I have always loved such large-scale events and when I found out that LPS 25 would be held in Vienna this year, I immediately felt that if possible, I would definitely like to go to the conference for a few days. Due to university preparations and project work, time was very tight, but in the end I still managed to fit 2-3 days into one trip so that I could visit the Vienna Centre building during the event.
That weekend I traveled to Budapest and so I stopped in Vienna on Monday halfway to Salzburg. Since I had already been here two years ago for the BiDS 23 ESA conference, I had already taken a very routine look around the city. I booked accommodation in the same place, in a hostel called Wombats, this time in a 4-bed room for women only. And this time I was not disappointed either, it is a very cultured and sophisticated hostel, full of young people and young adults. Good price and close to the metro to take you to the conference venue. I only spent 2 nights here and on the third day I left for Salzburg, but the conference really impressed me.
There was a huge buzz and a lot of exhibiting companies, the presentations were constantly overlapping throughout the building complex – to be completely honest, I couldn’t quite keep up with the presentations and DEMO sessions. And there were a lot of visitors and there were excellent presentations and demonstrations. On the first day I managed to meet a lot of familiar faces, including my university professors from my undergraduate studies in Szeged, my old colleagues I worked with in Budapest, my former colleagues from university and my current colleagues from the Erasmus program. The best part of such events for me is that it is incredibly motivating to see this environment and talk, to meet new people who work and research for a similar goal from all over the world, or at least from all over Europe, every day.
I would like to highlight that the other most exciting part of such events is that you can meet many people in person, whether they are professionals or people you only know from LinkedIn or other social media, and such IRL events always make a much greater impression on me.
Overall, I really enjoyed the visit, I tried to go through all the stands and collect the best stickers, my favorite was the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem stand, where you could build a huge LEGO “satellite image” from Lego “tiles”. It was very apt and in retrospect I regret that we didn't prepare the Copurrnicus game for LPS 25 in time, with the flood of information, there could have easily been a small game "corner" in the corner 😊
I recommend everyone to visit these conferences and events, I hope to meet you somewhere someday, dear reader!
