The PyCon US Blog

Seattle Tech Meetup Goes Python for PyCon Startup Row As you probably recall from the original announcement , Startup Row row is our invitation to give fresh young companies the same exposure that is enjoyed by established players out there. Except startups using Python get an opportunity for booth space at PyCon's Expo Hall for free. We understand that sometimes it's hard to explain why your company is awesome when you are limited to answering questions in a web form. This is why we decided to offer some of you the opportunity to earn your way onto PyCon Startup Row with a live event! Now you'll be able to tell an audience of hundreds which problems you're solving with Python and how you're serving customers. What a great opportunity to spread the word about your startup! On February 11th, we'll be running our first startup event in Seattle thanks to the generous invitation from organizers of the Seattle Tech Meetup Brett Greene and Red Russak. Brett a...

At PyCon US 2013, it was brought to our attention by an attendee that we scheduled PyCon US in conflict with Passover in both 2014 and 2015. Obviously, this kind of scheduling error is a major failure on our part, but our response to the incident was mishandled, and we'd like to fix that now, in full view of our community. Here's what happened: Planning an event as large as PyCon requires a lot of lead time. In 2012, Python Montréal (in conjunction with Tourisme-Montréal) proposed a series of dates that were available for the conference in 2014 and 15. Nobody involved in the planning phase was mindful of the major Jewish holidays. We failed to note the conflict, and proceeded to sign multiple binding contracts for those dates, each specifying stiff financial penalties for moving or breaking the engagement. When the date conflict was brought to our attention, we frantically reached out to our contacts to see if there was any way to move the conference dates. There were n...

If you’re coming to PyCon , which takes place in Montréal, Quebec, Canada from April 9 through 17, you need a passport if you are a US citizen . If you’re coming to PyCon from any other country, you already needed a passport, but you probably already knew that :) This wasn’t always the case, as Americans and Canadians used to cross the border with ease. I once had delicious ice cream at Twist o’ the Mist in Niagara Falls, NY after a day on the Canadian side, and it was delicious, and I didn’t have a passport. However, on June 1, 2009, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was enacted, making it a requirement that a passport must be shown to enter the United States, which in turn made it a requirement to have a passport to enter Canada. If you are traveling by air between the US and Canada: you need a passport book. If you are traveling by land between the US and Canada: you can have a passport book or a passport card. If you are traveling by sea between the US and Can...

PyCon 2014   has released the schedule of   talks ,   tutorials , and   posters   for the April conference in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. The conference begins with two days of tutorials on Wednesday April 9 and 10, followed by three days of talks from Friday April 11 through 13, and ending with four days of sprints through April 17. The event will mark the first time the Python community's main conference travels outside of the US, following two sold-out events in 2012 and 2013 in Santa Clara, California. The tutorial schedule this year came from yet another large pool of submissions, with proposals covering a broad range of subjects. The selections represent an effort to offer both a mix of subjects covering a wide scope of expertise. Once again there are offerings for beginners through experts, including a tutorial for those with no Python knowledge whatsoever. With a group of presenters including several full-time educators, experienced trainers, and commun...

New this year: Childcare! PyCon is proud to announce that we will be offering childcare during the main conference days for the very first time ever!  Space is limited, so be sure to sign-up for childcare soon. When : Fri April 11th 2014, Sat April 12th 2014, Sun April 13th 2014 Time : 8:30am - 4:30pm Where : The Westin Hotel ( right next to the conference ) Cost : $50 per child, per day Register :  https://pycon-2014-childcare.eventbrite.com Includes : Lunch, certified childcare Ages : 1 year to 12 years old Questions?  Email Conference Chair:  diana.joan.clarke@gmail.com The actual cost per child, per day is about $200, but the  Python Software Foundation  has kindly agreed to subsidize this new outreach initiative, bringing the cost down to $50 per child, per day. A huge thanks to Nilovna Bascunan-Vasquez and Ewa Jodlowska for organizing childcare for PyCon 2014! Childcare Staff Childcare will be provided by  Kimberlee Ca...

Registration for our tutorials is open and ready for signups! If you're ready to sign up, head to  https://us.pycon.org/2014/registration/ and get started. The tutorials take place April 9 and 10, the two days preceding the conference, with four opportunities to learn from some of the Python community's best teachers. Each day has two sessions; a morning and an afternoon offering, split by lunch, with each of the sessions having a short snack break. The cost is $150 per session, which is a steal when you look at who is teaching these classes. This year we have a good mix of full time trainers, experienced presenters, and a couple of first time tutorial givers. The amount of experience we have on stage teaching these classes all in one space is hard to top. All together, it makes for a wide selection of topics that we hope the community finds beneficial. If you're interested in learning about popular web frameworks, we have tutorials on Django, Pyramid, web2py, and Fla...

EuroPython 2014 https://ep2014.europython.eu By Andreas Jung: The next EuroPython conference will be held from July 21 - 27, 2014 at  the Berlin Congress Center (BCC) in the heart of Berlin. The EuroPython  conference is the second largest global conference for the popular  programming language Python, after the PyCon US conference in North  America. The BCC is located at the central Alexander Square. It offers  ideal facilities for a developer conference on 3,000 m2. The organizers  are expecting up to 1,200 participants, continuing the growth of the  EuroPython conference series. The very successful EuroPython last year  attracted almost 900 Python enthusiasts. It was hosted in Florence,  Italy for the third time running. The call for proposals (talks, posters or trainings) is now open  and runs until Feb 9th 2014. Find the full call for proposals here: https://ep2014.europython.eu/en/proposals/cfp/

We're bringing the 5K Charity Fun Run back! Last year we had 200 people join us to raise nearly $5,200, split between the American Cancer Society  and NumFOCUS , on behalf of the late John Hunter. This year's first beneficiary is the  Electronic Frontier Foundation , or EFF. John Perry Barlow, one of the EFF's co-founders, will be delivering a keynote during the conference! The run happens Saturday April 12 at 7 AM, beginning near the Montreal Science Center. The event is open to people of all abilities. We've had people come out for a morning stroll, people who train for ultra marathons, and several people have used the event as a way to get back in shape via the Couch to 5K program. The run is being sponsored by Lapio, who run the signups and time tracking for the event. Check out https://app.lap.io/event/2014-pycon-5k-charity-fun-run and get signed up today!