PyCon Pittsburgh. April 15-23, 2020.

Speaking at PyCon

PyCon is seeking speakers of all experience levels and backgrounds to contribute to our conference program! If you use Python professionally, as a hobbyist or are just excited about Python or programming and open source communities, we’d love to hear from you. Speakers also get prioritized access to financial aid, so please don’t let that be a deterrent. We want you and your ideas at PyCon!

We’ve got lots of good information and resources below that you should read, but in case you’ve already read it and want to dive in now.

Here are the PyCon 2020 Call for Proposals deadlines:

Tutorial proposals — deadline is 22 November 2019 AoE.

Talk, Charlas, Poster, and Education Summit proposals — deadline is 20 December 2019 AoE.

PyCon Talks, Charlas, Poster, and Education Summit CFPs close in:

You can view what time that is locally to you here.

Part of PyCon’s purpose is to generate materials to help with Python education and advocacy all over the world, so we intend to record all PyCon presentations and release the recordings on the web. For the details, see our PyCon Recording Release.

Where to submit your proposal

  1. Sign up for a new us.pycon.org account by clicking here.

  2. Head over to your dashboard available here and create a Speaker profile:

  3. Finally, return to your dashboard and you should see our “Submit a new proposal” button!

Due to the competitive selection process, we encourage prospective speakers to submit their proposals as early as possible as it allows for feedback prior to the CFP deadline.

Guidelines for Proposal Submission

Everyone is encouraged to submit a proposal, regardless of experience level. PyCon thrives on having talks ranging from introductory to advanced. If you are reading this, and you are interested in speaking at PyCon, we want you to submit a proposal.

Before writing up a proposal, read the following descriptions of the four kinds of presentations at PyCon — Talks, Charlas, Tutorials, and Posters — and follow the “Learn more” links for the kind that best suits your topic.

PyCon does not want expenses to discourage you from submitting a proposal and speaker grants ensure that anyone can speak at PyCon. When you create a speaker profile, check the box to indicate that you require a speaker grant. This is not seen by the proposal reviewers and does not affect the review of your proposal.

After proposals are selected, we’ll reach out to you regarding your needs. We understand situations can change, and are here for you. If you have any questions let us know at pycon-aid@python.org

Talks

These are the traditional talk sessions given during the main conference days, Friday through Sunday, April 17–April 19.

PyCon is dedicated to featuring a diverse and inclusive mix of speakers in the lineup.

All speakers are expected to have read and adhere to the conference Code of Conduct. In particular for speakers: slide contents and spoken material should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate, and neither is language or imagery that denigrates or demeans people based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, physical appearance, disability, or body size.

We will make every effort to provide accommodations for speakers and attendees of all abilities — all we ask is that you let us know so we can prepare accordingly.

Most talks are 30 minutes long, but we do offer a limited number of 45-minute slots for important topics that promise to benefit from a more extensive treatment. We organize the schedule into five “tracks”, grouping talks by topic and having them in the same room for consecutive sessions.

There is no official restriction on the topic that you propose for a talk session. Talks about Python or the Python community are most likely to line up with the interests of PyCon’s audience, and a key consideration that the talk selection committee will be thinking about is your talk’s ability to draw an audience. We observe a limit of one talk per presenter. You may propose more than one, but the committee will ask you to choose only one talk if more than one of your proposals is accepted.

Learn more: Proposing a Talk

Charlas

We are excited to announce that the first hatchery program in the history of PyCon, “PyCon Charlas”, will continue in 2020. PyCon Charlas (“charla” is the Spanish word for conference “talk”) will be a full day track of Python talks en Español at PyCon US and open to the entire Python community.

If you can speak Spanish, why not submit a proposal for a charla? If you speak Spanish as a second, third or twelfth language, please do not hesitate to participate! The call for proposals opens with the rest of the CFP.

Learn more: PyCon Charlas

Tutorials

As with the talks, we are looking for tutorials that can grow this community at any level. We aim for tutorials that will advance Python, advance this community, and shape the future. Each tutorial session runs for 3 full hours plus a break for coffee or tea. There is both a morning tutorial session and an afternoon tutorial session on the two days preceding the main conference — this year, the tutorial days are Wednesday and Thursday, April 15-16 in the same venue that hosts the main conference days that follow.

Attention full-time trainers: Please bring your coursework to PyCon. Every year we get several educators that bring their show on the road, so show us what you have on the syllabus for 2020.

As tutorials are longer than talks and are in an interactive classroom-like setting, they require much more preparation. Due to the amount of work involved, tutorial instructors are compensated. There is a limit of at most two tutorials given by one presenter.

Learn more: Proposing a Tutorial

Posters

The poster session happens on the last morning of the three main conference days — this year, on the morning of Sunday, April 19 in the same space that is occupied by the sponsor Expo Hall on the first two days of the conference.

A poster is a presentation of a topic on a 8′×4′ poster board. As attendees mingle through the rows, they find interesting topics, read through them, then strike up a discussion. As with the other proposal types, we are really looking to you to talk about what’s going on in this community and tell everyone where it is going. If you are doing something awesome, share it!

Learn more: Proposing a Poster

Education Summit

The Education Summit happens on the last day of tutorials, April 16, 2020.

This year the Summit has two sessions — We are inviting submissions for both sessions.

Session 1: Talks

We are looking for case studies about how teachers and Python programmers have implemented Python instruction in their schools, communities, and other places of learning and calls for action to help evolve, grow and shape the education landscape.

Then please join us and share your experiences with the education community.

Session 2: Mini-sprints

Action time! We are looking for topics and activities that could benefit from some intensive in-person discussion and hands-on collaboration. Some topics may include:

If you are passionate about programming and education, we urge you to submit a proposal to speak OR a proposal for a mini-sprint activity! You do NOT need to be an experienced speaker! We want you to share knowledge; we want to learn from your experiences.

Learn more about Proposing an Education Summit talk

Please submit all talk proposals through your dashboard.

About PyCon 2020

PyCon is the largest annual gathering for the community using and developing the open-source Python programming language. It is produced and underwritten by the Python Software Foundation, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing and promoting Python. Through PyCon, the PSF advances its mission of growing the international community of Python programmers.

PyCon is really four events in a row. Learn more about what PyCon is .