Hi everyone, I've been talking to a lot of people about an idea I had of organizing a Rust conference in Latin America. I wanted to announce that we formed a group and we decided to start the effort of organizing it :). The conference name is going to be Rust Latam and will happen the first time in Montevideo, Uruguay on March 2019. The idea is to switch cities every year in the same way our Rust Fest friends do.
This time we want to invite everyone that wants to get involved. There's going to be a lot of things to do, so if you will you can help in a lot of different ways. If the idea of helping organize a conference and have a great time down here, excites you, please contact us at team@rustlatam.org.
We will probably have a meeting in a month or so to start planning a roadmap. Anyway, we are going to announce that here.
The only thing I'm worried about is that there is a flight company called Latam already. I dunno how legal stuff works, but I'd double check to see if having a conference named Latam won't get you sued by the Latam company or something like that.
Speaking of flight companies, it would be nice to have a place so that people interested in going can discuss about going together. Depending on who sponsors the event, sometimes it's possible to make a deal with a flight company and get cheaper plane tickets in bulk too.
Hi @ivandardi, thanks for your reply. I know there's an airline called LATAM, formed after LAN Chile and TAM joined forces. But Latam was always a portmanteau of Latin America LATAM (disambiguation) - Wikipedia and one that people use a lot. Anyway, this world is crazy so I wouldn't bet we can't be sued. I guess we would need to investigate just in case.
About making a deal or something I will write what you've said down so at some point we can check it out and answer your concern but is still too early for this :).
I probably can't come this year, but some questions:
Where are most Rust developers sited in Latin America?
What language(s) would you use for the talks and workshops?
I'm British-Peruvian living in Arequipa Peru, but I don't know of much going on around here. I did attend a local open-source event in Huancayo Peru once, but really it was mostly filled with students who were there only to get points for their coursework, so there wasn't much enthusiasm or genuine interest. I can't say I've found the local open-source underground here yet, should it even exist. That's why I'm curious where the hotspots of interest in Latin America may lie.
I'm also interested in knowing more about the languages used in the talks. As a Brazilian, I can understand some Spanish, but not enough to attend a technical conference. Are there any plans in doing everything in English?
I've spoke at Ruby conferences in Montevideo and Buenos Aires and they were always Spanish<>English, with (really good!) live translation back and forth.
I don't speak a single word of Spanish and didn't feel like I missed out.
Also, there's Brasilian people involved in the team handling this.
TBH, I found the situation far better handled then in my home country Germany, where people regularly have to pretend speaking English.
So yeah, what he said, we would probably have translations Spanish<>English. So people coming and speaking english will definitely be fine.
Answering @jimuazu question I'd say mainly Brazil and Mexico which is also obvious due to extension and population. I also know that there are strong communities in Argentina and Uruguay. Can't really speak for the rest of the countries but others could probably help, /cc @sebasmagri@japaric@anapaulavm@geraldobarros
I'm sure there are many in the Brazilian community interested in helping with this, it would be awesome if could stop by our Telegram channel Rust Lang BR to invite people. Feel free to speak in English or Spanish (though English is probably better). @lmansur you should join us there too!
Depending on how many speakers/rooms there will be, if multiple concurrent tracks could be held they could be scheduled so that there're always at least one in Spanish and one in English.
That's pretty useless, it wouldn't fix the problem that people having a hard time to follow an English talk or the other way around can't see half of the content. Also, communicating "we have to accept another English talk because we have this room split and you submitted in Spanish" is kinda bad.
Live translation is the way to go if you have a mixed-language conf.
but is still too early for this :).