European Regional DrupalCon Organizers

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robertDouglass's picture

This document was approved by the European Regional DrupalCon Organizers after a discussion and vote on September 24, 2009.

This group is the planning space for the European Regional DrupalCon Organizers.

  1. What is this group?
  2. This groups.drupal.org group is open for everyone
  3. Proud History
  4. Production Team Responsibilites
  5. Location Selection Taskforce
  6. DrupalCon Production Team
  7. How to Nominate a Location
  8. How will locations be evaluated?

What is this group?

The European Regional DrupalCon Organizers (ERDO) have been chartered by the Drupal Association (DA) to guide the organisation of European DrupalCons, starting with 2010. The group Chair is Kristof Van Tomme of the Drupal Association as recruited by Cary Gordon, the Events Manager from the DA Board of Directors (BoD).

ERDO fills the following roles:

  • Recommends locations and local teams to the BoD.
  • Coordinates DrupalCon Europe production efforts.

This groups.drupal.org group is open for everyone

You should join and participate in this group if you:

  • Want to help make DrupalCon Europe a success
  • Want DrupalCon to come to your city or country
  • Are an organizer or leader of a local European Drupal group
  • Want to stay up to date with the latest news about upcoming DrupalCons

Proud History

DrupalCons in Europe have a proud and successful history, deeply rooted in grassroots volunteerism. The first DrupalCon was held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2005. Since then, Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Szeged and Paris have all hosted extraordinary events, completely managed by generous volunteers.

With the growth of the Drupal community, the size of DrupalCons is increasing. The DA has set specific goals to increase the size and reach of DrupalCon. European DrupalCons will likely attract upwards of 1,000 people. The financial and organizational challenges of such events is enormous.

Furthermore, the price of failing to put on a successful DrupalCon is also rising. An unsuccessful DrupalCon means a setback in the community momentum, bad press, missed opportunity, and lost revenue for the DA (and thus lost revenue for the Drupal project). To mitigate these risks, the DA will assume all financial responsibilities for DrupalCons in the future. DrupalCon is a major source of revenue for the DA.

To further mitigate risk, the DA will be extending the planning cycle for DrupalCons dramatically, announcing locations as far as two years in advance, building organization teams as early as possible, and outsourcing tasks like physical production, printing, signage, and venue services to events professionals.

This frees local groups and volunteers from the burden of having to manage budgets of hundreds of thousands of Euros, and protects local groups from the risk of losing money due to a DrupalCon.

Production Team Responsibilites

Local groups and volunteers assume the following responsibilities:

  • Branding
  • Conference programming
  • Hospitality and social programming
  • Press relations and P.R.
  • Scholarship program
  • Speaker recruitment and scheduling
  • Web site
  • Recruiting and managing volunteers
    • Session monitors/assistants
    • Registration assistance

Location Selection Taskforce

As Chair of the ERDO group, Kristof Van Tomme has recruited a small team to assist in vetting location nominations. The team consists exclusively of people who are either members of the Drupal Association General Assembly (GA) or people with direct experience producing DrupalCamps or DrupalCons. Please contact Kristof if you wish to be part of this taskforce.

  • Bert Boerland, DA/GA, DrupalCon Amsterdam
  • Robert Douglass, DA/GA, DrupalCamp Germany
  • Isabell Schultz, DrupalCon Paris
  • Kristof Van Tomme, DA/GA, DrupalCon Szeged

The sole function of the location selection taskforce is to vet location nominations, solicit feedback from the DA's events organization outsourcing company, and submit a written recommendation to the BoD for DrupalCon Europe locations in 2010 and 2011.

DrupalCon Production Team

Following location selection the ERDO Chair (Kristof) will build a production team for each coming DrupalCon. The production team will naturally include people from the local group that nominated the DrupalCon location, as well as motivated volunteers from the entire ERDO group. The Production Team then works together with the DA and the DA events outsourcing firm to achieve the Production Team Responsibilities.

How to Nominate a Location

To nominate a location where DrupalCon should be hosted, please submit a discussion to this group.

For 2010 locations use the tag: DrupalCon Europe 2010 Nomination
For 2011 locations use the tag: DrupalCon Europe 2011 Nomination

You can nominate your location for both years.

The nomination should focus on the strength, composition, and proven track record of the local or regional groups who will be part of the DrupalCon Production Team. This is by far the most important criterium. The nomination should address the following points:

  • The location must have a strong local or regional group that has demonstrated the ability to organize events. How often do you meet? What events have you hosted? Do you have a group on g.d.o.? Do you have a separate website?
  • The location must be near an international airport and otherwise have good transportation infrastructure.
  • What is the local business climate for Drupal? Are there a lot of local agencies or organizations investing heavily in Drupal?
  • Do you have a theming or branding concept for DrupalCon?
  • Does the location offer unique hospitality or social programming opportunities?

Note that you don't need to define a budget, and that it isn't necessary to confirm dates or secure availability with the venues. This will all be handled by the Drupal Association.

How will locations be evaluated?

See the Scorecard Criteria.

Comments

This is a very good start

highermath's picture

I think that this is a very good start and have no substantial issues with it. I do have some language issues.

Please don't use the term, proposal, as it carries baggage for the previous model. I would prefer: suggest a city or nominate a city, etc.

I would eliminate any direct mention of venues. I would prefer to leave assessment of potential venues to the professionals. This won't, of course, keep people from discussing these on there own. In any event, I don't want to tie cities to venues in any way.

The description of the committee/group is confusing. I think that it is possible to interpret this as meaning that there is a committee consisting of Kristof, Bert, Isabell and Robert. and a planning group that is open to the public. While I might be wrong, I don't think that this is what you intend. One of your members spent considerable effort in explaining to me the reason for not using the word committee, and in the events plan there is a European Regional DrupalCon Organizing Group. Would it be correct to assume that the European Regional DrupalCon Organizing Group, the European DrupalCon Committee and the aforementioned planning group are one in the same. or is the planning group a subset of the European DrupalCon Committee/Group, and if so, is the latter open to the public?

The realpolitik of the Drupal Association (e.g. those who do the work, get to do more work) would strongly suggest that no reasonable proposal (and it is a proposal at this point) to the Association by a Regional Organizing Group representing its consensus is likely to be rejected.

BTW, what is the distinction between European and Pan European?

Thanks for the prompt feedback

robertDouglass's picture

Please don't use the term, proposal, as it carries baggage for the previous model. I would prefer: suggest a city or nominate a city, etc.

will s/proposal/nominate/.

I would eliminate any direct mention of venues. I would prefer to leave assessment of potential venues to the professionals. This won't, of course, keep people from discussing these on there own. In any event, I don't want to tie cities to venues in any way.

Kristof and I discussed this as well. I want to leave the door open to local groups to propose venues because there are often places in cities that would make great DrupalCon venues that don't show up on the lists of places that events organizers normally have access to. Among these would be Universities, spaces held by companies for their own events, or local cultural centers that don't usually rent out trade-show or conference groups. These types of venues often come with local contacts who have "work for", or "built the website for", or "went to school with the boss of" relationships. If we don't ask local people for venue suggestions, we never open these doors. We're not asking people in the nomination process to go book anything - but if there is an incredible private ski hall in the Alps that someone can rent because the owner loves open source - we want to know.

Taking your comments out of order now:

One of your members spent considerable effort in explaining to me the reason for not using the word committee, and in the events plan there is a European Regional DrupalCon Organizing Group.

I can get rid of committee. How's task force?

The description of the committee/group is confusing. I think that it is possible to interpret this as meaning that there is a committee consisting of Kristof, Bert, Isabell and Robert. and a planning group that is open to the public. While I might be wrong, I don't think that this is what you intend.

Well, actually I did mean that. Someone has to take all of the suggestions, evaluate them, send them to the events professionals, write up a report to the Board of Directors, and so forth. The most logical subset of people available to do this is people from the Drupal Association and people who have directly organized DrupalCons before. Kristof is the chair of this task force and he can change the lineup, but someone decides.

Would it be correct to assume that the European Regional DrupalCon Organizing Group, the European DrupalCon Committee and the aforementioned planning group are one in the same. or is the planning group a subset of the European DrupalCon Committee/Group, and if so, is the latter open to the public?

With the renamed s/committee/task force/ it looks like this:

  • Everybody in this g.d.o. group who wants to have a role to play
  • local/regional teams serious about having DrupalCon in their backyard, one of which gets to actually do it every year
  • A group of people chosen by the Chair of this group to help decide which recommendations to send to the Board of Directors.

In the nomenclature of the proposal above it breaks down like this:

  • Everybody in this g.d.o. groups is called the Pan European Volunteers ("Pan" makes it clear that it's everybody, not just the people in City X that got chosen)
  • The @DrupalCon Local Group (The @DrupalCon makes it clear that these are the people who are at the DrupalCon site - at least enough so that they can take care of local things like auditioning bars in advance)
  • The European DrupalCon Taskforce - A relatively small group of people who are either from the D.A. or have run DrupalCon in the past who can judge city nominations and local teams based on experience and have a vested interest (responsibility) to look after the needs of the Drupal Association and the Drupal community.

The realpolitik of the Drupal Association (e.g. those who do the work, get to do more work) would strongly suggest that no reasonable proposal (and it is a proposal at this point) to the Association by a Regional Organizing Group representing its consensus is likely to be rejected.

Yes, as long as it is clear that a consensus was built and that the suggestions were not just a list of tourist attractions thrown up on a dart board.

I hope that the process outlined above is both transparent enough to build consensus and efficient enough to avoid a bikeshedding marathon that includes comparing the fame of local beers, the perfume of the local flowers, and the delicacy of the mists blowing from the local waterfalls. We need local teams with track records and volunteers who are serious about the responsibilities they take on.

In the end it's too bad we can't have two DrupalCons in Europe every year - there are so many great local groups and fantastic cities here =)

I think that the dart board

highermath's picture

I think that the dart board approach would work fine, as long as everyone gets a dart and targets are not limited to those contained by the dart board .

It was Kristoff who inveighed on the side of changing committee to group, so I am going to >think< of you as the European DrupalCon Organizing Group, and you can call yourselves anything you like... As long as everyone gets a dart.

I am also completely open to your choice of structure, as long as the community at large is behind you. In other words, the idea was to open the process, so your structure and governance has to be consistent with that. My only real concern is that you avoid creating an overly complex system.

I think that the local groups can and should suggest venues, but venues should not be a principal consideration in nominating cities. To avoid muddying the water, the first contact with any venue should come from the event production company.

In the end it's too bad we can't have two DrupalCons in Europe every year

Just shoot me now and be done with it.

Spot On

steveparks's picture

Hi Robert,

Following your tweet I came here to give feedback as requested - but I think you've got it dead right. So this message is just so you know the post isn't being ignored, just that there's nothing to change in my view, it's sport on. :)

Steve

=======
Steve Parks
WunderRoot
http://www.wunderroot.com

sounds pretty okay in my

mortendk's picture

sounds pretty okay in my ears.
Especially that we drop the whole - this is a good place for tourist, and they have great beers (yup ive said that!)
Its really not relevant for making a good drupalcon.

Whats the plan about the time frame for city suggestions?

/morten.dk king of rock
morten.dk | geek Royale

Time frame

robertDouglass's picture

I encourage groups wishing to nominate cities to get going NOW on answering putting together a nomination post. I hope we will start accepting them Saturday. Then, by October 1 at the latest, I hope that they have been discussed here and rated using the criteria that Bert is currently working on, so that we can pass them to the events professionals (Blue Project) for further feedback, and then on to the Board by October 15.

Oh, and Cary mentioned elsewhere, and I agree, that we should choose the next two cities in one go. Teams making nominations should consider whether they want to be considered for 2010, 2011, or both.

alright then well be starting

mortendk's picture

alright then well be starting to write tomorrow morning on copenhagen 2011

/morten.dk king of rock
morten.dk | geek Royale

I beg to differ: The

Gerhard Killesreiter's picture

I beg to differ: The "holiday" part of DrupalCons is just as important as are others.

+1 to Tourism as factor

horncologne's picture

Agree with Gerhard here - otherwise we can just start going to airport hotels or industrial parks to meet, right?

Right, that's what I meant.

Gerhard Killesreiter's picture

Right, that's what I meant.

We all do

robertDouglass's picture

I think everybody cherishes DrupalCon as a chance to see places and enjoy local attractions.

qft

seutje's picture

qft

I do not want to be picky - nobody should get hurt

confetti's picture

[[The ghost of DrupalCons past.
DrupalCons in Europe have a proud and successful history, deeply rooted in grassroots volunteerism. The first DrupalCon was held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2005. Since then, Amsterdam, Brussels, Szeged and Paris have all hosted extraordinary events, completely managed by generous volunteers.]]
I want to add Barcelona in 2007 which was a really great event. :-)

. . .
------------------------------------------------
Bettina
Don't Follow Trends: Set Them!
https://drupal-training.de

I missed Barcelona in the

robertgarrigos's picture

I missed Barcelona in the list also so I added it. I know it is just an anecdote but this absence made me feel a bid sad. You healed my soul Bettina. Thanks :-)


Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat

:p

NikLP's picture

The "Drupaltown" motif is something that I felt really suited us, and I don't think it's something we have to shed now just because the Cons are growing in size. Szeged was great, cos we all got to gather in central places quite easily. That sort of thing is much less manageable in larger cities.

I'd be happier to see more Cons of a smaller size to keep these things more manageable, if I'm honest. There's inevitably a critical mass past which everybody starts to lose out because of the sheer size of the event.

Cost is another thing that really affected a lot of people in Paris. We should note potential cost to the individual and that should be near the top of the list of determining factors in decisions re potential locales.

Not sure about more Cons

mcjim's picture

Not sure about more Cons, but totally agree with trying to keep the DrupalTown feel and keeping an eye on cost to the individual.
However, if an expensive city like Paris or London is nominated, it shouldn't be ruled out as cost to the individual could be (and should be) mitigated by lower ticket price/scholarships/accommodation deals, etc.

Teams plus cities

robertDouglass's picture

To have DrupalCon in a smaller city we need two things: A dedicated team (1) who nominates a smaller city (2).

One thing missing: a team

Damien Tournoud's picture

From Cary Gordon above:

Please don't use the term, proposal, as it carries baggage for the previous model. I would prefer: suggest a city or nominate a city, etc.

The "Drupalcon Team" mentionned in that text feels like a ghost. There will be no successful Drupalcon without a strong organizing team, and we need to build on that. I like having formal proposals, because those have to be backed by somewhat structured organizing teams. The "fun and rewarding" part of organizing the Drupalcon is still very substantial.

Damien Tournoud

Some review

Damien Tournoud's picture

The European Regional DrupalCon Organizers (ERDO) have been chartered by the Drupal Association to guide the organisation of European DrupalCons, starting with 2010, and going forward. The group Chair is Kristof Van Tomme of the Drupal Association as appointed by Cary Gordon, the Events Manager and Board Member of the Drupal Association. He will be assisted by Bert Boerland and Robert Douglass, both Permanent Members on the Drupal Association and Isabell Schultz, one of the organizers of the recent DrupalCon Paris.

Please add "task force" after ERDO, for consistency.

The minimum charter of ERDO is to make a recommendation to the Drupal Association on where future European DrupalCons might be held. This document describes how ERDO plans to achieve that minimum goal in a transparent way, as well the overall plan for volunteers who want to be involved in organizing DrupalCons.

"The minimum charter" suggests that the charter of the task-force could be expanded later on. This should be explicit if it is the case.

Plus the charter as described here is inconsistent with what you describe below.

This groups.drupal.org group is open for everyone

What is the link between the group and the task-force?

You should join and participate in this group if you:

* Want to help make DrupalCon Europe a success;
* Want to DrupalCon to come to your city or country;
* Are an organizer or leader of a local European Drupal group;
* Want to stay up to date with the latest news about upcoming DrupalCons.

"DrupalCon Europe" is a new concept. I suggest sticking with "Want to help organizing upcoming european DrupalCons".

The ghost of DrupalCons past

Please revisit the vocabulary here. The word "Ghost" feels judgmental to previous Drupalcon teams.

DrupaCons in Europe have a proud and successful history, deeply rooted in grassroots volunteerism. The first DrupalCon was held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2005. Since then, Amsterdam, Brussels, Szeged and Paris have all hosted extraordinary events, completely managed by generous volunteers.

As already spotted, Barcelona is missing.

With the growth of the Drupal community, the size of DrupalCons is increasing.

The two are not directly linked. I suggest "The board of the Drupal association wants to increase the size of the DrupalCons."

DrupalCons will most likely exceed 1000 attendees.

Similarly, that's an objective, not a fact.

The financial and organizational challenges of such events is enormous. Furthermore, the price of failing to put on a successful DrupalCon is also rising. An unsuccessful DrupalCon means a setback in the community momentum, bad press, missed opportunity, and lost revenue for the Drupal Association (and thus lost revenue for the Drupal project). To mitigate these risks, the Drupal Association will assume all financial responsibilities for DrupalCons in the future. This frees local groups from the burden of having to manage budgets of hundreds of thousands of Euros, and protects local groups from the risk of losing money due to a DrupalCon. It also allows the Drupal Association to outsource some aspects of the organizing to events professionals (setting up rooms, securing catering, negotiating contracts with venues, worrying about insurance policies, observing local ordinances with regards to health and safety, etc.)

Similarly, it's because the board of the Drupal association wants to increase the size of the DrupalCon that it makes sense for the association to assume the risk and outsource the organization as early as possible.

What can local groups and volunteers do?

Local groups and volunteers, also referred to as Pan European Volunteers, can be involved in the organizing and coordinating all non-logistical details for DrupalCon Europe. This includes: programming, speaker selection, social activities, the conference Web site.

This is backward. First pick a team that will have to assume that, and put it in charge of it. Simply stating that people "can be involved" doesn't make a successful organizing team.

Since the Drupal Association has assumed all financial risks and responsibilities in running DrupalCon, the opportunities for individuals and local groups to participate in organizing DrupalCon have increased. As a local team in the city where DrupalCon will be held, you no longer have to start your own non-profit company, and you no longer have to set aside months of time to be a full-time organizer. As an individual you no longer have to be part of an exclusive group that placed a winning bid in order to help out and be involved in the production of DrupalCon.

Could you please remove that? This paragraph makes no sense. If you don't give incentive for people to participate and build momentum (for example by mandating that a team prepares a proposal for a city), you will not get participation. Thinking that because there is less ground work to do means you will get more participation is wishful thinking.

Instead, the local team and volunteers across Europe can focus on the parts of DrupalCon that make it fun and rewarding - the people and the content. There is also a large role for anybody else who want to help make DrupalCon a success. Overall there are three groups who have a part to play:

1. The Pan European Volunteers: The entire set of people working to make DrupalCon happen, including everyone in this groups.drupal.org group.
2. The @DrupalCon Local Group: The team of local or regional volunteers who proposed that DrupalCon should come to their country or city. This group lives in, or has easy access to, the city where DrupalCon will be held.
3. ERDO Taskforce: Kristof, Bert, Isabell and Robert: Responsible for organizational efforts, reporting to the Drupal Association, interfacing directly with professional agencies hired to help with DrupalCon, and delegating tasks to volunteers.

I would merge (1) and (2) into a "DrupalCon organizing team". We can stress out that the team can and should be paneuropean (the Drupalcon Paris team had members from France, Germany, Belgium, UK and Spain!).

Roles and responsibilities

Pan European Volunteers

In that paragraph, I would replace "Pan European Volunteers" by "Everyone".

* City Selection
o Local or regional groups submit proposals for cities. See "How to suggest a city to host DrupalCon"
o Discussion and evaluation of city suggestions.
* DrupalCon Production
o Identify potential local sponsors and introduce them to the fundraising team (Drupal Association)
o Assist DrupalCon webmasters (blogging, theming, moderation, facilitating communication in cases of language barriers, translating content...)

I would remove "Local or regional groups submit proposals for cities. See "How to suggest a city to host DrupalCon" which is already below.

@DrupalCon Local Group

I would rename that "Candidate DrupalCon Team". This doesn't have to be a local team.

* City Selection
o Local or regional groups submit proposals for cities. See "How to suggest a city to host DrupalCon".
+ Make sure you have a strong and well-organized group.
+ Make sure you have experience running events.
+ Identify one or more potential venues where DrupalCon could be held (these get listed as part of the proposal).
+ Identify potential local sponsors, and/or businesses in the area involved with Drupal.
+ Be prepared to explain why your city is an attractive and strategic place for DrupalCon.
o Discussion and evaluation of city suggestions.

Discussion and evaluation of city suggestions is alredy in "Everyone". Please don't introduce shared responsibilities.

* DrupalCon Production
o Suggest an overall "theme" for DrupalCon. Eg. Szeged was "Drupaltown" to emphasize that Szeged, a small city, will feel like a small town filled with Drupalistas.
o Become involved in DrupalCon Website production. Possible roles include theming, blogging, moderation, translation, etc.
o Help the Drupal Association maximize the support of local sponsors and media.
o Help plan evening social activities, provide guidance for visitors who want to be tourists before or after DrupalCon.

That's light. We need to work out the link between the DrupalCon team and the Drupal association better then that. I note that session selection, inviting keynote speakers, recruiting volunteers, etc. is not listed here.

ERDO Taskforce

* City Selection
o Review and evaluate city proposals. Specific and concrete evaluation criteria are being worked on, but the essence will be similar to the following:
+ The city must have a strong local or regional group that has demonstrated the ability to organize events.
+ The city must be close to an international airport.
+ The suggested or available venues must be able to support the needs of DrupalCon.
+ Bonus points if clear local business and media interest in Drupal can be shown.
o Solicit feedback from the Pan European Volunteers and community concerning city proposals.
o Solicit feedback from professional events planners and solicit recommendations, based on the city proposals.
o Based on the evaluation criteria, feedback from the events planners, and feedback from the other members in this group, make a recommendation to the Drupal Association Board of Directors on where DrupalCon should be held.

If I understand correctly, this four points are "Recommend a city to board of the Drupal association". If it is so, let's say it explicitly. As far as I know, the board takes the final decision.

+ Note that neither Kristof, nor Bert, nor Robert are on Drupal Association Board of Directors (the body that makes the final city decision). They are members of the Drupal Association General Assembly. Thus they do not have an official vote in the city selection decision. The job of the ERDO Taskforce is to make suggestions to the Board of Directors based on sound criteria, community feedback, and the wisdom of professional events planners.

That clarifies it. Let's remove this one, cut most of the points above and just say that the ERDO taskforce makes a recommendation.

* DrupalCon Production
o Manage DrupalCon production on behalf of the Drupal Association, with the direct assistance of:
+ The Drupal Association
+ Events professionals (hired by the Drupal Association)
+ @DrupalCon Local Group
+ Pan European Volunteers

This is a challenge ;) It's basically the most important responsibility, and it only takes one line? We really need to work out the sharing of responsibility between the stakeholders: the Drupal association, the ERDO taskforce, the event organizer, the Drupalcon team.

Most of the key things that make a successful Drupalcon have not been listed yet (building the schedule, inviting keynote speakers, raising funds, picking a venue, choosing a ticket pricing model, raising momentum, organizing the event communication, etc.). The association has nearly no experience in most of those currently, but the ERDO taskforce has. Would those be the full responsibility of the ERDO taskforce?

How to suggest a city to host DrupalCon

To suggest a city where DrupalCon should be hosted, please submit a nomination to this group. The nomination has to show the following things:
* The city must have a strong local or regional group that has demonstrated the ability to organize events.
* The city must be close to an international airport.
* The suggested or available venues must be able to support the needs of DrupalCon (this will be evaluated by the events organizing professionals).
* Bonus points if clear local business and media interest in Drupal can be shown.

As stressed out above, I believe that it should first be a team suggesting a city.

Note that the nomination need not define a budget, and that you need not confirm dates or secure availability with the venues. This will all be handled by the Drupal Association.

Good luck ;)

Damien Tournoud

Thanks for the extensive review

robertDouglass's picture

Please check the revised version to see if I've addressed all your points. Thanks.

I agree with almost

robertgarrigos's picture

I agree with almost everything in this draft. I would only add two things:

First, I would add Barcelona in the list (which I just did - don't worry Robert, I know it wasn't on purpose ;-).

Second: I like the idea of having an open poll on the suggested cities for a given drupalcon. openoffice community does that and I like it. It would be just another point to take into account by the Drupal association: community's desire of going to one city or another.


Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat

I can see an open poll playing a role

robertDouglass's picture

As long as it is clear that it is one data point among others that go into the recommendation, and not the sole decision making instrument. Thanks for adding Barcelona - I still regret not being there!

open polls - really dont make any sence

mortendk's picture

What we need is a decision based on fact about the city, and the local group -so we all know that they can handle it, and not a popularity contest, where whom ever can get the most votes.

Voting like that have been seen a couple of times to fail in out community - the most recent the t-shirt voting in DCDC.

/morten.dk king of rock
morten.dk | geek Royale

One criterium

robertDouglass's picture

http://groups.drupal.org/node/27246#evaluation

See if that makes sense and fits right.

drupal is getting many awards

robertgarrigos's picture

drupal is getting many awards trough open polls and I don't see anyone complaining about it. I cannot find a reason to not use open polls as a new paramater in the function somehow. It would, definitely, give us an idea of the strength of the local community as well as the reveled interest in the community abroad.


Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat

Agree. I wouldn't like it as

robertgarrigos's picture

Agree. I wouldn't like it as the sole decision making but definitely necessary to give the community the voice it deserves.


Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat

but lets get real here - will

mortendk's picture

but lets get real here - will it have any say in the actual decision?
afaik the voting for the sessions the last couple of years have only been a small guideline? so isn't it kinda telling people ooh your vote counts, but were not gonna look at it ;)

/morten.dk king of rock
morten.dk | geek Royale

will it have any say in the

robertgarrigos's picture

will it have any say in the actual decision?

It should have somehow, of course. Otherwise it wouldn't have any sense, indeed. I agree with that.


Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat

Nearly a complete rewrite

robertDouglass's picture

Many people provided great feedback and I've nearly completely rewritten the document. The goals of the document are to be clear, fair, open, and to lead to a great DrupalCon. Keep the feedback coming.

it looks clear in my eyes

mortendk's picture

it looks clear in my eyes :)
great work Robert.

/morten.dk king of rock
morten.dk | geek Royale

So to my!

robertgarrigos's picture

So to my!


Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat

We need to see the scorecard I think.

horncologne's picture

If local groups can see the scorecard before proposing their cities, I think we'd all be able to asses how realistic our group's/town's chances are overall.

This doc is shaping up nicely - kudos to all involved.

  • jam / horncologne

YES!

NikLP's picture

It's important that the criteria for judging who will "win" out of any one pool of cities is made transparent.

This did not happen with the city selecton for this year's Drupalcon, and as I understand it resulted in a lot of wasted work on the part of the Maastricht bid's team, as they were told "after the fact" that their proposed location simply wasn't suitable (or rather, that Paris was picked as a "better" location).

That level of decision ould easily have been made before they did all the work they did, and this would have been a preventable mishap if the criteria were available up front.

Proposed scorecard

robertDouglass's picture

http://groups.drupal.org/node/27616

The maths have to be sorted, but that's how I envision the criteria.

It's a wiki - add your own ideas, or leave comments.

Minor correction

highermath's picture

I did not appoint Kristoff to be the chair of a committee. I recruited (e.g. begged) him to organize the European group, just as I did with Tiffany Farriss for North America.

BTW: Robert, you are doing a fantastic job with this!

s/appointed/recruited/

robertDouglass's picture

s/appointed/recruited/

Thumbs up!

Itangalo's picture

Great work with the document.
//Johan Falk, chieftain of the Swedish Drupal group

As I have already said, I

timmillwood's picture

As I have already said, I would love to see Drupalcon UK.

I will work with the guys at #drupaluk to get a proposal together.

anthonyalbertyn's picture

For anyone who does not already know, Drupal UK currently have a poll and lively depate on their website.

http://www.drupal.org.uk/where-should-we-have-drupalcon-uk

We are voting for which city to put forward for DrupalCon UK bid.

Poll closes at 9pm tonight GMT.

If you have not already voted, please vote.

DrupalCon Production Team

lopolencastredealmeida's picture

Does this team should be all volunteers for free or are you thinking that some local staff would have to be payed?