[Texas] PyTexas 2011 weekly status

[Brad Allen]

I've decided to send out a weekly status update on PyTexas,
approximately every Sunday.  Here is a random dump of info:

* At yesterday's DFW Python meeting Martin Taylor said that he is
prepared to give a half day tutorial on Robot Framework for test
automation. That seems like it could be potentially of general
interest, though we need feedback from the community about whether
anyone wants to spend a half day learning that, or would rather just
see a regular 45 min presentation.
* John Zurawski sent Jeff Rush and I a draft of his Python Game
Programming Challenge draft. Only non-contestants are allowed to see
it. If you want to disqualify yourself, and volunteer to help, please
let myself or John know.
* So far the sponsor outreach has not begun in earnest because I still
don't know the parameters of what we can offer in terms of floor space
at PyTexas (by next weekend I should know more). Also, the payment
mechanism is still being worked out. However, informal conversations
with several sponsors have begun and we have gotten several to pledge
modest dollar amounts.
* A volunteer local to College Station has stepped forward to help out
with logistics
* Dr James Caverlee of the TAMU CS Dept says any swag can be mailed to
the department and address c/o him and he'll hold on to it until the
con.
* Last week's call for proposals was posted to the PyCon blog, but I
neglected to send it out to all the appropriate mailing lists
(python-announce and the local meetup lists).
* No prizes yet. Does anyone want to volunteer to work on contacting
prize donors? We also need a volunteer to organize the prize drawings.
* Keynote speaker not yet lined up. Jeff Rush and I talked about
having "state of the community" talk, but that doesn't have to be the
keynote necessarily.
* I'd like to have the survey finalized during the week of July 16, so
people can effectively vote for proposals (instead of having a program
committee).
* Nobody has stepped up to work on the pytx.org site as far as I know.
Jeremy Kelley is at a busy time in his life, so we need more
volunteers.
* The t-shirt graphic design Jeremy Kelley sent out looks great to me
( https://33ad.org/tmp/gzX/pytx11.png ), but we're still checking on
whether it represents a copyright infringement (for an example of
Monty Python's litigious nature, see
http://www.glossynews.com/artman/publish/monty-python-sues-arafat-1007.shtml
)