FUDCon:LATAM 2011 Bid Chile

= FUDcon LATAM 2011 Valparaíso - Chile =

Local Team
Horst von Brand

Antonio Sallés

Sven von Brand

Carlos Sepulveda

L@rry Letelier

Eduardo Zamorano Orrego

Brief description of the city.
Valparaíso in Wikipedia

Viña del Mar in Wikipedia

The proposal of Chile is to make the event between the cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, as both cities are like one big city in practical terms. Valparaíso and Viña del Mar are located in the central Coasts of Chile

Nicknamed “The Jewel of the Pacific”, Valparaíso was declared a world heritage site based upon its improvised urban design and unique architecture. In 1996, the World Monuments Fund declared Valparaíso’s unusual system of funicular elevators (highly-inclined cable cars) one of the world’s 100 most endangered historical treasures.

Viña del Mar is best known as a tourist and beach destination (with multiple beaches including Reñaca, Las Salinas, Miramar, Casino, and others). One of its key attractions are a gambling casino and a yearly music festival, Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar (Spanish: "Viña del Mar International Song Festival") that is hosted in the Quinta Vergara Amphitheater.

Valparaíso and Viña del Mar are near the International Airport located in Chile's Capital Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, wich allows an easy travel to the city by the guests.

Major local airports and their distance from lodging and venue.
Valparaíso and Viña del Mar are near the International Airport located in Chile's Capital Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, wich allows an easy travel to the city by the guests. It takes about an hour and a half to get from the airpor to the proposed cities.

The proposed lodging is 15 minutes away from the University by car and there are plenty of public transportations nearby, such as a subway that costs less than a dollar from the city to the University and Buses 24 hours that cost about 90 cents for the same route. Also it is planned to have a minibus dedicated to the transportation of speakers.

Description of proposed lodging and estimated costs along with a written agreement from lodging specifying rates
Hotel and Hostals Because Viña del Mar is a tourist and beach destination there are many hotel and other forms of venues available for the organization of the event. Characteristics: There's the possibility of using the Universities sponsorship to get better hotel prices and availability. Two of the hotels with wich the University has worked are Hotel Gala and Hotel Marina del Rey. Apart from these hotels there are many other options nearby and for a wide range of prices. The usual form of acomodation is two or three guests per room. Prices go from USD$24 to USD$45 per person. (this can be also part of Universidad Técnica Santa María sponsorship)

The proposed hotel for the event is Hotel Gala as they provide a room for over 100 persons and smaller rooms that go from 40 to 15 persons, considering a dinner kind of distribution for the Hackfest and other evening activities.

The rooms that we could use cost each day:


 * Salón Antúnez and Salón Neruda, capacity of 70 and over a 100 persons:
 * $243697 Chilean Pesos about 500 dollars each


 * Salón Guayasamín and Salón Neruda, capacity of about 40 persons:
 * $75630 Chilean Pesos about 140 dollars each


 * Salón Arrau, capacity of 30 persons:
 * $54622 Chilean Pesos about 115 dollars

In the case of the bigger rooms, Salón Antúnez and Salón Neruda, if we reserve at least 15 rooms they offer one of the rooms as courtesy. In the case of all the smaller rooms, if we reserve at least 10 rooms they offer one of those rooms as courtesy.

We plan to invite speakers and key developers from Chile and make them stay in the hotel, so it is possible to have at least 15 rooms and it is very clear that we will have at least 10 rooms.

Estimated costs of flights major airports that attendees will travel from.
This cost can variate / Special prices can be found with Copa

Countries inside CentralAmerica

 * Costa Rica = us$950

Countries Outside CentralAmerica
Information obtained via Expedia
 * Miami, USA = us$400
 * Venezuela = us$580
 * Colombia = us$700
 * Ecuador = us$570
 * Mexico = us$935
 * Rio de Janeiro, Brazil = us$360
 * Sao Paulo, Brazil = us$420
 * Buenos Aires, Argentina = us$198
 * Lima, Peru = us$300
 * La Paz, Bolivia = us$284
 * Madrid, Spain = us$1.200

Brief description of on the ground resources and their experience with FUDcon/other large events.
FUDcon was held in 2009 by the Universidad Central in Santiago de Chile, the event was succesful and had the presence of many chilean enthusiasts. The organizing team is part of the team presenting the current proposal and expects to be able to make a bigger and better FUDcon based on their experience.

The event would be held in the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, this University has been host of many events, some of the more succesful ones were the Encuentro Linux from 2003, 2004 and 2009, CIARP 2007: 12th Iberoamerican Congress on Pattern Recognition and IDEAS 2005: 8º Workshop Iberoamericano de Ingeniería de Requisitos y Ambientes de Software. Encuentro Linux attracted over 700 attendees in 2004 and in 2009 it was organized with 4 other Institutions: Universidad de Playa Ancha, Universidad Valparaíso, Pontificia Universidad Católica and DuocUC.

Also in UTFSM there's plenty experience working with Linux, especially with Fedora, being the principal Computer Lab of the Informatics Department running Linux and managed completely by students. This has allowed to have many students experienced and interested in Linux and open source projects through out the years. The univesity is even considered by some as the cradle of Open Source in Chile.

Old UTFSM picture

A typical day in UTFSM

Sunset over UTFSM

Auditorium
The University has an Auditorium called Aula Magna, with capacity for over 1000 persons. There's also an Auditorium called Salón de Eventos that has a capacity for about 400 persons and many smaller auditoriums that have a capacity from 130 to 200 attendants.

Organizers and Dedicated Guest Spaces
There are two small rooms near the Aula Magna usually used to give a space to rest and keep their belongings to the guests and a small conference room in the Informatics Department to be equipped with space for notebooks, with power supply and wired internet connexions in case they are needed.

Other Activities
There are many tourist attractions in Valparaíso and many beaches to visit in Viña del Mar, it is planned to give the guest the time and opportunity to get to know the cities by day and also by night, being there many great places to visit in Viña del Mar once the sun has set.

Notation of internet connectivity options for the conference
Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María has great connectivity, being a university focused in technical achievement and innovation and the event has the participation of the Information Techologies Director, Horst von Brand. There are wireless access points all around the university and for the event it is planned to install more around the possible populated areas of the event.

The hotel has wifi and the option to get a dedicated internet connection and wifi for about 40 dollars, this should assure a good internet connection for the Hackfest and other activities in the Hotel.

Pros

 * Chile is near Argentina, Perú, Bolivia and Brazil.


 * Valparaíso and Viña del Mar are at a distance of about an hour and a half from the international airport of Santiago de Chile.


 * There are plenty of travel options because Viña del Mar is a tourist and beach destination, having plenty lodging options, restaurants and places to visit by day and by night.


 * There are two Universities supporting the event, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María and Universidad Central.

Cons

 * As Chile is at the bottom of LATAM, maybe bringing people from the top side of SouthAmerica and from Central America could be a bit expensive.

Deadlines for event reservation, etc.
The auditoriums required should be confirmed before march 2011 to be able to make a space reservation.

The hotel reservation should be done with a little more than a month of anticipation. The flights should be bought ideally with at least 2 months of anticipation to get lower prices.