The first thing we need for a Northwest Python Day is an overall coordinator. This would require at least 20 hours of planning/executing work, assuming an event like the last one (at Seattle Central CC). The coordinator would need to keep track of what is/isn't being done, delegate tasks as appropriate, and have somebody standing by for any last-minute problems (e.g., a Macintosh video-plug converter for the projector). The main coordinating tasks:
- How many attendees? Larger venues generally cost more and require booking a month or more in advance. The first Python Day was 25 people (at Construx), the second (and third?) were 66 (in the UW's Allen room), the last was 110 (at Seattle Central CC). We consistently get 50% more attendees than expected. I think the SCCC room had a capacity of 150? In any case, we should target break-even at 90 and maximum at 150 or 200. - Venue? SCCC's Computer Science administrator offered us a nice deal last time. I think it was $450 for a Saturday, including a donation to the CS program, and she took care of the college approvals and coordination. So we might want to consider that again. - Registration fee? So far it's been free. The first several days were no-cost, and the rent was paid by a Lexus/Nexus sponsorship. There was a donation to cover supplies. - One day or two days? We have always done one day and not called it a "conference", to keep it simple and less work. For two days we'd need to round up hosts for out-of-towners. - Schedule? The past ones have been lightning talks + regular talks. How long should the talks be? - Solicit talk proposals, vet them, and schedule them. Finding speakers has never been a problem, because you can only fit eight or so talks into one day. - Follow up on the venue contract and logistics. - Food, posters, amenities? - Publicity/marketing? - Setup/takedown work? - List of parking and transit options to get to the venue? - List of restaurants within walking distance for lunch? If it's in an isolated location, you'll have to carpool to a mall unless you want to do a potluck or catering. But bringing potluck items in the morning and refrigerating/heating them all at once may be difficult, especially for out-of-towners. Some venues may require their expensive caterer and forbid outside food. SCCC does, but since the campus is closed on Saturdays they made an exception for us. - Wireless Internet? Some places may charge for this. SCCC normally does but it was waived because of the CS department sponsorship. Capacity may be a problem because programmers tend to use the Internet more than other groups. -- Mike Orr <[email protected]>
