Open Space

PyCon features extra rooms for attendees to schedule informal presentations or discussions. These "Open Space" rooms are "open space" to let you customize your experience at PyCon to match your specific interests.

Several rooms will be available during the conference days. There will be plenty of room, so make PyCon yours by using Open Space to create an event on whatever topic you wish.

See the list of Proposed Open Space Events.

Screencast (by Bruce Eckel)

Bruce Eckel has created a screencast explaining Open Space, what they are, how they work, and how to make the most of your time. It is a must see.

Bruce Eckel's Open Space Video on YouTube

You can download the original (23MB).

Here is the URL mentioned in the video: http://www.mindviewinc.com/Conferences/OpenSpaces.html

Ideas for Open Space Sessions

• Have a "Birds-of-a-Feather" (BoF) session
• Get deeper into the details of a scheduled talk
• Give a presentation or tutorial
• Hold a panel discussion
• Run a mini-sprint
• Brainstorm about a new project

To Set Up An Open Space Event

At the conference, simply post the event on the Open Space Board.

So What Is This Part Of The Site For?

Glad you asked. This wiki is for the promotion and coordination of potential Open Space events before the conference starts.

Maybe a group of people want to have a BoF session and you want to get the word out to others in the community and keep track of the interest. This could include sharing e-mails, getting information out about twitter feeds, or querying for questions to discuss on a topic. In short this space is for you, the PyCon attendees, to communicate the intent to hold OpenSpaces events before the conference starts.

Anytime before PyCon starts:

• Decide on the title and content of the event
• Create a site login (if you do not already have one)
• Create a wiki page for it.

To create a page, just type a non-existing URL into your browser location (i.e. /2011/openspaces/MyNewFancyOpenSpaceEvent ), and click 'Create Page'. Please note that you must be logged in to create a new page.

After PyCon has begun, please see the on-site Open Space Board for room assignments and times. They WILL change often. The website will not be updated to keep track. The board location will be near the Open Space Rooms. See the provided handouts for the location.

If you read the rest of this page and watch the screencast, you will understand how Open Space work and the reasoning behind not using a website for times and locations.

Outer Space

At PyCon 2010, we experimented with impromptu expeditions organized in the Open Space tradition. If there's someplace offsite you'd like to go during PyCon - jogging, to a restaurant, to a place of worship, on a shopping trip, to a museum, to hold up a bank, literally wherever - and you'd like to go with some PyCon folks to make things more fun and educational, then visit the Outer Space board, find a place on the grid denoting a certain time and place to depart from, and post a note containing:

1. The destination
2. Your name
3. The technical theme (if and only if desired)
4. If possible, the distance you're going and means of travel (so people will know whether they need a vehicle and how much physical ability they'll need)

Look for the Outer Space board near the OpenSpaces boards.