Now that activity is spinning up around pycon 2010 and the success of PyOhio, an idea popped into my head earlier today about holding a small (2 day) mini conference in the Northeast.
Specifically, I’m talking about the Boston Area. Boston’s a great town for visiting and doing something like this (tons of public transit, etc). Not to mention, I live just a bit outside of it.
The obvious downside is cost; Boston isn’t a cheap town, so if this nascent idea came to fruition, I’d have to find a great hotel deal, and hosting space for something like this. And sponsors, etc.
My initial gut on this is that there might not be enough Pythonistas within the NE or driving distance to make something like this truly successful. Which is why I’m posting this – how many people would be interested in attending something like this?
2 days, 45 minute-1 hour talks. If a sponsor were to step forward and offer sprint-space, maybe 1 day of sprinting. Depending on the number of talks/attendees, 1 track for sure – 2 if I was to get a landslide, but no talks within the same technological sphere against one another (e.g. a Django talk at the same time as a Plone talk). Additionally, I’d rather have dedicated open space/sprinting space then add an additional talk track even with a ton of response.
Edit to add: Several people have mentioned that they’ve had better luck with 30-45 minute talk length caps. After some discussion last night – single track would be preferred. Therefore – 30-45 minute talks, single track. If we could get space, we’d have a dedicated sprint room.
I don’t, however, want to hold this in an educational venue – I’ve become allergic to doing things like that due to previous experiences. I can always be convinced otherwise though, it would have to come from an administrator/coordinator of the school; not a student.
Timeline? 4-5 months after Pycon 2010, which is in February – this places it in the June/July timeframe. Waiting until after this, say Fall, means students from MIT/BU/etc would be able to attend, which could mean more exposure to people maybe not as familiar with the language.
I’d want Brett Cannon to come too – but only on the condition he complains about something (yes that’s a joke).
So, would you be interested/willing to come. Where would you be traveling from? Do you like Beer (we have lots)?
In other news, Andrew Kuchling has finished a revamp of the Python.org donation page here. You should donate!