We are pleased to announce the return of the Hatchery program in PyCon US 2024.
What is the Hatchery program?
This program offers the pathways for PyCon US attendees to introduce new tracks, activities, summits, demos, etc., at PyCon US—activities that all share and fulfill the Python Software Foundation’s mission within the PyCon US schedule.
The program began as a trial led by Ee Durbin and Naomi Ceder in 2018, resulting in the creation of several new tracks that are now staples of PyCon US, for example: PyCon US Charlas, Mentored Sprints, and Maintainer’s Summit.
The Hatchery program was paused during the pandemic, and we are excited to restart and refresh this program for PyCon US 2024.
With the Hatchery program, we want to provide the opportunity for you, the Python community members, to take active participation and lead new activities and events at PyCon US. We want to provide a transparent process for this, and we also want to ensure that every attendee, whether they are new to the community, or have been at the conference for the 10th time, have the equal opportunity to propose ideas for PyCon US.
What belongs in a Hatchery program
PyCon US offers a wide range of events for the attendees to engage with the community during the conference. In addition to the talks, Charlas, keynotes, tutorials, posters, and lightning talks, at PyCon US we further support the Python community by hosting summits (e.g. The Python Language Summit, Education Summit), Sprints, and Open Spaces: one-hour meet ups in dedicated rooms throughout the conference. PyCon US also hosts other events like the PyLadies Luncheon, Members Lunch, and PyLadies Auction. We also offer community booths and Startup Row alongside the Sponsor Booths in the expo hall.
Despite all of the above, as conference organizers we still receive great, creative suggestions and ideas from the community for more things that they’d like to see at PyCon US. This is where the Hatchery program comes in.
If you have an idea for new and different kinds of events, activities, summits, or tracks at PyCon US, or things that do not fit in any of the existing talks, charlas, tutorials, and posters tracks, please propose that as a Hatchery.
A few examples of topics that have been accepted for the program (not a complete list, creativity is expressly encouraged):
- Maintainers' Summit
- The Art of Python
- Foreign language talk track (see the PyCon US Charlas, the first track created in the hatchery, and now a part of PyCon US).
- Scientific data summit
- Mentored Sprints
See the full guidelines and criteria for proposals at https://us.pycon.org/2024/events/hatchery/
Hatchery Program Rebooted!
Since it’s been a few years since the last time the Hatchery program ran, meaning, some folks might have already forgotten about it, and newer community members might not yet know what it’s about. With that in mind we decided that this is a good time for us to introduce some changes to the Hatchery program.
One-off events are encouraged!
Previous versions of the Hatchery prioritized programs that have potential to become a new staple and repeat program at PyCon US, and one-off events were given a lower priority. We recognize that this might put a high barrier of entry, and could potentially cause organizer burnout. People might feel like they are now “obligated” to continue the program year after year even if they no longer have the bandwidth to do it. Therefore, we want to focus on the experimental aspect of Hatchery. If your Hatchery program is accepted this year, you are free to continue it again next year. But if you just want to experiment and host an activity only for this year, that’s okay too!
Rolling admission
You can propose your idea for the Hatchery starting today, until approximately 4 weeks before the conference.
We will be reviewing your ideas and proposals as they come in, and we will do our best to support and accommodate your request. We aim to give you a decision within 2 weeks, depending on the nature of your proposal. (i.e. if your proposal requires a more complicated room set up, we may need extra time to figure out the feasibility for that).
Proposal submissions for the Hatchery Program are open until April 17, 2024, or until all the spaces have been filled.
Note that the conference venue is limited in terms of size and available rooms. We might not be able to provide you with a room you need for your program if you wait until the last minute to submit your idea. Therefore, we encourage you to submit your ideas as soon as you can!
How to submit your Hatchery proposal?
Please visit the PyCon US 2024 Hatchery page. Submissions are open through the PyCon US 2024 Hatchery CFP on Pretalx here. Please note that Pretalx accounts used for the main conference PyCon US 2024 CFP will not be carried over; all submitters will be required to create a new account for the PyCon US 2024 Hatchery CFP.
Thank you. If you have any questions about the Hatchery, please get in touch with us, pycon-hatchery@python.org. The PyCon US Hatchery Committee members are: Elaine Wong, Mariatta Wijaya, and Naomi Ceder.
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