[Conferences-discuss] Crackle, crackle, "hello"...

[Steve Holden]

First of all, mailman is telling me there are no list archives. Is this
because nobody has yet posted to this list? Oo er ... Anyway, these are
largely an outsider's view of Python 10 and teh Python community:
although I registered for Python 8 I never made it due to a combination
of weather and systems crash, so Python 10 was my first such conference.

I have some (old) experience running conferences in the UK for
organizations like DECUS and the Sun UK User Group. Usually the smaller
conferences can be adequately housed in low-cost facilities such as
acedemia can provide, but as numbers rise one is forced to consider
fewer and fewer such venues due to the larger facilities requirements.
This being the USA, I would expect the break point to be somewhat higher
than the 400 or so we could adequately manage in UK academic venues back
in the 1980s -- say 500 to 750?

We found that offereing bused hotel accommodation to the commercial
types minimzed complaints about the primitive nature of the university
halls of residence, and that expense-account holders woud cheerfully pay
for such accommodation.

It was certainly a surprise to me that only 250 or so (my own estimate)
people turned up to Python 10, but older hands seemed to feel that this
number is "typical". I suppose post-Sep11 there is some reason for it,
but I would have expected Python to be experiencing almost explosive
growth in its user base right now, and for this to be reflected in
conference attendance. If not, boy, have I just wasted a year.

Although the experiences are not directly comparable, twenty-five years
ago in the UK we were attracting 500+ DECUS members to the UK annual
conference. The Commercial SIG would regularly draw in 100+ members to
its quarterly one-day London meetings, and other SIGs would attract
between 30 and 100 to theirs. If we really believe the download figures
and the user-base estimates, there is *much* more that could be done to
swell numbers at Python events.

I understand Foretec have organized Python N for recent N. I certainly
wondered how effective their marketing was, as I don't remember ever
hearing anything about it on any non-Python channel. While there
probably *is* room for a professionally-run conference, I feel that
there are probably also many Python users out there who would appreciate
something lower-cost and not necessarily in a hotel. Particularly not
one with such disgusting coffee :-). I would certainly have appreciated
the chance to attend tutorials and developers days, but this year at
those cost levels it simply wasn't an option.

Summarizing:

1. Attendance could be higher at future conferences run along the same
lines as Python 10. These things are small beer to Foretec compared with
the cash-cow IETF bashes, and I don't really feel they are in touch with
the market for Python. This may be heresy, I don't know enough to know
who these comments might offend. Don't really care much, either: Foretec
certainly didn't make me feel, as a first-time attender, that I was
anything special, or that they were glad to see me, or even that they
would like me to come back next time. I think Foretec think Python is a
yawn. The way they approach it, I think they're right.

2. Whether or not Python 11 is much like Python 10, there is certainly
room for some sort of no-frills (Python 11.5?) conference to attract and
cater for Pythonistas who don't have the benefit of commercial backing
of one kind or another. This would also better enable the PSF to judge
groundswell growth in Python usage, and put them nearer the "beer and
skittles" end of the market, such as it is.

3. My own feeling is that the PSF or some other visibly non-profit
organization could do at least as good a job as Foretec, but I shudder
when I remember the time it takes to organize an even half-way
professional conference.

Over and out.

regards
 Steve
--
Consulting, training, speaking: http://www.holdenweb.com/
Author, Python Web Programming: http://pydish.holdenweb.com/pwp/

"This is Python.  We don't care much about theory, except where it
intersects with useful practice."  Aahz Maruch on c.l.py