Call for Conference Talk Proposals

Submit your talk proposal here. (But read these instructions first!)

Want to share your experience and expertise? PyCon 2009 is looking for proposals to fill the formal presentation tracks. The PyCon conference days will be March 27-29, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois, preceded by the Tutorial Days (March 25-26), and followed by four days of Development Sprints (March 30-April 2).

Previous PyCon conferences have had a broad range of presentations, from reports on academic and commercial projects to tutorials and case studies. We hope to continue that tradition this year. As long as a 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?

Please follow these instructions carefully. Submit your talk proposal here.

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
No Automatic Speaker Registration Or Payment
Permission to Record & Release Presentations
PyCon Topics
Talk Format
Proposal Submission Mechanics
Other Presentation Opportunities

Important Dates

Call for Proposals opens: September 29, 2008
Proposal submission deadline: November 03, 2008
Proposal acceptance: December 15, 2008
Electronic copy ("paper") deadline: March 1, 2009

No Automatic Speaker Registration Or Payment

PyCon is a volunteer-run, "everybody pays" community conference. We keep the costs low to make PyCon accessible to the greatest range of community members possible. This means that PyCon cannot offer payment or free registration to conference speakers. Conference registration, accommodations, and transportation are the responsibility of the speakers.

However, financial aid will be available, and speakers who pay their own way are encouraged to apply (details TBA). Giving a talk is a great rationale when requesting aid. If you require financial aid in order to attend PyCon, please note it in your proposal and be sure to apply.

Permission to Record & Release Presentations

Part of the motivation for PyCon is to help with Python education and advocacy around the world, not just in the United States, and not just at PyCon. Accordingly, we intend to record all PyCon presentations and release the recordings on the web. By submitting your talk proposal, you agree to give permission to the Python Software Foundation to record, edit, and release audio and/or video of your presentation.

To cut down on administration, no exceptions will be made. If you don't want to give the PSF permission to record your presentation and release the recording, do not submit a proposal.

For details, see the Recording Release Agreement.

PyCon Topics

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

Core Python, including Python 3000
Other implementations: IronPython, Jython, PyPy, and Stackless.
Python libraries and extensions
Business applications
Concurrency
Databases
Documentation
Education
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 with Python
Testing
Web programming (Django, Pylons, 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, as a rule of thumb, reserved for 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.

Panel discussions are 65 minutes long.

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

Proposal Submission Mechanics

Starting Monday the 29th of September 2008, use the PyCon Online Proposal Submission system 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 biography, written in the third person ("Presenter Name is..."); include where you live, your job, your projects, books you've written, volunteer activities, 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.
Duration: choose 30 minutes for most talks, or 45 minutes for how-tos 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, such as specific experience required.
Summary (max. 100 words): for the website.
Description:
- Detailed outline, for review (include timing).
- Notes for reviewers.
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 are free to include a companion paper along with your presentation, to be published on the PyCon web site. If you're including a paper, you must do so by the paper submission deadline: March 01, 2009. This submission is to be your full paper, not a draft. It should contain the usual aspects of an academic paper such as an abstract, introduction, body and conclusion. Please ensure that the 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.