Re: [Pycon-openspaces] Open spaces idea for next year

Thanks for the additional updates! I had vaguely hoped that something like this would happen with the tables in the Ginkoberry Concourse, but without explicit encouragement few people seemed to have used that space — I had toyed with the idea of having signs so that people could designate tables for discussions, but I wasn't sure if anything more than a few haphazard meetings would happen that way. If there are room for tables in Cleveland in an area like the Ginkoberry Concourse, where they're away from the doors to the ballrooms and won't create noise for the talks, then we might want to think about something like DockerCon or OSCON. On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 2:07 PM, Anna Ossowski wrote:

I just wanted to add that I saw later that they actually *did* have dedicated spaces where people could sit down and mingle at DockerCon. Those spaces also had big white board walls and markers, which I thought was cool and actually came in handy during one of my mingle experiences. I do still believe though that the concept would also work without these dedicated spaces, it’s just a nice touch.

I also saw that there are speed networking opportunities at the O’Reilly conferences, which might be another good way of solving the problem of giving shy people an opportunity to network. I will be at OSCON in two weeks and am hoping to attend one of the speed networking events so I can report back with my experience. OSCON also does “tribe tables” during breakfast and lunch, which means the tables are labelled with certain topics like community, python, data science, etc. I find that really useful because it gives people the opportunity to sit with like minded people and have something to talk about.

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On Apr 19, 2017, at 7:14 AM, Brandon Rhodes wrote:

Oh — it's more for 1-on-1 conversations! That's interesting, and does sound like it's trying to tackle the issue of "how do I meet people" when some folks are going to have as hard a time speaking up and making connections in a 10-person Open Space as they are in a big ballroom, because in each case they might not feel qualified to even say anything on the topic. Whereas 1-on-1, you're clearly both there to get turns talking, and there to meet someone, not to (hopefully!) hear a lecture or be an expert.

After PyCon, we can gather reports of how it went and the new Chair for the Cleveland years can work with you on whether it can fit and expand the role of our Open Spaces.

It would be great for PyCon to become ever friendlier to the shy and to those who have not yet developed lots of connections in the community, by creating ever more ways for them to actually talk *with* other folks instead of simply being talked *at* by the other attendees.

On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 1:28 AM, Anna Ossowski wrote:

...

I think they hired a company to build that app so not sure if they’ll be open sourcing it but I can chat with some organizers after the conference. DockerCon is gathering attendee feedback regarding the Moby Mingles. I’ll ask if they would be willing to share some of it. From what I heard, feedback has been positive so far.

I saw that they have a “Moby Mingle meeting point”. The idea behind this is that you meet the person you scheduled your Moby Mingle with at the meeting point and then you go wherever you would like to go to have a chat. Since it’s mostly 1-on-1 meetings I don’t think there’s a need for dedicated rooms. The Austin convention center is huge, and there are places to sit and talk everywhere. And choosing to go to a nearby coffee shop also isn’t a bad idea.

--------------------------------- You are appreciated. You are enough. You matter. You are not alone.

On Apr 18, 2017, at 7:40 PM, Brandon Rhodes wrote:

Thanks for pointing this out, Anna! It's an interesting idea for next year — I wonder if they'll be open sourcing the app or making it available for other conferences? After PyCon (when we'll all have more time to reflect), your team can review the reports coming out of DockerCon and find out if people found it easier to connect. Also: it will be interesting to find out whether DockerCon has a collection of pre-ready rooms for these meetings, and/or if people find places to meet on their own or even in off campus settings (coffee shops?).

On Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 5:29 PM, Ewa Jodlowska wrote:

...

Thanks for sharing this, Anna.

It is an interesting idea to bring people together, especially those that have common interests.

Some discussion thoughts:

- Too many apps. We already have a mobile guide app, do we want more apps? Perhaps one app to help address both conference aspects is best? - Do we limit it to non-sponsor attendees? Even though our community is less market-centric than others, I still worry that sponsors may take advantage of this to get one on one attendee time. If we want to limit to non-sponsors, the obstacle is that some of our sponsor registrations are actual developer attendees.

I wish I could go to DockerCon to see the apps fruition. Will you be there, Anna? Or someone you know?

Best regards,

Ewa Director of Operations Python Software Foundation Cell: 415-319-5237 <(415)%20319-5237>

On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Anna Ossowski wrote:

...

Hi everyone!

DockerCon is introducing an interesting concept called “Moby Mingle https://mobymingle.dockercon.com/”. It’s like open spaces but planned in advance and with the possibility to book a one-on-one chat time with the person offering the Moby Mingle. Their platform also offers to request Moby Mingles for topics you are interested in.

I think it would be really interesting to look into doing something like this for next year at PyCon maybe so before I forget I wanted to send you all an email about it.

Happy Easter! Anna

--------------------------------- You are appreciated. You are enough. You matter. You are not alone.

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-- Brandon Rhodes PyCon 2017 Conference Chair pycon.brandon@gmail.com

-- Brandon Rhodes PyCon 2017 Conference Chair pycon.brandon@gmail.com

-- Brandon Rhodes PyCon 2017 Conference Chair pycon.brandon@gmail.com