[Chennaipy] PyCon Chennai: The Beginning!

[Shrayas rajagopal]

Dear All,

On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 10:34 PM, Vijay Kumar <vijaykumar at bravegnu.org> wrote:

[...]

> We will meet this Sunday (26 Jul) and discuss these topics, between
> 10:30 AM and 12:30 AM at Logic Soft (See
> http://logicsoft.co.in/contact-us/ for directions). Please attend the
> meeting if you are interested in organizing the conference.

Here are the minutes of the meeting:

A few of us got together on Sunday (26th July 2015) to kick start discussions
around PyCon Chennai (Name subject to change).

Everyone started trickling in by 10:30 and we had a few people who came in a
bit later as well. Including me, there were 10 people who were part of the
discussion.

Looking at the kind of talk submissions that we get to Chennaipy from the
community, it was decided that this would be a Beginner to Intermediate level
conference.

Following that, the majority of the discussion was centered around the whys of
organizing a conference in Chennai.  Some of the points, in no particular order
were:

- Chennai doesn't have the reputation of a good "tech" scene. The de facto
  place for tech in India seems to be Bangalore. By organizing a good
  conference, we take a step towards breaking that image.
- There is a very strong need for such a conferences. People are looking for
  ways to learn new things and we could be that platform. Additionally Python
  is fragmented enough to be found in different places and organizing a
  conference helps to bring all such people together
- We need to create a platform where people who want to learn and people who
  want to share are brought together
- A recent graduate made the point that almost no engineering student knows
  about python and even if they do, the feeling around it is that it is a
  "hard" language to learn. Additionally there is no clarity on the job
  availability after learning a language like Python. The conference should aim
  to bring exposure to the colleges and help them to get a clarity on Python
  and its varied fields of application
- One of the things that latches people on to a language is the ability to do
  lots of "magic" with it. The conference should dazzle newcomers and
  intermediates with the sheer power of the language.
- The conference should be able to get people started with using the language
  and to show them the various niches in which the language is applied.

To make the reasoning more clear, it was decided that we would split the
objectives into a set of primary and secondary objectives. The distinction was
quite clear

Primary Objectives:
  - Maintain the same diversity of talks that we get every month in Chennaipy
  - Expose the different fields of application of Python
  - Bring together the people who want to learn and the people who want to share
  - Spread the word and create Awareness

Secondary Objectives:
  - Contribute largely to the betterment of a tech scene in Chennai
  - Incorporate Job awareness somehow?

We also had a few thoughts on how we should run the conference and what
different things we should try. Some of those points were:

- Have a separate section just to get started with python and learn basics
- Look at different way to deliver content other than legacy talks: BOFs,
  Lightning talks, Speed Geeking, Ignite talks, Pecha Kucha
- Have kiosks to facilitate a place to ask questions
- Have discussion times during the conference itself. Go so far as to even
  freeze talks
- Panel discussions
- The participants of the conference can pick up an item that says "I am
  interested in X or Y". This can be can conversation starter.
- Have experts identifiable in case someone wants to ask questions about
  certain topics.

---

It was a rather interesting discussion and good to get the ball rolling on
PyCon Chennai. It was also decided that the conference would not be in the
foreseeable future and that we have to organize a lot more smaller events
(hackathons, workshops) in order to really get a sense of what it takes to put
together something at a larger scale.

---

We are STILL looking for more volunteers and people to join the organizing
committee.  There will a lot of exciting work and it will be a wonderful
experience to organize something at such a large scale together with the
community.

The next meeting is scheduled for the 9th of August. The venue is yet to be
decided. It will either be at Logic Soft or at Voice Gear Networks.

Anyone who is interested is more than welcome to join us.

---

@People who attended: Please feel free to add anything that I might have missed
out on.

Best Regards,
Shrayas