The Objectives
The main objective of this post is to help the Drupal Association to make an informed decision regarding the Venue for DrupalCon Latino 2012. The other objectives are to reach a higher level of transparency and a better communication between the Drupal Association, the DrupalCon local organizers, and the Drupal community.
The Motivation
The main motivation for organizing a DrupalCon in Latin America is to break the long overdue pattern of holding DrupalCons only in North America and Europe. We want to expand Drupal to new horizons and fosters new opportunities in places where it's most needed! If the Latin community can organize a DrupalCon, so can Asia. If Asia can do it, so can Australia. If Australia can do it, so can Africa!
But is Drupal mature enough in these places to deserve our attention? We believe that this is a classic chicken-and-egg problem. The more we concentrate our attention in promoting Drupal in North America and Europe, the bigger will the gap get between Drupal adoption in North America and Europe when compared to the rest of the world. Also, there is a tendency for undervaluing the importance of Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. The reality is that, despite the challenges, there are huge markets in these regions. For example, we have Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Furthermore, and most importantly, it's a matter of social responsibility promoting Drupal in these regions, since these are the regions where Drupal has the biggest potential for truly changing people's lives and making the world a better place.
The Background
The Drupal Latin community has been trying to convince the Drupal Association to organize a DrupalCon outside of the North America / Europe axis since 2009 without much success. There was an attempt to have one in 2010 (http://groups.drupal.org/node/19816), then 2011, then it was sure it would be held January 2012 (https://association.drupal.org/intranet/sao_paulo/), then it was postponed for April of 2012, then August, then there was an attempt to hold it together with Latinoware or LinuxCon Brazil in 2011, and finally the last attempt was to hold it together with LinuxCon Brazil in 2012, but again this one was also canceled.
This indetermination has created a lot of frustration among the Drupal Latin community, specially among the local organizers, whose work towards a potential event often got irrelevant. However, it's important to take into consideration the Drupal Association's own struggles to organize itself. The Drupal Association's role in organizing DrupalCons is relatively new, and there has been a lot of restructuring during these recent years. The initial hierarchy was very complex and large. After having some DrupalCons in Europe with a negative balance, the Drupal Association has made an effort to simplify its hierarchy. This negative balance in Europe has contributed with the postponement of a DrupalCon in Latin America, as the Drupal Association obviously feels afraid to enter new markets before reaching stability in the regions it's already in.
The DrupalCamp Foz 2011
As mentioned earlier, the Drupal Association was planning to hold a DrupalCon together with Latinoware 2011, one of the largest open-source events in Brazil, but it didn't work out. So with 50 days left to Latinoware, the Drupal Association passed the buck to whoever would take up the challenge of organizing a DrupalCamp instead. Obviously 50 days is not a lot of time to organize an event of this magnitude. Nevertheless, the Drupal Latin community thought it was important to give its best try to prove that we, as a community, can organize a DrupalCon in Latin America!
The event was quite successful and we even managed to print 5000 copies of a Magazine about Drupal that was distributed during the event and it's currently being distributed all over Latin America. The event had its own shortcomings, of course, specially because it was organized in 50 days, but the event was profitable.
For a full review:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/186824
The Fresh Start
It's important to point out that Dries Buytaert attended DrupalCamp Foz 2011 in Brazil and has also recently traveled to India and Singapore. As head of the Drupal Association, this passes a clear message that the Drupal Association has finally realized how important it is to promote Drupal in other regions other than North America and Europe.
Also, after DrupalCamp Foz, Jacob Redding and Neil Kent have reached out to the main leaders of the Drupal Latin community and asked for a fresh start. This time they are really committed to organizing a DrupalCon in Latin America in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The Survey
To better understand the Drupal Latin community, and to help the Drupal Association to make an informed decision about the best place to hold a DrupalCon in Latin America, an open survey was conducted:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/191783
There were only three questions:
QUESTION 1: Where are you from?
QUESTION 2: Where would you like to have a DrupalCon?
QUESTION 3: Where would you make an effort to attend a DrupalCon?
From previous community meetings, it was agreed that Brazil would hold the first DrupalCon in Latin America. So the alternatives for questions 2 and 3 were Brazilian cities. The options were: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Campinas, Foz do Iguassu, and Porto Alegre. These cities were selected because they either have a large Drupal community or there is a potential partner to help with the Venue.
The Results
In 5 days, we received 300 responses. It took 1 day to reach 100 responses, 2 days to reach 200, and 5 days to reach 300. The biggest contributions were from Sao Paulo, Lima, Bogota, and Rio de Janeiro.
| QUESTION 1 | ||
| Ciudad del México | 2,7% | 8 |
| Panamá | 4,0% | 12 |
| Caracas | 0,3% | 1 |
| Bogotá | 14,5% | 43 |
| Quito | 2,4% | 7 |
| Lima | 15,2% | 45 |
| La Paz | 5,4% | 16 |
| Asunción | 1,0% | 3 |
| Manaus | 0,0% | 0 |
| Recife | 0,3% | 1 |
| Salvador | 1,3% | 4 |
| Brasília | 0,7% | 2 |
| Belo Horizonte | 1,7% | 5 |
| Sao Paulo | 22,2% | 66 |
| Rio de Janeiro | 10,4% | 31 |
| Curitiba | 1,7% | 5 |
| Florianópolis | 0,7% | 2 |
| Porto Alegre | 3,7% | 11 |
| Montevideo | 1,3% | 4 |
| Buenos Aires | 3,4% | 10 |
| Rosário | 1,3% | 4 |
| Córdoba | 4,7% | 14 |
| Mendoza | 0,0% | 0 |
| Santiago | 1,0% | 3 |
| QUESTION 2 | ||
| Rio de Janeiro | 35,5% | 99 |
| São Paulo | 36,6% | 102 |
| Campinas | 16,8% | 47 |
| Foz do Iguaçu | 36,2% | 101 |
| Porto Alegre | 15,1% | 42 |
| QUESTION 3 | ||
| Rio de Janeiro | 40,1% | 112 |
| São Paulo |
41,9% | 117 |
| Campinas | 26,2% | 73 |
| Foz do Iguaçu | 40,1% | 112 |
| Porto Alegre | 22,6% | 63 |
The Analysis
Question 1
Participation from Peru and Colombia has been surprisingly high. As expected, Sao Paulo was the biggest contributor, as this region is the main financial hub of Latin America. This is the list in order of number of participants: Sao Paulo (66), Lima (45), Bogota (43), and Rio de Janeiro (31).
Question 2
There was a technical tie for Sao Paulo, Foz do Iguassu, and Rio de Janeiro, with roughly 36% each. This is quite surprising, since we were expecting Sao Paulo to have a clear victory, followed by Rio de Janeiro. However, the recent DrupalCamp in Foz do Iguassu has won many fans, specially from Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. Please see the CrossTab analysis later on.
Question 3
Again, there was a technical tie for Sao Paulo, Foz do Iguassu, and Rio de Janeiro, with roughly 40% each. This shows that the community is willing to travel and that they will do an effort to attend a DrupalCon. But we believe it's important to promote the venue early on, because people have to organize themselves to attend the event
Crosstab Analysis
A crosstab analysis of questions 1 and 3 show very interesting results.
| QUESTION 1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QUESTION 3 | ||||||
| answered question | 112 | 116 | 72 | 112 | 63 | 278 |
| skipped question | 1 | |||||
| Rio de Janeiro | São Paulo | Campinas | Foz do Iguaçu | Porto Alegre | Response Totals |
|
| Ciudad del México | 3,6% (4) |
2,6% (3) |
2,8% (2) |
3,6% (4) |
3,2% (2) |
2,5% (7) |
| Panamá | 5,4% (6) |
2,6% (3) |
4,2% (3) |
6,3% (7) |
3,2% (2) |
4,0% (11) |
| Caracas | 0,9% (1) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,4% (1) |
| Bogotá | 15,2% (17) |
6,9% (8) |
4,2% (3) |
2,7% (3) |
7,9% (5) |
11,2% (31) |
| Quito | 3,6% (4) |
2,6% (3) |
0,0% (0) |
2,7% (3) |
1,6% (1) |
2,5% (7) |
| Lima | 8,0% (9) |
2,6% (3) |
0,0% (0) |
31,3% (35) |
0,0% (0) |
15,8% (44) |
| La Paz | 1,8% (2) |
5,2% (6) |
2,8% (2) |
7,1% (8) |
0,0% (0) |
5,4% (15) |
| Asunción | 0,9% (1) |
0,9% (1) |
0,0% (0) |
1,8% (2) |
1,6% (1) |
1,1% (3) |
| Manaus | 0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
| Recife | 0,9% (1) |
0,9% (1) |
1,4% (1) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,4% (1) |
| Salvador | 0,0% (0) |
2,6% (3) |
0,0% (0) |
0,9% (1) |
0,0% (0) |
1,4% (4) |
| Brasília | 0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
1,8% (2) |
0,0% (0) |
0,7% (2) |
| Belo Horizonte | 1,8% (2) |
3,4% (4) |
4,2% (3) |
0,9% (1) |
4,8% (3) |
1,8% (5) |
| Sao Paulo | 22,3% (25) |
44,8% (52) |
56,9% (41) |
14,3% (16) |
30,2% (19) |
23,7% (66) |
| Rio de Janeiro | 19,6% (22) |
10,3% (12) |
5,6% (4) |
2,7% (3) |
9,5% (6) |
11,2% (31) |
| Curitiba | 1,8% (2) |
2,6% (3) |
2,8% (2) |
2,7% (3) |
4,8% (3) |
1,8% (5) |
| Florianópolis | 0,0% (0) |
0,9% (1) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
3,2% (2) |
0,7% (2) |
| Porto Alegre | 3,6% (4) |
4,3% (5) |
5,6% (4) |
2,7% (3) |
14,3% (9) |
4,0% (11) |
| Montevideo | 2,7% (3) |
2,6% (3) |
2,8% (2) |
0,9% (1) |
1,6% (1) |
1,4% (4) |
| Buenos Aires | 2,7% (3) |
2,6% (3) |
1,4% (1) |
4,5% (5) |
7,9% (5) |
3,2% (9) |
| Rosário | 2,7% (3) |
0,9% (1) |
2,8% (2) |
2,7% (3) |
4,8% (3) |
1,4% (4) |
| Córdoba | 2,7% (3) |
0,9% (1) |
2,8% (2) |
9,8% (11) |
1,6% (1) |
5,0% (14) |
| Mendoza | 0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
| Santiago | 0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,0% (0) |
0,9% (1) |
0,0% (0) |
0,4% (1) |
Foz do Iguassu was a favorite contender for the communities of Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia. The results in favor of Foz do Iguassu follow:
Lima: 35 out of 44 votes
Cordoba: 11 out of 14 votes
La Paz: 8 out of 15 votes
There are direct and relatively cheap flights to Foz do Iguassu from Lima and Cordoba. Travel by land from many cities from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia are doable, although we can't quite say it's close. For a map of all flights to Foz do Iguassu, please check this attached image.
Colombians are truly fascinated by Rio de Janeiro (17 out of 31 votes), having voted Sao Paulo for second place (8 out of 31 votes). There are direct flights from Bogota to both of these destinations by Avianca.
The survey indicates that the community from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are not very willing to travel to each other, specially considering that they are quite close (only 400 Km separates them). For Sao Paulo, 25 out of 66 would make an effort to attend a DrupalCon in Rio. For Rio, 12 out of 31 would make an effort to attend a DrupalCon in Sao Paulo. But probably reality is a different matter. Perhaps they voted like this because they know that they are strong contenders and that they can trow in their weight by voting only in their cities.
We shouldn't rule Campinas out. Many people from outside of Brazil do not know where Campinas is located and probably are not aware that the city is only 1 hour away from Sao Paulo. So we should consider Campinas as a strong contender for those who are willing to go to Sao Paulo for a DrupalCon, even though the survey shows that only 26% would make an effort to attend a DrupalCon in Campinas.
The Recommended Venues
The results from the survey demonstrate that holding a DrupalCon in the Sao Paulo/Campinas region, Rio de Janeiro, or Foz do Iguassu are good options and mostly equivalent. Unfortunately, Porto Alegre is a weak contender. The selection of a Venue will mostly rely now on the strength of the proposals from potential partners in these 3 regions. Since the biggest fear of the Drupal Association is the financial risk of holding a DrupalCon Latino, this is the order we will be presenting each recommended Venue, from the lowest to the highest.
Foz do Iguassu
We already had a very good experience with Latinoware, who has been most helpful in the making of DrupalCamp Foz 2011. After the event, we were worried that Foz do Iguassu might no be such a good Venue to hold a DrupalCon, specially because it's a small city with a limited Drupal community and 1000 Km (600 Miles) away from Brazil's financial hub (Sao Paulo). However, now with the survey we are lead to believe that if we promote the Venue with many months in advance and with the full support of the Drupal Association, the Drupal Latin community will organize themselves, talk with employers, buy plane tickets, make hotel reservations, and do a real effort to meet in Foz do Iguassu. The city is way cheaper than Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro and the plane tickets are not so bad. The results from the survey also show that, if DrupalCon were to happen in Foz do Iguassu, the event would be more heterogeneous overall, with people coming from different parts of Latin America. One big advantage of holding a DrupalCon together with Latinoware is that the chance of having a negative balance is null, since Latinoware is willing to provide the full Venue and logistics in exchange for controlling the entrance tickets, which are quite accessible (around 50 USD). The income for DrupalCon therefore would mostly have to come from Sponsorships.
Sao Paulo
As for holding an event in Sao Paulo/Campinas, the risks for going negative are higher, and the Drupal Association would have to provide a large sum of capital upfront or partner with a university (e.g. UNICAMP or USP). However, everything indicates that the audience would be much bigger, since this is the region where the Drupal Brazilian community concentrates, although the audience would be less heterogeneous in terms of Latinos since the great majority of attendees would probably be Brazilians. Also, Sao Paulo is very well connected both nationally and internationally, specially for those coming from the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, as well as North America and Europe. So it would at the same time be more heterogeneous in terms of Brazilians and non-Latinos. One big advantage of holding the event in Sao Paulo is that the city is the largest financial hub in Latin America, so it would be ideal to have a business-oriented DrupalCon here. However, the city is also expensive and has many of the problems faced by large metropolitan areas.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro would be the most challenging Venue to hold a DrupalCon, since the city is, like Sao Paulo, very expensive, but with a much smaller Drupal community. Although the survey shows that only 38% of the Sao Paulo community would make an effort to attend a DrupalCon in Rio de Janeiro, we believe that in reality that percentage would be much higher. Also, one big advantage of Rio de Janeiro is that it's a very popular destination among those who are not only coming to Brazil for business, but also for tourism.
The Conclusion
The Drupal Association and the Drupal Latin Community are finally coming together to hold the first DrupalCon outside of the North America / Europe axis. This time IS FOR REAL. We have conducted an open survey with the community to help the Drupal Association make an informed decision regarding the Venue for DrupalCon Latino 2012. The Survey has mostly shown that Sao Paulo/Campinas region, Rio de Janeiro, and Foz do Iguassu are good Venues and mostly equivalent. Of course each one has their own PROS and CONS, but now we have the data to guide us and show us what are the preferences of the community. We hope that this open dialogue with the community will help us finally make DrupalCon Latino a reality and open a series of opportunities in Latin America and other regions of the World.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| DrupalConLatinoSummary.ods | 43.94 KB |
| DrupalConLatinoCross.ods | 48.01 KB |
| DrupalConLatinoRaw.ods | 28.93 KB |
| DCSA-Foz-Plane.png | 578.87 KB |
Comments
Excellent!
This is the kind of information that community needs to participate in the decision making process. Thanks to all the community for their votes and for supporting the process. It takes time, but soon we will see the results!
--
[develCuy](http://steemit.com/@develcuy) on steemit
Translations
I would appreciate if somebody could translate this post to Portuguese and Spanish! Thanks!
Tradução Parcial para pt_BR
Nick, comecei a tradução mas nao vou poder continuar hoje... mas acho q alguem pode continuar...
Abraços...
Os Objetivos
O principal objectivo deste post é ajudar a Drupal Association fazer uma decisão bem informada sobre o local para a DrupalCon Latino 2012. Os outros objectivos são prover um grande nível de transparência e uma melhor cominação entre a Drupal Association, os organizadores locais da DrupalCon e a comunidade Drupal.
A Motivação
A principal motivação para organizar uma DrupalCon na América Latina é de quebrar um longo padrão de apenas fazer DrupalCons na América do Norte e Europa. Queremos expandir o Drupal para novos horizontes e criar novas oportunidades em lugares que são mais necessários! Se a comunidade Latina pode organizar uma DrupalCon, então a Ásia pode. Se a Ásia pode fazer isso, então a Australia também pode. Se a Australia pode, então a Africa também.
Porém o Drupal está maduro o suficiente para merecer nossa atenção? Nós acreditamso que este é o clássico problema de quem veio primeiro, o ovo ou a galinha. Quanto mais contentarmos nossas atenções em promover o Drupal na América do Norte e Europa, maior será o a adoção ao Drupal na América do Norte e Europa em relação ao resto do mundo. Também há uma tendência em desvalorizar a importância da Africa, Ásia, Australia e América Latina. A realidade é que, apesar das disputas, há um grande mercado nestas regiões. Por exemplo, temos o Brasil, Rússia, Índia e China. Além disso, e mais importante, é uma preocupação com a responsabilidade social em promover o Drupal nestas regiões, pois são regiões em que o Drupal tem um grande potencial em realmente mudar a vida das pessoas e fazer do mundo um lugar melhor.
Pedro Faria de Miranda Pinto
Blog - http://eusouopedro.com
PHPAvançado - http://www.phpavancado.net
IRC - irc://irc.freenode.net:6667/drupal-br
Congratulations!
Nice, is a great opportunity for latam
Saludos!
Abel
Tradução pt-BR
Se você quer ajudar na tradução deste texto para pt_BR, utilize o link abaixo:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z6SmAEXZIwQ3hF0NFJxI4zLmqth8VZ6ePodz...
Grato! :)
Pedro Faria de Miranda Pinto
Blog - http://eusouopedro.com
PHPAvançado - http://www.phpavancado.net
IRC - irc://irc.freenode.net:6667/drupal-br
I am very surprised that
I am very surprised that Buenos Aires didn't appear in the results for questions one and two. Was it available as an option?
I am biased; I have lived in Bs As, married a Porteña (woman from BsAs) love the city and am writing this from there while visiting. However I am confident it is an great option (though probably not the best).
Bevan/
Me too
BsAs could be the best for some reasons:
1) International flights for any place
2) Cheap (if you compare with São Paulo/Rio/etc)
3) A strong Drupal community
4) Easy to go there for everyone
But...
Paulino Michelazzo
http://www.michelazzo.com.br
Yes, I'm Brazilian and we don't speak Spanish here (but I can speak too).
the community in Buenos Aires
the community in Buenos Aires is not very active, but if decided, I can take the responsability of the organitation and it would be a great impulse to relaunch the community, every day I learn about new people / companies moving to drupal.
I'll be in BA for 6 weeks
We are just working on an extension to our system to collaborate directly with translators, would be great getting some input in Buenos Aires.
I'll arrive in BA the 13 th of dec. So I 'll be a supporting guest.
Hola Chicos
Me parece super, el entusiasmo que tienen, en Lima tambien podriamos hacerlo:
Pero No nos desenfoquemos, me parece que ya se definio que sea en Brasil, y por lo que comentaba anteriormente, debemos buscar que este evento sea accesible para todos, asi que una de las ciudades mas economicas es Foz de Iguazu, dentro de las opciones que muestra Brasil.
Bendiciones
--
Una drupalera latina,
Haciendo manualidades en EcoArtesanias.com y
Vijando, viajando, viajando!
Proposta de Edson Sales Jr. para Sao Paulo
Para falar a verdade se fosse para fazer fora de São Paulo valia mais a pena falar com o pessoal de Guarulhos que tem o Adamastor (http://www.arcoweb.com.br/arquitetura/ruy-ohtake-centro-cultural-03-05-2...) que é show de bola (tem um teatro para 700 pessoas, três auditórios e 4 salas de treinamento) fica a menos de 10 minutos do aeroporto internacional de São Paulo (Cumbica), o que seria uma mão na roda para quem vem de fora. Além disso a prefeitura costuma apoiar o software livre e eu tenho alguns contatos por lá.
Na minha opinião a desvantagem é estar fora de São Paulo e longe do Metro (deve dar uns 20 minutos de ônibus a partir da estação Tatuapé). Neste caso um espaço como o Centro Cultural por exemplo me parece uma opção melhor, mas sei que mesmo conhecendo o pessoal da prefeitura de São Paulo conseguir na faixa ou a preços módicos é mais difícil.
Proposta de Eliane Domingos para o Rio de Janeiro
I can recommend some places where you have easy access to the airport, hotels, restaurants, subway, and tourist attractions of Rio de Janeiro.
http://www.ccsulamerica.com.br
http://www.cerconvencoes.com.br
http://www.firjan.org.br/data/pages/2C908CE921AC42820121CB4C79FC5E90.htm
http://www.noveeventos.com.br/pt-br/nossos-espacos/bolsa-do-rio.asp
http://www.clubedeengenharia.org.br/novo/aluguel.php
Proposta de Luiz Sakuda para São Paulo
FEI: http://www.fei.edu.br/en-US/fei/conheca_a_fei/Pages/Infraestrutura.aspx
USP/IME: http://www.ime.usp.br/tourvirtual/
About Buenos Aires...
Personally, I think that Buenos Aires was the very best option. Is a nicer city, is safer, cleaner, tourist friendly, has the biggest cultural life, and is cheaper. Sao Paulo is just bigger in terms of quantity of people living inside it.
BUT (and this is a big but here), the brazilian Drupal community has the commitment to the event that we don´t have at the moment.
We´ve organized a Drupalcamp in Buenos Aires before and have to tell you that we were just 4 people organizing. After that camp, there were more events in other argentinian cities. None of theme were very, very big in terms of quantity of people (compared to a drupalcon).
After that camp (that I enjoyed very much), I realized that we cannot commit to that right now, because there are not enough people willing to do so. Or with enough free time.
So, I have to CONGRATULATE brazilian community because they did something great: give all Latin America their first DrupalCon! (or will give for that matter :).
I can tell you that organizing any event is a big deal of work, time, and sometimes headhaches.
So, THANKS!! And see you there!!
Rosamunda