[Conferences-discuss] Crackle, crackle, "hello"...

[Greg Ward]

On 13 February 2002, Robin Friedrich said:
> The idea of a separate YAPC-style conference for Python is also great.
> Calling it a "workshop" rather than a "conference" actually makes a
> difference to many employers though. A workshop can be booked under
> employee development while a conference cannot. So let's call it the
> Python Workshop and have it focus on futures and works in progress
> rather than an academic paper medium.

Hmmm... I think that might be a great idea.  I'm sure it's an
*interesting* idea at the very least.  ;-)

> The time and effort that must
> be allotted to judging papers can be a major drag.

And the cost of a printed proceedings is, presumably, not negligible.
That said, I *like* having a printed proceedings.  I think I'll start a
separate thread on that topic.

> Let's solicit
> presentations/demos rather than papers. I can see developers day
> expanded to three days. Include long talks, short talks, PEP review,
> futures, and tutorials, (not basic ones though).

That all sounds good to me.

> Have no more than two tracks; web and general purpose.

Is there a Zope track at OSCON?  Should there be?  I don't really have a
feel for how much the Zope track at IPC is a major gathering for the
Zope community.  Presumably, that community is big enough and important
enough that it needs/deserves some sort of focal point.  But if there
are only web and general tracks at this proposed Python Workshop,
there's a danger that the Zope community will either overwhelm the web
track, or find themselves shut out (ie. without formal recognition at
any conference).

> I foresee the workshop (especially
> if it has a small price tag) being very popular so we better have a
> venue that can handle 500 people.

There's a tricky balance between focussing on developer's-day-like stuff
and attracting new people.  Perhaps some basic tutorials are in order,
after all?

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward - geek-at-large                               gward@python.net
http://starship.python.net/~gward/
Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives?