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

[Robin Friedrich]

Steve got this list kicked off (yes you were first) so let me follow up with 
some of my own thoughts on Python conferences. I agree with the main train of 
thought expressed so far in this thread. O'Reilly's offer of using OSCON as 
the "big production value" Python conference is fine with me.  It'll be 
expensive to attend but, because of O'Reilly's diverse topics (and marketing) 
it's more likely that an employee can find a justification for the expense. 
It's a great venue to have Python strut it's stuff and impress folks that 
would not have considered Python otherwise. A Python-only conference by its 
nature is much more specialized and makes it less likely for an employee to 
find direct, justifiable need to attend.

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. 
The time and effort that must be allotted to judging papers can be a major 
drag. 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). Have no more than two 
tracks; web and general purpose.  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. Locating it near Zopeland increases the number of Python 
Labs people that can attend, and since OSCON will always be west coast as far 
as I can tell that balances the geography as well.

Obviously there will be some diffusion of attendance because it's unlikely 
many people will attend both events but the point is to serve AND expand the 
Python community. Python 10 did nothing to expand the community while this new 
plan has a much better chance of doing that.
Anyway that's the $0.02 from someone who has attended and enjoyed every Python 
conference/workshop.

-Robin Friedrich