Some of the Open Office Developers in Barcelona are members of the Catalan Drupal community also and let us know that next Open Office 2007 Conference will be held in Barcelona exactly the same dates as our Drupalcon. (By the way, I like the way they choosed Barcelona - call for locations, proposals and voting. We might use this methode next time?)
We are now talking to the OO catalan developers about a possible collaboration. My thoughts are that this would be a great opportunity to have two compatible open source conferences on the same venue from which everyone could benefit (shared costs for a greater publicity). There might be a drawback: the venue we planned might not be big enough for both events, so we might have to look for another one. That's not a problem but any other venue will not be as nice, suitable and cheap. However I would like to know what you think about it. What are your comments on this? Thanks.
Comments
On our own
From the experiences with OSCMS and the usual level of attendance of Drupal events, we don't think it's a good idea to hold full Drupalcons jointly with other organizations. It's too much extra work, and it usually means that the Drupal parts suffer because of it.
I second Borris. Not from
I second Borris. Not from any experience but more just loving having a full force focus on Drupal.
Listen to the experienced DrupalConsiglieres
Although a joint conference doesn't sound like a bad idea, I would listen to what experienced DrupalCon attendees (and organizers?) have to say. Besides, with the low cost airline tickets, the exotic location, and a whole weekend of Drupal, I think we'll be able to fill the venue ourselves.
As for the way the OOo community proposed and voted for its preferred location, I think it's a really good way to do it.
Bad idea
I don't think that OO and Drupal have much in common.
They are both open source,
They are both open source, which is a lot in common and for what they don't have in common is actually a bonus. In any case, we just discarded this option as we both have a place for the conferences already and there is not time to find a bigger one. So Drupalcon in Barcelona will be OO independent.
Robert Garrigós
Professional site: robert.garrigos.cat
Robert Garrigós
Professional site: garrigos.cat