The news of the cancellation of DrupalCon São Paulo 2012 came as a shock to volunteers and the wider community. This decision by the Drupal Association (DA) board was due to lower than expected interest in session proposals, scholarship applications, and a shortfall in sponsorships, ultimately leading to financial constraints.

This cancellation represented a significant loss – not just in terms of the years of effort and resources invested by the DA, payed staff, and volunteers, but also in terms of the personal disappointments of everyone involved, including those who had already booked their flights.

The DrupalCon in Brazil was anticipated to be a landmark event, highlighting the global awareness and success of the FLOSS community. It was an opportunity to demonstrate Drupal’s readiness to take a more geographically inclusive approach, recognizing Free Software as a model for fair development and sustainable community building. A similar ethos was successfully embodied by Debian, which hosted its global collaborator’s conference, DebConf 2012, in Nicaragua.

There is a notion that DrupalCons must always grow in size to denote success and professionalism. However, expanding to new regions of the world could be a greater triumph, as it’s more about people and their contributions, which can be more valuable to Drupal than financial gains from established markets. The DA’s focus on this as a primary objective may not align with the broader community’s perspective. While the DA provides expertise and continuity for DrupalCons, it’s my belief that the community should dictate the rules and conditions of these events.

Recognizing and accommodating regional differences is crucial. Implementing this understanding in the decision-making process is a significant challenge, requiring sensitivity to local insights and openness to learning. The DA’s decision to cancel the event without consulting any local Latin American Drupal community representative, despite their presence on the Advisory Board, was a misstep. In Latin America, there’s often skepticism until concrete organizational steps are visible, which might explain the initial low engagement in terms of sponsors and session proposals.

As we scale Drupal’s code development, we must similarly scale our community. Our core initiatives focus on separate areas of Drupal 8’s development, which could be a useful approach for DrupalCons. Having different people with deeper knowledge in their respective “areas” for each DrupalCon, supported by the constant staff of the DA, could enhance event organization.

Transparency is another area where the DrupalCon organization could learn from core development. Transparency, though complex, leads to more inclusive and well-reflected results, as demonstrated by Free/Libre Software. It’s integrative and would allow the community to review and participate in significant social developments.

Nick Vidal’s comment encapsulates the sentiment well:

“What really matters is the community, the people, the heart and soul they put in to make things happen.”

It would be wonderful to see individuals and companies from around the world actively support upcoming Drupal events in Latin America, such as the 4th DrupalCamp Centro America in Panama City and the 3rd Drupal Summit Latino in Loja, Ecuador. Your personal decision to attend can help us grow together.