The PyCon US Blog

One of the things we pride ourselves in as the PyCon organizers is constantly iterating, improving and listening to you, our community of attendees, speakers and sponsors. What this requires though, is constant feedback from all of you. Our primary method of collecting feedback is via our conference survey ( https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pycon2012 ) and our tutorials survey ( https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pycon2012tutorials ). If a survey isn't your thing - drop an email to jnoller@gmail.com - any thoughts and feedback welcome!

The PyCon 2012 sprints are officially under way - and man do we have a lot of sprinters! One of the things we've heard from multiple people is that they want to help out PyCon by sprinting on the PyCon website codebase - adding features, fixing things up, etc. This is great - and an excellent way to help PyCon proper and other Python conferences . The PyCon codebase is fully open source and available - however, that codebase is PyCon 2012 specific, and patches to that code will not be accepted. Eldarion has done an amazing job putting the website together, and you can see the evolution of the site when looking at the eldarion/pycon repo. When we contracted with Eldarion for the PyCon site - we had something much bigger in mind for the website - the PSF , PyCon and Eldarion wanted to create a common code base that could be used by any and all Python and tech-related conferences all over the world. We wanted to make a simple code base that anyone could use to bootstrap a confe

Come play some hands against two-time WSOP champion and VP of Engineering at Eventbrite, Pat Poels.  Win your way to an iPad3 while enjoying sushi, drinks, and music - Friday, March 9th @ 8pm in the Magnolia Room at the Hyatt Santa Clara Space is limited:  http://ebpokernight.eventbrite.com

Just a quick note: If you ordered business cards through our partnership with MOO - they can be picked up at the registration desk!

We're pleased to announce that PyCon 2012 is offering a charging valet - need your phone, laptop, or tablet charged? Swing by registration and talk to Mary Rush or another volunteer - we have an array of adapters, etc. We will keep your items safe behind the registration desk, and give you tickets to get only your item back! While this is a free service - the PSF, who hosts PyCon, is taking donations via Square or at the registration desk if you drop off your device.

Our friends at Disqus have put together an awesome mini site based on the Disqus API for PyCon 2012 to allow us to have real time conversations about PyCon 2012 and sessions, tutorials, etc! Come, join in the conversation at  https://pycon.disqus.com/

PyCon is a great place to network with fellow developers, but there’s another network you’ll want to interact with: the wireless network. Unlike years past, we’re not running our own networks, instead having the conference center manage it. This year, the duties will be handled by Smart City Networks , a telecom services provider to trade shows around the US, including the Santa Clara Convention Center where PyCon will be hosted. Here are some pieces of information that you should be aware of: 1. We have 50mbps dedicated to our own wireless network. 2. All connections are throttled to 512kbps up and down outside of the local LAN. 3. Networking for sprints is being handled separately, and we will follow up with those details either at the sprints or during the sprint kickoff. Because of the increased attendance of PyCon, these connection restrictions had to be put in to ensure the conference could remain affordable to all. We, and all other conference goers, would appreciate you

Did someone say PyCon Party? Yes! PyCon 2012 Attendees! Join New Relic , YouTube , Loggly , Rackspace , and Skullcandy for a special PyCon party event on Friday, March 9, from 7 pm - 9 pm at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. Don't miss this opportunity to network with your Python community peers over drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Dance to the music video performance of Mike Relm ( www.mikerelm.com ). Even better, bring your biz card and enter to win some sweet schwag from Skullcandy, maker of premier headphones, earbuds, and headsets. YouTube will be giving away a tablet computer. See you then. See you there. Sign up here !  

Pycon US registrations are closed and you didn't make it? Look no further: we are happy to officially announce EuroPython 2012, that will be held in Florence, Italy, on July 2nd-8th! The call for proposals is open as well, and will end on March, 18th, 23:59 CET; don't wait until the very last moment in order to submit a proposal, you can always edit it later! There are plenty of sponsorship packages as well, be sure to check them out to find something that suits your needs. Head straight to: ep2012.europython.eu

Chris Boesch (right) handing Dmitrii (left) his 1st prize MacBook Air at PyCon 2011 We are very proud to once again have Chris Boesch running a SingPath python coding tournament at PyCon. This is a rapid fire python problem solving competition. You don't need to be a python expert to solve the problems, just a sharp mind and a love of coding. The event will be held Saturday, March 10th in the main ballroom at 7:00 PM. The tournament will have 2 rounds consisting of approximately 10 problems per round. The first round typically consist of easier problems in order to encourage less experienced software developers to play and to enable new SingPath players to become more comfortable with the interface. As players solve problems, a live ranking screen is displayed for spectators to watch and for commentators to provide commentary. Usually, the top 20-30 players from the first round are declared eligible to compete for prizes in the second round. During the second r

Wrap up the second day of the conference, Saturday March 10, with an evening of food, drinks, and hanging out at David’s Restaurant with the PyLadies group . Conference sponsor SurveyMonkey is sponsoring the party, and it’s sure to be a good time. The restaurant is around a half-mile from the convention center and Hyatt Regency, so take a quick walk and join the fun! Stop by booth #400 in the expo hall during the conference and say hi to the PyLadies team. Space at the party is limited so be sure you stop by the booth, introduce yourself and learn about the latest activities and initiatives the ladies are up to, and pick up your tickets. If you’re interested and have an account on Meetup, join the event !