Mailman 3 July 2012 - PyCon-ZA

Getting the programme rolling
by Simon Cross Aug. 1, 2012

Aug. 1, 2012

Greetings We're close to the point where we'll be calling for talks so I'd like to start a discussion about what kinds of things we'd like to be on the programme. The final programme obviously depends on finding speakers but I think we need to know what sorts of talks to push. I've started by listing of topics that seemed important to me below. Things that I thought we might want tutorials on I've marked with "(T)" although since tutorials are longer, space for those in the programme is going to be limited. If anyone has any topics to add, or thoughts on the direction of the programme, please reply. Possible topics: Core Python: * Python packaging (T) * Unit testing (T) * Python performance Web development: * Django (T) * GeoDjango * Flask Python for science, engineering and data crunching: * Scipy * Numpy * Pypy * Pandas * Spatial Data Infrastructures Python development for Mobiles: * Writing Android applications in Python * Mobile messaging with Python * Django for mobi sites (T) * Embedded Python Backend Python: * Twisted * Managing Cloud Servers (Fabric, Boto) * Monitoring (Diamond, Carbon, Graphite) * Writing Scalable Python programs Storing data: * SQLAlchemy * SQLObject * Accessing NoSQL datastores from Python Community development: * Getting involved with Python projects * Why you should take part in PyWeek People doing things with Python: * SKA

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Re: [pycon-za] Attendee and Speaker registration stats
by Simon Cross July 31, 2012

July 31, 2012

On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 5:11 PM, Gustav <gustav(a)praekelt.com> wrote: > Hey simon - how are we looking now? Currently at 129 attendees expressing interest.

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Attendee and Speaker registration stats
by Simon Cross July 26, 2012

July 26, 2012

Greetings We jump from about 54 to 76 people signed up via the attendee sign-up today. We have about 10 people signed up on the speaker sign-up form. Hightlights on the speaker sign-up form include: * Asheesh Laroia (pycon-za(a)asheesh.org) -- gave the talk on diversity with Jessica McKellar at PyCon US * Bradley Whittington (bradley(a)lessfuss.co.za) * Jude Mwenda (judemwenda(a)gmail.com) -- GIS consultant for the World Bank in Kenya * Neilen Marais (nmarais(a)gmail.com) -- from SKA SA * Zain Memon (zain(a)inzain.net) -- gave the tutorial on GeoDjango at PyCon US Exciting times. :) Schiavo Simon

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Help from EP organizers
by Maciej Fijalkowski July 25, 2012

July 25, 2012

Hi Maybe I should mention that Valentino Volonghi, one of the main organizers of EuroPython offered to help with advice if we have some problems and/or want feedback. I don't have his email, but he's @dialtone_ on twitter. Cheers, fijal PS. He also lost a bet whether it's possible to write a fast PHP VM using PyPy technologies, so he has to help!

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Fwd: Try EventBoard at your upcoming event for free
by Simon Cross July 25, 2012

July 25, 2012

EventBoard emailed the team(a)za.pycon.org address to offer a free EventBoard account for PyCon ZA. Anyone used them or heard whether they're good to work with? Should we take them up on the offer? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Courtney Hammock <courtney(a)falafel.com> Date: Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 2:00 PM Subject: Try EventBoard at your upcoming event for free To: team(a)za.pycon.org ** Hello Pycon ZA Organizers, Event Organizers are reaching their audiences on mobile, and now you can use the same mobile application used by Microsoft at major events like TechEd Europe 2012 at your next event free of charge. EventBoard<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=46231158&msgid=589127&act=Y6SJ&c=…>has been providing mobile access to conference schedules, speaker profiles, show directories and live social media at events big and small since 2010. Microsoft saw the value for both organizers and attendees: * Organizers can: * - Deliver breaking news - Collect immediate feedback - Expand sponsorship opportunities *Attendees can:* - Create a personal agenda - Connect to social media - Access maps and floor plans We are so sure you are going to love EventBoard, it is free to try at your first event, no strings attached. To determine if EventBoard would be a good fit at your event, please contact me<courtney(a)falafel.com?Subject=EventBoard+Demo>to setup a free online demonstration. *Courtney Hammock Marketing Assistant Falafel Software Inc. 831-462-0457* [image: Quote] *"We have used EventBoard for SDC2012, Goteborg April 16 - 17. It is a great application, the support is fantastic, and I can really recommend it."* - Christer Ahlstedt Marketing Manager [image: Customers]<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=46231158&msgid=589127&act=Y6SJ&c=…> [image: Customers]<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=46231158&msgid=589127&act=Y6SJ&c=…> This message was sent to team(a)za.pycon.org from: Falafel Software Inc. | 512 Capitola Ave. | Capitola, CA 95010 Email Marketing by [image: iContact - Try It Free!]<http://www.icontact.com/a.pl/144186> Unsubscribe <http://app.icontact.com/icp/mmail-mprofile.pl?r=46231158&l=71461&s=Y6SJ&m=5…>

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PyCon ZA website
by Simon Cross July 23, 2012

July 23, 2012

Hi Ruan and Euan Sam and Wendy said you needed a final website design and mini wireframe. I don't have any wireframes but I've attempted a detailed outline of the site below. I'm basing my thinking on the EuroPython 2012 (https://ep2012.europython.eu/) and PyCon US 2013 (https://us.pycon.org/2013/) sites. == Top navigation bar == A black top navigation bar with links for: * Home, About, Where, Schedule, Speakers, Sponsors The About button should have a sub-menu with: * What is PyCon ZA? * Diversity Statement (see Trello for content) * Code of Conduct (see Trello for content) * Staff Contact Information == Home == Below the navigation bar I think it would be good to have a full-width area with the PyCon ZA logo and dates and buttons for registering as an attendee and offering a talk (e.g. as on https://ep2012.europython.eu/). Sponsorship logos should go below that (with a "Sponsor PyCon ZA" button that leads to the sponsor page). Those are the important things for the front page. Some copy about the conference will need to go below that but we can decide on what exactly to put there once we have a first draft. == Where == At the top we need an official address for the venue and a map. Below that we need information about how to acquire accommodation (I have contact details for someone we could use to find accommodation for people if needed), advice on travelling to the venue and maybe something about important things to do in Cape Town. == Schedule == The draft schedule document is at https://docs.google.com/a/praekeltfoundation.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArtGE…. I'd like the schedule page n the PyCon ZA site to become the canonical source of schedule information. A table of information with venues as columns and time slots as rows seems sensible. Days should be clearly separated. Entries should link to pages on the individual talks (we'll only have these once we have speakers). The link text should give the talk title and the name of the speaker (again we'll only have those later). == Speakers == This will double both as a featured speakers page and as an information for speakers page. Featured speakers can go at the top once we have them (maybe a feature speaker box can be added to the front page eventually too). For the moment it just needs to say that we're looking for speakers, and what the format of talks is (30 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions, potentially longer for keynotes if desired). == Sponsors == This needs a big area with all the current sponsors at the top and information about how to sponsor below that. There are three sponsorship tiers (Platinum, Gold and Silver). Copy about the sponsorship options available should be obtained from Wendy, I think. == Registration and Speaker sign-up == I think we went through all the information that needed to be capture previously. Shout if you need me to go look up my notes. I'm pretty sure that's enough to get started with. Hopefully I haven't left anything important out. Comments and feedback welcome. Shout if you'd like this thrown up onto a Google doc somewhere for editing (or feel free to do it and send me a link). Schiavo Simon

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Conference payment
by Jonathan Hitchcock July 13, 2012

July 13, 2012

You might have already seen this, but there's a bit of a kerfuffle on the internet about conferences and money right now: http://jessenoller.com/2011/05/25/pycon-everybody-pays/ https://gist.github.com/3098860

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Trello board
by Simon Cross July 9, 2012

July 9, 2012

I've created a Trello board for tracking TODO items. If anyone wants to be added, please reply with your Trello account name. Schiavo Simon

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Elegant Places
by Simon Cross July 8, 2012

July 8, 2012

Greetings Heather Saunders (heather(a)elegantplaces.co.za) from Elegant Places (elegantplaces.co.za) emailed me to offer Elegant Places services for placing delegates. Does anyone know them or recommend them? I've sent an encouraging email for now (since Larry Hastings has asked us to recommend accommodation for him :). Wendy, do you have any thoughts on this side of thing yet? I don't want us to step on your toes. So far 46 people have registerd on the attendee list -- and we haven't actually announced the site anywhere yet. :D Schiavo Simon

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za.pycon.org is live
by Simon Cross July 3, 2012

July 3, 2012

Greetings The za.pycon.org site is now live! Thanks to Ruan and Euan for getting it up and running. Feedback from everyone welcome. Sign-ups (name, email address and comment) for attendees and speakers are stored in the database and available via the Django admin interface. Emails to team(a)za.pycon.org are currently directed to me (Neil -- shout if you want them back). I created an account (pyconza2012(a)gmail.com) for mail to be sent to, but Google want to check it and that's a little tricky given that they don't appear to be able to SMS me while I'm out of the country. Hopefully I'll be able to sort it out tomorrow somehow. Schiavo Simon

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