Hi, 2009/3/16 Michael Foord <[email protected]>: > There is a raffle at PyCon US in a couple of weeks. We could throw in some > tickets as prizes - or is it a bit late?
Should be OK - if we send them to Stephan they should get in. I've copied him so he can put me right. John -- > Michael > > John Pinner wrote: >> >> Hello, >> >> 2009/3/16 Zeth <[email protected]>: >> >>> >>> Hello everyone, >>> >>> I have been touring around Europe with my work, so I am just now >>> catching up with the discussions. So below are some scattered thoughts >>> from me on what I have read thus far. >>> >>> 2009/3/15 Jacob Hallén <[email protected]>: >>> >>>> >>>> - How many people can we have before we run into the limits of the >>>> facilities? >>>> >>> >>> I think this would be a nice problem to have. Like John, I don't think >>> we will. However, if we get a lot more than we expect then at some >>> point we just declare it closed. Declaring the conference full is not >>> a bad thing, those that do not get in this year will be chomping at >>> the bit to get in next year. >>> >>> However, there is always a certain amount of cancellations, so anyone >>> who could not get a ticket can be put on a waiting list to be >>> reassigned a ticket when one becomes available. >>> >>> Due to some costs being variable, others being fixed, and yet others >>> being semi-fixed until a certain step point; there are a few "sweet >>> spots" where we might want to close booking. Adding a thousand in >>> costs to allow one more delegate would not be sensible. Adding it to >>> allow 50 delegates might make sense. >>> >>> The venue itself would handle a large number. Our experience is that >>> at any point, a significant amount of people will be at no talk at >>> all, they will be programming in the foyer and bar areas, in the >>> toilet or out shopping. If one talk is full, then nevermind, people >>> can go to other talks and get the talk next year, or listen to the >>> audio later. >>> >>> The things that become more difficult as numbers increase are food, >>> social events, general crowd control and dealing with people's random >>> problems, more people means more random one of things. Being prepared >>> on the small things helps with that. At the last PyConUK we had a >>> secure staff room, having a place to print things and talk privately >>> this made organisation far easier. >>> >>> The tutorial days were also a huge help, as a subsection of the crowd >>> know what to do by the time the rest of the hordes arrive. The people >>> who have come to the venue before (presumably those who booked at the >>> extra early-bird rate) will also have a calming effect as they know >>> the drill already. >>> >>> >>>> >>>> söndagen den 15 mars 2009 skrev John Pinner: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> I closed Extra Early Bird this morning, at this point we had 142 >>>>> delegates registered. >>>>> >>> >>> It is clear that several of the UK people knew this was coming, they >>> were expecting it because the two PyConUK events had the same system >>> of firm deadlines, we have credibility with them. >>> >>> Hopefully by the second year here, the other Europeans will be in the >>> same rhythm. I have some thoughts on what we could do now since I do >>> not think we get enough delegates by doing nothing. Expecting the same >>> publicity to hit everyone in Europe in the same way is not realistic, >>> we need to divide and conquer, focus on some of the things which would >>> bring us the most delegates: >>> >>> * There is no Republic of Ireland in the list yet. We need to contact >>> Python Ireland, they have good mailing lists and getting from the >>> Republic of Ireland to Birmingham is very cheap, so we should be able >>> to get several Irish delegates. PyConUK had several, Europython should >>> have even more. >>> >> >> The Irish started registering today, after Extra Early Bird. >> >> >>> >>> * Likewise we need to find out what lists exist for the Netherlands. >>> It is very near and we should particularly focus on them. >>> * From Germany we have had 20 delegates, but I think we should do >>> more. A prepared German email should be written. We can then >>> distributed that email to all those Germans who have currently booked, >>> and ask them nicely to send it around their friends and colleagues. >>> There are direct and short flights from various German cities to >>> Birmingham International. There are many German Python Programmers and >>> Germany does not have its own conference yet. >>> >> >> I think there is, remember Schoene Gruesse an die Deutsche User Gruppe! >> http://www.pyconuk.org/video/dug_greeting.m4v >> >> >>> >>> * Python Italy have a list of everyone who has gone to their >>> conference, this is gold dust, as these people have already been >>> willing to go to a Python conference. We should ask for the list, or >>> for them to send something to it. I would even consider a (small) >>> special offer for those who have been to PyCon Italy before, anything >>> which gets us noticed on the PyCon Italy list. >>> >> >> I think Jacob and Laura are going to PyCon IT, maybe they can get some >> interest, we did send vouchers as a prize last year, but I don't think >> they were used. >> >> >>> >>> * PyCon France is 30-31 May, which kind of steals our thunder a little >>> there, it will be difficult to get mindshare with another conference >>> first. So to make up for it, ideally we would have someone there in >>> PyCon France at a stall with a laptop to guide people to make bookings >>> on the spot, perhaps with a special show offer (e.g. £10 off the >>> standard rate). >>> >> >> Nicolas? >> >> >>> >>> Unfortunately, people like me in the UK are the least well placed to >>> do much of this. But we should try to contact people to help us in >>> these specific ways. >>> >> >> I'd hoped to go to PyCon IT but it's in the middle of payroll yearend >> chaos, so I doubt that I will. >> >> John >> -- >> _______________________________________________ >> Europython-improve mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/europython-improve >> > > > -- > http://www.ironpythoninaction.com/ > http://www.voidspace.org.uk/blog > > > _______________________________________________ Europython-improve mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/europython-improve
