[EuroPython] conference length

[Horst Gutmann]

Hi Martjin,

I definitely see where you're coming from having had the same reaction at first when I saw the schedule for the first Europython in Florence a couple of years back. For me personally, though, the idea of making your own conference worked really well in the end.

Every conference I've attended so far had at least on or two time slots each day where none of the talks appealed to me and so I went to explore the city or just got some sleep at the hotel. This way the event stayed fresh and exciting to me and I didn't feel bad for skipping some talks if I simply didn't feel like it. That naturally only works to a certain extend and eventually I just want to get out of the conference again.

In accordance with Andreas' comment I prefer 4 days of sessions with 3 days of sprints, but these are just my 2c. 5 days is a really long time, so perhaps the orgas and the EPS would be willing to experiment here with the format a little bit I the future? :-)

Cheers, Horst

> On 15.04.2014, at 09:04, Martijn Faassen <faassen at startifact.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi there,
> 
> I thought I'd give my preferences for conference length in the future. It's just my point of view, but I had it for a while now, and I figure I'd better share it to be more constructive.
> 
> For some years, EuroPython was 3 days of conference, with perhaps 3 or 4 parallel tracks with talks. From what I recall from the early days, we got about as many talk submissions as we had talk slots available.
> 
> At some point a few training days got tacked on to the beginning. We also gained a tradition of sprints before or after the conference, later on getting established at the end, where I think they should be. I myself greatly enjoy sprints as an opportunity to get to know people better and work with them.
> 
> In the last few years EuroPython grew to a conference with many more parallel tracks, and more days of conference proper. 5 or so. And then sprints.
> 
> I haven't been to EuroPython for a few years for other reasons. But when I peeked at the massive and long schedule I did feel rather intimidated. It feels a bit too much like a marathon to me. I prefer my conference to be shorter. I also feel such a long conference risks diluting the talks anyone finds interesting over a longer period, making the whole experience less inspiring. And while I enjoy the hallway track, I prefer doing sprints.
> 
> I take it the training sessions got spread into the main conference and that's why it's longer. But I wonder whether the ballooning schedule is also because the amount of talk submissions went up, and following the pattern of accepting as many submitted talks as possible like we used to have, the conference felt it had to grow to more days and more slots too. If this is so, I think we should consider whether this is the right response to more talk submissions, or whether a better response is to simply reject more talks.
> 
> I think this relates to the discussion on diversity of talks. On the preliminary schedule, quite a few speakers have two accepted talks, or even three. For a more inspiring conference, I'd prefer to see more different speakers, more viewpoints, not the same speaker multiple times, however good they may be, and however interesting the topic.
> 
> Perhaps an exception can be made if a particular category of submissions, like trainings, don't get enough submissions otherwise, but if submissions > talk slots, I think 1 accepted talk per speaker is a good idea. To avoid people gaming the system to increase their chances they're accepted, perhaps 1 *submitted* talk per speaker would be a good idea too.
> 
> For even more diversity of topics, throw in more wild card talks too that are only peripheral to Python, and not just for the keynote speeches. To me that's more inspiring. (I haven't studied the schedule in detail yet though, so it's possible they're there)
> 
> I was told by @europython on Twitter I wasn't required to show up for 5 days of talks. I can make my own, shorter conference. So do I cut off the beginning or the end? I'd prefer the sprints, so I guess I should show up in day 3? What if a talk I submitted gets scheduled to day 2, though? Or if I actually prefer seeing the talks on day 1 and 2? Now I have to make those difficult choices myself.
> 
> Nobody has to care about what I want of course if it's just me. But perhaps I'm not the only one. And maybe bits of my analysis make sense to others. Nobody will find out if nobody talks about it, so that's why I did here.
> 
> Thanks for doing all the hard work in organizing this; I know it's not easy.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Martijn
> 
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