Towards a proposal for DrupalCon Montreal 2012

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omar's picture

Montreal would be a great place to hold a DrupalCon. Not only is it a great city that people actually want to visit, being outside of the US avoids participants having to worry about crossing the US-border, which is a widely recognised as a limiting factor for international events that take place in the US.

I have already initiated discussions with the main conference center in Montreal to evaluate the potential costs associated to a DrupalCon in Montreal in 2012. Unfortunately, at this point I don't have a sense of the Drupal Association's interest in this proposal and, in any case, I'll very quickly run up against questions that I can't answer on my own.

So I'm writing to the North American Regional Organizing Group (copied to the Montreal group) in order to be put in touch with an appropriate representative and/or pointed to the formal procedures for moving forward with this.

Thanks in advance.

Omar

Comments

Follow-up...

omar's picture

I managed to get in touch with the folks responsible who are, understandably, busy with 2011. However, after seeing 2011 get booked so quickly I didn't want to take the chance of missing the boat for 2012... even if this is, admittedly, pretty far off at this point.

My goal at the moment, is just to get enough preliminary information in order to continue the discussions with the main conference center here in Montreal (I have a meeting with them scheduled for the 13th). My main question at this point related to the acceptable variation in timing for the North American event. DrupalCon Boston was in March, DC was in March, SF will be in April. Given the climate in Montreal I'd sure prefer to envisage a DrupalCon being sometime in June-August, but don't even know if this is within the realm of possibilities.

Any thoughts with respect to this would be appreciated.

As for the rest, I guess I'll just wait until the procedures get formalised/clarified in this group.

Omar

Cool idea

davemybes's picture

Omar,

Great idea for 2012, and I also like the later date. However, the European Drupalcon is usually in September, so August would be way too late I think. We can probably get away with May if the last couple of years are anything to go by. April if we're really lucky. If the powers that be go for June, even better, but I wouldn't push for anything later than the beginning of June.

Dave

Early May is the latest

omar's picture

I've received word that the "requirement is that we avoid all holidays -- Easter, Passover, etc. -- and competing conferences, specifically SWSX media. Early March through early May is the target. "

Omar

Early May is a great time of

Ryan Palmer's picture

Early May is a great time of year to be in Montreal!

Omar, Dave, are you guys coming to the meetup on the 17th? I'd love to discuss this further.

I should be there on the

davemybes's picture

I should be there on the 17th, but I might only get there around 7pm.

I wish I could...

omar's picture

... but I'll be out of town :-( Although, given that we are talking about 2012, we have some little time left ;-)

Omar

DrupalCon

LouisEric's picture

I've actually spent some time with the SF and steering committee people discussing that very topic; the faster we peg our intentions in people's minds the better, Let's meet and hammer out the basic proposal so that we can file it and claim the ground.

(My 63reasons account has been on the fritz on GDO since the September upgrade, which completely locked me out of previous discussions; I'll use this one while it is getting fixed.)

Yeah...

omar's picture

... getting "our intentions in people's minds" is the idea :-D ... although, I've essentially, been told that it is a little too early at this point... but I agree that the sooner we put together a basic proposal the better... hence the meeting that I'll have with the Palais des congrès folks later this week.

Omar

Prévoir 5 000 participants!

xmacinfo's picture

Très bonne initiative.

Pour ma part je préfère le mois d'avril, ou le début du mois de mai.

Je crois que nous devrons prévoir une capacité de 5 000 en 2012 si la progression des DrupalCon nord-américain suit la même tendance. :-)

Follow-up on meeting with the Palais des Congrès

omar's picture

(My original meeting with them was delayed until this morning.)

The "Palais des congrès" would definitely be a top-notch venue for a DrupalCon, surpassing anything that we have experienced so far. It can accommodate as many people as well be able to attract (up to 5000 in one room alone if necessary) and allows for a wide range of configurations. Moreover, it is directly interconnected with the metro/subway system and is in close proximity to a wide range of restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions etc. I look forward to working with their team to help put together a rock-solid proposal for the North American Regional Organizing Group.

We are tentatively looking at the 14-18th of Mai 2012 which would allow us to overlap slightly with the WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliance) conference that will be taking place at the same venue. It is always important to look for opportunities to network with other influential communities and the WITSA is one of them.

Anyway, I just wanted to post an update. We'll discuss this at the next Montreal Drupal Meetup.

Omar

Another update for DrupalCon 2012 in Montreal

omar's picture

It's been a while since I updated this thread. Part of this delay was due to the fact that I was initially told that discussions surrounding DrupalCon 2012 wouldn't even begin before DrupalCon 2010 in San Francisco had taken place. However, that was a long time ago and the Palais des congrès de Montréal, the main conference center in Montreal, is pressing me for confirmation of the tentatively selected dates. So it is high-time to get the balling rolling again.

While attending DrupalCon San Francisco I very briefly had a chance to discuss with Cary Gordon, the Director of Events for the Drupal Association, about the possibility of holding the 2012 event in Montreal. His initial feedback boiled down to:

1) Montreal was an interesting venue except that it was hard to get from the airport. Fortunately, with the new "747" bus line, that shuttles between the airport and a series of stops throughout downtown Montreal, this should now be a non-issue.

2) The DA will no longer be calling for formal proposals from the community as this resulted in wasted work/energy (i.e. proposals that take a lot of time to develop just to get refused). Rather, the DA will simply select cities somehow. In other words, I am no longer clear on how cities can ensure that they are at least considered and if there is anything they can do to bolster their candidacies.

3) Cary reaffirmed something we already knew, that one of the most important selection criteria will be the strength of the local Drupal community. Again, I think that Montreal is in good standing given that we have continued to see a diverse set of established local Drupal shops stepping up to host meet-ups, which have been consistently held for a long time now. Moreover, I have already had preliminary discussions with many of these providers regarding pledges of financial and logistical support, and I know that there are many more that we have yet to communicate with who would be willing to contribute.

If you have followed this thread you'll know that the tentative dates for the Montreal DrupalCon 2012 are the 14-18th of May 2012, which would allow us to overlap slightly with the WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliance) conference that will be taking place at the same venue. It is always important to look for opportunities to network with other influential communities and the WITSA is one of them. But the conference center won't keep this booked forever and I need to give them an update as soon as possible.

Here's the question (I opened another thread for this); What is the status and plan with respect to the selection of the venue for the 2012 North American DrupalCon?

Thanks.

Omar

Looks like we've missed the

rbarac's picture

Looks like we've missed the train (or 747 bus) for Drupalcon Montreal for 2012... but how about 2013/14?

Is anything being done on this?

Rob Barac


Business Director @ PreviousNext
Committee Member @ The Golden Stave Foundation
Public Speaker and Runner

Next deal could be in 2014. I

chipway's picture

Next deal could be in 2014.

I would be glad to come for DrupalCon Montreal :)

It's out of our hands

mvc's picture

As Omar said above, it's no longer up to different cities to come up with detailed proposals. The Association has their own set of selection criteria, which include having a large, active Drupal community, and ranking highly in their surveys of which cities people would like to attend conferences in, among other things like airport accessibility and hotel prices. For the first, Montreal is at best in the middle of the pack, and for the second, apparently everyone in Europe and the US would far rather go to the US than come anywhere in Canada. Only Canadians want a DrupalCon in Canada, and there just aren't enough of us to make that happen.

In short, this isn't likely to happen soon, and there's not much we can do about it. That's surveys for you. The good news is that there will soon be a DrupalCamp here: http://drupalcampmontreal.org/ In fact, registration and session proposals are now open! For people in the area, regional camps often give great value for your time & money, and this camp attracts people from across Quebec, Ontario, and the northeastern US. I think putting energy into organizing these camps is the best way to support the local Drupal community.

Not all in the US...

pwarn's picture

As an American that lives just an hour away from Montreal I've always found Montreal's Drupal community to be most welcoming and vibrant. And while both Chicago and Denver are great cities, I don't think they compare to Montreal. I think that Montreal would be a FANTASTIC place for a DrupalCon...

Montreal is also a very

pwarn's picture

Montreal is also a very european city in many respects, and Canada seems much more reasonable about visitors entering the country than the US does, so one would think that would be points in it's favor.

In short, this isn't likely

greggles's picture

In short, this isn't likely to happen soon, and there's not much we can do about it.

My sense is that there are 2 things you definitely can do about it, though they are not easy:
1. Throw an amazing camp (for whatever definition of amazing seems good to you)
2. Grow the use of Drupal in Montreal specifically and Canada in general

Drupalcon follows the crowd, so if there is a strong crowd in a city then Drupalcon is more likely to go there.

I would love to go to a Drupalcon Montreal :)

Disappointing to say the

rbarac's picture

Disappointing to say the least.
Ah well. It's a long way to fly for a Drupalcamp...

Good luck Canada. At least Sydney Australia is locked in!!

Rob Barac


Business Director @ PreviousNext
Committee Member @ The Golden Stave Foundation
Public Speaker and Runner