The PyCon US Blog

A post by Don Sheu, one of our Startup Row Coordinators PyCon 2016’s Startup Row got our campaign on the road on March 9th in San Francisco, meeting with the local SF Python user group at Yelp headquarters. Six early-stage companies that use Python gave their pitches, competing for an opportunity to exhibit in the PyCon Expo Hall on Startup Row. The roster of candidate startups included Alpaca , Bauxy , Beansprock , Opsulutely , Watt Time , and UtilityAPI . UtilityAPI won! They convinced the judges that its services for the new energy economy held the most promise, edging out their high quality competitors. Founded by Daniel Roesler and Elena Lucas, UtilityAPI provides easy access to usage data for customers like PG&E, ConEdison, and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. An outstanding panel of judges selected our winner. On the panel were several entrepreneurs with successful exits like Bethanye McKinney Blount , Bebe Chueh , and  Leah Culver . Kat Manalac, ...

We are nearly out of booths! While PyCon does continue to accept new sponsors once we run out of Expo Hall booths, and those final sponsors enjoy almost every benefit of their sponsorship level, they are placed on a waiting list for a booth and can miss out on one of the most exciting ways to connect with attendees at PyCon. If you haven’t yet applied to sponsor PyCon 2016 because you have been eyeing the larger sponsorship levels — Platinum, Diamond, and Keystone — but have not yet reached a decision, then this year presents a special opportunity. With the markets uncertain and PyCon sponsorship down at every level, we have run out of Silver and Gold booths before running out of premium ones! Here is what remains in our inventory: 3 Platinum Level 10′×10′ booths 1 Keystone Level 10′×20′ booth You can snag one of these last booths by filling out our Sponsorship Form or can learn more details by reading our Sponsorship Prospectus . If instead of staffing an Expo Hall booth ...

By Jackie Kazil One of the privileges of becoming a PyCon sponsor is that you have the chance to contribute to one of the most creative events at the conference — the PyCon charity auction ! Contributing an item to the auction is a great way to get your name recognized, to receive a tax deduction, and to support PyLadies, a group of women developers worldwide who love the Python programming language. Auction details: Benefits PyLadies Tuesday, May 31, 2016, 6:30 to 9:00 pm Room F149–F152 in the Oregon Convention Center Thanks to the combined generosity of our sponsors and the audience, last year’s auction raised more than $12,000! Unique items are a way to for attendees to remember you. For example, Disney has donated concept art year after year since the auction was first held . Their donations have had a huge impact, and rank as PyCon’s consistently highest-bid item — the painting illustrated above, for example, was from the early work for Frozen . Donatio...

A guest post by  Naomi Ceder, one of our 2016  Sprint Coordinators. Sprinting has always been one of the hidden gems of PyCon, a part of every PyCon from the beginning, back in 2003. Hundreds of programmers stay one or more extra days after the conference to collaborate on open source projects large and small. The people who’ve done it treasure the experience. Not only do the projects that participate benefit from fresh eyes and ideas, but the sprinters usually find that they gain enormous insights into a particular problem or library, into the Python language, and even into coding in general. This year will be no exception, with many established projects sprinting and new projects joining. Given how cool sprinting is, many of us have been puzzled that more people don’t join the PyCon sprints. Why could that be? Well, we know that everyone has their own reasons behind what they choose to attend, but in case any of the following apply, we wanted clear a few things up. Re...

by Chalmer Lowe We are pleased to announce the speakers/talks for the   2016 Python Education Summit .  Held during   PyCon  on Sunday   May 29th, 2016 , the summit is a gathering of teachers and educators focused on bringing coding literacy, through Python, to as broad a group of audiences as possible.  We invite educators from all venues to consider joining the discussion, share insights, learn new techniques and tools and generally share their passion for education. We are looking for educators from many venues: authors; schools, colleges, universities; community-based workshops; online programs; and government. Talk Schedule Please take a look at the full list of talks .   If you are interested in joining us please visit our  registration page . We hope to see you there! Note:   All Scheduled Speakers are eligible for Early Bird pricing for attendance at PyCon! Lightning Talks In addition to the scheduled talks, we wi...