[EuroPython] conference length

Andreas Jung ep at zopyx.com
Tue Apr 15 20:56:10 CEST 2014


I think it is neither the right place nor the right way nor the right time
to discuss what the reasonable length of a conference is. There are geeks that
want to spend a lot of time at the conference with talks and sprints, there are 
people that are only interested in the talk but in sprints, there are python dev
that come for training and talks and perhaps not sprints…..too many different expectations.
You will never bring all expectations under one hood.

Andreas

Am 15.04.2014 um 14:47 schrieb Jan Murre <jan.murre at gmail.com>:

> +1  
> 
> for going back to the original 3-day length of the conference, not to criticize the organisation, it's just my personal preference.
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 3:04 PM, Martijn Faassen <faassen at startifact.com> wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> I thought I'd give my preferences for conference length in the future. It's just my point of view, but I had it for a while now, and I figure I'd better share it to be more constructive.
> 
> For some years, EuroPython was 3 days of conference, with perhaps 3 or 4 parallel tracks with talks. From what I recall from the early days, we got about as many talk submissions as we had talk slots available.
> 
> At some point a few training days got tacked on to the beginning. We also gained a tradition of sprints before or after the conference, later on getting established at the end, where I think they should be. I myself greatly enjoy sprints as an opportunity to get to know people better and work with them.
> 
> In the last few years EuroPython grew to a conference with many more parallel tracks, and more days of conference proper. 5 or so. And then sprints.
> 
> I haven't been to EuroPython for a few years for other reasons. But when I peeked at the massive and long schedule I did feel rather intimidated. It feels a bit too much like a marathon to me. I prefer my conference to be shorter. I also feel such a long conference risks diluting the talks anyone finds interesting over a longer period, making the whole experience less inspiring. And while I enjoy the hallway track, I prefer doing sprints.
> 
> I take it the training sessions got spread into the main conference and that's why it's longer. But I wonder whether the ballooning schedule is also because the amount of talk submissions went up, and following the pattern of accepting as many submitted talks as possible like we used to have, the conference felt it had to grow to more days and more slots too. If this is so, I think we should consider whether this is the right response to more talk submissions, or whether a better response is to simply reject more talks.
> 
> I think this relates to the discussion on diversity of talks. On the preliminary schedule, quite a few speakers have two accepted talks, or even three. For a more inspiring conference, I'd prefer to see more different speakers, more viewpoints, not the same speaker multiple times, however good they may be, and however interesting the topic.
> 
> Perhaps an exception can be made if a particular category of submissions, like trainings, don't get enough submissions otherwise, but if submissions > talk slots, I think 1 accepted talk per speaker is a good idea. To avoid people gaming the system to increase their chances they're accepted, perhaps 1 *submitted* talk per speaker would be a good idea too.
> 
> For even more diversity of topics, throw in more wild card talks too that are only peripheral to Python, and not just for the keynote speeches. To me that's more inspiring. (I haven't studied the schedule in detail yet though, so it's possible they're there)
> 
> I was told by @europython on Twitter I wasn't required to show up for 5 days of talks. I can make my own, shorter conference. So do I cut off the beginning or the end? I'd prefer the sprints, so I guess I should show up in day 3? What if a talk I submitted gets scheduled to day 2, though? Or if I actually prefer seeing the talks on day 1 and 2? Now I have to make those difficult choices myself.
> 
> Nobody has to care about what I want of course if it's just me. But perhaps I'm not the only one. And maybe bits of my analysis make sense to others. Nobody will find out if nobody talks about it, so that's why I did here.
> 
> Thanks for doing all the hard work in organizing this; I know it's not easy.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Martijn
> 
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