[Inpycon] PyCon India 2020 - The Road Ahead?

[Sayan Chowdhury]

Hi everyone,

I'm dropping this email to discuss the road ahead for PyCon India
2020, around the current situation of COVID-19.

COVID-19 was one of the first topics we discussed within the team and
we're giving a close watch with its developments. We planned that we
would come back to the topic later if situations worsen.

The team discussed it hours before it was declared a pandemic by WHO
and had a formal meeting this week.

I would like the community to actively participate in this discussion thread.

Problems
========
- COVID-19: The rate of spread for COVID-19 is high, and even there is
no timeline to when things would get better.
- Hotel Booking: Sheraton has prepared the contract and we have to
send out our payment and book the venue, but the situation is quite
volatile now. Paying the hotel would mean we would be locked with the
venue and if things go south, then we will end up losing money.
- Complete Isolation: At this point in time, it is better to stay in
complete isolation, and same goes for the volunteers.
- Keynote Speakers: With the current VISA situation, we cannot fly in
any of the keynote speakers from outside
- Sponsors: The team talked to other organizers, and the companies at
the moment are refraining from sponsorships. This is not true for all
companies but a fair percentage of them.
- Travel, Tickets & Participation: We also fear ticket sales. Till the
time things don't get better, people might be reluctant to buy
tickets.
- Lockdown: If things don't get better there is a possibility of
lockdown which means any public gathering would be banned


How are we planning to go ahead?
================================

We are planning to do some research with other options in hand, which
means we won't be doing it at Sheraton.

The options that we have are:
- Smaller conference: We are planning to have talks with smaller
venues like NIMHANS, BIC. The plan is to talk and negotiate with the
cancellation. This means the expected crowd will fall down
- Online conference: The other option is to have an online conference.

We need to do budgeting for both the options and do some research if
we go for the online conference option. The plan is we will closely
monitor the situation and make the decision on which option to opt
for.

It would be great to have the community come forward with questions,
suggestions to make PyCon India 2020 a success.

-- 
Sayan Chowdhury
On behalf of PyCon India 2020 team