Call for Conference Talk Proposals

Please note:

The call for proposals is now closed.

Thanks to all the proposal authors!

Want to share your experience and expertise? PyCon 2008 is looking for proposals to fill the formal presentation tracks. The PyCon Conference Days will be March 14-16, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois, preceded by the Tutorial Day (March 13), and followed by four days of Development Sprints (March 17-19).

Previous PyCon conferences have had a broad range of presentations, ranging from reports on academic and commercial projects to tutorials and case studies. We hope to continue that tradition this year. As long as the presentation is interesting and potentially useful to the Python community, it will be considered for inclusion in the program.

We're especially interested in short presentations that will teach conference-goers something new and useful. Can you show attendees how to use a module? Explore a Python language feature? Package an application?

PyCon cannot offer payment or free registration to all conference speakers. However, financial aid will be available, and giving a talk is a great rationale. If you require financial aid in order to attend PyCon 2008, please note it in your proposal.

If you have any questions, please see the Proposal Submission FAQ. If that doesn't answer your questions, contact the PyCon Program Committee at pycon-pc@python.org.

Contents

Important Dates
PyCon Topics
Talk Format
Proposal Submission Mechanics
Example Proposals
Paper Submission
Other Presentation Opportunities

Important Dates

Call for Proposals opens: October 15, 2007
Proposal submission deadline: November 19, 2007
Proposal acceptance: November 30, 2007
Electronic copy ("paper") deadline: March 1, 2008

PyCon Topics

Suitable topics for PyCon presentations include, but are not limited to:

Core Python
Other implementations: IronPython, Jython, PyPy, and Stackless.
Python libraries and extensions
Business Applications
Concurrency
Databases
Documentation
Embedding and Extending Python
Game Programming
GUI Programming
Network Programming
Open Source Python projects
Packaging Issues
Programming Tools
Project Best Practices
Science and Math
Social Issues
System Administration
Testing
Web Programming (Django, Zope, TurboGears, WSGI, ...)

There are more ideas on this wiki page (and you can record your own suggestions).

Talk Format

The preferred length for talks is 30 minutes. You can request a 45-minute slot, but proposals requiring 45 minutes will be reviewed more stringently. 45-minute slots are reserved for panel discussions and how-to talks (rather than talks about things you made, saw, or did).

Open Space rooms will also be available for follow-up sessions.

Session lengths include time for audience questions. You should budget at least five minutes for questions; for example, a 30-minute talk will be 25 minutes of presentation and 5 minutes of questions.

Proposal Submission Mechanics

Use the PyCon Online Proposal Submission system [NOTE: now closed] to send us your proposals. You must create an account on the website (and be logged in) in order to submit a proposal. In your profile, be sure to include a one paragraph bio, written in the third person ("Presenter Name is..."); include where you live, your job, your projects, books you've written, volunteer activities, family, etc.

The primary author should submit the proposal, after which additional authors can be added (they must have accounts too).

The proposal must include the following:

Talk title. (Prefix "Panel:" for panel discussions.)
Duration: choose 30 minutes for most talks, or 45 minutes for how-to's and panel discussions.
Choose one or more category tags.
Level: indicate the intended audience difficulty level: beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Add more detail in the summary and/or description (e.g. specific experience required).
Summary (max. 100 words): for the website.
Description:
- Detailed outline, for review (include timing).
- Notes for reviewers.
- Recording: indicate if you are amenable to your talk being recorded: "I give permission to record and publish my PyCon presentation for free distribution."
The description field will not be visible on the website; it is for reviewers only. However, some portions may be extracted later for the website.

If your proposal is accepted, you should include a companion paper along with your presentation. The paper will be published on the PyCon web site.

See the example proposals.

The "Help For Speakers" page has suggestions and advice for speakers.

Example Proposals

Example 1: Detailed proposal with a full talk outline.
Example 2: A proposal with a simple outline but a detailed description.
Example 3: A panel proposal. Panel proposals should be 45min long, have the "panel" category, and have a title starting with "Panel:".
Example 4: What a proposal might look like after the review process is complete, with all fields exposed.

Examples 1, 2, & 3 may be edited to try out the proposal submission system. Click "Preview" to view your changes. Your changes will not be saved, but are stored in your browser cache for further editing (just hit the "back" button in your browser).

Paper Submission

All presenters should submit a paper by the deadline above.

This submission is to be your full paper, not a draft. It should contain all of the usual aspects of a paper such as an abstract, introduction, body and conclusion. Please ensure that this submission has had its grammar and spelling corrected and that code snippets work.

Your paper allows attendees who attended your talk a chance to refresh their memories about your presentation, and gives attendees who missed your talk a chance to learn from you anyway. Make sure your paper includes - at the very least - a brief introduction to your subject material and a list of further resources.

Appropriate file formats include reST, HTML, and PDF.

We encourage authors to place their papers under a Creative Commons license. Please visit the Creative Commons "Choose a License" page to select a license that meets your requirements.