It was my first time at FOSDEM. I listened to podcasts/read blog posts from people that have been attending the last 15 editions so I kind of knew what to expect. I brought snacks both days, and didn't bother bringing a laptop. I picked odd hours for commuting, and tried to commit to a track/room for a bit (it took me days to figure out my schedule)

That means I probably missed some of the FOSDEM experience but I also didn't experience much crazy (except for the wintry mix that made moving around so hard on Saturday)

You are right that the volunteer experience is inconsistent and I have no data to compare to other years. At times, in some rooms, it felt like the attendees were self-policing (shooshing others, controlling people standing up, etc.) when the volunteers were not. I've also been to events in other places (Open Source Summit Japan comes to mind) where there were volunteers but the experience was much more streamlined. It might be cultural, who knows.

What I heard (and therefore wasn't expecting) is that nothing new gets announced at FOSDEM anymore. However there are still tens of thousands of people in the industry that might hear the news on Twitter/HN/elsewhere and still want to go ask questions/have a debate.