To make the proposal more appealing to those travelling from outside of France, especially for non participating partners and family should we dedicate a portion of our proposal towards this subject.
On talking to my non drupal wife these were her thoughts:
As a Drupal widow myself I was really interested to hear that the community were considering the possible inclusion of non participating partners and family.
For non participants without families the idea is probably very appealing when a conference is held in such wonderful cities as Washington or Paris. However for those with families perhaps the idea has not been quite so inviting. On the whole it probably sounds like a lot of hard work, being away from home comforts and as a sole carer. If however some help was organised in the form of baby sitting services, crèche, organised tours etc, more non participants would readily join their Drupal member partners to such events.
I suggested to my other half that in particular for people with families a crèche and baby sitting facility (to be financed personally) would be a great opportunity for the other halves to become involved in the Drupal world, to get a chance to see what it is all about and to get to meet some other members..
A welcome brunch on the first morning with a keynote speech would be a fantastic way for the non participants to get to know each other and to find out what activities are in the local area. Various tours or services could then be publicised which could be signed up for.
Tour suggestions
An organised tour with organised coach drop-off and pick-up, child minders available to accompany group if required (at expense of individual).
Parc Asterix
Euro Disney
France Miniature
Swimming pool
Seine River Cruise
Shopping trip to main areas
Zoo
Themed family friendly restaurant (Appollo - Entertainment organised for children Sat/Sun lunch)
Comments
Great Idea
I think i'll come with my wife and my little child (now she has 3 month :-) )
Organized tours or keynote speech for them will be a very great idea.
Hope to see you soon :-)
Always Lots of Drupal Babies
In my experience, Drupal is a very family friendly community. I do drupal myself and enjoy DrupalCons, but my little girl can only take so much sitting quietly in one day. Any activities that offer social opportunities for Drupal families are much appreciated, especially in a city like Paris which has so much to offer. Thanks for thinking of us in advance!
In effect there is work done on the DrupalGangers track
We have a person (Ségolène) responsible for the DrupalGangers track. We believe it is really important to be sure they have a great time with us around the convention itself, but also just in Paris and off the convention.
Some of the activities will be handled by the DrupalGangers themselves (a call for proposition aside the session propositions will be made) so we can be sure they correspond to the wishes of those coming.
We will be preparing activities both for compagnons who would like to hang-out/discover paris and for persons with children so this convention will not be a drag on them.