[I found this in my email drafts folder; thought I'd sent it long ago. Hopefully it isn't stale ;-) ]<br><br>Hi all,<br><br>I had a great time in Bangalore, and I was impressed by the size & scope of PyCon India in only its second year. I have some suggestions based on my experience organizing the US PyCon over the years. Some have already been mentioned here (I know I heard some discussed).<br>
<br>* You should add time between talks, 5 or 10 minutes. Attendees need time for moving between rooms, and the next speakers need time to set up their laptops.<br><br>* At PyCon US, we have "time remaining" signs: 10 minutes, 5 minutes, STOP. These are very useful for the session chair (MC), who can be sitting in or near the front row and watching a clock.<br>
<br>* Speakers should be encouraged (required) to repeat any questions they are asked. Often the people on the other side of the room cannot hear the questions. The recordings rarely pick up the questions.<br><br>* Speakers and MC's should feel free to defer questions to the end of a talk, especially if the questioner is insistent.<br>
<br>* Speakers should not run off immediately after a talk, but move swiftly to the hallway and answer any after-talk questions.<br><br>* As you grow, you may choose to add parallel features (e.g. open space) and secondary events (e.g. development sprints, tutorials). You already had the FOSSEE sessions for beginners, a great idea! But take it slowly, and don't add anything before you're ready.<br>
<br>* I noticed some audio feedback when people were speaking. This can be
reduced by placing the microphone closer to the speaker's mouth. The
further away, the higher the gain must be, and the more likely feedback
becomes. Something to tell your speakers.<br><br>* These kinds of instructions for speakers can be printed up ahead of time, and given to speakers and MCs. If you're interested, I can get the instruction sheet from US PyCon.<br>
<br>* A "green room" is very useful: a room for speakers with a spare projector (to test laptop connections), wired network connections, a printer, water, etc. This can double as a conference office.<br><br>* WiFi at conferences is always an issue. 802.11 was not designed for such high user densities. In a nutshell, at PyCon US we deploy lots of real APs (not laptops!), at low power (important!) on alternating channels, to reduce interference. We are lucky to have Sean Reifschneider, a sysadmin and
networking guru who has effectively deployed wireless for many years. Sean has written reports about PyCon's wireless here: <a href="http://www.tummy.com/Community/Articles/pycon2010-network/" target="_blank">http://www.tummy.com/Community/Articles/pycon2010-network/</a> (with links to earlier years). <br>
<br>* Pre-printed badges with icons for speakers (and anything else you want
to track) are a good way to see at a glance who is missing.<br>
<br>
* It's best to avoid staggered starting times. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but try hard!<br>
<br>* One way to handle the lunch/break rush is to stagger the *ends* of
talks just before lunch/breaks. For example, some talks can end 15
minutes later than others.<br><br>* Lightning talks are particularly popular at US PyCon, to the point where it was unfair to schedule other talks against them, so we made them plenary.<br><br>* For North American conferences, as you grow in attendance, costs go up per-person (you have to move from free space to hotels or conference centers). If this is true in India as well, you may consider holding multiple regional conferences instead of one national conference. It's not ideal, but it's one way to keep costs down.<br>
<br>* I noticed a large drop-off in attendance between Saturday and
Sunday. It seems to have happened last year as well. Why is that?<br><br>Most importantly: notwithstanding any of the above, please don't imitate any other conference too closely. It would be a shame to lose the unique character of PyCon India.<br clear="all">
<br>-- <br>David Goodger <<a href="http://python.net/%7Egoodger" target="_blank">http://python.net/~goodger</a>><br>
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