The PyCon US Blog

As PyCon 2015 gets underway with a fresh new website and a recently opened Call for Proposals , the conference organizers, led by chair Diana Clarke and co-chair Mathieu Leduc-Hamel, would like to welcome Brandon Rhodes  to the team as co-chair . Brandon has been a prolific speaker in the Python community, covering a wide array of topics in the talks he's given at PyCon US since 2008, each PyOhio since 2011, PyCon Poland, Code Mash, DjangoCon Europe, and both PyCon Canadas, as well as the presentations he's given to user groups. Along with speaking, he's volunteered in several capacities, including assisting with the A/V crew. He's also authored the second edition of Foundations of Python Network Programming, and has written a host of helpful blog posts and some quite complete Stack Overflow answers. Overall, he's a very active and helpful member of the Python community. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Brandon at the PyCon 2011 sprints in Atlanta to wa...

The PyCon organizers are thrilled to announce the opening of PyCon 2015's Call for Proposals for talks, tutorials, and posters! We've seen a lot of growth in response to our CFP over the years, and our program committee is expecting a ton of proposals this time around. In 2012, you put us to work with 374 talk proposals and followed up the next year with 458. For 2014, 107 more talk submissions came in, for a jump to 565. We'll be accepting proposals through September 15 for talks and tutorials, and posters are accepted through November 1 . We want everyone to be a part of making PyCon what it is, which is why we invite everyone to submit proposals, and we invite everyone to be a part of the program committee. It's your PyCon, not mine. Whether you started with Python yesterday or you've been writing it since the 90s, everyone has different experiences, different knowledge, and a different story to tell. This is why we aim to strike a balance between beginner,...

The PyCon organizers are thrilled to announce the launch of PyCon 2015 ! Following up a wildly successful 2014 event - the first major PyCon held outside of the US - Montréal again plays host to the Python community's annual gathering April 8-16. As with the previous three years, 2015 is sure to be a sell out show, with this fall's ticket sales expected to move quickly. A new year brings a new website, with Caktus Group creating yet another beautiful site for the Python Software Foundation. This year's site takes some visual cues from the conference venue, the Palais de Congrès de Montréal , featuring a colorful glass exterior reflected in the strands and highlights found around the site. PyCon simply would not be possible without the generosity of its sponsors , especially those signed on early for today's launch. Sponsorship allows PyCon to do the types of things it does with financial aid and children's programs, and allows for affordable conference rate...

PyConZA is coming to Johannesburg. After two successful conferences in Cape Town, it’s time for PyConZA to spread its wings and head north for this year’s national gathering of Python software developers, which is taking place at The Forum in Bryanston on the 2 & 3 October. Ticket sales are open! Early bird tickets available while stocks last! Talk submissions are already flowing in for this year’s PyConZA -- so if you’d like to speak, please submit a talk now! Topics submitted include: the IPython Notebook, using Python in Blender, repurposing old telescopes with new Python software, a Pygame tutorial, rethinking building Python web applications, a practical introduction to advanced testing strategies, building the internet of things using Raspberry Pis, and building Python communities in Africa. This year we also have a mentor program for new speakers. Come and join us! """Usage: %s %s attendee|speaker|sponsor""" import webbrowser ...

We are now two months away from PyCon JP 2014! Thank you to everyone who have responded to our Call for Proposals. Applications are now being reviewed by the organizing committee and the result will be sent out shortly. We thank you for your patience. We also have a news to share: This year we are introducing poster sessions, in addition to talk sessions. Applications are now open through our website. We strongly feel that communication between participants is the key for the success of Python community and that is why we decided to introduce poster sessions. Smaller audience leads to much deeper feedback and discussions. You may also want to show a hands-on demo rather than giving a presentation. If you've felt that giving a presentation is not the best way to convey your work then this may be the right thing for you. Some things to note before you apply: You can apply for poster sessions even if you have applied for talk sessions. Poster sessions will ...

We are pleased to announce availability of PyCon JP 2014 tickets. PyCon JP 2014 is the biggest Python event in Japan, consisting of keynotes, talks, dev sprints and tutorials (paid separately). As with every year, we expect the event to be very international. There will be sessions in both Japanese and English. You can purchase the ticket for the main conference (13-14th September) from the below website. PyCon JP 2014 Registration infromation Please note that the after party is included in the price, unlike previous years' PyCon APAC in Japan. You're all encouraged to connect and network with fellow pythonistas! Price for the ticket is 10,000 yen. If you purchase your ticket before 10th July you'll receive 25% early bird discount - that'll be 7,500 yen, including the after party. Don't miss it! We also have Patron Sponsor tickets (20,000yen). Proceedings from Patron tickets will be used to provide discounted student tickets. It is your chance to...

The annual PyCon JP 2014 will be held at Plaza Heisei in Tokyo. The schedule is as below. Tutorial: 2014 September 12(Fri) Conference: 2014 September 13(Sat)-14(Sun) Development Sprints: 2014 September 15( Mon / Public Holiday in Japan) We are currently seeking proposals for talks for this event. Visit the PyCon JP 2014 Call for Proposals page for more information. Submission deadline is 20th June . As with every year, we are expecting many international participants to the event, so English talk proposals are absolutely essential. We plan to make at least one out of three talk tracks fully English. This is your chance to introduce the topic you love to Pythonistas in Japan! For more information visit our official website . Any questions and comments are welcome, email to us (2014 at pycon dot jp).

We are delighted to announce that online registration is now open for PyCon Australia 2014. The fifth PyCon Australia is being held in Brisbane, Queensland from August 1st – 5th at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and is expected to draw hundreds of Python developers, enthusiasts and students from Australasia and afar. Starting today, early bird offers are up for grabs. To take advantage of these discounted ticket rates, be among the first 100 to register. Early bird registration starts from $50 for full-time students, $180 for enthusiasts and $450 for professionals. Offers this good won’t last long, so head straight to 2014.pycon-au.org and register right away. PyCon Australia has endeavoured to keep tickets as affordable as possible. We are able to do so, thanks to our Sponsors and Contributors. We have also worked out favourable deals with accommodation providers for PyCon delegates. Find out more about the options at 2014.pycon-au.org/register/accommodati...

Following an amazing PyCon 2014 , the first of two years in Montréal, we're well underway with the planning efforts for PyCon 2015. The website is being prepped and as we get that going, we also begin the search for sponsors. The 2014 launch day began with 17 sponsors, and quickly grew to 128. Are you or your organization interested in being a part of an even bigger launch for the best PyCon yet? Sponsorship is what allows PyCon to do what it does. It enables us to fund programs like Financial Aid and subsidized child care , bringing more people to PyCon who otherwise may not have made it. It also allows us to run events like the Young Coders tutorials, bringing Python to children. Sponsorship brings great benefits to its supporters. What better place to hire Python developers than at the largest collection of them around the world? Our expo hall and job fair are a great place to make connections with over 2,000 Python developers. For more thoughts on sponsorship benefit...

We love success stories. In this post, Trinket co-founder Elliott Hauser shares his experience being part of the Startup Row at PyCon 2014 in Montréal. The email from Yannick started like this: "Elliott, Our judges have selected Trinket for final consideration to participate in Startup Row at PyCon 2014. Congratulations!" We'd won a free booth and two free tickets to the otherwise sold out PyCon 2014 in Montreal. Awesome! We launched our newly designed teaching platform at the conference, met some amazing Python educators at the Education Summit, and got the Trinket name out to the best coding education community around . PyCon and the community that suffuses and animates it were the perfect launchpad for our new platform. Community Python's educational community is incredibly strong. A selection of the people we met at the event should demonstrate how rich the community is. Naomi Ceder (who organized the summit along with Jessica Nickel + Chalmer...

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 ...

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. ...

This is a guest post by Software Carpentry , one of our Open Source & Community sponsors. Programming is not just fun, it's a fantastic tool for getting things done, making things go, and participating in the world of technology and the Internet. We all know this, and that's why a lot of us spend a lot of time teaching others how to program. But do you ever wonder if you're actually teaching effectively? If the techniques you're using actually work, or if there's something you could do better? Educational theorists have been working on the problem of how to transfer knowledge for decades (centuries, even) and there are actually answers to these questions! If you don't have decades to study education theory, come to the Software Carpentry workshop on How to Teach Programming on April 14. At Software Carpentry we've been teaching busy and reluctant people how (and why) to program for over a decade. Greg Wilson, the leader of this workshop, has create...

Last week we put together information on local mobile voice and data plans. A lot of people had been asking phone questions on twitter, so a bunch of people came together and outlined a lot of the options to share with everyone. In addition to that, Similicious , a Toronto-based startup, has offered our attendees a 10% discount code! Similicious offers various configurations of voice, text, and data plans, and will deliver the SIM card direct to your hotel via registered mail. If you place your order by Thursday April 3, delivery is guaranteed by April 9 - the first day of tutorials. Take a look at their site and use the code pycon2014 when checking out! Note: if you are staying at any of the official conference hotels, their addresses are listed on the venue page .

Did you know PyCon is in two weeks? Did you know we're kicking off the weekend with a an opening reception ? Did you know it's all going to be awesome? Thursday April 10 from 6 PM to 8 PM in hall 220DE at the Palais de Congrès (the convention center), we're going to have an opening reception, and all attendees are invited. There will be appetizers available, and each attendee will receive a drink ticket. 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!

We're happy to announce the Sponsor Workshop series , taking place on Wednesday April 9 and Thursday April 10, the two days leading up to the conference. In a similar fashion to our tutorials, our sponsors are leading 90 minute sessions on a variety of topics. Oh, and they're free ! If you'd like to come to any of the workshops, it would be helpful if you RSVP'ed here . It's not required, but it helps us estimate how much food and drinks we should have for those times.  Wednesday - 9:00 AM John Wetherill of ActiveState will be introducing Platform-as-a-Service and container technologies, along with how to design and architect applications to take advantage of them. He also covers topics like deployment and migration, and gives examples of monitoring, logging, and debugging cloud-based applications. Wednesday - 3:30 PM Jacob Kaplan-Moss introduces Heroku by guiding attendees through the process of deploying and managing applications on the platform. With ...