. Compass will not yet warn you when double booking a space
- Community Space: most of the rest of the big hall is simply earmarked as "community space", there will be a screen and projector here as well, and a bunch of tables and chairs which we can re-arrange as necessary. Apart from the live performances on Wednesday evening no "official" sessions are planned here, this is all for you. Talk to the volunteers present if you need help setting up the space for whatever you have in mind
- Big table: outside the main hall, behind the hal 5 food court, there's a long table which can seat aroung 60 people. You could have more than one activity here at the same time, you could grab one end of this to do a Birds-of-a-feather discussion for instance.
- Outdoor seating: Outside in front of the hall we'll have tables and benches, this is just general sitting area, but you can book something here as well
- Food court: Hal 5's own bar / foodcourt area can also be used, but this should be mostly for very small things, e.g. up to 5~6 people, since the people of the neigbourhood who come to have dinner or drinks need somewhere to sit too, same for the outside seating in front of the foodcourt entrance
- Park/grass: in front of Hal 5 there's a big grass area, which is a park managed by the city. For stuff like yoga, or certain games this could be a great spot to meet. Wednesday afternoon the local circus school will hold a circus introduction here.
When creating an activity in Compass, you have the option to start a private Discord thread with all the people who sign up for your activity. We recommend making use of this, so that there's a place to community with the organizer and with each other.
In Compass you will find an "Add contact" link, which brings up a QR code. If another attendee scans your QR code, then this signals that both of you would like to keep in touch. So they'll show up in your list of contacts, and you can choose which profile or contact information you want to share with people you've added. At the end of the conference you'll get a list of your contacts, with their contact details.
(Note: we're still adding finishing touches to this feature)
- Coffee, tea, and water will be available free of charge at Hal5
- Soft drinks and beer/wine will be available for purchase (cash only, honour system, bring change if you can)
- A buffet-style catered lunch from local restaurants will be served at Hal5 during the lunch break each day. To ensure everyone gets a chance to eat, hot trays will be refilled for the first hour of every lunch session.
- Fruit (and cake) provided as snacks!
- Recommended local eateries:
- Habibi present both in Hal 5 and in the Diestsestraat - show your Heart of Clojure badge in the Diestsestraat to get a discount
- We'll have light breakfast options available at Het Depot on both days
Here’s where you can safely store your belongings during the event:
- Leuven Station: Lockers are available at the Station Square, south side near the toilets.
- Here are directions!
- Het Depot: Temporary lockers will be available during the event.
- Hal5: No lockers are available, but you may store items at the volunteer desk at your own risk.
- EU residents can generally use their data plans with no additional charges. For others, consider buying a prepaid SIM card. Make sure to bring an ID or passport for registration. Consult the Prepaid SIM Card Wiki for details. Nomad sells esims which you can already buy and activate before getting here.
- While Belgium is fairly card-friendly, it’s a good idea to carry some cash for smaller shops and bars. Maestro is widely accepted, with Visa and MasterCard available in most places. Occasionally smaller shops may only accept the local payment network's cards (Bancontact). American Express is less commonly accepted.
- We are a casual conference - no need to get dressed up! Prioritize comfort but don't forget that you are amongst friends and Heart of Clojure is a great place to express yourself! Jeans, sweatshirts, sneakers are all okay! **- Don't forget to check out the compass app to see what activities you may want to participate in that may require special clothing or accessories! **
Looks like we're in luck, we are expecting generally dry weather, which daytime highs in the low 20's, and nighttime lows in the low 10's (°C), with a mix of sun and clouds. That means it should be pleasant to sit outside during the day, especially when the sun is out, but the height of summer is over, and we recommended always carrying a sweater, and to have an extra layer handy in the evenings when it does get cooler. Currently chance of rain is low, but a passing shower is always possible in Belgium. Packing a rain jacket and/or umbrella is a good idea.
Don’t forget to bring a light jacket for the cooler evenings!
If you are participating in a workshop, then you probably should bring your laptop, unless the workshop description says otherwise. Apart from that it's up to you. When in doubt we recommend leaving it at the hotel, it's less weight to lug around, and you're better off talking to people than staring at your screen.
That said if you have a cool project you want to show people, or want to take the opportunity to pair with people, then go for it!
We will have power cords available at Hal 5, but not enough for everyone to be charging their devices all at the same time. Try to make sure your devices are charged beforehand.
There are no sockets available at Het Depot.
Belgium is famous for its beer culture, so make sure to sample some local brews. However, please drink responsibly, as many Belgian beers are stronger than what you might be used to. We recommend savoring these at a slower pace—moderation is key!
Heart of Clojure is a professional event, so please be mindful of others, and remember that all events are covered by our Code of Conduct.
While in Belgium, consider visiting nearby cities like:
- Brussels: The capital of Belgium with stunning architecture.
- Ghent: A vibrant university town with beautiful medieval buildings.
- Bruges: Often referred to as the "Venice of the North" for its picturesque canals.
- Antwerp: Belgium’s second-largest city and home to a vibrant arts scene.
- The Ardennes: A great spot for hiking and outdoor adventures.
We look forward to welcoming you to Heart of Clojure 2024 in Leuven! If you have any questions or suggestions, don’t hesitate to reach out through Discord. Safe travels and see you soon!