[Pycon-openspaces] List of topics for the website

Mon Apr 4 07:14:57 EDT 2016

+1 for quiet spaces. Like white space in graphic design, it's invisible and
often indispensable. For myself, I've often found quiet among the unused
Open Space rooms, tutorial rooms, or even semi-private corners of the booth
spaces. But I can understand how having a dedicated location for quiet
could be vital for many people. Just the knowledge that it's there can be
reassuring to speakers with stage fright or new conference attendees that
feel overwhelmed.

Might it work to reserve a Quiet Open Space room with reservation cards,
and then, during the conference, consider taking down a few reservation
cards if the other rooms are getting close to 100% utilized? Especially if
the quiet space isn't getting comparable usage. Basically the Open Space
coordinators could adapt to the usage trends in real time. And since Quiet
has at least 2 advocates on the OS committee, I think they'd not get
squeezed off the schedule.

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016, 3:40 AM Anna Ossowski <ossanna16 at gmx.de> wrote:

> Thank you, Brandon! :)
>
> Just to add a little more information: We had a quiet room at DjangoCon US
> last year which also functioned as the speaker lounge and it was very much
> appreciated not only by speakers but also by others who just needed some
> quiet time for a few minutes. At DjangoCon US the convention center was
> directly connected to the conference hotel and about 50% of people still
> seemed to prefer using the quiet room instead of retreating back to their
> hotel room. At DjangoCon Europe, which I just returned from yesterday, they
> also had a quiet room which doubled as the speaker room. Besides speakers I
> saw mothers nursing their babies in there, people who just needed a short
> break, and people who needed to concentrate in order to get some work done.
>
> The big difference between a public area for people to sit down and relax
> and a quiet room is simply that a quiet room allows you to close the door
> behind you and that people who enter the room know it’s an area where
> people want to be left in quiet for however long they decide to stay in
> there whereas in a public sitting area people come by and want to chat so
> it doesn’t have the same effect.
>
> I just checked the distance between the conference center and me and
> Kinga’s hotel, which seems to be a 7 minute walk so for us it would be no
> big deal to walk over to our room, spend some quiet time there, and come
> back to the hotel, we could probably do this within an hour. Other hotels
> however might be further away and I know quite a few people who are staying
> at AirBnBs so for them to get back to their accommodations would take
> significantly longer.
>
> For me at each conference there comes a time where I hit my „people limit“
> and need to retreat to a quiet space as soon as possible and I know a lot
> of people who feel the same way so I do believe that a designated quiet
> room at PyCon would be an excellent idea and very much appreciated by a lot
> of attendees.
>
> If there are not other rooms, would be it be possible to turn one of the
> Open Spaces rooms into a quiet room? I know this is not an ideal solution
> but having a quiet room would be important to me so it might be worth going
> that route.
>
> Thank you, Brandon and Ewa!
>
> Warm regards,
> Anna
>
> Am 03.04.2016 um 18:50 schrieb Brandon Rhodes <pycon.brandon at gmail.com>:
>
> Let’s ask Ewa! :)
>
> Ewa, has PyCon in the past ever had a quiet room? Though Anna does not
> think that a quiet room would quite fit the mission of the Open Spaces
> rooms, she raises the point that hotels are quite far away this year for
> many attendees, and that she has seen quiet rooms be very much appreciated
> at other conferences.
>
> My impression, though, is that during the three main conference days we
> are fully occupying every single room that the Conference Center has ceded
> to us, and that we have none left to allocate. Is that correct — that if
> 2016 is to have a quiet room at all, that allocating an Open Space room is
> our only way there?
>
> On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 2:49 AM, Anna Ossowski <ossanna16 at gmx.de> wrote:
>
>> Hello Brandon,
>>
>> I am surprised that there will be no quiet room at PyCon. When a
>> conference had a quiet room I always really appreciated it and I think it
>> is important. There was a quiet room at DjangoCon Europe and it was used
>> for people just needing to take a break to get work done, nursing mothers,
>> and people like me who get overwhelmed sometimes and just needed to step
>> away for half an hour. I talked to a few people here at DjangoCon Europe
>> about the need of a quiet room and they were all really surprised too that
>> PyCon is not planning on having one as they all think it’s important and
>> would be appreciated. Retreating back to your hotel when you just need 30
>> minutes in quiet is often inconvenient and public seating areas are not the
>> same as a dedicated quiet room with a door that you can shut.
>>
>> Is there any way a quiet room could be arranged? If not, I do think that
>> offering one of the Open Spaces rooms as a quiet room would be a good idea.
>> Some people here at DjangoCon Europe mentioned that if there was no quiet
>> room at PyCon they would be willing to go ahead and block an Open Spaces
>> room for that purpose.
>>
>> Thank you!
>> Anna
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 31.03.2016 um 14:57 schrieb Brandon Rhodes <pycon.brandon at gmail.com>:
>>
>> Yes, thank you, Kinga!
>>
>> I agree, Anna, that childcare, Portland tours, and a quiet space are not
>> a good fit and could be usefully removed from the list. Most people retreat
>> to their hotels for quiet; there will additionally be seating areas in the
>> venue where people can sit with laptops; and one of the big round tables
>> out in the public area could be used for coordinating visits to Portland
>> things.
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 4:17 AM, Anna Ossowski <ossanna16 at gmx.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you Kinga for compiling this list!
>>>
>>> If no one has to add anything to it we can add it to the PyCon website
>>> next week.
>>>
>>> I think child care and quiet rooms are important but they don’t fit into
>>> the scope of the open spaces. There will be child care at PyCon. I’m not
>>> sure if there will be something like a quiet room but it would be a good
>>> idea to have one. i’m just not sure that blocking an open spaces room for 3
>>> days to use it as a quiet room is the best idea. There will also most
>>> likely be something like an „explore Portland“ program so I’m not sure if
>>> an open space like that would be necessary or make a whole lot of sense but
>>> I don’t have anything against it.
>>>
>>> Warm regards,
>>> Anna
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Am 30.03.2016 um 11:04 schrieb Kinga Kięczkowska <
>>> k.kieczkowska at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>> I compiled a list of ideas for open spaces topics, based on what we
>>> already had, what was done last year, and what people suggested on Twitter.
>>> You can find it in this document:
>>>
>>>
>>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C38lRU7zlZ2pgnGcP0w6bRGU8kD8JspA6fE-reO9Nk0/edit?usp=sharing
>>>
>>> If you have any suggestions / more ideas, please feel free to
>>> contribute. I'd also love your feedback on the childcare and quiet rooms,
>>> and the space for people to organise tours of Portland - would we want
>>> something like that?
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Kinga
>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Brandon Rhodes
>> PyCon 2016 Conference Chair
>> pycon.brandon at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Brandon Rhodes
> PyCon 2016 Conference Chair
> pycon.brandon at gmail.com
>
>
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