DrupalCon Sao Paulo: Open Letter

São Paulo, Brazil
March 14th, 2014

Dear Drupal Association,

The Brazilian Drupal community would like to highlight some final remarks to demonstrate the potential of São Paulo as a host city for DrupalCon Latin America 2015.

Summary

The following is a summary of the cons and pros of holding a DrupalCon in Sao Paulo that have been raised so far. The next section will discuss these further and evaluate their real impact on the conference.

Cons:

• Cost of venue.
• Cost of accommodation.
• Cost of transportation, especially for countries in the northern hemisphere.
• Cost of Visa for USA citizens.

Pros:

• Strong community.
• Strong ecosystem of tech companies.
• Strong open source and tech events.
• Strong case studies.
• Legal entity behind the event.

Discussion

Cost of Venue

The venue that has been initially proposed for São Paulo is a top conference center, located in a noble region of the city, near the Paulista Avenue (considered to be the most important Business Avenue in Latin America). The conference offers a modern infrastructure and can hold over 1000 participants. The price can be negotiated further down, but we believe that given its quality and capacity, it already represents a very good value.

Cost of Accommodation

A quick research of mid-level hotels within 1.25 miles from the venue reveal good options for $100 per night. Some examples: InterCity (http://www.intercityhoteis.com.br/) and Accor (http://www.accorhotels.com/pt-br/brands/hotels-ibisbudget.shtml).

Cost of transportation

Cost of transportation will in fact be higher for those who live in the northern hemisphere. However, Sao Paulo will be cheaper for those who live in the southern hemisphere. Hosting the event in Sao Paulo will open this opportunity to the Drupal community in the southern hemisphere, who have more difficulty attending a DrupalCon in North America and Europe. Additionally, we believe that the geographical center of the host city should not be the most important criteria. Analysing the community center in this region might be more important.

Cost of Visa

While we agree that VISA will be a concern for USA attendees, this won’t affect participants from Latin America and Europe. How many Americans actually attended DrupalCon Australia versus the number of attendees from Australia itself? We will work hard to find ways to make it easier for USA attendees to come, but we believe that this should not be a criteria to discard Sao Paulo.

Strong community

The Drupal community in Sao Paulo and Brazil is thriving. Proof of this was DrupalCamp Sao Paulo, organized early 2013, with over 300 participants from all over Brazil. The majority of the participants were actual Drupal developers, Web professionals, government officials, and entrepreneurs or prospects evaluating Drupal (DrupalCon’s target public). The Drupal community also organized several Drupal events across the country and was present in the most important Open Source events this past year: FISL (8000 participants), Latinoware (4500 participants), Consegi (5000 participants), and Campus Party (8000 participants).

Strong ecosystem of tech companies

Having a strong local community is key for a successful DrupalCon, and having a strong local ecosystem of tech companies is also important. This translates into higher sponsorships, higher attendance, and higher business opportunities. Sao Paulo is considered to be the major financial center of Latin America and its metro area has a population of 21 million people. The sheer number and size of tech companies in Sao Paulo is by far the largest in Latin America.

Strong Open Source and Tech events

Also, Open Source and Tech events in Brazil are thriving and have a lot of backing not only from the industry, but from the government as well. We have strong well established Open Source events with thousands of attendees: FISL (8000 participants), Latinoware (4500 participants), Consegi (5000 participants), and Campus Party (8000 participants). All of the above are Open Source events in Brazil where the Drupal community is already present. In fact, in 2013 we participated in all of these events, including a DrupalCamp co-hosted with FISL with over 300 participants. This year, we could use these events as channels for marketing a future DrupalCon in Latin America.

Strong case studies

We believe a DrupalCon in Latin America must also have strong local case studies that demonstrate the power of Drupal and its adoption in Latin America. Two cases are the World Cup (http://www.copa2014.gov.br/en) and the Olympics (http://www.rio2016.com/en). Both of these sites were made in Drupal, and they are going to have some big exposure in the coming months. We must use that to our advantage in marketing Drupal in Latin America.

Legal Entity

Additionally, having a legal non-profit entity such as the Brazilian Drupal Association is extremely important not only to handle all financial matters, but also to make sure that the DrupalCon will be represented by a collective of companies and individuals in a neutral form.

Conclusion

Given all the community effort, we believe that the Brazilian community deserves to host a DrupalCon. We believe Sao Paulo is the most appropriate city and deserves a second chance, this time with the community involved in the organization of the DrupalCon from the very beginning. There is a lot of momentum in Brazil right now and the idea is to get hold of this momentum and translate it into opportunities for everyone in Latin America and the Drupal community as a whole.