[EuroPython] Work on Call for Participation for EuroPython 2015 has started

[Paul Boddie]

On Saturday 1. February 2014 19.15.54 Hynek Schlawack wrote:
> > I'd actually rather cap the number of attendees than raise prices.
> 
> I find this an unfortunate line of though; EuroPython is the *only*
> explicitly European Python conference.

That just isn't true. Take a look at http://www.pycon.org/ to see several 
European Python conferences.

On this point you *can* compare the situation to that of seven or more years 
ago, or perhaps as far back as the first EuroPython conference (which is 
before my time), because back then it wasn't certain that there was enough 
interest in a Python conference in many places. Now, you have around ten 
general Python conferences and a bunch of specialised Python conferences 
merely in Europe and not including EuroPython.

> Keeping it artificially small just makes it either less interesting or
> simply elitist.

There are plenty of options when it comes to attending small conferences. If 
people pitch EuroPython as the "premier" conference that people aspire to go 
to, and then the attendance is capped, then perhaps claims of elitism are 
valid. What I find refreshing, however, is that despite the promotion of large 
conferences like PyCon as being "the one to go to", there appears to be a 
vibrant emerging scene of alternatives.

And I sincerely doubt that smaller conferences are less interesting. I would 
consider going to a number of them if I weren't so lazy. PyCon UK and PyCon 
Italia are both apparently very good. PyCon DE also seems very solid. If I 
wanted to confine myself to the Nordic countries, PyCon Finland has looked 
like an interesting excuse for an excursion eastward, and apparently there's a 
Swedish conference in the pipeline. The last conference I went to was FSCONS 
in Sweden (in 2012), which isn't Python-specific but covers other interests of 
mine, and it was worth going to.

> EP is one of the cheapest conferences I’ve attended so far (only
> beaten by RuPy 2012 which is much shorter and took place at an
> University in a cheap country).  Comparing prices from now and *seven*
> years ago is neither fair nor reasonable.  The same goes for attendance
> numbers: the Python community in 2014 is very different from the one in
> 2008.

It certainly is different: there are more interested people and, as a 
consequence, there are more conferences to choose from.

> I very much prefer the current approach of growing and giving out grants
> to people who can’t afford attending on their own than denying the
> EP–experience to hundreds of people completely.

I think it's useful to discuss what the "EP-experience" is. Is it a thousand-
plus people in a "bet the farm" mega-event or is it something smaller and more 
manageable? Is it a once a year thing or should there be many events 
throughout the year? Is it an "eyes forward" conventional conference or an 
unconference? Does it even matter if it's called EuroPython?

[...]

> The EPS will have to decide whether they just want to be a cheap
> get-together for a small cabal or Europe’s answer to PyCon US/NA.  If
> it’s the former, I can only hope an alternative will form from within
> the organizers of the past years.

It's not a purely a choice between a PyCon mega-event and an elitist get-
together, as I've noted above. Indeed, Europe has once again shown the way 
with regard to establishing community conferences that most probably provide 
the necessary capacity for those wanting to attend a conference, whatever 
their preferences are.

> We have enough cheap and small conferences; the hard task is to run a big
> one in a proper way without ripping people off O’Reilly-style.

I thought you said there weren't any other European Python conferences. ;-)

The unfortunate thing about big conferences, however, is that they cost a lot 
of money to put on, and you'll be leaning even more on a lot of volunteers to 
keep the prices down. There are, of course, big European community conferences 
that seem to manage this, and maybe their expertise can be drawn upon to do 
the same for a Python-specific event.

If you're interested in running a big conference and doing so without ripping 
people off, I'm sure people would welcome your involvement. But as I'm sure 
you know already, large conference or small conference, you'll be investing a 
fair amount of your own time just to keep the costs down and to make it all 
happen.

Paul