In November last year we held the second annual PyCon in the Czech Republic (October 28–30, Brno). We’d like to take this opportunity to wrap-up the 2016 conference so we can kick things off for 2017 planning!
First off, while the 2016 conference was a lot of work for all the volunteer organizers, it was a ton of fun to organize as well! Over the three conference event days we had:
- about 380 visitors
- 4 keynote speeches
- 42 talks and 8 workshops on different subjects
- 50 individual speakers
- 22 lightning talks
- 15 sponsors and event partners
- 5500 Moravian cakes eaten
- 16kg of coffee served
Not to mention all the incredible community networking that took place during the event!
Videos & Photos#
Videos from the event are available on YouTube. Official selection of photos from the event is available on Google Photos.
Community organizations#
The core organizing team had grand expectations for this year’s event and it’s incredible to look back at all the things we have accomplished together. Not only did we completely rebrand PyCon CZ this year, we launched an entirely new and reusable Django based website, a mobile app (iOS, Android) and so much more!
With that said, we’d like to take a moment to thank everyone involved – all the CfP submission authors, the invited and accepted speakers, the sponsors, the fine folks at Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology who provided the venue space, the Czech Python community in general and all the attendees who joined us to make PyCon CZ the amazing event it was.
While we’re at it, we’d like to call out two special groups which could use your help – participation as well as sponsorships; groups whose ongoing work enabled this conference and will hopefully enable others like it in the future:
- Pyvec – the formal backers of the PyCon CZ events and so many other Python events in the Czech Republic, whose continuous activity and monthly Pyvo meetups are the lifeblood of the Czech Python community, and
- the Python Software Foundation. They are the good people who take care of the ongoing development of the Python language and the global activities around it. The PSF sponsored PyCon CZ 2016, as it does many such events.
Diversity#
We put a lot of effort in to make the conference more welcoming to diverse populations. Again this year, we included a Code of Conduct, as well as reaching out to specific communities, which are usually underrepresented in technical conferences. This included, of course, the cooperation with Django Girls and PyLadies of Prague, Brno and Ostrava. Also, VODICÍ PES, an organization which supports training of guide dogs for the blind, who each received a number of free tickets to attend the conference.
We did not collect the general statistics of visitor gender, but we have reason to believe it was significantly more balanced than usual, especially with respect to high profile speakers.
Code of Conduct Report#
The organization team agrees that all PyCon events should be accessible and welcoming to everyone, regardless of their background. We agree that a clear and specific Code of Conduct is a necessity for any event.
- The Code of Conduct was based on Conference anti-harassment policy from Geek feminism wiki and edited to be as specific to our event as possible
- Agreeing to the Code was mandatory when buying a ticket
- Two contact persons (male and female) were assigned and their phone numbers were visibly posted around the venue
- Attendees were reminded of the Code in the opening speech of each day
What could have been done#
- Summary of the Code in both languages were not posted around the venue
- There was no easy way to report an incident other than to call a CoC contact person
- Czech language version of the Code was not accessible on the website
Anonymized incidents#
- During one of the keynotes, inappropriate image was used in a slideshow. The speaker was reminded, that a Code of Conduct applies to keynotes as well. No further action was taken.
- During one of the lightning talks, speaker used disrespectful language towards different initiatives that aim to include underrepresented groups into IT. In his presentation he also used a slide that could be offensive to some groups. One of the attendees reacted to this by angrily leaving the venue. The speaker posted an apology in public group chat and also admitted his mistake in private discussion with one of the CoC contacts. The attendee apologized for his behavior in e-mail to one of the CoC contacts and in private discussion with head conference organizer. No video or slides will be published from this lightning talk.
Budget#
In the spirit of Open Source and transparency, we’re happy to share a summary of our budget (all numbers are thousands of Czech Koruna, CZK).
Income#
- Sponsorship: 450
- Ticket sales: 450
- Total: 900
Expenses#
- Venue (incl. food): 490
- Conference party (food+drinks): 50
- Financial aid (incl. keynote speakers): 95
- Speakers’ dinner: 20
- Photo/Video recording & editing: 90
- T-shirts & other swag: 80
- Various other: 25
- Total: 850
Conclusion#
As you can see, we ended with a positive balance of close to 50 000 CZK. All these surplus funds will be applied to next year’s event budget.
2017#
Now, onto planning PyCon CZ 2017. Preparations have already begun! The latest news are the next PyCon CZ will take place in Prague, early summer. You can join the organizing team, or just keep track of our progress via our different channels:
- Twitter: @pyconcz
- E-mail: info@pycon.cz
- Website: pycon.cz
Send an email to info@pycon.cz if you’d like to request an invite to join our PyCon CZ planning channel on Slack (it can be used also through IRC).
See you in 2017!
