There is less than a week left to submit proposals for PyCon 2008 Chicago. This is a community conference, and we need the community to step forward and make this conference a success. After the submission deadline (Friday November 16th), there will be a further week where the Program Committee will work with authors to get the proposals finalized. So don’t feel you need to have a talk fully fleshed out to submit. We have some sample proposals so you can see exactly what a proposal entails. We are particularly interested in Panel Discussions, which were quire popular last year.
Don’t think your qualified? Think again!
If you think you do not have enough python experience, or not part of some core community or project, you are exactly the type of person we want to hear from! You are the core of the python community. Those who use python to solve problems, no matter how small, or just to have fun. Don’t feel you need to give the presentation alone! Find a friend or two and do the talk together. Still don’t feel comfortable enough? Consider joining us and holding an Open Space talk at the conference. These are unstructured free form talks by people interested in a common topic or issue. Also consider giving a 5min Lightning Talk.
Talks can be about anything, even things unrelated to Python. We have had talks on patents and licensing, talks on writing your first python module, and even talks on human brain modeling. Many attendees are new to python, so talks on basic python are highly prized. The majority of talks are 30min long, with 5min setup, and 5min or more for questions is recommended. There are 45min slots for more detailed discussions. PyCon is at it’s heart an unconference.
The power of an Unconference.
At many technical conferences, it is hard to decide which talks to attend, which ones will be of greatest interest, or worst, you want to see everything. With an hour long (or longer) presentation you are guaranteed to ‘loose’ parts of the audience as not everyone will be equally interested in all aspects of a presentation. This is just a fact of presenting. There is also little chance for follow up between the speakers and the attendees. PyCon addresses these issues on many levels.
PyCon keeps the talks short which helps to keep things interesting, and keep the attendees hungry for more information. Speakers are encouraged to hold follow-up Open Space talks to dive into details that attendees are interested in. Only those truly engaged in the discussion will attend the Open Space follow up, and a more meaningful interchange of ideas can ensue, in a more personal environment. Even if the speaker is otherwise engaged, attendees can hold the Open Space talk on the spot if they wish. Presentations are not to be seen as a one way dissemination of information, but as a spring board to deep sharing of knowledge and experiences.
And I haven’t even mentioned the tutorials, parties, BoF’s, labs or sprints yet!
