It seems that between 2012 and 2013, we will likely have at least 5 DrupalCons.
I have read the policy on "Increasing our Transparency v2.0: DrupalCon" https://association.drupal.org/node/1389
That:
Where will the next DrupalCon be held?
Is the process a secret?Yes, it is secret.
Why?
Unfortunately the world is not as fair and equitable as all of the great folks that we find in the Open Source world. Sadly we have found out the hard way that if vendors (ex. Hotels) know that we are bringing several thousand people to their town they will raise prices. We do not announce or go public with any of our city selections until after contracts have been negotiated and signed, this provides us with the leverage we need to work out the best price for the Drupal Community.
However, the policy didn't say that the number of DrupalCons hosted a year secret, too. As an individual or a Drupal shop based in Shanghai, China, it's very hard to schedule and attend DrupalCons if we don't even know how many are there in a year.
Therefore, I am posting to ask:
- Is the number of DrupalCons in a year secret?
- Are the continents of DrupalCons to be hosted secret?
If no policy set for the questions above, I am asking DA to consider to disclosure this information in advance.
Comments
The number of DrupalCons per
The number of DrupalCons per year or the continents on which they take place isn't a secret, it's just something that hasn't been finalized.
Growing the Drupal community by having more DrupalCons in more places around the world every year has been part of the Association's publicly stated goals for some time, but being able to do requires time, energy, and coordination. Keep in mind that the Association only started hiring staff to manage and raise sponsorships for DrupalCon at the end of 2010, and those folks needed to spend their first year on the job developing a sustainable and repeatable model for the North American and European events before shifting their focus to developing new events in other areas of the world.
DrupalCon Sao Paulo has been in the works for some time. Because there's never been a Drupal event of that size in Latin America before, a lot of time and energy has gone into making sure that it will be a successful conference.
DrupalCon Sydney will be building on the model set by two previous Drupal Downunder conferences and is essentially a rebranding of an already established and successful event.
In the future, I hope we do see DrupalCons in Asia, Africa, India, and other parts of the world. Some might be annual events, while others might only happen once every couple of years. The point is that DrupalCon is an event that helps bring people in the Drupal community together, no matter where or when it's held.
I don't think there should be an expectation that people should have to attend every single DrupalCon; each one has a different focus and speaks to a different audience.