[Inpycon] Suggestion for panel members for PyCon India 2015

[Noufal Ibrahim KV]

On Mon, Feb 02 2015, vijay kumar wrote:

>> Then let that person take care of finding qualified people to discuss
>> talks and select them.
>
> We have tried this and it has not worked till now.

I think we tried something similar to this last year and I, for one,
think that although the talks could have been better, the method of
working was a step forward. 

My proposal is that we should repeat last years style of working but
come up with more stringent criteria for selecting or rejecting talks.


>> Agreed. This business of nominating people and then it being screened
>> by some internal group is a step backwards.
>>
>They will be selected purely on their experience and expertise so i
>don't see it to be step backwards.  Instead it give us opportunity to
>get new members and better panel team.

The problem is not the selection criteria. I'm sure the people who will
do the filtering are qualified enough to select based on expertise and
experience. 

The problem is the lack of transparency. This is the point I've been
repeatedly making. 

Here's my general idea. 

1. Identify general areas which need to be worked on (e.g. sponsorships,
   talk selection etc.)

2. Come up with some general rules for how to manage these areas. For
   sponsorships, it would be things like the slabs, etc. For CFP, talk
   selection criteria.

3. Discuss *on the list* to find people who can lead these areas. That's
   something that will have to be done on the list. If a "leader" is
   already well known and has a track record, he or she can work mostly
   independently. Otherwise, there will have to be some amount of
   oversight and guidance.

4. Let these people be in charge of their areas and let them do their
   work without interference or policing. You and the other people
   involved at the top level can do mostly oversight and coordinating
   between teams. This scales much better and gives an opportunity for
   new people to get involved.   

5. All communication happens on the list. When there's high b/w stuff
   necessary like for discussing talks etc., the appropriate team can use
   IRC/hangouts etc. and then post summaries back to the list. 

The key point is that while there is a single person who is leading the
conference efforts, that person doesn't become a bottleneck and doesn't
cripple work because of interfering in areas that he or she doesn't have
expertise in. 

As the conference grows, I think we should decentralise more. That's the
only way it'll sustain. 

In any case, I don't have the energy and time to drive this. If you and
the others feel that it's better do things in a different way, more
power to you. I'll pitch in when I can and if directly requested. 

Thanks.

[...]


-- 
Cordially,
Noufal
http://nibrahim.net.in