DebConf16/Bids/Montreal/Status

This page aims to give clear informations about how well the priority listed by Debconf are achieved and other needed informations.

Status updates

Things have changed quite a bit for our main venue (McGill University) in the last two weeks. We were able to have a meeting with the organisation renting the venue and we were able to gather a lot of informations about accommodation via emails. Here are things that changed:

• Venue price has changed. We now have realistic prices that include security costs
• We have clear informations on how much the venue and accommodation is handicapped friendly.
• We were able to have group prices and exact room capacity for the McGill residences

Since the last IRC meeting, we were able to:

• get price quotes for food
• get somewhat vague infos on networking
• change the rooms to rent for the venue a bit
• take some nice pictures!
• make the security costs clearer

Priority list

1 - "affordable" for both sponsors and attendees

For McGill, prices for renting the venue are a bit expensive due to security costs. As for accommodation, it may be a bit more than 30 US$ per person per night, but for Montreal this is really cheap. For food, we got quoted at 20 CAD$ per day per person (3 meals). At current rates, this is 16 USD.

2 - strong, mature, experienced local team

No one in our team has taken part in organising Debconf previously. Tiago is of great help and guidance (thanks tiago!), but he does not have time to take concrete organising task. Some of us are familiar with organising big events though. Our team is definitely local. We are about 5 people involved at the moment, but we known a lot of other people interested in helping if we win the bid.

3- good working spaces

At McGill, room 302 and the Club Lounge are really nice working space, both with a totally different atmosphere. They both have a lot of light during the day. The green and blue rooms are nice for meetings too.

4 - excellent network connectivity

This is a tricky answer. The TL;DR is: McGill is a major university is North America. Of course network connectivity is excellent.

The more detailled answer is more nuanced. At first, we were able to gather some nice general information about networking, but quickly, we faced a wall of bureaucracy. When we asked about specific things (mainly something better than a /24 ip-range), we were repetitively answered that all of our demand "surpassed what they could provide". This is frustrating and we could not get them to answer what was too much and what could actually be done.

5 - quality and quantity of food and drink in close proximity

McGill University is in downtown Montréal and is surrounded by a multitude of cafés, restaurants and such places.

6 - suitable accommodation in close proximity

For McGill, we would rent McGill's student residences. We could fit all attendees (up to 272 people) in the same building. This building is on the main McGill campus, 2 minutes away from the venue. If there are more than 272 people we need to sponsor, we can rent other residences.

7 - presentation facilities

The McGill venue looks quite nice. The rooms are all big enough, handicapped friendly, include the necessary material.

8 - travel logistics

Montréal has an international airport with flights coming from everywhere in the world.

9 - accessibility

McGill venue is completely handicapped friendly. For accommodation, we could get up to 14 special rooms in the student residences, 2 minutes away from the venue.

Strong points in our bid

• Montreal has a solid community culture
• Bilingual (English/French) environment
• Great accessibility
• Easy traveling by plane
• Great cheeses
• low cost of catering

Weak points in our bid

• At the moment, the only solid venue we have is McGill university. UQAM and Concordia University are still nice backup plans, but the Christmas vacation really made our work difficult in the last 2 months.
• McGill is a bit expensive, especially since we would have to pay a lot of security fees. We do not meet the 30 USD per person per night accommodation price that was asked.
• We are only 5 working on the bid at the moment, even though our wiki page lists 18 people.
• Limited available dates, considering likely accommodation availability.
• Yet another DebConf in north America (2 in US since 2010).
• Strict overnight rules for pubs and bars (3AM), train stops at ~00:30 but some buses run all night long
• Canada is not the most visa-friendly country (well, we made it in US twice...)

Strong points in other bids

• Cape Town main venue ( UCT Upper Campus ) looks totally awsome and is totally awsomely free.
• Cape Town is in Africa. It would be the first Debconf on that continent.
• Cape Town has 3 venue options, one principal and two backups plans.
• Damn South Africa looks pretty.
• Cape Town team members look like they have a lot of experience in organizing Debconf.