[EuroPython] Timing of Europython 2004

[Jacob Hallén]

Hi!

Item 1:
We have information from the providers of cheap housing. They have a total of 
233 beds. 15 rooms with 4 beds, 5 singlerooms and 84 doublerooms. They are 
fully furnished and have private bathrooms and TV. There is also access to 
shared kitchens in each entrance.

These are all avaliable the first, second and third full weeks of August. A 
fair number are available June 7-9. The rest of the period 1 June - 31 
August, they are mostly fully booked.

I would therefore like to propose that we hold the Europython 4-6 August or 
possibly 11-13 August. Advantages of an August conference is that school will 
be out everywhere. Disadvantages are that southern Europe has vacations and 
that the first week of August may be too close to OSCON to get Guido to come. 
However, the dates for OSCON have yet to be announced, so we don't quite know 
when it is going to be.

I have assumed that having the conference in the first week of August is less 
disruptive to vacation plans than having it in the second week. In the third 
week of August, the freshmen start at Chalmers, which means reduced 
availability of suitable conference rooms, so I think that is not a 
reasonable option.

We could look at other times as well, but that would mean that people would 
lodge all over town. A lot of the closeness and informal contact making would 
get lost.

Unless I hear wild protests, I will work on the August 4-6 alternative, with 
time for sprints 31 July - 3 August.

Item 2:
I would like to invite the Chalmers Computer Society 
(http://www.cd.chalmers.se) as co-organisers of the Europython. Student 
organisations at Chalmers get nice rebates on renting space from the 
university (I did not calculate with any such rebates in my proposal). We 
could also get some volunteers for the conference. For the society, it would 
be good for their image.

Jacob Hallén