[EuroPython] conference length

Carina.Haupt at dlr.de Carina.Haupt at dlr.de
Thu Apr 17 10:24:16 CEST 2014


Hi,

I think, and here read, that there are a lot of different opinions to the perfect conference length and structure and I can follow all your arguments. I do not want to state my opinion here too, but point out that a streaming and recoding of nearly all talks is planned. This allows everybody who feels overwhelmed from the offers of EuroPython 2014 to concentrate on the more interactive parts.

This definitely it not a perfect compensation for attending a talk live, but it might help some of you to consider this. I personally use this a lot on conferences which offer streaming and/or recordings. Okay, I now I gave my two cents. But this shall be enough. :)

Best regards
Carina

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: EuroPython [mailto:europython-
> bounces+carina.haupt=dlr.de at python.org] Im Auftrag von Martijn Faassen
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 15. April 2014 23:29
> An: europython at python.org
> Betreff: Re: [EuroPython] conference length
> 
> Hey,
> 
> On 04/15/2014 10:33 PM, Horst Gutmann wrote:
>  > Every conference I've attended so far had at least on or two time  > slots
> each day where none of the talks appealed to me and so I went  > to explore
> the city or just got some sleep at the hotel. This way the  > event stayed
> fresh and exciting to me and I didn't feel bad for  > skipping some talks if I
> simply didn't feel like it. That naturally  > only works to a certain extend and
> eventually I just want to get out  > of the conference again.
> 
> I guess that's one way to deal with it (especially in Florence!). But I wonder
> whether that's a way to cope with a problem: should there be time slots at a
> conference with 3 or 4 or more parallel tracks where none of the talks appeal
> to an attendee? Of course you can't please everyone, but if it happens to a
> lot of people you might have a problem.
> 
> When I'm at a conference I tend to want to focus on it. At the third day of a
> three day conference I typically notice I am getting tired. I'm glad that
> lightning talks tend to be slotted in then at EuroPython, because that's
> always a nice variety of things.
> 
> Then there's the potential issue of people who simply don't have time (or
> resources) to go to a conference of that length. They can of course attend it
> for a couple of days, but people may instead elect to go to a shorter
> conference instead where they can have the full experience. It's hard to get
> a feel for that though; EuroPython certainly has been growing in attendance,
> so that's an argument against that.
> 
> [snip]
>  > 5 days is a really long
>  > time, so perhaps the orgas and the EPS would be willing to experiment  >
> here with the format a little bit I the future? :-)
> 
> It seems to have been a slow change.
> 
>  From the beginning in 2002, it had been a 3 day conference; in Charleroi, in
> Gothenburg, in 2006 at CERN and in 2007 and 2008 in Vilnius there was a 3 day
> conference too.
> 
> In 2009 in Birmingham there were 3 main conference days, plus 3 tutorial
> days before it. This might be the introduction of the tutorial days; it's possible
> there were tutorial days at some previous EuroPython, but certainly not all
> the time -- I find it hard to google up the schedules now.
> 
> I misremember EuroPython 2010 in Birmingham (the last time I attended); I
> thought it was like 2009, but best I can find now it had 4 days of main
> conference, plus two days of tutorials in the weekend before it.
> But I cannot Google up the time table so I'm not 100% sure.
> 
> I can find an announcement from 2010/11/18 for the conference in 2011
> where the tentative schedule was 2 tutorial days with 4 conference days, the
> same as in 2010 in Birmingham. Then the dates were shifted
> (2011/02/17) to have everything from monday to friday (5 days, talk days in
> parallel with tutorial).
> 
> Since I last attended in 2010 and actually forgot it was 4 days in Birmingham
> and was used to 3 day conferences before it, the 5 day massive schedule
> looked rather sudden, but it was not.
> 
> Each new format was a reasonable small change from the format of the year
> before. Each change had a motivation, but I wonder whether the final effect
> was entirely intentional.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Martijn
> 
> 
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