[Texas] PyTexas 2010 Retrospective: Facility

[Lewis Franklin]

Let me begin by saying that am (the lone) from Waco and so my response might
be a bit biased.

I thought that Waco and Baylor made for a nice location. I had heard about
PyTexas from a friend and never really got involved, in spite of my
presence, and really didn't have much expectation for the conference, to be
honest. However, I must say that this conference exceeded all my
expectations.

>From talking with others, it seems that Waco makes a great location because
of its central location. A number of attendees were able to come down for
the day without needing to stay over night at all.

Recognizing the benefit of the location of Waco, I would also like to
volunteer to help out next year more, especially if we decide to meet in
Waco again. I would be happy to be a point-man in the town and to work with
Baylor to get better facilities. I might even be able to swing some coffee.

Also, in relation to transportation concerns, a close friend of mine works
for Waco Transit as the route planner and Waco Transit has several trolleys
and buses used for public transportation around Baylor and Waco. Their load
is lighter on the weekend and I would be happy to talk with him to see if we
could work out something to keep people from walking. It could also open up
the possibility of going to off-campus locations for lunch.

I think that the overall format worked well. I agree that lunch should be
longer. I have always found at conferences like this that while the sessions
are a great part of the conference, I find the social aspect to be equally
beneficial.

For me personally, while I love the idea of lightning talks, I think that at
a smaller conference they area bit trickier to pull off. We may only need
about 30 minutes for the talks. Also, having a large signup on the wall
might encourage more people to sign up.

Another idea that I thought about with our diverse attendees is that we
might want to look at having themed tracks throughout the day. Maybe one
targeting beginners, one targeting intermediate/advanced users, and one
targeting "Get It Done" talks like "How to Make a Package" and "Lessons
Learned From Trying X In Python". We may not be able to get enough speakers
for all three tracks, but I think that if we make our request for proposals
targeted like that we could possibly have a better turnout of speakers. To
me, its the difference of writing an essay about a specific topic versus
"whatever you want". I always found the former easier because I at least
knew a direction to head.

I know that I have said quite a bit and for that I apologize. I think that
PyTexas was great and that we can all make it even better next year.

Lewis Franklin


On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 11:25 PM, Jeremy Kelley <jeremy at 33ad.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 10:21 PM, Brad Allen <bradallen137 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Let's discuss how well our venue worked out this time, at the Baylor
> > University Science Building in Waco. Should we plan to use the same
> > venue next year?
>
> The facilities were quite nice.  My only complaint would be the lack
> of coffee.  :)
>
> Otherwise, it really was a great venue.
>
> -j
>
>
>
> --
> The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting;
> it has been found difficult and left untried – G. K. Chesterton
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