DebConf12/Bids/Brazil/BeloHorizonte

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[edit] People who might be able to help in the area

Some DDs live in the city. They are:

[edit] Texts for the meeting

[edit] Local support

We have two letters of support (in portuguese):

Conquá, another Brazilian company, supports the BID in their website.

[edit] Candidates for the Local Team from other cities in Brazil

  • Luiz Guaraldo (Guaraldo/Debian-RS)
  • Michelle Ribeiro
  • Ian Lawrence (ian_brasil)
  • Valessio S Brito (valessio/DebianArt)
  • Joelias Júnior (joelias/Debian-GO)
  • Gustavo Jordan (gustavojordan/DebianZine)
  • Tiago Bortoletto Vaz (tiago@d.o)

[edit] ToDo or others pages

[edit] Check List

[edit] Local team

  • Please name the main local team and describe their commitment (i.e. connection, work they have done before, how long...) in organizing events and working in Free Software projects. Are they perhaps even known inside Debian?
  • Marco Túlio Gontijo e Silva
    • Debian Developer since January 2010
    • Contributed to the organization of some local events, such as Linux Chix meeting and EMSL - a regional free software meeting, sized to 150-250 attendees, that happen annually in Belo Horizonte and other cities of Minas Gerais; and "Oficinas Debian" - local small conferences about Debian
  • Rafael Cunha de Almeida
    • Maintains package(s) in Debian
    • Translated and revised the Python Tutorial to Portuguese
  • Régis Fernandes Gontijo
    • Long-time translator and revisor of Mozilla Brazil Team
    • Contributed with translations and revisions for DDTP
    • Organized EMSL 2005
  • Samuel Ribeiro da Costa Vale
    • Contributed to the organization of some local events, such as EMSL and "Oficinas Debian"
  • Thadeu Lima de Souza Cascardo
    • Contributed to the organization of some local events, such as EMSL and "Oficinas Debian"
  • Carlos Henrique G. Paulino
  • Leonardo Serra
    • Contributed to the organization of some local events, such as EMSL
  • Marcelo "metal" Jorge Vieira
    • Debian Developer
    • Contributed to the organization of some local events, such as EMSL
  • Of these people, which have been present at a previous DebConfs and who have participated as organizers and/or volunteers (the line might be quite blurry at times) of a previous DebConf?
  • Are you willing to work on the final report and sponsor bags from DebConf N-1? (This is somewhat satirical, meant to highlight the fact that often the DCN+1 team team finishes these things from DCN even though it technically isn't their job. This item will hopefully also motivate future teams to finish their own report/sponsor bags in a timely manner.)
  • We are all intending to go there, and help in the work done in the report and sponsor bags.

[edit] Choice of city / town / whatever

  • Are you suggesting a city, a town, a village, a spa in the middle of nowhere?
Belo Horizonte is located in the State of Minas Gerais. It's in the Southeast region of the country, where the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are located. Gustavo has described it somewhat in a blog post: http://blog.kov.eti.br/?p=94 There is more information at Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/Belo_Horizonte Some videos about the city: "The Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte is the 3rd most populous of Brazil, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The city is the 6th most populous of the country.", according to wikipedia. We are suggesting SESC Venda Nova, which is somehow a spa in the middle of the north section of the city, a little far from downtown. It's 17km from downtown, 17km from the International Airport and 8km from Pampulha Airport. It's closer to the airports than downtown is. It's a space for leisure, with pools, courts, places to walk, birds, vegetation, etc. Here is an internal map: http://8oficina.inclusaodigital.gov.br/files/images/mapa_interno_SESC_Venda_Nova.jpg
  • How many people live there?
About 3 million people live in Belo Horizonte.
  • How easy/convenient is the proposed place to get all strange and regular kinds of hardware?
There are many electronics shops and computer stores which can provide all kinds of hardware. They are all open during business hours and, except for very unusual hardware, they will be able to supply all hardware needs. However, SESC is not near downtown. So, any needed hardware supplies should all be bought at once, to avoid many trips to the city.
  • How easy is for handicapped people move there?
Accessibility is not very well covered in Brazil as a whole. Belo Horizonte has a number of buses adapted for movement-impaired people, and a small number of streets have sound signaling and other facilities for the sight-impaired. SESC is not the most accessible place either. But since it's a very big place with many possibilities of accomodation and venues, we can arrange to get the most accessible places in there.
  • Which is the nearest airport?
CNF, the Confins Airport is the nearest airport with international arrivals and flights coming from other brazilian States. It's about 30km from downtown (40min by bus/taxi). It's only 17km from SESC Venda Nova. And there's the local airport, which is 8km from there.
  • Are there any cheap airlines flying near the chosen city?
Yes. There're a lot of air companies which offer affordable prices to other Brazilian cities. As reference, a flight from BHZ to Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo costs about U$80-100. You can find prices from most popular companies in Brazil at http://www.decolar.com.
City Cost (USD) Estimated travel time (h) Company Changes
New York, USA 1197 16 TAM Linhas Aéreas New York - Sao Paulo - BH
Los Angeles, USA 1197 36 Copa Airlines Los Angeles - Panama - Sao Paulo - BH
Washington, USA 1710 16 TAM Linhas Aéreas Washington - Orlando - Sao Paulo - BH
Toronto, Canada 1580 17 American Airlines Toronto - NY - Sao Paulo - BH
Buenos Aires, Argentina 464 17 Pluna Buenos Aires - Montevideu - BH
Paris, France 1641 24 TAP Portugal Paris - Lisbon - BH
Frankfurt, Germain 1481 20 TAM Linhas Aéreas Frankfurt - London - Sao Paulo - BH
Rome, Italy 1481 31 TAP Portugal Rome - Lisbon - Rio - BH
Madrid, Spain 1545 24 TAP Portugal Madrid - London - Sao Paulo - BH
London, UK 1558 18 TAM Linhas Aéreas London - Sao Paulo - BH
Mumbai, India 2063 40 Emirates / TAM Mumbai - Dubai - Sao Paulo - BH
Tokyo, Japan 3719 37 Air France Tokyo - Paris - BH
Sydney, Australia 2802 45 LAN Airlines Sydney - Auckland - Santiago - Sao Paulo - BH


  • How long does the trip from the airport to the venue take?
Approximately half an hour.
  • How friendly is your country towards foreigners?
The country is quite friendly to foreigners, and Minas Gerais is famous for being a receptive State.
  • Visas: Which/how many countries' citizens require getting a visa? How hard (bureaucratic, probable) is it to get it?
It is easy, but because of the receprocity policy, any citizen whose country requires more work from brazilians, like the US and Mexico, will also have more work to do. For Debconf, the visa required should be tourism or business. Tourism is usually easier. More information at:
  • Are there any import regulations, which might affect DebConf? (e.g. a limit to number of notebooks / DVDs / other media you can bring in; hard regulations for money transfers; etc.)
When entering in Brazil you have to file a form which explains the quotas. It also gives enough information regarding rights and duties for the traveler. Relevant items for foreigners are listed below (more info at http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/Legislacao/Ins/2010/in10592010.htm): 

NON-DUTIABLE GOODS

* clothing and traveller’s objects for personal or professional use;
* goods worth up to US$ 3,000.00 (air or maritime travel) 
* books, leaflets and newspapers;

DUTIABLE GOODS

The customs duty is a flat rate of 50% on the value exceeding exemption limits.
The exemption limit is personal and can only be used once in a period of a month.

QUANTITATIVE LIMITS

* alcoholic beverages: 12 liters in total
* cigarettes: 10 packs in total, containing 20 units each;
* cigars and cigarillos: 25 units in total;
* tobacco: 250 grams in total;
* goods not mentioned in the previous items, valued under US$ 10,00 each
(air  or maritime travel), or US$ 5,00 (land, river or lake boarder crossing):
20 units in total, since there are up to 10 identical goods; and
goods not mentioned in the previous items: 20 units (air or maritime travel),
or 10 units (land, river or lake boarder crossing) in total, since there are
up to 3 identical goods.

RESTRICTIONS AND PROHIBITIONS

Narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or similar drugs, and counterfeit and
pirated goods are prohibited from entering the country.  Travellers under 18 years
of age are not allowed to carry alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
Products subject to sanitary inspection or of animal / vegetable origin will only be
released after authorization by the National Health Surveillance Agency or the Ministry of
Agriculture. Motor vehicles and their parts; goods in an amount or quality that reveals
commercial / industrial destination; goods over the quantitative limits are subjected
to taxation under the COMMON IMPORT PROCEDURE.

We believe that such restrictions won't affect Debconf atendees. However, in a worst scenario it may result in some fees for Debconf stuff like videoteam equipment.

  • Language: Do most people talk English? How hard is it for a foreigner to find their way around?
Most locals do not speak English, but all members of the local team and hotel employees do. There are also English speakers in the airport and in touristic sites.
  • Smoking: What are the local regulations about smoking?
There are laws forbidding indoors smoking in public places. However, smoking outdoors is fine.

[edit] Conference Facilities

We had difficulties getting an estimate from the people of the venue. However, we know people who have organized events for 1200 people to accomodate there during five days. We could get the costs from it and we have found prices from other events that are very close to this price. So, we are confident that we can get something very close to this for Debconf at 2012.

  • How much does it cost to rent these facilities?

The main conference room costs about $556 (prices converted from Real to US dollars, using R$1.67, today's rate) a day for 240 people. It will be $3,892 for the 7 days. Auxiliary rooms will cost $658 a day and $9,212 for 14 days (another talks, hacklabs, video, server, etc). Two rooms for 100 people, one of them to be converted into hack lab, another room for 50 people. There are a lot more venues in there, with different prices, and we can negotiate a different combination. The prices per day are:
  • Room Mariana (100 people): $323 a day
  • Room Ouro Preto (240 people): $556 a day
  • Room Inconfidentes (100 people): $275 a day
  • Ginnasium (1500 people): $373 a day
  • Room Tiradentes (50 people): $60 a day
Convention Center Eucaliptos:
  • Main Room (180 people)
  • TV and Video Room (40 people)
  • Room Azaléia (25 people)
  • Room Caruarina (60 people)
  • Room Magnolia (50 people)
  • Total cost per day: $792
The total price for the use of conference rooms and another facilities during debconf and debcamp is about: $15,000. It could be about $11,000 if we got the Convention Center for the 14 days. There is also a day bonus depending on the number of guests. It is about $480 a day for a number of 201 to 300 guests. However, we think that bonus is due to the people from the event we are basing the costs on getting all those rooms above.

  • How far away are the locations from each other? (auditoriums, hacklabs, restaurant, sleeping quarters, info

desk)

2 or 3 minutes walking.
  • What kind of places are available suitable for hacklabs, workshops, BoFs and talks?
We would have to arrange one of the rooms to be a hacklab. Install tables, power sockets, and others.
We have plenty of venues with a fair price if we need a room only for video team, for example.

  • How flexible can that be handled?
  • ~-Can smaller auditoriums be merged into a bigger one?-~
No, but bigger auditoriums can be splitted in two.

  • Are tables/chairs fixed, or can we arrange them to fit more people/give more room to the people that we need?
Some of the rooms are free, with free chairs that we can arrange as we want (in a circle for a BoF, for example).
  • Is the venue ready for handicapped people? Note: Keep in mind that it's not only motion-handicapped - Is the area safe for people with any kind of handicap? (There are sight and hearing-impaired people, too.) Bonus: What people is it not good for?
  • Access to all areas with ramps and/or elevators? (Note: carrying somebody over some steps is not usually an acceptable option.)
There are ramps in most of the place. Some acommodation rooms need stairs. But there are rooms that do not require them.


  • Are there people with experience handling handicapped people, who checked that?
No.

  • Are blueprints with exact distances available to us (to be kept confidential on request)?
Not now. We can try to get a better map of the place.

  • What kind of audio equipment is already present at the auditoriums?
  • Wireless or stationary mics?
  • clip-on kind of mics or cary in your hand mics?
  • How many of them?
It's possible we need to rent that equipment. They charge about $90 for 8 hours a day for an operator to be available for us. They charge $17 a day for the rent of two slide projectors.
Microfones and speakers are available without charge.

  • Will the hacklabs be allowed to stay open 24x7? What time schedule do they offer?
24x7.
  • What kind of security will be there?
It's a open place, but it's not public. There may be other guests. They have local security. But it's possible to get the municipal guard to work in those days in exchange for a tax or paying some costs, like food.
  • Are there any limitations regarding the consumptions of food / alcohol? Where do what limitations apply?
No.
  • How far is it to the nearest convenience stores / all-night restaurants?
17km from downtown.  :-)
However, there is neighborhood around, although it could not be very much secure to go out. There is a restaurant in SESC and we can arrange for it to be open until late.

  • Please provide pictures of the venue/accommodation.
http://www.sescmg.com.br/pagina/630/estrutura.aspx

[edit] Food

  • How much are the meals per person per day?
Breakfast is included in the lodging fees.
Lunch and dinner are about $9.26 per person per meal. A coffee-break would cost $3.44 per person.
  • Is the eating place near the talks place / the hacklabs?
No. It requires a little walk.
  • What kind of food would be served?
Negotiatable.
Traditional food from Minas Gerais is very famous.
  • In what fashion? (service to the table, limited buffet, open buffet, etc.)
We can negotiate what will be the most affordable.
  • Would food for vegetarian / vegan / lactose-intolerant / gluten-sensitive / religious (of any denomination) people be available?
We can negotiate that.
  • How much meals do we need to order to get those kind of "special" meals?
  • Will it cost extra to get those special meals?
  • In a two week period, how many more or less equal meals can we expect?
Our cousine is very variable. So, it's possible that we could get five to ten different meals during the period, considering lunch and dinner.

[edit] Network connectivity

  • Is the area already wired with regular network infrastructure? (much preferrably: 100Mbps or 1Gbps switched)
  • How much does it cost and how difficult is it to get a big internet connection? (10/20 Mbits at least)
  • How much work does it imply to cover the area with wireless links?
  • If we use someone else's infrastructure, how easy / flexible can that be handled, regarding routing / firewall / ip-range / public access / other stuff?
    • Do we have restrictions on allowed ports?
    • Are we traffic-shaped? Or can we set a traffic shaper if we need so?
  • Would it be possible to set up the network before Debcamp? (a day or two, earlier would be nicer, in order to handle problems gracefully. Additional weeks for wireless.)
We would need to setup our own network, most likely. We can get an operator to provide the connection as a sponsor. Then, we could get help from local volunteers to help with the cabling and wireless networks. So, it would be the most flexible, but it would require considerable work. Fortunately, we have many people around involved with free software and specialized in network setup that could help.

[edit] Special rooms

Both for server and video rooms:

  • General conditions for the rooms
  • Size
  • Have they/do they need air conditioning?

  • What electrical load can they handle?

[edit] Accomodation

  • How much does it cost per person per night?
Rooms for two or three people without air conditioning are about $23.81 per night per person. With air conditioning, it's about $28.44.
Individual rooms with air conditioning are $41.01, without are $34.40.
There's also something more like a hostel, with 8 persons per bedroom, with a bathroom. Is costs $15.87 per person.
  • Is the place where people are going to sleep near the conference facilities?
All in SESC, it's a big place, but from walking distance.
  • Is it able to handle a varying number from 200 to 500 people?
Yes. It can handle more than a thousand people.
  • Is it able to handle non-native speaking people? (i.e. do the people at the sleeping facilities speak English?)
No.

  • Will there be a need of a "Debconf" info-desk, or would the local (hotel or such) people be able to handle that themselves? (See InfoDesk for details on duties)
Yes. We'd need a info-desk.
  • Will it be possible for couples to stay in their own rooms?
Yes.
  • How many room keys would be available?
Enough, if we make the reservations as soon as possible. There are a lot of rooms in SESC, so this shouldn't be an issue.

  • Are there other hotels around?
No.
  • Are there rooms ready for handicapped people? How many?
Yes, there are 14 rooms.

[edit] Fun and Free time

  • What activities can be done during the free time?
There is a big pool, sport courts to play soccer, basketball, volleyball. And all those are included.
  • What would be a possible Day Trip?
Possible locations for the Day Trip:
  • Ouro Preto, a World Heritage Site, two hours from Belo Horizonte by bus - not very accessible
  • Vila Cipó/Serra do Cipó, a small village near a chain of mountains, with nice views, and good food - better accessibility, and people can choose to go check out waterfalls close to it
  • Inhotim (click English on the top right corner)
    • Is the proposed location ready to receive people with disabilities?
Ouro Preto is not the best option for handicapped people. Inhotim is prepared for receiving people with disabilities.
  • How expensive would that be?
Inhotim costs $10 for person.

[edit] Local Sponsors

  • Do you have a list of prospective sponsors that might be interested in the conference? Money, hardware, connectivity, etc.
  • Federal Sponsorship
    • Serpro-MG
    • Petrobrás
    • Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia
    • Ministério das Comunicações
    • Ministério da Cultura
    • Ministério do Planejamento
  • State Government
  • City Government
    • Belotur
    • Prodabel
  • Big Computer Companies
    • Google
    • IBM
  • Local Computer Companies
    • Linux Place
    • Holoscópio
    • WAZ
    • Syst
    • Conquá
  • Internet Companies
    • Oi
    • GVT
    • NET
    • Embratel
  • Airlines
    • TAM
    • Gol
    • Webjet
  • Universities
    • UNA
    • UNI
    • PUC
    • FABRAI
    • CEFET
    • FUMEC
    • UFMG

[edit] Timing

  • When (and why) would be the best time to host DebConf at your location?
July is the best month because it's the period of school vacation in Brazil. Also, FISL ( http://fisl.org.br ) is planned to occurr from July 25 to 28 in 2012, so from July 8 to 22 is a good date. Also, the weather is almost comfortable in July, with rare or none rain and temperature ranging between 13 and 24C.
  • What is your backup plan if your preferred venue isn't available at that time?
We have hotels downtown, which are much more expensive, in case we want the venue to be in the same place. There are cheaper hotels which we could get, but which would require that we get a separate venue. We have options that may be more expensive than SESC. Mineirinho (the smaller version of Mineirão stadium) is known to have hosted people to sleep in events like Fórum Social Brasileiro, which was hosted there in 2003. It's like plan D. But it would certainly be a cheap (although not comfortable at all) option. It could be much more bureaucratict than SESC has been, though.
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