The PyCon US Blog

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’re all about schedules around here. We got started by announcing the tutorial schedule , then a bit later put out the talk schedule . Just the other day we announced the sponsor tutorial schedule . The poster session is on the master schedule from 10:10 to 1:10 on Sunday March 17, but the event itself doesn’t have a schedule, so we present to you, the poster list . The poster session is a recent addition to the PyCon schedule, being introduced in Atlanta for PyCon 2010 with a showing of 17 posters. As with just about everything relating to PyCon, the event has grown significantly to where the 2013 list includes 50 posters and will take place in a room several times the size of the 2010 event. Think of a poster as a more intimate talk, where the discussion is driven by who’s at the poster and what they’re interested in engaging. When you’re in a talk or a tutorial, you sit and listen to the talk the presenter has prepared, then ask questions at the end. When you’re at a poster, you j

You should present a poster at PyCon. Why? Why not is more like it! I presented a poster at PyCon for the first time last year, and it was a fantastic experience. Let me tell you why. I have presented posters many times in the past at several conferences. Those poster sessions are usually the same ole' same ole'; you hang up your poster, maybe you are required to be there during a certain time period, maybe not. If you are required to be there at the poster, you might have a few people stop by and chat you up. You take down the poster, that's it. Not a whole lot to be gained, really. Well, PyCon is much, much different. Sure, you put up the poster, are required to be there for an hour and a half, and you take down the poster. What's different is what actually happens during that hour and a half you are at your poster. You actually talk to people, probably a lot of people. I'd say I probably personally talked to a couple dozen people last year during the poste

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 wit

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 cost) to get their badge and program guide. Sessions will include two days of talks from local and intern

We're glad to announce that Community Voting Process has started for  PyCon Argentina 2012 .  You can select your preferences among more than 82 talks proposed and 11 tutorials/workshops .   This year, we're opening the Scientific and Extreme tracks, with more  than 12 proposals each! Please help us voting your prefered talks for the conference following  the next link (registration required):  http://ar.pycon.org/2012/ activity/vote Admittance is free of charge (gratis), to register, please complete  the following form:  http://ar.pycon.org/2012/user/ register PyCon Argentina 2012 Keynotes This year, the pre-confirmed keynote presenters are: Massimo Di Pierro (US) - De Paul University: web2py / FermiQCD Andrea Gavana (DK) - Maersk Oil: wx.lib.agw & 2D/3D visualization Brett Cannon (CA) - Google: python core developer: importlib py3k pypy Christophe Pettus (US) - PostgreSQL Experts: Django & ORMs Craig Kerstiens (US) - Heroku: Tools, django, Post

As has been mentioned before , this year we're adding a poster session to PyCon. For 90 minutes on Sunday, Feb 21, 18 presenters will be answering questions and receiving input from PyCon attendees on posters covering a wide range of topics. Posters are suited to interactively presenting new ideas and more specialized projects, allowing people a chance to browse the whole range and to stop and spend more time on the ones they find interesting. If you want to start thinking about which posters you definitely don't want to miss, visit http://us.pycon.org/2010/conference/posters/accepted/ and start making your picks. As for me, my "don't miss" list is here , and covers Unicode, DVCS in the classroom, robots and more. Which ones will be on your "don't miss" list?