[Conferences-discuss] Re: [Pycon-organizers] PyCon 2004

[Steve Holden]

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org>
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 20:52:25 -0400

>> Now that we've had two months to rest and relax, I think it's about
>> time we started moving on next year's PyCon, particularly if we
>> don't want to rely on YAS for processing registration.  If nobody
>> responds to this message, I'll assume nobody agrees with me.  ;-)
>
>Right.  I'm all for a repeat of the best things of PyCon 2003: the
>venue, the organizing team led by Steve Holden, the time of year.  I
>really hope that we can do online registration without help this time!
>Now's the time to reserve the prime spot at GWU.
>
I agree we should be thinking about dates for the next event, and I have (as I've already indicated to Guido) no objection in principle to being involved, though I might want to discuss a few details when I get back to the USA in a couple of weeks. Until then don't expect me to be active in discussions, as I am attached to the Internet by a piece of wet string and currently reduced to reading mail vie Internet Exploder using a borrowed AOL account!

The most important things we can do: scour all relevant calendars for conflicting dates, and decide on teh scale of the next conference. This year we hit a software developer conference, though I don't remeber the details and suspect that it didn't cost us a lot, but we do need to be aware of other events which might leech attendance away from PyCon.

After we think again about numbers we should ensure that we have a relevant plan that addresses how we could handle larger numbers at the same venue (unless we want to limit attendance). It would also be good to be better prepared in budgetary terms. I gues we might look to our new treasurer in that respect? I will certainly help with the financial planning, and one of the things I would like to see is a spreadsheet that can predict the likely outcome given any particular attendance level. Shouldn't be too difficult, though I'd be happier if I'd seen a more detailed summary of this year's figures.

Experience is the best teacher, however, and I think we learned a lot about what to avoid in our first year. Despite the obvious ragged edges it seems that most delegates enjoyed the conference. I'm hoping that the Yorktown High students will have a CGI-based questioannaire ready, but I'm not close enough to crack the whip on that activity just yet. Soon, though ;-)

looking-forward-to-next-year-ly y'rs  - steve