The PyCon US Blog

A Community Effort! Well folks, we did it again! A   huge thanks   to all our   sponsors , speakers, volunteers, and attendees for making   PyCon 2014   such a success! PyCon Videos & Pictures If you weren't able to join us, the  tutorials  and  talks  were recorded and are available online at  PyVideo . There are also a  ton of great pictures  from PyCon 2014. Be sure to check them out, and add your photos to the group! Thank you so much to the program committees – they reviewed over 800 proposals, and spent the better part of their year putting together a fantastic schedule. Diversity Outreach Chair:  Jessica McKellar Talk Chairs:  Luke Sneeringer  &  Alex Gaynor Tutorials Chairs:  Stuart Williams  &  Ruben D. Orduz Posters Chairs:  Juan Gomez  &  Gustavo Pinto Lightning Talk Chairs:  Lynn Root  &  Nilovna Bascunan-Vasquez PyCon Volunteers Despite having grown over the years to become a sold-out event with 2,500 attendees, PyCon is stil

As we transition from the tutorials into the conference, we're celebrating the start of another great PyCon with an opening reception. It'll take place tonight  from 6 PM to 8 PM in hall 220DE at the Palais de Congrès (the convention center), and all attendees are invited. When you checked in at the registration desk, you were given free drink tickets, so be sure to bring those . For those of age, there will be a cash bar, as well as a selection of beer from Montréal's own  Dieu du Ciel   brewery. The reception is sponsored by  iWeb , provider of dedicated, colocated, and cloud hosting, located right in Montréal. iWeb uses Python for many of their products and services, including their groundbreaking iWeb Cloud, released in 2013. There'll be a DJ and a photo booth, so come out and have fun with your friends and start off PyCon 2014!

This urgent campaign to produce first ever live events leading up to PyCon for Startup Row was assembled with only three weeks of lead time starting in February. We held five events in five different North American cities during a span of three weeks in March. Our efforts resulted in the strongest class of Startup Row honorees in this fourth year of Startup Row at PyCon. We know that in twelve months the world will recognize the special spark our judges saw in our 2014 PyCon Montreal Startup Row honorees. Companies presented their concepts and teams live before panels comprised of judges well versed in evaluating startups and founders. Five companies were selected during these pitch events held in locations throughout North America and Startup Row judges selected the balance of our Startup Row honorees by reviewing web applications submitted at the PyCon Montréal website. This first ever Startup Row Tour allowed us to create bonds stronger than ever within the community and to create

PyCon is packed with stuff to do. There are 95 talks to choose from, running in five parallel tracks. There are lightning talks Friday through Sunday. If you've registered for tutorials, you'll certainly want to remember when those are. Add in the events like open spaces, dinners, parties, and more, and there's a lot to keep track of. Guidebook We've partnered up with Guidebook  once again to bring you an easy way to stay on top of everything PyCon has to offer with your mobile device. You can either install the app by searching in your device's app store, or scan the QR code or receive a link via text from  http://guidebook.com/g/pycon2014/ . Once you have Guidebook, search for "PyCon 2014" to pick up the guide. Many thanks to Guidebook and Felix Crux for getting this great tool setup for us! Duckling Our friends at Caktus Group have created an app that’ll help you find, join, and create outings with fellow Pythonistas while you’re

Having new companies build around Python has tremendous impact on our community and the wider world. Not only do these fast growing startups employ a growing community of Python engineers, but they deliver products and services that touch everybody's lives and improve modern commerce. Yelp, Eventbrite, and Dropbox -- founded since 2004 -- are three companies that use Python and in aggregate represent over $16bn in total value. Yelp, a public company, is worth approximately $5bn. Dropbox and Eventbrite have gone through private financing events that imply valuations totaling in excess of $11bn. PyCon Startup Row seeks to assist new Python-using startups that will in a decade break $1bn in value. For the 2014 event, for the first time Startup Row produced live pitch events to select companies for PyCon Montreal. A common phrase heard at all of our events was "community." Community often came in answer to the question as to why companies chose Python. Already Python is a

As soon as we unpacked our bags from PyCon 2013, we started working on PyCon 2014. Through another record breaking call for proposals and another sell out registration period, we hit the point where we're about to pack our bags again, this time heading to Montréal. Before you all do the same, there are a bunch of great events going on outside the conference to keep in mind as you plan out what you'll be doing while you're there. 5K Charity Fun Run  - Saturday, 7:00 AM - $20 We started the 5K run in Santa Clara and are happily bringing it up north to raise funds for charity. One of this year's beneficiaries is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF . Register for the run at  https://app.lap.io/event/2014-pycon-5k-charity-fun-run ! The 6th Track - Explore Montréal - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Montréal is a city of great history, culture, and of course, food. While there are five talk tracks during the conference, we've added a sixth: the city itself.