Who decides about DrupalCon dates and locations?

The Drupal Association welcomes proposals from aspiring DrupalCon organizers. The association board votes and approves DrupalCon proposals. Smaller events, such as DrupalCamps are self organized and do not require approval by the association. We are requesting proposals that meet the following guidelines.

• Proposal for a DrupalCon second half 2008 in Europe, first half 2009 in North America. Proposals for Africa, Asia, and South America welcome.
• Must avoid major religious holidays (Easter, Passover...)
• Must avoid other major web conferences (SXSW, etc.)

Submission of your proposal

If you are planning to submit a proposal to the Drupal association you should notify the association immediately, so that they can notify you of the next board meeting during which they will vote on your proposal. You can submit a proposal using the Contact form with the submit a DrupalCon proposal category:

Costs and sponsorship guidelines

1. Proposal should indicate whether the conference is: for profit, profit sharing with the Drupal association, or not-for-profit.
2. Indicate the number of free or sponsored individuals (Speakers, Sponsors, Volunteers, Students) etc.
3. Individual revenue generating sub-events: sponsored meals with company presentation and appropriate promotion. Paid for job-fair. Paid for training sessions. Paid for business meetings. Paid for company expo.
4. Sponsorship structure with benefits for sponsors. See fund raising guidelines below.
5. A budget should be submitted with catering, sponsorship, pricing, and scholarships.

Location

Choose a location which is easy to reach. If attendees need to work through complex visa applications, or the city itself is hard to reach by transport, think your proposal through again. It is a good idea to think about having enough housing in the city, possibly close to the venue. If there are tourist attractions in the city, or extra programs around the event, you can attract more people to come. Some attendees may even bring their families, if the location looks like fun to stay.

Venue

Depending on the timing, location, pricing and some other factors, attendance needs to be predicted. You need to find a venue which can host the different "attractions" which come with a DrupalCon, and can accommodate as many people as you expect will attend. Usual attractions include session rooms, small work group rooms, huge space for hacking and hanging out (with plenty of power outlets). And of course the venue should have rock solid wireless internet all around. Also if you don't plan on a long lunch break in the middle of the day for people to go out for lunch, you need to think about some lunch facility at the venue.

It is important to mention here that if you charge a considerable amount for attendance, people will be more likely to show up. At free to attend events, it usually happens that 30-50% of registrants will simply not show up. Registration price is a simple tool to help you plan on attendance.

• Create a successful financial model for your DrupalCon proposal. If you need to alter the guidelines listed below to limit fixed costs or avoid significant losses due to variable attendance then please do so.
• Aim for 800-1000 attendees, spread out over several days with a smaller maximum capacity.
• Main room for keynotes, big enough for roughly 600 people (including standing postions)
• 4 Rooms to support 4 tracks, with beamers, microphones and cameras
• Good WIFI, preferably multiple ssid's for participants and presenters.
• Good Internet connection, 10Mbps or higher.
• At least SSH, HTTP(S), CVS, and IRC access.
• Ample power outlets, printers and preferably physical security.
• Rooms for developers to program.
• Rooms for small work groups.
• Accommodations for private events prior to and post DrupalCon. e.g. Customer deals, interviewing, etc.
• Proximity to restaurants, for groups to do meals.
• Accomodations included or inexpensive are a benefit.

Event logistic guidelines

• Provide the following: projectors, sound systems, registration table, signs, banners, Internet access, during conference communication.
• Provide the following: registration bags, t-shirts, name tags, brochures, gifts, and maps.
• Some people from the organization full time on site for questions.
• Major conference social opportunities for an organized conference social activity.

Fundraising Guidelines

• More than 50% sponsorships.
• Less than 50% attendance fees.
• Try to keep attendance fees low; in the $100 range on average, if possible (analogous to the 50 Euro attendance fee in Barcelona). Plone charged ~$300, and O'Reilly charges $800 for their conference.
• The Drupal Association will provide seed capital for the event up to 25%, e.g. $37 500 with a budget and receipts for conference facilities to boot strap and secure facilities and resources in advance.

Staffing Guidelines

• One organizer, 4 weeks full time prior to the conference, either paid or hired staff.
• Another organizer, 8 hours per week 4 months prior to the conference to do logistics and basic accounting.
• At least 4 people "on the ground" to help with the conference as it happens.

Schedule, session, speaker, community collaboration guidelines

• Please indicate how you will maintain schedule quality.
• Please indicate how you ensure quality sessions and support speakers. Please address the following topics: fixed sessions, invited talks, call for proposals, speaker compensation, program committee, evaluating proposals, different conference tracks.
• Please indicate how the conference will support the needs of the community particularly Drupal core developer collaboration and market growth opportunities for businesses.

Conference Website

• Please indicate what you will do on your Drupal site and how it complements the Drupal conference.