fwd:cloudsec Europe 2025

Know Before You Go

Know before you go for fwd:cloudsec Europe 2025

We are glad you are attending the second fwd:cloudsec Europe! To help you make the most of your time, we’ve put together a document with some practical things to know.

Table of Contents

In short

Monday September 15 and Tuesday September 16, at Meliá Berlin. Friedrichstraße 103, Berlin (google maps link)

The long version

The location and getting there

The conference takes place in the Melia Berlin Hotel. You will find the registration at the ground floor. Please pick up your conference badge as soon as you enter the venue.

Address: Friedrichstraße 103, 10117 Berlin, Germany

We highly recommend using public transport in Berlin, the nearest train station (Berlin Freidrichstraße) is 2 minutes from the hotel, and connects directly to Berlin Brandenburg airport. If you arrive by high speed rail, the same station is one stop from Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

Flying into Berlin Airport (BER)

There are up to 8 trains per hour between the airport and the city, and you can take the train at level -1 of the main airport building (the same building as the departure and arrival halls).

You want to take any train that stops in “Freidrichstraße”. To buy a train ticket from Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) to the city center, you’ll need an ABC fare zone ticket. Purchase this ticket from vending machines at the airport, or buy it via the VBB, BVG, or S-Bahn mobile apps. After buying a paper ticket from a machine, you must validate it before starting your journey.

By train

When traveling through Germany by train, you can take advantage of a discounted rate when booking using our special DB Events link. The station closest to the hotel is “Freidrichstraße”, which is one stop (or a 20 minute walk) away from Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

By Car

Hotel Mélia has a parking garage with the entrance in “Am Weidendamm”. We recommend reaching out to the hotel for more information about price.

Berlin also has dedicated Park&Ride car parks outside of the city center, right next to a train station. Any car park on the S1, S2, S25, S26, S3, S5, S7, S9 and U6 lines will get you to the Freidrichstraße station without changing trains. The Visit Berlin website has a list of car parks grouped by line. The S-Bahn website has a useful map.

The conference

The latest schedule can be found on our website.

We open registration at 8:00, and we will have coffee and tea available for early birds. The first talk starts at 9:00 on both days, and the last talk ends at 17:30 on day one, and 17:00 on day two. Lunch is provided.

From 17:30 to 19:00 on day one, we will have our official happy hour with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. During that same time slot, we will also facilitate “birds-of-a-feather sessions”, which are informal (unrecorded) discussions about the topics you think are the most valuable to discuss (see Birds of a Feather and Hallway Con for a longer explanation).

All these activities are considered part of the fwd:cloudsec conference, and thus covered by our code of conduct.

Sponsors

We cannot have fwd:cloudsec without the support of our wonderful sponsors. They’ll have tables setup outside the conference rooms, and are looking to engage with the top minds in cloud security (that’s you). They also help us cover the cost of meals and drinks, and you will see their names there too.

Birds of a Feather and Hallway Con

Part of the fwd:cloudsec experience is networking with each other. We’ve reserved plenty of space for our attendees to congregate. We’ll also be facilitating the Birds of a Feather sessions.

All Birds of a Feather sessions will follow three basic rules:

  1. Chatham house rule
  2. No recording of any type
  3. Can disagree but be respectful (i.e. don’t be a jerk)

If you’re interested in hosting a Birds-of-a-Feather session, there will be a sign-up board at registration. You’ll be able to propose topics and attendees can vote which topics resonate with them.

Tickets and hotel

If you can’t make it to the conference, we ask you to reach out to tickets-eu@fwdcloudsec.org to cancel your ticket. We can change the name on the ticket so you can pass it to a co-worker or friend, or we’ll try to release your spot to the next person on the waiting list.

Your room booking is directly with the hotel (whether you used the link above or found a hotel on your own hotel), so do not forget to also follow their procedures and rules. Reach out to them directly if you need to cancel your room, or have any special requests.

Slack

Are you a member of the Cloud Security Forum Slack? If not, you should join. There are a number of channels related to fwd:cloudsec including:

Things to know about Berlin

A quick reference for all things Berlin are the Visit Berlin and Berlin.de websites. We especially like the “Public Transportation” page, but there are also pages dedicated to other modes of transport, or taxi fares (including what you could expect to pay for a ride to the airport).

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I pay for things?

Germany uses the Euro, so if you are from a place that also uses that currency, you won’t have much trouble.

Contactless payments and paying by card are commonplace in Berlin. Visa and Mastercard will be accepted in most places, especially bigger places in the center of a city. American Express is less commonly accepted, and many card formats common in other parts of the world (e.g Discover, JCB, UnionPay, Diners Club) will rarely be accepted if at all. Some places will have a sticker on the window to indicate the payment methods they accept, otherwise it never hurts to ask before ordering. Some supermarkets used to only accept debit cards, and while we believe most of them will now also accept Mastercard Credit Cards, we have not tested this. Smaller places like food trucks and market stalls might only accept cash, so ask before ordering.

It is usual to use a PIN when paying by card, it might be worth it to check if your card has one (and what it is). If it does not have a PIN, you can probably still get it working, but you might have to explain to the server what “swiping” is in this context.

If you aren’t from the Euro zone, when using a card, you’re likely to be prompted as to which currency you’d like to pay in. It’s almost always going to be cheaper to pay in the local (€) currency. Your bank’s commission will usually be less than what the payment provider will charge if you select to pay in your own currency.

Similarly there are usually (per transaction) ATM fees when getting cash out of a machine in a different country. Using an ATM inside of, or connected to a bank will have a better chance of having a low fee. ATMs from a network that’s not a bank typically have higher fees. If you request Euro-notes from your local bank before you leave, you might be able to avoid all fees.

Do I tip?

The official website of Berlin has a detailed guide about typing culture. As a rule of thumb you can round up in bars and coffeeshops, tip 5-10% in sit-down places and tip 10% in the nicer restaurants.

Tipping in places that do not have a tip jar is usually done by telling your server how much you’d like your total (including tip) to be, you typically cannot add a tip when paying by card after your receipt is printed.

What voltage and plug sockets does Germany use?

Germany runs on 230V at 50 hertz, using Type C or Type F sockets. In practice, that means if you’re carrying devices that work elsewhere in the EU, they should work fine. For those flying in from abroad, you’re likely to need some kind of adapter.

In addition, while many common devices and chargers run on universal transformers that’ll take anything from 110v to 240v, more esoteric devices and anything with heating elements (hair straighteners, travel irons, kettles etc) will likely only work with either 110v or 220-240v, not both. Worth checking the chargers on your devices before you fly if you’re coming in from outside Europe.

How do I use the internet?

If you already have a plan with a provider within the European Union, you should be able to use your normal subscription without any roaming charges.

If you are traveling from outside of the EU, you can: use a travel-sim or local prepaid plan. Both of these options usually are available as an eSim or sim card.

What local things should I try?

Berlin has a lot of “typical” things. From the “Currywurst” to (surprisingly) a Döner Kebab. But it’s also a very international city with a thriving food scene.

And while Oktoberfest is a Bavarian tradition, there is good (German) beer available in Berlin too.

Should I carry my passport everywhere?

Unlike many countries in Europe, it’s not a legal requirement to carry some form of official ID (for non-EU people, it’ll be your passport) on you at all times. However, it is a requirement to own appropriate ID and be able to present it if asked to, and if the police stop you and they’d like to look at your ID, they’re allowed to escort you to wherever you’ve kept it, which may result in some inconvenience. It’s not likely that this will come to pass while you’re in town for fwd:cloudsec, though.