The PyCon US Blog

It’s only a few months until the next PyLadies Auction at PyCon 2023! 2022's auctioneers If you have yet to attend a PyLadies Auction at previous PyCons, don’t miss out this year. Help us raise money for PyLadies , an international mentorship group that focuses on helping more women become active participants and leads within the Python open source community. Not only will your donations make a huge impact, but you will also have a great evening with lots of laughter, friendly competition, and unique, one-of-a-kind items.  The PyLadies’ 2022 event auctioned off 38 unique items and raised $51,000 to support worldwide PyLadies chapters and future PyCon US travel grants. Join us on April 22, 2023 at the Salt Palace Convention Center and help us outdo ourselves! The Details Date & Time : Saturday, April 22nd at 6:30pm Location : Salt Palace Convention Center at 100 West Temple St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 in Room 151 DEFG Cost :  Entry cover charge of $35 includes dinner an...

We’re getting excited for the return of the PyLadies Auction at PyCon 2022! Since this will be the first in-person live auction since 2019, we’re looking forward to seeing our supportive regulars and our new friends! If you have yet to attend a PyLadies Auction at previous PyCons, don’t miss out this year. Help raise money for PyLadies , an international mentorship group that focuses on helping more women become active participants and leads within the PyCon open source community. Not only will your donations make a huge impact, but you will also have a great evening with lots of laughter, friendly competition, and unique, one-of-a-kind donations . For last year’s virtual event with 21 items auctioned off, PyLadies raised $19K to support future PyCon US travel grants. The previous in-person auction in 2019, over $44K was raised from 58 items auctioned. Let’s outdo ourselves this year! The Details Date & Time : Saturday, April 30th at 6:30pm Location : The City Creek Grand Ballroom...

With the in person cancellation of PyCon US 2020, the PyLadies Auction as we know, could not possibly have happened. Upon further investigation, we are deeply sad to announce we have decided to forgo the PyLadies Auction in its entirety for 2020. This decision has been a difficult one. We began the PyLadies Auction at  PyCon US 2013 in Santa Clara and have held it annually since. To not be able to celebrate PyLadies in our annual tradition together is a deep loss. 2019 PyLadies Auction Why isn't the PyLadies Auction going virtual? We considered running a virtual auction. However the mechanisms required to run a virtual auction have proven to be limited and not up to the quality that we expect for the PyLadies Auction. Additionally, we did not want to ask donors, or volunteers to violate social distancing practices by visiting a post office or other location for item shipments. In short, we want people to continue to flatten the curve by staying home and tending to themselves and th...

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. ...

In a first-ever event, the PyCon organizers hosted a charity auction with the proceeds benefitting PyLadies , a mentorship group to help bring more women into the Python and open source community. Held on Saturday March 16, the evening event brought in $9,284 in two hours by auctioning items donated by many of PyCon’s sponsors. After the event, the Python Software Foundation contributed the difference to make an even $10,000. The group also raised $900 through t-shirt sales at the conference. “I was stunned at the amount we raised,” said PyLadies member and volunteer auctioneer Katie Cunningham. Just days before, with the help of Barbara Shaurette, Cunningham was running a free two-day tutorial series for children titled “Young Coder: Let’s Learn Python”, which has been covered on the PyCon blog . “It was great to see people having to stand in the room, all seats were taken,” said organizer Lynn Root of the event’s attendance. While PyCon’s formal schedule only lasts until the ea...

Another new event for PyCon 2013 is our charity auction on Saturday March 16, with the proceeds benefiting PyLadies ! They’ve been a driving force in diversity efforts around the Python community and we’re thankful to have them involved in another PyCon. Their actions have made a significant impact on our call for proposals for tutorials and talks, and their financial aid grants as well as events throughout the conference have made PyCon a better event for everyone. We have a lot of great items lined up for the event, including some from our wonderful friends in the clothing business: Elegant Stitches . They’ve been running a booth for many years at PyCon to sell various Python related items, from t-shirts to laptop bags, and much more. Conference sponsor Eventbrite is also joining the fun with the donation of a two-hour lunch with co-founder and CEO, Kevin Hartz . You never know where this delicious conversation could go! If your company is sponsoring PyCon or you want to donate ite...