In the last two weeks, we have
discussed and investigated concepts around running this year’s
EuroPython conference as an online conference. We have looked at
conference tools, your feedback, drafted up ideas on what we can do to make the event interesting and what we can accomplish given our
limited resources.
Today, we are happy to announce that we
will be running
EuroPython 2020 from July 23 - 26
2020 as an online conference
We are planning the following
structure:
2 conference days with keynotes,
talks, lightning talks, poster session (Thursday and Friday)
2 sprint days with multiple sprint teams (Saturday and
Sunday)
Attending the conference days will
require a ticket, participating in the sprint days will be free.
We will publish additional information
on the new format as it becomes available. A few updates for today
(more details will follow in separate blog posts):
Call for Papers (CFP)
With the new plan in place, we will
extend and retarget the CFP
we had been running in the last three weeks to the online setup.
Please note that we will not have
training sessions at EuroPython 2020. We will have keynotes, 30 and
45-minute talks, panels, interactive sessions, as well as try to come up with a format for doing
posters and lightning talks.
Unlike for our in-person event,
speakers will get free tickets to the event, since we don’t have to
cover catering costs.
We need your help
Given that we had already put a lot of
work into the in-person event organization, a lot of which we’ll
now have to adapt or redo for the online set up in the few months
ahead of us, we will need more help from the community to make this
happen.
If you would like to help, please write
to board@europython.eu.
We are specifically looking for people with experience using online
conference tools to help host tracks during the conference days.
Sponsoring
As for the in-person event, we will
have sponsorship packages available for the online event as well.
Because the format is different, we’ll have to adjust the packages
we had intended for the in-person to an online setup.
If you are interested in sponsoring
EuroPython 2020, please write to sponsoring@europython.eu.
We will then send you more details, as they become available.
After a work intense RFP over two months with more than 40 venues competing, 18 first round entries, and two rounds of refinements, we are now happy to announce the winner:
EuroPython 2020 will be held at the CCD in Dublin, Ireland, from July 20 - 26 2020
We will now start work on the contracts and get the organization going, so that we can all enjoy another edition of EuroPython next year.
We are happy to announce that we have started the RFP for venues to host the EuroPython 2020 conference.
We have sent out the details to more than 40 venues.
Like last year, we also want to give the chance to other venues who were not on our list to participate in the RFP. For this purpose, we are making the details available in this blog post as well.
RFP Introduction
The EuroPython Society is the organization behind the EuroPython conference, the largest Python programming language conference in Europe, with more than 1100 professionals from IT, science and educational fields attending to learn about new developments, network and learn from experience of others in the field.
Python is a very popular open source programming language, with a large following in the web development and data science fields.
EuroPython was initiated in 2002, with the first conference in Charleroi, Belgium, and has since toured Europe for a total of 18 editions so far. For EuroPython 2020 we are looking for a new location and venue and are reaching out to potential venues.
If you’d like to participate in this process, please have a look at the RFP spreadsheet in form of an Excel spreadsheet with a quote section and list of questions, as well as our EuroPython 2019 sponsor brochure with more details about the conference, the demographics and our offerings for sponsors, to give you an idea of what we are looking for.
Please see the first tab in the spreadsheet for a description of the submission process. If you have questions, please write to board@europython.eu.
Update 2019-09-21: We have answered the questions received by a number of vendors in the first round and put the answers into a new first round answers spreadsheet.
The EPS bylaws require one chair and 2 - 8 board members. The following candidates have stated their willingness to work on the EPS board. We are presenting them here (in alphabetical order by surname).
Prof. Martin Christen
Teaching Python / using Python for research projects
Martin Christen is a professor of Geoinformatics and Computer Graphics at the Institute of Geomatics at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). His main research interests are geospatial Virtual- and Augmented Reality, 3D geoinformation, and interactive 3D maps. Martin is very active in the Python community. He teaches various Python-related courses and uses Python in most research projects. He organizes the PyBasel meetup - the local Python User Group Northwestern Switzerland. He also organizes the yearly GeoPython conference. He is a board member of the Python Software Verband e.V.
I would be glad to help with EuroPython, to be part of a great team that makes the next edition of EuroPython even better, wherever it will hosted.
Raquel Dou
Linguist / Python enthusiast
Raquel befriended Python in 2013, during her MSc in Evolution of Language and Cognition, where she used Python to model a simple communication system’s evolution over time. She runs a business providing language services and often uses Python to make her work and life easier and more fun.
She was an onsite volunteer in 2018 when EuroPython took place at her doorstep (Edinburgh), and has since been helping with preparations for the 2019 conference in the support and sponsor workgroups.
He helped organize EuroPython 2004 and 2005, and has attended and given talks at several EuroPythons since then. He has handled the Swedish financials of the EuroPython Society since 2016 and has served as board member since 2017.
Marc-Andre is the CEO and founder of eGenix.com, a Python-focused project and consulting company based in Germany. He has a degree in mathematics from the University of DĂĽsseldorf. His work with and for Python started in 1994. He became Python Core Developer in 1997, designed and implemented the Unicode support in Python and continued to maintain the Python Unicode implementation for more than a decade. Marc-Andre is a founding member of the Python Software Foundation (PSF) and has served on the PSF Board several times.
In 2002, Marc-Andre was on the executive committee to run the first EuroPython conference in Charleroi, Belgium. He also co-organized the second EuroPython 2003 conference. Since then, he has attended every single EuroPython conference and continued being involved in the workings of the conference organization.
He was elected as board member of the EuroPython Society (EPS) in 2012 and enjoyed the last few years working with the EPS board members on steering the EuroPython conference to the new successful EuroPython Workgroup structures to sustain the continued growth, while maintaining the EuroPython spirit and fun aspect of the conference.
For the EuroPython 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions, Marc-Andre was chair of the EuroPython Society and ran lots of activities around the conference organization, e.g. managing the contracts and budget, helping with sponsors, the website, setting up the conference app, writing blog posts and many other things that were needed to make EuroPython happen.
Going forward, he would like to intensify work on turning the EPS into an organization which aids the Python adoption in Europe not only by running the EuroPython conference, but also by help build organizer networks and provide financial help to other Python conferences in Europe.
Silvia Uberti
Sysadmin / IT Consultant
She is a Sysadmin with a degree in Network Security, really passionate about technology, traveling and her piano. Â
She’s an advocate for women in STEM disciplines and supports inclusiveness of underrepresented people in tech communities.
She fell in love with Python and its warm community during PyCon Italia in 2014 and became a member of EuroPython Sponsor Workgroup in 2017. Â She enjoys a lot working in it and wants to help more!
What does the EPS Board do ?
The EPS board runs the day-to-day business of the EuroPython Society, including running the EuroPython conference events. It is allowed to enter contracts for the society and handle any issues that have not been otherwise regulated in the bylaws or by the General Assembly. Most business is handled by email on the board mailing list or the board’s Telegram group, board meetings are usually run as conference calls.
It is important to note that the EPS board is an active board, i.e. the board members are expected to put in a significant amount of time and effort towards the goals of the EPS and for running the EuroPython conference. This usually means at least 100-200h work over a period of one year, with most of this being needed in the last six months before the conference. Many board members put in even more work to make sure that the EuroPython conferences become a success.
Board members are generally expected to take on leadership roles within the EuroPython Workgroups.
We would like to invite all EuroPython attendees and EuroPython Society (EPS) members to attend this year’s EPS General Assembly (GA), which we will run as in-person meeting at the upcoming EuroPython 2019, held in Basel, Switzerland from July 8 - 14.
Place of the General Assembly meeting:
We will meet on Thursday, July 11 2019, at 16:05 CEST in room Boston of the Congress Center Basel,
Messeplatz 21, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
There will be a short talk to invite volunteers to participate in organizing EuroPython 2019 in preparation for next year’s event at 15:30 CEST in the same room, right before the General Assembly. You may want to attend that talk as well. In this talk, we will present the EuroPython Workgroup Concept, we have been using successfully for the past years now.
General Assembly Agenda
The agenda contents for the assembly is defined by the EPS bylaws. We are planning to use the following structure:
Opening of the meeting
Selection of meeting chair, secretary and 2 checkers of the minutes
Motion establishing the timeliness of the call to the meeting
Presentation of the annual report and annual accounts by the board
Presentation of the report of the auditor
Discharge from liability for the board
Presentation of a budget by the outgoing board.
Acceptance of budget and decision on membership fees for the upcoming year
Election of members of the board
Election of chair of the board
Election of one auditor and one replacement. The auditor does not have to be certified in any way and is normally selected among the members of the society.
The optional election of a nomination committee for the next annual meeting of the General Assembly
Propositions from the board, if any
Motions from the members, if any
Closing of the meeting
In an effort to reduce the time it takes to go through this long list, which is mandated by the bylaws, we will try to send as much information to the members mailing list before the GA, so that we can limit presentations to a minimum.
Election of the members of the board
The EPS bylaws limit the number of board members to one chair and 2 - 8 directors, at most 9 directors in total. Experience has shown that the board members are the most active organizers of the EuroPython conference, so we try to get as many board members as possible to spread the work load.
All members of the EPS are free to nominate or self nominate board members. Please write to board@europython-society.org no later than Thursday, July 4 2019, if you want to run for board. We will then include you in the list we’ll have in the final nomination announcement before the GA, which is scheduled for July 5.
The following people from the current board have already shown interest in running for board in the next term as well (in alphabetical order):
We will post more detailed information about the candidates and any new nominations we receive in a separate blog post.
Propositions from the board
None at the moment.
The bylaws allow for additional propositions to be announced up until 5 days before the GA, so the above list is not necessarily the final list.
Motions from the members
None at the moment.
EPS members are entitled to suggest motions to be voted on at the GA. The bylaws require any such motions to be announced at least 5 days before the GA. If you would like to propose a motion, please send it to board@europython-society.org no later than Friday, July 4 2019, so we can announce the final list to everyone.
Please note that the schedule may still change in details, but the overall layout is fixed now.
Book your EuroPython 2019 Ticket
Please make sure you book your ticket in the coming days. We will switch to late bird rates next week.
If you want to attend the training sessions, please buy a training pass in addition to your conference ticket, or get a combined ticket. We only have very few training seats left.
Travel & accommodation tips
Since we’re close the conference, Basel is in high demand. If you’re having problems finding a hotel, please also consider searching for apartments on the well known booking sites.
We have collected a number of recommendations for accommodation and travel to Basel on the EuroPython 2019 website. If you get a hotel or apartment in Basel, you will additionally get a BaselCard for your stay, which allows you to use public transport in Basel for free. Please see our accommodation page for details.
As you may know, the EuroPython Society (EPS) has extended it’s mission to not only run the EuroPython conference, but also provide help for the Python community in Europe in general.
As part of this, we would like to get to know, and help create closer ties between organizers of other European Python events.
Organizers’ Lunch
We would like to invite representatives of all European Python conference to EuroPython 2019 to join us for an organizers’ lunch. We’re planing the lunch for Thursday or Friday. Details will be announced closer to the event.
Our aim is to get to know each other, exchange experience in organizing events and to find out how we, as EPS, can most effectively help other conferences going forward.
Free Tickets
To support and facilitate this, we are giving out one free conference ticket per conference team, so that each team can send a representative to the organizers’ lunch.
If your team wants to send someone to join, please write to board@europython.eu, mentioning the conference you’re organizing and some background on your team.
The EuroPython Society (EPS) does not only run the EuroPython conference, but also aims to provide help for the Python community in Europe in general.
Let’s all meet at EuroPython
In addition to the Python Organizers Lunch (see previous post), which focuses on conference organizers, we are also establishing a program to support attendees of Python user groups and conferences in Europe.
We’d like to invite all of you to EuroPython 2019 this year. Of course, we cannot give out free tickets to everyone, but we can at least recognize your participation in the Python community by giving out discounts for the conference.
Discounts for EuroPython Tickets
If you are running a Python event (conference or user group) in Europe, please reach out to board@europython.eu to request a coupon code for your group, which you can then pass on to your group members or attendees.
If you are not running a user group or conference, but a regular attendee of one, please contact your organizers to have them submit a request. We can only distribute codes at the user group and conference organizer level.
The coupon codes are valid for conference tickets bought starting today and will give you a 10% discount on the ticket price (both regular and late bird prices). The codes are setup for user group sizes of between 30-50 members, but we are also extending this to organizers and attendees of larger conferences. If you need a code valid for larger groups, please mention this in your email.
EuroPython 2019 will be held from July 8-14 2019 in Basel, Switzerland, at the Congress Center Basel (CCB) for the main conference days (Wed-Fri) and the FHNW Muttenz for the workshops/trainings/sprints days (Mon-Tue, Sat-Sun).
