JUG World Tour: BeJUG, BruJUG and how Devoxx was born as JavaPolis (#24)

The Foojay Java User Group World Tour has already brought us to a lot of different countries all over the world. But for this episode, the host decided to stay at home. The Belgium JUG (BeJUG) started in 1997 and was the birthplace of Devoxx, Devoxx4Kids, and VoxxedDays. And in our capital Brussels, we can join Brussels JUG (BruJUG), since 2010.

So there’s a lot we can talk about to learn more about communities and conferences!

Guests
Olivier Hubaut, BruJUG
• linkedin.com/in/olivierhubaut
• mastodon.top/@ohubaut
Stephan Janssen, founder BeJUG, Devoxx, Devoxx4Kids, Voxxed
• linkedin.com/in/stephanjanssen
• twitter.com/Stephan007
Tom Cools, AntwerpJUG, BeJUG
• linkedin.com/in/tom-cools-17547548
• twitter.com/TCoolsIT
• mastodon.social/@TCoolsIT
Podcast host
Frank Delporte

• linkedin.com/in/frankdelporte
• foojay.social/@frankdelporte
• twitter.com/FrankDelporte
Links
• meetup.com/belgian-java-user-group
• meetup.com/BruJUG
• devoxx.be
• events.voxxeddays.com
Content
00:00 Introduction of the topic and guests
02:19 History of BeJUG and the start of JavaPolis (Devoxx)
06:00 How BruJUG (Brussels) started and evolved
• hanselman.com/blog/dark-matter-developers-the-…
08:35 Tom as the winner of the bad timing award with AntwerpJUG
10:35 Impact of Covid on Devoxx and BruJUG
18:09 How BeJUG got restarted in 2022
• github.com/BeJUG/bejug.github.io
• Video: "Transitioning into Tech: The Journey of a Senior Junior Developer by Ibrahim Dogrusoz" (youtube.com/watch?v=9P_eq_d8GRs)
27:05 How BruJUG attracted new speakers + tips for new speakers or new talks
31:32 How Devoxx4Kids grew to a worldwide event
36:03 The tools developed and used to manage Devoxx
41:13 About the name change from JavaPolis to Devoxx and the franchising
46:14 Future plans for Devoxx, BruJUG and BeJUG
51:14 CFP for Devoxx and how reviewers can find sessions for their JUG
54:16 Outro