PyCon US Hatchery Program

The Hatchery program offers pathways for PyCon US attendees to introduce new tracks, activities, summits, demos, etc, at PyCon US—activities that all share and fulfill the Python Software Foundation’s mission within the PyCon US schedule.

With the Hatchery program, we want to provide the opportunity for you, the Python community members, to take active participation and lead new activities and events at PyCon US. We want to provide a transparent process for this, and we also want to ensure that every attendee, whether they are new to the community, or have been at the conference for the 10th time, have the equal opportunity to propose ideas for PyCon US.

Please read our blog post to better understand what the Hatchery program is about, and how it might differ from previous editions of Hatchery.

Rolling application

Applications for the Hatchery are accepted on a rolling basis, until April 17, 2025. We will review applications as they come and may take up to 2 weeks to review and get back to you with a decision.

Available spaces and time for Hatchery

We have allocated one room at the conference venue for Hatchery, and this room is available during the main conference days: May 16th-18th. The room will be configured in rounds with a capacity of 70 people and a projector.

Please note that there will be no video recording or captioning service in the room.

Each Hatchery session will have a time allotment of a half day (4 hours) so that two Hatchery Programs can take place each day. Your program does not have to fill the whole time allotment, however, If you do not believe that your program can take place in the time please tell us why when submitting your application.

You might also want to consider running all or part of your activity as an Open Space (no approval or advance application required) instead of a Hatchery event.

What happens when your hatchery proposal is approved?

Congratulations! After we approve your proposal, you can begin planning your proposed program. We will assign a landing page for your hatchery on the PyCon US website, and we can help with sharing and promoting your event.

Note that Hatchery organizers are considered volunteers and will still need to be registered for PyCon US in order to host the program. Please check out the PyCon US travel grants program if you require assistance with PyCon US registration costs.

After the conference, we will also ask for an event report to get feedback about the audience and attendance. Please keep a documentation about your hatchery program, eg: attendance count, responses and reactions from attendees, as well as photos from the event.

Graduation Criteria

Due to limited spaces at PyCon US, accepted programs are not guaranteed a spot to return in the following years. We will evaluate the program based on the post-event report and attendee feedback.

Previously accepted Hatchery organizers are requested to re-submit their program to the CfP so that we have up-to-date information about this year's organizing team and in case there are any changes to your program.

Call for Proposals & Review process

The criteria for acceptance will be based on the following guidelines:

  • Does the program adhere to the PyCon US Code of Conduct?
    • PyCon US is a professional setting where everyone should feel welcome and safe. We expect all proposals to keep the Code of Conduct in mind.
  • Is the program being proposed and organized by an existing or potential community in the Python ecosystem?
    • Our goal is to foster community-driven efforts. Proposals with a community origin, involvement, and focus are desired, rather than proposals stemming from and/or managed by corporations or for-profit entities.
  • Does the program track align with the Python Software Foundation’s mission?
    • Our goal is to support topics that are relevant to our community. Additionally, the track content being proposed should help us enforce the PSF's mission of diversity, inclusivity, and foster the growth of Python.
  • Is the proposal well-organized and detailed?
    • Proposals should be representative of the effort, thought, and ongoing work that will be necessary to organize, sustain, and grow the proposed event.
  • Does the proposer have any experience organizing events/putting talk programs together?
    • While not strictly a requirement, having previous experience in organizing among the proposing party will be considered in the overall application.
  • Is the target audience underrepresented or is the subject about underrepresented topics within the tech community?
    • As we strive to improve the diversity of PyCon US overall, priority for this program will be given to proposals that bring new viewpoints and additional representation to the conference.

A few examples of topics that have been accepted for the program (not a complete list, creativity is expressly encouraged):

What are we asking for in proposals?

  • Who is the organizing team or individual
  • Do you (or the team) have experience organizing conferences, workshops, tutorials, meetups?
  • Do you have experience putting together a talk program?
  • What subject are you proposing?
  • What is your (or the team’s) experience/involvement with the subject?
  • Can you list some of the subject subtopics that will be addressed during your program? Do you have participants in mind for the track? If so, who are they? If not, what is your plan of outreach to attract participants?
  • What will PyCon US attendees gain from attending your program?
  • What will be the actionable takeaway from the proposed program? How will you get Pythonistas more involved in the subject beyond the conference and how do you plan on proposing this actionable to the attendees?
  • If applicable, how do you see this subject evolving into a spin-off event at PyCon US going forward?

Questions

If you have questions, please email pycon-hatchery@python.org! We welcome your feedback and are happy to provide clarification.

PyCon US Hatchery Committee

Mariatta Wijaya

Elaine Wong

Naomi Ceder

Jon Banafato

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