Fedora Event Boxes

Justin Wheeler, Fedora Mindshare Committee, Fedora community

Fedora Event Boxes are turnkey solutions designed to help Fedora Ambassadors and contributors set up a professional presence at major Free Software and open source events. These boxes act as a "booth in a box," containing the essential materials needed to lower the barrier of organizing a Fedora presence. Instead of gathering materials from scratch for every conference, an organizer can request a shipping container that includes banners, tablecloths, demo hardware, and swag.

The concept was originally inspired by the GNOME Project’s Events Box and has been successfully circulating in North America since the program’s inception.

Purpose and Goals

The primary goals of maintaining these boxes are:

  • Consistency: To ensure a uniform and professional appearance for Fedora at events globally.

  • Ease of Use: To free up time for event organizers so they can focus on engagement rather than logistics.

  • Resource Sharing: To provide expensive reusable items (like rugged laptops and high-quality banners) that individual contributors cannot purchase alone.

Current Locations

We currently maintain active Event Boxes in the following regions. Please check the specific pages below for inventory status and maintainer contact information.

Requesting an Event Box

Event Boxes are available for Medium Events and larger, subject to availability. If the box is not already committed to another event during your requested dates, you may request it through the Fedora Mindshare Committee by opening a ticket in the Mindshare tickets tracker.

Logistics and Shipping

Shipping these boxes requires advance planning due to their size and weight. In most cases, the box is shipped from event to event, or back to a central logistics hub (such as Red Hat offices) for safe-keeping between busy seasons.

Standard Shipping Specifications

When preparing a shipment request (e.g., via Red Hat’s Global Logistics Center (GLC) or a standard courier), use the following estimates based on the standard Pelican 1610 case used by the project:

  • Packaging Type: Pelican Case (Hard shell)

  • Dimensions: 61 x 34 x 50 CM

  • Weight: Appx. 25kg (must be verified before shipping, as inventory changes)

  • Product Types: Laptop, Monitor, Swag (Apparel/Stickers)

After Your Event

When returning the Event Box, the event owner is responsible for working with the Mindshare Committee to ensure the inventory page is updated. This can be done either by sharing the updated inventory directly with the Committee in a mutually-agreed format, or by editing the relevant inventory page directly (see Continental US Fedora Event Box and European Fedora Event Box).

If you notice low stock on swag or stickers when closing out your event, please open a swag refill ticket in the Mindshare tickets tracker. Restocking is coordinated by the Fedora Community Architect.

Help Wanted

We are looking for trusted community partners to establish new Event Boxes in the APAC (Asia-Pacific) and LATAM (Latin America) regions. If you have the capacity to store a large Pelican case and assist with shipping logistics for your region, please contact the Fedora Mindshare Committee.

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