Dear Members, for those who did not attend the meeting (in person or via Google Hangout), here are some notes I took during the session:
John Pinner gave an overview of the EuroPython conference years and an intro to the session. The discussion then went on to address general issues that were found over the years, namely, the constant reinvention of the website software and the lack of knowledge transfer from one location team to the next. I then summarized the new work group concept the board had presented at EuroPython 2014, which provides concepts for: * making sure that work groups persist location changes, thereby allowing knowledge to be kept alive * taking away the financial risk from the onsite work group by having the EPS enter the venue and catering contracts * work groups we have identified: - Conference Administration - Finance - Sponsors - Communications - Support - Financial Aid - Marketing/Design - Program - Web - Media Team - Onsite Team Next, we discussed the location question. I mentioned that we had been in discussions with several different onsite teams who had approached us. Most teams found that they were not really prepared yet for running the onsite work group. Only a team from Vienna is still interested. There are also discussions with the Berlin team on whether they would want to work as onsite team under the new model. For Vienna I had done some research on venues and found two hotels as well as two convention centers which could hold a 1000 attendee conference. We have not reached out to those yet to see which dates would be available, since we're still waiting for confirmation from the onsite team. Harald Armin Massa pointed out that our reliance on the onsite team may not be as necessary as it may seem, since they will have to do the same research. People were under the general impression that we are late in the process with finding a venue. It was noted that we continuity was more important than sizing up the conference and that a cap of the size is well worth considering. In case of problems with a venue, we could well choose a smaller venue which can hold say 500-600 attendees. Another possibility is to move EuroPython to a later month (the time frame we had set for EuroPython conferences in the last CFP was May-August). Van Lindberg (chair of the PSF) mentioned that it would be possible to have Ewa Jodlowska (conference admin for PyCon US and professional conference organizer) help the EPS with the contract negotiations. Ewa is based in Belgium. The following action were suggested: * check whether the venues in Vienna are available next summer * use the europython-improve mailing list for the conference organization * setup a wiki so that people can sign up for work groups (I'll try to set this up this week) * put out a call for work groups to europython-improve and all our other channels * contact the PSF and Ewa to follow up on Van's proposal The EPS board currently has the following action items we are working on: * get the work group concept more broadly announced (the presentation with the structure is here: http://www.europython-society.org/records) * get the CFP 2015 announced, asking for onsite teams to submit proposals * get the work group guidelines up for discussion to that everyone who signs up for work groups knows how much and which kind of work to expect Overall, I would like to add that we as EuroPython community should try to look positive towards EuroPython 2015. There's no point in emphasizing on negatives, trying to split communities or being overly pessimistic. The EuroPython Feeling is about being positive, enjoying the community and making friends. Cheers, -- Marc-Andre Lemburg Director EuroPython Society http://www.europython-society.org/ _______________________________________________ EuroPython-Improve mailing list EuroPython-Improve@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/europython-improve
