Help Us Pick the Location for DrupalCon North America 2012!

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gdemet's picture

The DrupalCon North American Regional Organizing Group is looking for input from the Drupal community to help pick the location for DrupalCon North America in 2012 and beyond.

To do so, we’ve put together a brief “straw poll” intended to gauge community interest in various cities that have either expressed a desire to host a North American DrupalCon and/or been suggested as potential good locations by our event management company. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, and community members are welcomed to suggest alternative options.

You can make your voice heard by going to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/drupalconstrawpoll now!

The poll takes less than five minutes to complete, and we’ll be accepting responses until 11:59pm PDT on August 4.

After that, we’ll analyze the results that we’ve received and share them with the DrupalCon event management company, which will then conduct an in-depth assessment of several leading cities, weighing factors such as cost, venue availability, and transportation. The results of this study and any recommendations from the Regional Organizing Group will be submitted to the board, who will then make the final determination. Our goal is to have a location picked and begin negotiating venue contracts for DrupalCon 2012 this fall.

While we will be as open and transparent as possible with the community about this decision-making process, neither the list of finalist cities under consideration nor the selected location will be publicly announced until after a venue contract has been signed. This not only provides maximum flexibility when negotiating venue contracts, but also ensures that the selection process doesn’t result in unnecessary competition between different local communities.

We will work closely with the community in the selected city to help make DrupalCon 2012 the best event possible. Finalist cities that are not selected for 2012 will be given strong consideration to host DrupalCons in 2013 and beyond.

This new process is designed to ensure that future North American DrupalCons are run in a sustainable manner that results in high-quality, profitable conferences. Many community initiatives and events are funded with the proceeds from DrupalCon.

The voting members of the North American Regional Organizing Group that are leading this process are Tiffany Farriss (farriss), Cary Gordon (highermath), Emma Jane Hogbin (emmajane), Greg Knaddison (greggles), Earl Miles (merlinofchaos), and Jacob Redding (jredding). Assistance is being provided by George DeMet (gdemet).

Comments

Repeat Offenders

eatings's picture

Is the DA committed to keeping it at a new site every time? If DrupalCons are going to ever scale larger and larger, and we keep knocking off all the alpha-level convention cities in the US, shouldn't a repeat trip to DC, for example, be on the table?

No need to repeat yet

gdemet's picture

Nothing is off the table; however, considering the number of places in North America where DrupalCon has not yet been, the consensus is that there isn't yet a compelling need to revisit past locations.

Montreal, Canada is close to New England

stri_berry's picture

Montreal, Canada would be cool. It's an awesome destination and there are very very cheap direct buses to it from New England (Boston, MA etc.) Would be a nice change.

One of my favorite cities in

frob's picture

One of my favorite cities in North America is Seattle Washington. Plenty of good/cheap hotels and great public transportation. You won need to rent a car at all. Las Vegas would be my next choice. Both are great places for a convention.

Consider economy and climate

nategasser's picture

I vote for New Orleans - first and foremost, their economy could really use the help. You actually feel good about spending your money there, and they appreciate the influx. Second, it's really pleasant there in the early spring -- there's outdoor dining and live music everywhere, and the French Quarter is small enough that you're likely to run across other attendees by coincidence.

It's not particularly close to other major cities, but it is somewhat central. NTEN held their conference there in 2008 and it was an amazing time.

I support New Orleans too.

Susan MacPhee's picture

So many great cities are in the survey and I've picked mine. Though the Big Easy may not be my first choice, I do agree that going to New Orleans would be a great boost for their economy. I love New Orleans and I thank Lullabot and the Do It With Drupal team for hosting us there.

Totally agree with Nathan about how the French Quarter would work for keeping us together. The people there are amazing and I'd love to give them our support, they deserve it. I'm sure as a community we could help them rebuild after their 2nd major blow even in 2012.

Thank goodness they won the Superbowl--another win would definitely be us.

Who knows, maybe we could get Fats Domino as a keynote :)

Criteria

Branjawn's picture

I don't think helping one local economy over another should be a point of consideration. Just my opinion.

Well beyond the economy

bayousoft's picture

New Orleans is a city literally built around tourism and conventions. IMO It is very well suited and should be considered for a Drupalcon. I must warn I am bias though since I live/work in Lafayette. :)

That being said

bayousoft's picture

I think Austin is also an awesome choice.

Albuquerque

markie's picture

Cause my travel budget was slashed and I am that self absorbed....

so there!

Raleigh NC

arcaneadam's picture

I'd like to nominate Raleigh NC. It's becoming the technology hub of the south. With three large universities (Duke, UNC, & NC State), the corporate HQ of Red Hat Linux, a decent sized international airport (RDU), centrally located on the east coast for those coming from major cities (DC, NY, Nashville, & ATL), plenty of nightlife and entertainment for the after parties, and plenty of large and capable Convention centers I think this city is the perfect place to host one. In addition it is consistently ranked as one of the top cities to live in for cost of living so the cost of hosting here will probably less.

Adam A. Gregory
Drupal Developer and Consultant
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Raleigh NC Vote Here

shrop's picture

I agree with Adam on Raleigh. Local tech companies, like Red Hat, would make great sponsors too!

The RTP Area would be great

cgmonroe's picture

I'll add my 2 cents worth for the Raleigh, NC area... it would be a great venue. Note that while Raleigh's the name being used, the area is really much larger than just Raleigh. The "metro" area is much larger and generally referred to as the Research Triangle Park area. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle

In addition to the various possible venues and night life, it's fairly easy to get to. I know from experience that... it's 5 hours from Union Station in DC... about 8 hours (depending on traffic) from NYC... Charlotte and Atlanta are about the same.

The airport, RDU, is well serviced by major airlines... especially lots of fairly cheap JetBlue and Southwest flights from major cities.

Additionally, there is a strong Drupal community in the area that can help coordinate stuff.

Oh, and chances are that in April, it will be the home of one or more NCAA B-Ball winners/finalists...lol or if it's timed right in mid April, folks could attend the Full Frame Film Festival ( http://www.fullframefest.org/ ) the weekend before or after.

+1 for Raleigh, NC!

bdone's picture

+1 for Raleigh, NC!

Raleigh is definitely a great

sheena_d's picture

Raleigh is definitely a great choice and easily overlooked for larger cities. The only downside is that public transit outside of the small downtown area is not incredibly convenient, but Raleigh has put a ton of effort over the past few years into building a really great convention center with all the supporting hotels, restaurants and other services within just a few blocks.

Raleigh, NC

Riversedge's picture

Two votes for Raleigh. Same qualifiers that Adam mentions. With Red Hat and Opensource.com among dozens of other technology companies, the "Triangle" is a perfect place for this. There are at least 4 or 5 venues big enough for us.

Raleigh gets my vote too.

pzimmer's picture

Raleigh gets my vote too. Adam is right on. The new conventin center is right downtown with easy access to resturants and the downtown nightlife. The Triangle region is host to many hi-tech companies and has a vibrant entrepreneurial community. The springtime in Raleigh is warm and awash with color.

North Carolina +1

Branjawn's picture

Charlotte or Raleigh are great venues. International airports. Good highway system for those driving. (to Raleigh... NYC 9 hrs, Indianapolis 10hrs, Pittsburgh 9 hrs, Atlanta 6 hrs, Orlando 10 hrs). New convention center. Cisco, Red Hat, SAS, RTI, IBM, all in the area. Mild weather in the Spring. Good food, low cost of visiting.

I am in the Raleigh bandwagon

fchandler's picture

I vote for Raleigh and reiterate all the previous comments and reasons for Raleigh votes.

H-a-l-i-f-a-x !!1!

vimalramaka's picture

H-a-l-i-f-a-x !!1!

$place_near_me is the coolest

greggles's picture

You guys are all wrong! The $place_near_me is the best place EVAR!

In all seriousness, though...thanks for the feedback and suggestions and keep them coming. The committee will get all this information together, ship it off to our event consultants to see what they have to say about these cities and how viable they are for Drupalcon.

Raleigh +1

aarahkahak's picture

Raleigh is pretty awesome. Plus we have a shiny new conference center.

Raleigh +1

gallamine's picture

Raleigh is quite the tech hub. Has a nice downtown and the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Cary/Apex area is quite large.