The DrupalCon North American Regional Organizing Group is looking for input from us, the Drupal community, to help pick the location for DrupalCon North America being scheduled for 2012 (and beyond). They have put together a brief “straw poll” intended to gauge community interest about various cities that have been suggested as potential good locations by our event management company. Vote however you wish, but I'd like to point out that the list does already have a few West coast cities, like Las Vegas, and many of us wouldn't mind to see DrupalCon nearby again. Take a quick minute to answer the poll by going to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/drupalconstrawpoll
Remember, DrupalCon in North America is usually near the end of Winter so choose wisely when picking cities known for really bone-chilling cold/rainy seasons.
Responses accepted until 11:59pm PDT on August 4. After that the data we cross our fingers. The goal is to have a location picked and begin negotiating venue contracts for DrupalCon 2012 this fall. Finalist cities that are not selected for 2012 will be given strong consideration to host DrupalCons in 2013 and beyond.
Take the survey now: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/drupalconstrawpoll
Information quoted originally from: http://groups.drupal.org/node/82414
Comments
Has L.A. ever been considered?
I don't ever recall it being an option when the organizing group has asked before. It's still not an option now. How are the possible cities chosen? Who do we need to talk to to, at least, have L.A. be considered? I know the world doesn't revolve around L.A. but I know SO many folks who'd love to attend a DrupalCon but the travel/lodging costs make it prohibitive.
Let's get LA or even SD on the list!
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Los Angeles was a candidate
Los Angeles was a candidate in 2009 and I threw in our hat in 2010, but there wasn't really enough local support to make DrupalCon Los Angeles a reality. We (LA Drupal) withdrew our proposal for DrupalCon 2010 and backed our neighbor, San Francisco, which was definitely the right thing to do in the end.
I'm looking forward to this year's DrupalCamp LA and seeing our organizing team do another great job. Last year was a massive success and it's been great to build on that for this year's camp. Perhaps we can use the experience from this year's camp to gain the skills and the confidence we need as a local Drupal user group if we make another run at DrupalCon Los Angeles.
My bad
You know, I remember that now- pulling out our proposal & backing SF. Thanks for the reminder, christefano.
I'm looking forward to DrupalCamp LA also. It feels like more people are involved this year (or is it just me?) & that's partially due to our growth but it can only help as more folks gain the skills/confidence to make a run at a DrupalCon Los Angeles. Couldn't agree more.
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Re: Has L.A. ever been considered?
If you fill out the form, there's a section where you can name a city you'd like to see on the list, and tell them why.
Go make a push a for LA!
Ya, did that
Was just wondering about a more concerted effort to make us one of the default cities to vote for.
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
SD supports LA
I know we would love to have an LA DrupalCon, I think we have enough corporate users here in SD now that we could get some resources working to support a Con. It seems like most of the recent ones have, at their core, a few people whose companies are essentially paying for them to organize. I don't know many freelancers that can spend months on unpaid work.
2013
I raised the issue why LA or SD weren't listed in the survey for 2012. The rationale was that Drupalcon should continue to be geographically distributed and having it twice on the west coast in the same area. I wasn't involved in that decision.
Hopefully someone from the official committee can provide an update.
Looks like LA or SD's next shot would be in 2013.
Kieran
Write in L.A./S.D./O.Z.
The survey allows folks to write in their cities of choice.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
Thanks for the update!
Thank you for the update, Kieran. The rationale makes sense. Good news is that this gives us a couple years for us to gain community/camp experience to have a solid group of folks to ensure it's a success. Looking forward to being part of that team also!
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
I don't know if the committee
I don't know if the committee for 2013 will be the same people from 2012 or not, so I can't really say what the committee will do for 2012.
As a committee member I can say that geographical distribution is one of our goals.
For my part on the committee, and I'm not speaking for anyone else on the committee, this is how I see it. In general I figured that there are 5 sort of geographical areas that we were thinking of (and no, this isn't scientific by any stretch). Generally we were thinking US west coast, US east coast, US Central, US South and Canada. Since Chicago is 2011 that makes Central something to avoid, and we just had US West and US East prior, we really wanted to focus on areas in Canada and US South. I'm not saying that's what we'll actually choose, but there are more choices in these two regions than any of the others for that reason. The actual choice is going to be informed by the survey, the realities of holding a convention in a city, the local presence, and whether or not we think the city can hold a great Drupalcon.
Personally, for 2013 I think LA would at least be one of the frontrunners because it has many of the same attributes that made San Francisco a great location for a Drupalcon. So I wouldn't listen to anyone who says LA can't be there for 2013. But I do feel LA is not a strong candidate for 2012 because we would like to give other areas of North America that have not had some representation a chance.
Vegas is on the list because we believe that Vegas is so strongly geared toward holding large conventions that we wouldn't need much of a team on the ground there to put on a good convention. It's Vegas, that's what the city DOES.
Be fair to everyone around the world
Having DrupalCon many times on the West Coast is good for 'us', but for those paying big bucks to travel here, they should have a chance, many, to go somewhere closer to home, cheaper. It is this criteria that keeps the city selection committee on their toes, and why the West Coast will not host DrupalCon not even in 2013, imho. The west coast will get a chance every 7-8 years or so, ugh, but reality, I think. Why do I post this depressing news? If we spend a lot of effort to get DrupalCon back on the West Coast, and we do this year after year, and never succeed, for this one reason, then we wasted a lot of effort. I feel this effort is better spent making DrupalCampLA the premier West Coast event.
So, if in doubt, then please contact the city selection members, and ask them how often is the West Coast going to host DrupalCon. That is how long between hosting, 3 years? 5? 8?
Final note, that answer controls when we spend effort to get DrupalCon back on the West Coast. Or in LA, considering we have SF, San Diego, and Oregon, and Washington to compete with.
Similar to the Olympics (They have a USA City Selection Committee), we might consider a "West Coast" City Selection Committee, that encourages all West Coast Drupal User Group leaders to make the decision of which year to get DrupalCon, and then throw joint dollars at it. I'm thinking a four day event? 5-6 tracks per day. Fully webcast as separate streams, audio, screencast, and video. Well, if we do that much AV, then 2 days and 4 tracks.
Hmm, that seems the size of LA's Camp. Let's all have fun this August 7 and 8th.
Feedback? Thoughts?
Peter
LA's Open Source User Group Advocate - Volunteer at DrupalCamp LA and SCALE
Re: Be fair
Um, why would it be 7-8 years between North American DrupalCons on the West Coast? For maximum fairness, we'd rotate the NA DC between the East Coast, the West Coast, and the MidWest, which means we'd see a Con coming our way every third year (which is probably why Kieran mentioned 2013 as our next shot).
Growing Drupal
It's exciting to see us clamoring to attend Drupalcon and to have it near where each of us are, collectively speaking. This passion for learning and sharing is what drives our growth as a community. It would be sad if no one cared enough to comment.
Between LA and San Diego, I forecast our two user groups can generate 1000 attendees at a combined camp with good planning and marketing. I'm not suggesting we do this but pointing out that San Diego and LA have very active and growing Drupal communities and 1000 attendees is a fairly significant body count. This type of regionalization appears to have happened in the Portland-Seattle-Vancouver Drupal community.
So larger, regional camps may be on the horizon. A more challenging feat to carry out given that logistics, complexity and costs escalate very rapidly but exciting too. To Karl's point, with our new-found local corporate clientele, maybe more feasible that we think.
And a shameless plug for our Drupal Camp: SandCamp 2011, January 8-9. Hope to meet some of you in a few weeks at DrupalCampLA.
Susan | Better modules through revenue-share: Crafted, Curated, Contributed
DrupalCon is an official
DrupalCon is an official Drupal event and there is a lot of business involved behind the scenes to make this event a reality. The idea of being fair from city to city is magical at best. Every year and every region poses new challenges for organizers and not having a long list of places to go is less about marketing and more about the business of these events. This is not a bad thing but more of a necessary evil.
As an event organizer I have come to greatly appreciate events that are both big AND small. Each have challenges to produce. So when it comes down to (huge) venue costs and decisions, the happy idea of jumping around the country each year to "be fair" does not work here. Adobe North American MAX conference (over 5,000 attendees) is scheduled in the same L.A. convention center for 2009 & 2010 because the cost of renting two years in advance worked out for the bottom line and marketing efforts (previous years were all over: Las Vegas, New Orleans, S.F., Anaheim, etc.)
I would not be shocked if the con went back to S.F. before L.A./S.D. But if any Western state is not in the running for any of the next N.A. cons then I will be dumbfounded.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us