adding a Feb events recap blog post

content/blog/2024-02-29-feb-event-recap.md

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+---
+title: "CentOS Connect, FOSDEM, and the AlmaLinux Leadership Summit!"
+type: blog
+author: 
+ name: "benny Vasquez"
+ bio: "Chair, AlmaLinux OS Foundation"
+ image: /users/benny.jpeg
+date: 2024-02-29
+images:
+  - /blog-images/2024/febeventrecap.png
+post: 
+    title: "February event recap!"
+    image: /blog-images/2024/febeventrecap.png
+---
+
+Earlier this month, we had three back-to-back events: CentOS Connect, FOSDEM, and our AlmaLinux Leadership Summit. Here's what to know about them for those who weren't there, and a little bit about what's to come.
+
+## CentOS Connect
+
+CentOS Connect is always a great place for us to connect with the folks most invested in one of our favorite upstream projects. We met tons of people and learned a ton! At this year's event our Cloud and Virt Team Lead Elkhan Mammadli was able to share a talk about how we automated testing here at AlmaLinux with openQA and Testinfra. The talk was recorded, so you can watch it yourself!
+
+<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HgZKLs5ItH4?si=cvzYgbjZurFP0EIR" title="Elkhan Mammadli: AlmaLinux: How we automated testing without inventing the wheel and instead improving it" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen style="max-width: 100%;"></iframe>
+
+You can watch the rest of the amazing sessions on the CentOS Youtube channel.  [here's the link to the full playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwA4mULGiF8&list=PLuRtbOXpVDjA30Q8EQzJBjfl0gCFo8vpK)!
+
+
+## FOSDEM
+
+FOSDEM is one of the most intense and rewarding events available for open source enthusiasts, and it's quickly become our favorite, even if it has a literal ton of people. With 900 speakers this year, it's easily the most engaged event that we attend every year. We had a lot of great conversations with users that we would never get to talk to, and our booth was packed nearly the entire time. Thank you to everyone who stopped by.
+
+![Andrew, Jonathan, and Elkin at our FOSDEM booth with a crowd](/blog-images/2024/IMG_0911.png)
+
+Even though we brought twice as many stickers and pens to give away this year as we did last, we were still nearly entirely out by Sunday morning. 
+
+![The table of swag at the booth](/blog-images/2024/084F7EF7-19A1-4983-B376-AAE911484698.jpg) ![A small collection of some of the stuff we had on the table](/blog-images/2024/3A5EE67D-51F1-4CB9-9CEC-8336BE3A6C6A.jpg)
+
+
+We also participated in two sessions at FOSDEM. Andrew Lukoshko, AlmaLinux OS Architect and Release Engineering Lead, presented on how to make a RHEL compatible distribution. You can [read more about it and watch the recording here](https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3161-almalinux-how-to-make-a-rhel-compatible-distribution/).
+
+![Andrew speaking at FOSDEM '24](/blog-images/2024/48F78477-BC19-4745-A203-57D037335CFC.jpg)
+
+In addition, I joined a panel session on openwashing in FOSS alongside Open Source Journalist and host Marcus Feilner, The Register's Liam Proven, and Karen Sandler, the Executive Director of the Free Software Conservancy. You can [read more about it and watch the recording here](https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3113-rhel-and-centos-and-the-growth-of-openwashing-in-foss/) if you're interested.
+
+![The openwashing panel at FOSDEM](/blog-images/2024/PXL_20240203_142645895.jpeg)
+
+## AlmaLinux Leadership Summit
+
+This is the second time we were able to bring together a few of the most influential and hard working folks involved in the AlmaLinux project to talk about all of the things we want to accomplish in the next year. This event is a full day of brainstorming, discussions, and collaboration that results in a list of goals for all of the SIGs.
+
+![The folks who were able to join the leadership summit](/blog-images/2024/IMG_0956.png)
+
+As a group we agreed on a lot of things, but our two key goals for this year are:
+
+1.  Smooth the onboarding process for new contributors, and make it easier for folks to do drive-by contributions in their own time. 
+2.  Shore up and streamline our practices and processes for the AlmaLinux project at large
+
+Our SIG leaders strongly believe that these are the things that will help keep the AlmaLinux regular group of contributors growing for this year and many years to come.
+
+## Upcoming Events
+
+If you missed us at these February events, do not fear! We will have booths at a bunch of other events later this year, too, and we'd love to have you join us! So far this year we will be participating in all of these:
+
+-   March 14-17 - [SCaLE](https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/) |
+
+-   March 16-17 - [CloudFest Hackathon](https://hackathon.cloudfest.com/project/securing-more-infrastructure-by-easing-os-upgrades/) |
+
+-   March 18th - [AlmaLinux Day Germany](https://almalinux.org/almalinux-day-germany-2024/) |
+
+-   March 19-22 - [CloudFest](https://www.cloudfest.com/) |
+
+-   April 8 - 10 - [FOSS asia](https://fossasia.org/) |
+
+-   April 12-13 - [TexasLinux Fest](http://texaslinuxfest.org/) |
+
+-   April 16 - 18 - [Open Source Summit NA](https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-north-america/) |
+
+-   April 26 - 28 - [PenguiCon](https://2024.penguicon.org/) |
+
+-   April 26 - 28 - [Linuxfest NW](https://linuxfestnorthwest.org/) |