I’m not the organizer of ElixirConf US — that would be Jim Freeze, someone who puts a lot of time and effort into organizing ElixirConf. I’m just a guy who spoke at the most recent conference, and I happen to live in Orlando where the conference was held. Jim and I have been talking about the conference recently, and we believe that it could be beneficial to make some additional details about the conference public. Below I hope to outline the current situation, reassure the community that the conference is paying attention, and encourage discussion.
As many of you know, ElixirConf US 2024 will once again be in Orlando, FL. While I’m pleased to invite you all to my home town, we know that some have expressed concerns about their safety and being welcome in the state of Florida. Based on my conversation with Jim, I believe that safety, accessibility, and inclusion are things that he values.
So here’s where we are: the choice to host ElixirConf US 2023 in Orlando was locked in quite a while ago, and it took the form of a multi-year contract. Both the lead time and the contract duration are pretty standard for this type of event, and signing this type of contract is an important part of getting venues at a reasonable price. Jim has shared with me that the conference has the option to terminate the contract early at a cost of $50,000 for next year. (A similar option was available before the 2023 conference at a cost of $120,000.) As you might expect, this is financially out of reach for the conference, which relies on both corporate sponsors and attendee ticket sales to operate. We would also need to secure an alternative venue in a short amount of time.
I wanted to share this information with everyone because although knowing it doesn’t help anyone feel more safe or welcome, it might reassure folks that Jim isn’t apathetic. Much of conference organization is opaque to the community — it certainly was to me — and I’ve struggled to separate the outcomes of decisions with my assumptions about the motivations behind them.
Unless you happen to be the lucky winner of a recent large lottery prize, there likely isn’t anything actionable you can take from this post; other than to please thank conference organizers and sponsors when you get a chance. I want to encourage everyone who organizes events in the BEAM community to share their experiences, share the difficult decisions they have to make, and move towards openness with respect to planning and finances. And if you see an opportunity to help out with one of these events, please take it.
As someone who isn’t from the US, it would be great to read a clear statement of the detriments of holding the conference in Florida.
What is wrong with it? How would other states be better? Is the change beneficial to the community? How?
There’s plenty of implicit knowledge in your post, that, if openes is truly the goal, needs to be written down and analyzed.
This discussion is necessarily political, but if there’s any hope for political discourse, is this forum of open minded, slow to rage, thoughtful individuals.
My guess it is because Florida has become a more and more conservative, and has an increasingly hard tone againt LBTQ community (and womens rights etc).
There where some discussions in the Ruby on Rails community when last Railsconf was in Atlanta, Georgia.
However, I cant speak for anyone else, but I had a great conference experience. I only saw the hotell and Disney World though and have never been anywhere else in Florida.
I wanted to go to ElixirConf again this year but chose not to due to the location, and I guess I won’t attend next year again due to the location. But I understand the situation and I certainly don’t hold anything against the organizers.
It comes across as political posturing and if ElixirConf starts making decisions based on politics there are probably going to be a lot of unintended side effects.
It took about 5 seconds for Rails World to get started after RailsConf uninvited DHH for what appeared to be political reasons.
You’re looking at an outcome that will only be seen as divisive in my opinion.
I am, again, not the organizer — just helping to spread information. However, I’d like to reframe your question in a different way: there is a subset of the Elixir community (both folks who have spoken publicly and folks who have communicated privately) that don’t feel safe or welcome to travel to attend ElixirConf — a conference designed for the benefit of the Elixir community — at its current location.
Over the years, there may be many different reasons why this sentiment occurs, and as a community we are, of course, interested in welcoming as many people as possible. This transcends politics and becomes a matter of community-building. In the future we may encounter this problem with a different group of people that is larger or smaller, more or less vocal, and the behaviors we adopt as a community today will be important then.
Thanks for sharing @aj-foster. Did you run posting this on the forum by Jim first (or did he ask you to)? It’s not clear from your post whether he did and it’s important we know whether the thread is an official/semi-official post soliciting feedback or whether it is feedback or a discussion initiated solely by a community member so that we can properly classify/moderate it.
You can get an idea by looking at the previous thread on this topic Francisco:
For those affected this is not a political matter - it is life - and this is something the Elixir community has recognised from the outset. Elixir was one of the first languages to have a proper meaningful Code of Conduct protecting people of minority groups and this forum itself was founded on the principles of equality - everyone should be made to feel welcome and treated equal no matter how or where they born. I have no doubt this stance played a huge role in welcoming a large number of people to the community, which not only went towards Elixir’s success but also helped shape its friendly and welcoming disposition that it has become known and loved for.
I think it will be best to lock this thread until we know whether it has been officially sanctioned by the ElixirConf team. @aj-foster, please PM me to let me know when you get a moment, thanks!
@aj-foster has confirmed that he collaborated with Jim on the post and got his permission before posting it.
With that in mind and from what he has stated it seems clear to me that Jim and the ElixirConf team would have liked to change venues were it not for the financial burden preventing them from doing so. I think most people in the community would appreciate the sentiment, so with this thread being re-opened perhaps any feedback anyone might like to contribute could be for the purpose of helping move things forward in a positive or constructive manner.
Please don’t make the thread political or use it to post your opposition to the CoC or aspects of it related to this issue - the Elixir CoC, and the CoC’s of community spaces such as the forum, chat rooms and most if not all Elixir and Erlang conferences and meet-ups have not only been there since pretty much the inception of Elixir, but are also there because the organisers feel they have a duty of care to ensure all members of the community are welcomed and treated equally irrespective of how or where they were born. I think I can say with confidence that none of the organisers or top-level project leaders want to change that.
Thank you for your understanding and I (and I guess Jim and the ElixirConf team) look forward to hearing ways in which members of the community think any negatives of hosting the conference in Florida can be offset or mitigated in a realistic and reasonable way.
As AshtonJ mentioned, the contents of my original message were posted with permission. It’s important to note that I am an outsider, however, looking at this topic from a single perspective without the full context of everything that goes into organizing a conference. Out of principle, I won’t speak to Jim’s preferences or motivations My own biases are involved too, especially as we continue the conversation.
Please consider this an opportunity to give feedback, especially if you are directly affected by the location of the conference. Choosing a location and securing a venue is a complicated process that — in my opinion — could benefit from diligent, passionate supporters in the community. If that’s you, please speak up to say you’re interested in helping.
My own biases are involved too, especially as we continue the conversation.
