Hi All, Any strong feelings about the venue for PyCon 2012. Basically, should we repeat the same venue or try for another one? The Pros and Cons for last year's venue (Symbiosis Vishwabhavan + Symbiosis Law College) are: Cons: - Infrastructure is a little old and inadequate - especially the power points - 2nd and 3rd hall are smaller than what we would ideally like (especially for tutorial days) Pros: - Free - Centrally Located - With Prof. Harshad Gune part of the PyCon organizing team, it becomes very easy to get things done in this venue. (This advantage is shared by a few other Symbiosis venues in Pune, but not all) - We know this venue - what works, what doesn't. Minimal energy will be spent on most venue related matters, and we can focus on things like speaker/talk quality, getting good wi-fi, sponsorships etc. For any other venue, there will be a new learning curve involved. Please respond to this thread with your thoughts. My personal feeling is that we should use the same venue - its the devil we know... navin.
The biggest drawback is the old school presentation as you mentioned. This is not on par with the presentations we see on US pycon etc. I guess being free may not be a big advantage given the sponsors we have (those who worked on the sponsorship are more qualified to say abt it than me). The location is fine, but the facility should be better. On Jan 9, 2012 6:26 PM, "Navin Kabra" <navin.kabra@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
Any strong feelings about the venue for PyCon 2012. Basically, should we repeat the same venue or try for another one?
The Pros and Cons for last year's venue (Symbiosis Vishwabhavan + Symbiosis Law College) are:
Cons: - Infrastructure is a little old and inadequate - especially the power points - 2nd and 3rd hall are smaller than what we would ideally like (especially for tutorial days)
Pros: - Free - Centrally Located - With Prof. Harshad Gune part of the PyCon organizing team, it becomes very easy to get things done in this venue. (This advantage is shared by a few other Symbiosis venues in Pune, but not all) - We know this venue - what works, what doesn't. Minimal energy will be spent on most venue related matters, and we can focus on things like speaker/talk quality, getting good wi-fi, sponsorships etc. For any other venue, there will be a new learning curve involved.
Please respond to this thread with your thoughts. My personal feeling is that we should use the same venue - its the devil we know...
navin.
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On 9 January 2012 18:49, Abdul Muneer <abdulmuneer@gmail.com> wrote:
The biggest drawback is the old school presentation as you mentioned. This is not on par with the presentations we see on US pycon etc.
I guess being free may not be a big advantage given the sponsors we have (those who worked on the sponsorship are more qualified to say abt it than me). The location is fine, but the facility should be better.
I would still vouch for free/ subsidised venue. Lets explore other facilities in central Pune. Regards, - sree On Jan 9, 2012 6:26 PM, "Navin Kabra" <navin.kabra@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
Any strong feelings about the venue for PyCon 2012. Basically, should we repeat the same venue or try for another one?
The Pros and Cons for last year's venue (Symbiosis Vishwabhavan + Symbiosis Law College) are:
Cons: - Infrastructure is a little old and inadequate - especially the power points - 2nd and 3rd hall are smaller than what we would ideally like (especially for tutorial days)
Pros: - Free - Centrally Located - With Prof. Harshad Gune part of the PyCon organizing team, it becomes very easy to get things done in this venue. (This advantage is shared by a few other Symbiosis venues in Pune, but not all) - We know this venue - what works, what doesn't. Minimal energy will be spent on most venue related matters, and we can focus on things like speaker/talk quality, getting good wi-fi, sponsorships etc. For any other venue, there will be a new learning curve involved.
Please respond to this thread with your thoughts. My personal feeling is that we should use the same venue - its the devil we know...
navin.
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_______________________________________________ Inpycon mailing list Inpycon@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/inpycon
-- Sreekanth S Rameshaiah Executive Director Mahiti Infotech Pvt. Ltd. "OpenSpace", #583, Vyalikaval HBCS Layout, Nagawara, Veerannapalya, Bangalore, India - 560043 Phone: +91 80 3094 9393 Mobile: +91 98455 12611 www.mahiti.org
On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Sreekanth S Rameshaiah <sree@mahiti.org>wrote:
On 9 January 2012 18:49, Abdul Muneer <abdulmuneer@gmail.com> wrote:
The biggest drawback is the old school presentation as you mentioned. This is not on par with the presentations we see on US pycon etc.
I guess being free may not be a big advantage given the sponsors we have (those who worked on the sponsorship are more qualified to say abt it than me). The location is fine, but the facility should be better.
I would still vouch for free/ subsidised venue. Lets explore other facilities in central Pune. Regards,
Here's the issue. At least amongst the facilities we reviewed last year, this was perhaps the best last year. Others were larger but older or newer but smaller. There were nicer and larger facilities but they were really waaaay out of town (we would need to hire buses to take people to and fro). Not meaning to suggest that we should not explore a few more facilities this year, but I wouldn't hold my breath much. I think it will boil down to within central pune or way far out if one wants "newer" facilities. There just aren't too many "new" places which can seat 700 in an auditorium, and have more capacity for 1-2 additional tracks and classrooms etc. I think it will be important to understand our apetite for out of town venues. Dhananjay
Hi All, The Pune "local" team is meeting early next week to discuss details of PyCon 2012, the most important agenda item being Venue finalization. We will keep this mailing list updated with the outcome of our discussions. If anyone is interested in being part of the "local" organizing team for PyCon 2012, and isn't already on the PyCon Organizers mailing list, please get in touch with me. On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Dhananjay Nene <dhananjay.nene@gmail.com>wrote:
On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Sreekanth S Rameshaiah <sree@mahiti.org>wrote:
On 9 January 2012 18:49, Abdul Muneer <abdulmuneer@gmail.com> wrote:
The biggest drawback is the old school presentation as you mentioned. This is not on par with the presentations we see on US pycon etc.
I guess being free may not be a big advantage given the sponsors we have (those who worked on the sponsorship are more qualified to say abt it than me). The location is fine, but the facility should be better.
I would still vouch for free/ subsidised venue. Lets explore other facilities in central Pune. Regards,
Here's the issue. At least amongst the facilities we reviewed last year, this was perhaps the best last year. Others were larger but older or newer but smaller. There were nicer and larger facilities but they were really waaaay out of town (we would need to hire buses to take people to and fro).
Not meaning to suggest that we should not explore a few more facilities this year, but I wouldn't hold my breath much. I think it will boil down to within central pune or way far out if one wants "newer" facilities. There just aren't too many "new" places which can seat 700 in an auditorium, and have more capacity for 1-2 additional tracks and classrooms etc. I think it will be important to understand our apetite for out of town venues.
Dhananjay
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Yes. On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 6:38 PM, Jaidev Deshpande <deshpande.jaidev@gmail.com
wrote:
Hi
If anyone is interested in being part of the "local" organizing team for PyCon 2012, and isn't already on the PyCon Organizers mailing list, please get in touch with me.
I'd like to be a part of the team, but as a volunteer. Can I come for the meeting? _______________________________________________ Inpycon mailing list Inpycon@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/inpycon
-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://blog.dhananjaynene.com twitter: @dnene <http://twitter.com/dnene>google plus: http://gplus.to/dhananjaynene
Navin Kabra <navin@smriti.com> writes:
Hi All, The Pune "local" team is meeting early next week to discuss details of PyCon 2012, the most important agenda item being Venue finalization. We will keep this mailing list updated with the outcome of our discussions.
If anyone is interested in being part of the "local" organizing team for PyCon 2012, and isn't already on the PyCon Organizers mailing list, please get in touch with me.
[...] Is there a separate mailing list for discussion or are you going to use this one itself? I think using this one is better since all the people who are interested can stay upto date (even though they're not in Pune) and the ones who aren't can unsubscribe or ignore. -- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in Parting is such sweet sorrow. -William Shakespeare
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 4:37 AM, Noufal Ibrahim <noufal@gmail.com> wrote:
Is there a separate mailing list for discussion or are you going to use this one itself? I think using this one is better since all the people who are interested can stay upto date (even though they're not in Pune) and the ones who aren't can unsubscribe or ignore.
There is a separate mailing list for "local" organizers which is only used for co-ordinating local meetings. This usually contains exchanges of the form: "Does Monday 7pm work for everyone?" "I can make it by 8pm" etc. Anything of significance will be discussed on the main inpycon mailing list. navin.
Navin Kabra <navin@smriti.com> writes: [...]
There is a separate mailing list for "local" organizers which is only used for co-ordinating local meetings. This usually contains exchanges of the form: "Does Monday 7pm work for everyone?" "I can make it by 8pm" etc.
Anything of significance will be discussed on the main inpycon mailing list.
[...] I'd recommend using the main list for everything. "Of significance" will vary over time, discussions will start up from other threads etc and things will fragment. One of the reasons I tried very hard to keep *all* PyCon related stuff off BangPypers and in inpycon even for the Bangalore events. -- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in Everyone writes on the walls except me. -Said to be graffiti seen in Pompeii
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 5:34 AM, Noufal Ibrahim <noufal@gmail.com> wrote:
Navin Kabra <navin@smriti.com> writes:
[...]
There is a separate mailing list for "local" organizers which is only used for co-ordinating local meetings. This usually contains exchanges of the form: "Does Monday 7pm work for everyone?" "I can make it by 8pm" etc.
Anything of significance will be discussed on the main inpycon mailing list.
[...]
I'd recommend using the main list for everything.
"Of significance" will vary over time, discussions will start up from other threads etc and things will fragment. One of the reasons I tried very hard to keep *all* PyCon related stuff off BangPypers and in inpycon even for the Bangalore events.
+1. We have had this discussion last year already in another form. The approach which seem to work finally for all use cases seems to be that of put it all in public and I favor it. Even if it involves trivial messages such as availability for a meeting on a specific day, you can put it in this list. That lets this list have a history of all email transactions that leads up to the Pycon which is its use-case anyway.
-- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in
Everyone writes on the walls except me. -Said to be graffiti seen in Pompeii _______________________________________________ Inpycon mailing list Inpycon@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/inpycon
Thanks, -- --Anand
Navin Kabra <navin.kabra@gmail.com> writes:
Hi All,
Any strong feelings about the venue for PyCon 2012. Basically, should we repeat the same venue or try for another one?
- We'll need dedicated sponsor space. There were complaints which we need to address this time. - We need bigger halls for the second and third tracks. We overstuffed this time and the heat was oppressive. Apart from that, I think we're good. Is there some way we can work around these two issues? If so, we can reuse the venue. They're not deal breakers but close to being so. [...] -- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in Everyone writes on the walls except me. -Said to be graffiti seen in Pompeii
On 9 January 2012 18:55, Noufal Ibrahim <noufal@gmail.com> wrote:
Navin Kabra <navin.kabra@gmail.com> writes:
Hi All,
Any strong feelings about the venue for PyCon 2012. Basically, should we repeat the same venue or try for another one?
- We'll need dedicated sponsor space. There were complaints which we need to address this time.
- We need bigger halls for the second and third tracks. We overstuffed this time and the heat was oppressive.
Apart from that, I think we're good. Is there some way we can work around these two issues? If so, we can reuse the venue. They're not deal breakers but close to being so.
Quite a few sponsors found very little difference between gold and platinum except for 3x diff in cost. We should address that in this years sponsorship document. Regards, - sree
[...]
-- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in
Everyone writes on the walls except me. -Said to be graffiti seen in Pompeii _______________________________________________ Inpycon mailing list Inpycon@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/inpycon
-- Sreekanth S Rameshaiah Executive Director Mahiti Infotech Pvt. Ltd. "OpenSpace", #583, Vyalikaval HBCS Layout, Nagawara, Veerannapalya, Bangalore, India - 560043 Phone: +91 80 3094 9393 Mobile: +91 98455 12611 www.mahiti.org
Sreekanth S Rameshaiah <sree@mahiti.org> writes: [...]
Quite a few sponsors found very little difference between gold and platinum except for 3x diff in cost. We should address that in this years sponsorship document.
[...] Yes. Very much a problem. I'm reworking the prospectus. I'll send out a draft this week. -- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in An Irishman is never at peace except when he's fighting.
Quite a few sponsors found very little difference between gold and
On Jan 9, 2012 10:18 PM, "Sreekanth S Rameshaiah" <sree@mahiti.org> wrote: platinum except for 3x diff in cost.
We should address that in this years sponsorship document.
At HasGeek we experimented with modular sponsorships and found it works particularly well. We offer a menu of options with prices. Banners, stalls, lanyards all have prices and availability counts (only one unit of lanyard is available, but there are four stalls and unlimited Bring Your Own Banners, etc). If the combined billing goes over a threshold, they get the additional benefits of that category. (Community gets four passes and Silver gets eight plus a larger logo on the website, etc.) This lets sponsors pick the options that work for them. If the first tier has a low entry price, it also encourages startups to sponsor. For us, the Bring Your Own Banner option allows startup sponsors to express themselves while being logistically easy to handle. Entry level sponsorships sell themselves and typically bring in as much revenue as the higher brackets. Kiran
On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Noufal Ibrahim <noufal@gmail.com> wrote:
- We'll need dedicated sponsor space. There were complaints which we need to address this time.
Just curious, have we got the specific complaints listed out somewhere? You can just point me to a thread where these have been discussed, if any. - d
Saager Mhatre <saager.mhatre@gmail.com> writes:
On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Noufal Ibrahim <noufal@gmail.com> wrote:
- We'll need dedicated sponsor space. There were complaints which we need to address this time.
Just curious, have we got the specific complaints listed out somewhere? You can just point me to a thread where these have been discussed, if any.
[...] Dhananjay got a few emails which he personally forwarded me about these problems. They contain some sensitive stuff and were not posted here directly IIRC. I'll sanitise them and repost. -- ~noufal http://nibrahim.net.in "Triumph without Victory, The Unreported History of the Persian Gulf War", -Headline published in the U.S. News & World Report, 1992.
As far as the venue is concerned, at this point no real alternative to last years venue seems to be emerging. We tried to think through the possibilities at a meeting yesterday and came up with nothing. Here is the situation: - Requirements: We need one large hall, with a capacity of at least 500, and at least one or two smaller halls (with ideally a capacity of 150 each). - Last year, we had peak attendance of around 650+ and that was because we closed registrations a little early, and we pulled back from local college publicity (since we already had enough registrations). This time, if we really want, we could reach 800+ - but it is not clear whether we have an appropriate venue for those numbers - Problems with last year's venue: - Old infrastructure - All rooms were packed way beyond capacity. This is a safety issue too - (e.g. Fire norms) - Power availability for audience laptops was inadequate - Total number of halls is limited - 2nd / 3rd halls are small - We will not be able to accommodate more than 700 delegates - The only other venues that are easily accessible and have the required capacity are 5-star hotels, and those are far too expensive. At roughly Rs. 1000 per person per day (which can be brought down somewhat with negotiation and numbers guarantees, but still it is a lot). - Symbiosis Lavale is the only realistic alternative. The facilities there are phenomenal, but it is out of town (18km from University of Pune), and there is no public transport available. So we'll need to arrange transport (buses) and even then it will be inconvenient. - Another possibility is to have the event in two different campuses. This can be done by separating the event into "Beginners" and "Advanced" tracks, and have those two tracks in different venues. For example, we can have the beginners track in SICSR (which has many rooms with a capacity of roughly 120 each), and the advanced track in Symbiosis Vishwabhavan (last year's venue). The two venues are about 1.5km apart. It will not be practical for people to move from one venue to another between talks (although the more enterprising ones can move during lunch break.) - We considered lots of other options, but nothing seems to fit the bill. - If anyone can think of a specific alternative, speak now, or forever hold your peace. As far as I can see, here are the three possible options: [Option 1 - Vishwabhavan]: same as last year, but with a little better preparation, since we're forewarned [Option 2 - Lavale]: with buses plying between University and the Venue [Option 3 - Vishwabhavan + SICSR]: Beginners track in SICSR Please indicate what options you like. Answers to specific questions:
I guess being free may not be a big advantage given the sponsors we have (those who worked on the sponsorship are more qualified to say abt it than me). The location is fine, but the facility should be better.
The only non-free options in Pune that satisfy the size requirements are 5-star hotels which are far too expensive.
- We'll need dedicated sponsor space. There were complaints which we need to address this time.
- We need bigger halls for the second and third tracks. We overstuffed
We believe we can address this the existing venue now that we're aware of the issue. this time and the heat was oppressive. This remains a problem for [Option 1 - Vishwabhavan] . This would totally be addressed by [Option 2 - Lavale]. This would become much less of a problem if we go with [Option 3 - Vishwabhavan + SICSR] On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 6:25 PM, Navin Kabra <navin.kabra@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi All,
Any strong feelings about the venue for PyCon 2012. Basically, should we repeat the same venue or try for another one?
The Pros and Cons for last year's venue (Symbiosis Vishwabhavan + Symbiosis Law College) are:
Cons: - Infrastructure is a little old and inadequate - especially the power points - 2nd and 3rd hall are smaller than what we would ideally like (especially for tutorial days)
Pros: - Free - Centrally Located - With Prof. Harshad Gune part of the PyCon organizing team, it becomes very easy to get things done in this venue. (This advantage is shared by a few other Symbiosis venues in Pune, but not all) - We know this venue - what works, what doesn't. Minimal energy will be spent on most venue related matters, and we can focus on things like speaker/talk quality, getting good wi-fi, sponsorships etc. For any other venue, there will be a new learning curve involved.
Please respond to this thread with your thoughts. My personal feeling is that we should use the same venue - its the devil we know...
navin.
This remains a problem for [Option 1 - Vishwabhavan] . This would totally be addressed by [Option 2 - Lavale]. This would become much less of a problem if we go with [Option 3 - Vishwabhavan + SICSR]
Do we have demographics from last years conference? if we have a considerable number of out of pune people then option 2 wouldnt hurt after all. (these are people who spent a couple of grands to reach pune they surely wouldnt mind spending a few hundred rupees to reach this venue). option 1, option 2 are +1s for me and option 3 a strong -1. and if it means we will have to curtail registrations to just 400 people then so be it. -- Kausikram Krishnasayee Company: http://silverstripesoftware.com | Webpage: kausikram.in | Blog: blog.kausikram.in | Twitter: http://twitter.com/kausikram | Email: kausikram@gmail.com | Mobile: +91 9884246490
People tend to bring in their novice friends to give them more exposure (at least I plan to do so :-) ). The comfort level of the our friends will be greatly impacted if we keep the beginner section far away. Option 2 should be fine if we ply enough buses on peak hours and then a regular service on every hour or so. Regards, Abdul Muneer On Mar 13, 2012 10:01 AM, "kausikram krishnasayee" <kausikram@gmail.com> wrote:
This remains a problem for [Option 1 - Vishwabhavan] . This would totally be addressed by [Option 2 - Lavale]. This would become much less of a problem if we go with [Option 3 - Vishwabhavan + SICSR]
Do we have demographics from last years conference? if we have a considerable number of out of pune people then option 2 wouldnt hurt after all. (these are people who spent a couple of grands to reach pune they surely wouldnt mind spending a few hundred rupees to reach this venue).
option 1, option 2 are +1s for me and option 3 a strong -1. and if it means we will have to curtail registrations to just 400 people then so be it.
-- Kausikram Krishnasayee Company: http://silverstripesoftware.com | Webpage: kausikram.in | Blog: blog.kausikram.in | Twitter: http://twitter.com/kausikram | Email: kausikram@gmail.com | Mobile: +91 9884246490
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Hi, --- On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Abdul Muneer <abdulmuneer@gmail.com> wrote: | Option 2 should be fine if we ply enough buses on peak hours and then a | regular service on every hour or so. \-- If option 2 is chosen, and the buses have those TV/DVD player sets in them, one could possible run Python tutorial sessions/screencasts during the bus journey - call it, maybe, "Python on Wheels" or something. Just a suggestion! SK -- Shakthi Kannan http://www.shakthimaan.com
On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:37 AM, Shakthi Kannan <shakthimaan@gmail.com>wrote:
Hi,
--- On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Abdul Muneer <abdulmuneer@gmail.com> wrote: | Option 2 should be fine if we ply enough buses on peak hours and then a | regular service on every hour or so. \--
If option 2 is chosen, and the buses have those TV/DVD player sets in them, one could possible run Python tutorial sessions/screencasts during the bus journey - call it, maybe, "Python on Wheels" or something.
Just a suggestion!
SK
I think if we can arrange for shuttles through the day option 2 would be a great option. Shakti, your suggestion is most interesting and it would be fun if we could do that. regards, Brij.
Hi, I just heard from a couple of friends that the amphitheatre at Fergusson College has a capacity of 700-800 people. It also has quite a few lecture halls large. Has anyone considered this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergusson_College#NM_Wadia_Amphitheatre On 13 March 2012 23:32, Brijesh Kartha <brij.programming@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:37 AM, Shakthi Kannan <shakthimaan@gmail.com>wrote:
Hi,
--- On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:18 AM, Abdul Muneer <abdulmuneer@gmail.com> wrote: | Option 2 should be fine if we ply enough buses on peak hours and then a | regular service on every hour or so. \--
If option 2 is chosen, and the buses have those TV/DVD player sets in them, one could possible run Python tutorial sessions/screencasts during the bus journey - call it, maybe, "Python on Wheels" or something.
Just a suggestion!
SK
I think if we can arrange for shuttles through the day option 2 would be a great option. Shakti, your suggestion is most interesting and it would be fun if we could do that.
regards, Brij.
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participants (14)
-
Abdul Muneer -
Anand Balachandran Pillai -
Brijesh Kartha -
Dhananjay Nene -
Jaidev Deshpande -
kausikram krishnasayee -
Kiran Jonnalagadda -
Navin Kabra -
Navin Kabra -
Noufal Ibrahim -
Saager Mhatre -
Shakthi Kannan -
Sreekanth S Rameshaiah -
Venkatesh Halli