[EuroPython] preparations at CERN

[Michael Hudson]

Benedikt Hegner <benedikt.hegner at cern.ch> writes:

> Hi all!
>
> Some comments and information from the local organizers on epc2006:
>
> Rooms and infrastructure:
> - rooms are booked and confirmed.
> - we prebooked open space for that and need to confirm it.
> - we have prepared network for conference and sprints and some  
> conference printers.
> - for registraiton we need the MAC addresses of the laptops to make  
> our live easier. The CERN IT is a little bit peculiar with that.

People will whinge about this however we play it, but we should try to
make sure people are forewarned.

> Website:
> - I propose using the INDICO software project funded by the EU. There  
> is a group at CERN willing to support us. (http://indico.web.cern.ch/ 
> indico/index.html). What's your opinion?

Well, in principle the idea of having someone else do the work appeals
to me.  There are some obvious caveats though:

- is this something we can use for EP2007, ... ?

- does it basically work?  If hand-holding and baby-sitting are
  required, I'd rather hold the hand of software we wrote.

I'm also a little unsure what "using" this software involves.  Would
we install it on our own machine, or get some kind of account on a
machine at CERN?

> PR:
> - we could print conference posters in our print shop but we need  
> someone to design it.

Traditionally this sort of thing has been done by Vincent Maton but I
don't know if he's still around/willing to do this...

> - since you can get T-shirts at CERN and at every conference I  
> propose conference coffee cups. I have plenty of conference shirts  
> but I don't wear them at all.

Me too...

> - in the next CERN courier will be an article about Europython. (CERN  
> courier is a journal which is read by most of the particle physicists)
>
> Tracks and talks:
> - Should we have a poster session?

I'm not sure about this.  If I had something interesting I wanted to
present that didn't merit a full talk, I'd probably angle for a
lightning talk, not a poster.  But other opinions may vary.

> - I would like to have a talk about CERN and the role of CERN in  
> physics and computing science. Is there time for that?

I'm sure we can make time :)  Talk to Nicolas, I guess.

> Fees and registration:
> - we have to decide the conference fees soon.

How soon?  I guess timeline and budget should be very firmly on the
agenda for the next #europython meeting (which will be on the 23rd of
January, btw).  I would like to avoid having anything to do with the
budget :)

Cheers,
mwh

-- 
  What the semicolon's anxious supporters fret about is the tendency
  of contemporary writers to use a dash instead of a semicolon and
  thus precipitate the end of the world.
                               -- Lynne Truss, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves"