Hi Eyal,
I did explain why I believe Luxembourg would be the optimal location in the full proposal: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Luxembourg_2025_Conference_Candidacy.pdf
In my opinion the best location would have been to do it in the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels so that we, and other Open Source projects, get properly noticed by EU lawmakers.
The second best is Luxembourg as it hosts many EU institutions and is also a common destination for those that also work in institutions located in Brussels.
Due to the geopolitical situation we need to be noticed by those that finally understood that it’s time to look for options that allow a greater control on the technologies used by governments, companies and individuals to improve resilience and protect our data.
What we did last year was, as state by most people, a very successful test, this year we should work to get even more representatives of various institutions and governments so that we can show that the LibreOffice community, together with other communities and projects, are indeed ready to take on the challenge and help with upgrading to Open Source software.
Today there is also a hearing at the European Court of Justice that might (should) lead to the invalidation of Safe Harbor 3 (US-EU Data Privacy Framework) so that’s another reason why we should be present where the institutions are to show that there are viable Open Source options that protect our privacy.
While it would have been great to receive applications to organise LibOCon 2025 in other continents, as Europe is the only option this year we should make the most out of it and invite institutional delegations from all over the world to participate and meet with their European counterparts.
Yes it was a lot of work as I’ve been asked to organise it very late and with zero preparation on how to organise a large conference in a country where I moved a few years ago so I had no connections and experience with local logistics.
For this year things are a lot easier as we have a venue, an hotel where we can fit most/probably all the participants within the campus, catering and visa processes sorted.
That leaves more time and resources to focus on extending the invitation for participation to decision makers that need to hear from us and the other organisation that have or are in the process of upgrading to Open Source infrastructures which generally also include LibreOffice.
I hope I’ve provided you with what you need to take an informed decision.
Paolo