The PyCon US Blog

PyCon 2013 is shaping up to be the largest PyCon ever; not only in terms of attendees but also in terms of opportunities to hear new ideas and meet new people. The conference will have six talk tracks (up from five in 2012), a PyData conference during the sprints, and a large number of the ever popular open spaces. As we move closer to the conference, travel plans get finalized and excitement builds. You may find yourself wishing that you’d presented a talk or got involved in some other way.  Luckily the opportunity is still out there: The 4th annual PyCon poster session ! Why present a poster? The poster session offers a unique experience both for presenters and attendees. As a presenter, you get to interact directly with your audience, share your passion and your idea, and immediately address questions in a more conversational manner. On top of that, the environment is generally less stressful and more easygoing than giving a formal talk. The layout of the event is very open...

We’re tossing around a lot of ideas as we dive deeper into preparing PyCon 2013 , and one that came up was the offering of childcare services. We’re planning some big things for the upcoming conference and we want everyone to be involved. Whether you’re a local who would like to spend a few extra days at the sprints or an out of towner who wants to tack PyCon on the end of a family vacation, we’d like to find out who would consider taking advantage of such services. Keep a few dates in mind as you think about this: The tutorials run Wednesday and Thursday March 13 and 14. The main conference dates are Friday through Sunday, March 15-17. The sprints will run Monday through Thursday, March 18-21. If you have children and are considering attending PyCon, we hope you can spare one or two minutes for this quick survey at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE9NTEt0Z1hTU2h5TEo1UVZTY1pEYVE6MQ As the title of this post and the survey say, we’re floating the idea of subsidizing...

You know what's better than one huge conference? One huge conference, and another on huge data! (Sorry, I couldn't resist) Today, I am proud to publicly announce a new development for PyCon / PyCon 2013 - we're partnering and working with the awesome team behind the PyData Conference to bring PyData Silicon Valley to the Santa Clara Convention Center during the sprints  - that's right, come for PyCon, stay for the sprints and PyData! PyData Silicon Valley will happen in the same building as the PyCon 2013 Sprints: PyData Tutorials: Monday, March 18, 2013 PyData Conference: Tuesday-Wednesday March 19-20, 2013 A bit more about PyData: The PyData conference and workshop is a semi-annual event for scientists, engineers, and data analysts in the Python community. The conference focuses on techniques and tools for management, analytics, and visualization of data of different types and sizes with particular emphasis on big data. Python is already the de-facto langu...

You're probably wondering where the program is for PyCon 2013 coming in March. The short version is that, well - the program committee is having meetings almost every day trying to go through 459 individual talk proposals.  Yes. Four Hundred and Fifty-Nine. That's astounding . Literally unprecedented in the history of the conference. You can ask the team - I was fretting and hand wringing and pacing all over worrying about not having enough proposals and then the tidal wave hit. 459. Amazing. To top that? 129 tutorial proposals. This is amazing . It also presents the staff, volunteers and program committee a conundrum. With the 5 tracks PyCon's main conference has room for maybe 90 talks . That's if we squeeze and push. With 459 proposals, the majority of which are exceedingly high quality, incredibly interesting and completely community driven, the program committee is under immense stress and an astounding workload. So, to relieve some of it - and to be able to s...

PyCon is  a lot of things . It’s the largest Python conference around in many aspects, with more talks, more tutorials, more days, and more people than any others. It’s one of the cheapest big conferences around, with ticket prices that haven’t changed in years. It’s the largest gathering of the best minds in the community. With the conference back in Silicon Valley for a second year and an expanded capacity of 2500 attendees, you will not find a bigger gathering of the best Python users around. We’ve had people consider PyCon their vacation. We’ve had people in attendance from all around the world. We’ve had people bring their kids. We’ve had people try to buy next year’s tickets before the current conference was over. This community loves PyCon, and we love working on it. What we need is more  sponsorship . What does the community get out of sponsorship? Financial Aid PyCon prides itself on being an affordable event for attendees starting with the low ticket prices, and extendi...

With PyCon 2012 we happily adopted a  Code of Conduct/Non Harassment Policy . We derived our version from personal experiences within the community and the ten year lifetime of the conference, and the community as a whole. We discussed it with staff, volunteers and debated it publicly. In 2012 we had an internal policy and set of guidelines for enforcement - inspired by the  Ada Initiative's   excellent work  we are publicly publishing our guidelines for Attendee and Staff responses to harassment or Code of Conduct violation incidents. Attendee Procedure for Incident Handling Staff Procedure for Incident Handling We hope that providing these documents and procedures publicly, we reenforce our dedication to providing a safe and welcoming environment to everyone. We also hope to inspire other conferences - big and small - to adopt similar procedures and public documentation. We would like to once again thank the  Ada Initiative  for their work ( donate here ) - as well as all ...

We’re about halfway sold out of early bird tickets for PyCon 2013 with 463 signed up, so hurry up and register before the rates increase! With discounts up to 25%, purchasing early makes this already affordable conference an even better value. Only the first 1000 of 2500 total tickets will receive the early bird discount, so act fast. The corporate rate for PyCon 2013 remains the same as it has been for years, coming in at $450 USD if you buy early. The regular rate goes up to $600, which is still a steal when it comes to conference tickets. Companies have long been sending their employees to PyCon, and 2013 will be no different. With the conference back in Silicon Valley for another year and all 2500 tickets sure to sell out, the networking potential for attendees is incredible. The maintainers of most major open source projects will be there, and the conference environment is a great place to find out what everyone else is doing. Even outside of the talks and tutorials, PyCon is an...

As my college self would have said: there’s no better time to start a project than the day it’s due. That day is today, and what’s due is a talk or tutorial proposal for PyCon 2013 . Proposals will be accepted as long as it’s still the 28th somewhere in the world, so keep an eye on the clock! Talks are 30 or 45 minute sessions on whatever it is that you want to share. They run Friday March 15 through Sunday March 17 in Santa Clara, CA. From the web to the desktop or up in the clouds, Python is everywhere and we want to know what you’re doing with it. Each year it seems like the schedule gets better and better, so help us keep the streak alive. Tutorials are 3 hour courses held on the two days preceding the conference talks: March 13 and 14. Whether you’re a full-time educator or just have a topic that you know and want to teach, submit your tutorials today! See our Call for Proposals for the full details. Oh, and registration is open, so sign up! Early bird rates apply to the first 1...

If you haven’t started writing your proposals yet, you still have time! The deadline for talk and tutorial proposals is Friday September 28. As long as it’s the 28th somewhere in the world, we’ll take your proposal and start the review process. Check out our “ speak at PyCon ” page as well as the Call for Proposals for the full details. If you need some help filling out your proposal, check out a sample proposal we wrote about SpacePug! From there, the program committee spends a lot of time reviewing and comparing proposals, with the goal of announcing the selected speakers by December 1 with a schedule to follow on December 15. It’s a lot of work but it’s rewarding and helps make PyCon better for everyone. If you’d like to help out, we’d love to have you: join the program committee today ! Registration opened last week and tickets are selling at a rapid pace, with a cap of 2500 tickets. We’re still in the early bird phase where you can save up to 25%, but keep in mind that only the...

Time is running out for you to submit your PyCon 2013 talk and tutorial proposals! They’re due on Friday September 28, as long as it’s still the 28th somewhere in the world. Check out the Call for Proposals for the full details. Talks are the mainstay of PyCon, running Friday March 15 through Sunday March 17. The last few years we’ve had a schedule of five simultaneous tracks totalling 95 talks, mostly comprised of 30 minute talks with a sprinkling of 45 minute sessions. We’ve been receiving a steady flow of proposals throughout the last few months, but we want more. In fact, we need more. PyCon isn’t successful without the great talks that you, the community, put together. The schedule has been very strong over the last few years due to the awesome work that everyone is doing, so give us your best and help build the best PyCon yet! Tutorials are a great way to share your knowledge in a classroom setting. Each session is three hours long, with two sessions per day on the two days p...

The second annual PyCon 5K Charity Fun Run will be happening Saturday March 17th, 2013 at 7:00 AM. Last year was a lot of fun with a lot of people coming out (148!), and we raised nearly $6,000 for three great charities: Autism Speaks , the American Cancer Society , and the Epilepsy Foundation . The 2013 Fun Run proceeds benefit two funds which hit close to home for the Python community. Matplotlib creator John Hunter passed away in August after a battle with colon cancer, leaving behind a wife and three young children. The John Hunter Memorial Fund and American Cancer Society will split the proceeds, with the memorial fund going toward the education of John’s daughters, and the cancer society collecting funds to fight all types of cancers. Note the name - “fun run”. It’s not really a race, it’s barely a competition. There’s no prize, there’s no finish line tape. The real winners are the memorial fund and cancer society. Sure, some people will wear fancy shoes and headbands, but i...

If you’re a student, we want you to come to PyCon . We’ve always thought the conference provides a great experience at a great price, but we’ve sweetened the deal for 2013: half price tickets for students! Register now ! $100 is the new cost for a student to get in the door for the March 15-17 conference in Santa Clara, CA. That $100 gets you a seat for three days of our always excellent talks, including the already announced keynote speakers . That $100 gets you breakfast and lunch all three days. That $100 includes coffee and snack breaks all three days. That $100 gets you into something awesome, something we’ve been looking forward to since we got on the plane from PyCon 2012. Although the conference schedule hasn’t been released yet, we’ve begun reviewing talks as they come in and we’re really excited to put together an even better schedule than 2012. Take a look at what we had on stage in 2012 http://pyvideo.org/category/17/pycon-us-2012 for a taste of what you’ll be in for. Tuto...

Now that registration is open for PyCon 2013, we’ve opened our financial aid program ! The financial aid program aims to make PyCon more affordable for attendees through a budget granted by the Python Software Foundation . Whether you’re flying in from outside the US or need a hand with the hotel stay, we encourage any attendees who need assistance paying for the trip to apply. We’ve revamped some aspects of the program, starting with the application. The PyLadies grant program is back again for 2013, but rather than having an additional application and processing for that grant, we’ve rolled it into the standard PyCon application. We’ve also increased the financial aid budget to allow us to make PyCon a possibility to even more people! The application asks a few questions about your plans for a PyCon trip. You’re asked to state where you’re travelling from, and a later page will ask you if you are requesting travel assistance. If you are, please provide an accurate amount for the c...

The PyCon team is happy to announce that registration for the March 2013 conference have opened at  https://us.pycon.org/2013/registration/  - note however, there have been some changes this year. Early bird rates are available for the first 1000 registrations , which is a departure from previous time-based systems. With PyCon 2012 having been a quick sell out, we’re expecting this one to be the same. Keep in mind that attendance is strictly limited to 2500 attendees . We recommend not waiting. Individual and corporate ticket prices remain the same as they have been for the last few years, with early bird rates of $300 and $450 respectively. The regular rates of $350 and $600 for individual and corporate are still an incredible deal. Sponsorship of PyCon includes conference passes - and in many cases those passes pay for the sponsorship itself! For 2013 we’ve reduced the cost to students by 50% , bringing the early bird rate to $100 with a regular rate of $125. Providing a more af...

As highlighted in my initial post highlighting some of our  PyCon 2013 sponsors  - sponsors are critical for the conference as I have said before, they give back to the community as a whole, they allow PyCon to keep ticket prices low, they're a constant source of jobs within the community, and their sponsorship allows us to maintain a growing financial aid budget, and work with outreach groups such as Women Who Code, PyLadies, and many others for grants for people who would not otherwise be able to to come to PyCon. Sponsorship  is more than just about money - sure, there are  tangible business benefits  - but the  social benefits  are equally important and large. Keeping this in mind, I emailed our sponsors and asked them a few simple questions: What is your company using Python for, and why is it important to you (as an organization)? Why does sponsoring/attending PyCon 2013 make sense for your organization? Continuing the series - here are some more awesome responses! AWe...

PyCon Argentina 2012 , the 4th  National Spanish-speaking Python Conference will be held from November 12th to 17th , in  Buenos Aires  at the main venue of the  National University of Quilmes  (Bernal City, in the Great Buenos Aires metropolitan area), Urban Station  and  EducacionIT  (Buenos Aires City downtown). The detailed conference program schedule is available at:  http://ar.pycon.org/2012/schedule Admittance  is free of charge  ( web registration is required  as venue capacity is limited).  To get a conference T-shirt, promotional items and catering, early bird registration  is open up to September 30th , 2012 ( 30% off ). Speakers are eligible for a 50% special discount.  Additional donations are accepted thorough the payment process  (fundraising). First time attendees, students and general public can also opt to register at the "gratis" rate (free, no...

You can now register for the barcamp, our new code retreat and the sprints at PyCon DE 2012 . Registration is free. Just put your name on this wiki page and your are registered. Please sign up as soon as possible that helps us to plan. The  second PyCon DE  will be in Leipzig from October 29 through November 3, 2012. One tutorial day, three days with talks and two days with a barcamp, code retreat  and sprints will provide different ways to communicate about Python. There will be social events to give everybody ample opportunity to network with like-minded Pythonistas. The  registration  is open. Don't miss the chances to secure your ticket.

We are glad to announce that the detailed conference program is now available. Please click on the link for the talk or tutorial your interested in to get a description of its content and information about the presenter. The  second PyCon DE  will be in Leipzig from October 29 through November 3, 2012. One tutorial day, three days with talks and two days with a barcamp, code retreat  and sprints will provide different ways to communicate about Python. There will be social events to give everybody ample opportunity to network with like-minded Pythonistas. The  registration  is open. Don't miss the chances to secure your ticket.

A little under 24 hours ago; I sent out an email to our current  PyCon 2013 Sponsors  - sponsors are critical for the conference as I have said before, they give back to the community as a whole, they allow PyCon to keep ticket prices low, they're a constant source of jobs within the community, and their sponsorship allows us to maintain a growing financial aid budget, and work with outreach groups such as Women Who Code, PyLadies, and many others for grants for people who would not otherwise be able to to come to PyCon. Sponsorship  is more than just about money - sure, there are  tangible business benefits  - but the  social benefits  are equally important and large. Keeping this in mind, I emailed our sponsors and asked them a few simple questions: What is your company using Python for, and why is it important to you (as an organization)? Why does sponsoring/attending PyCon 2013 make sense for your organization? I immediately started getting responses - all of which were e...