Sunday, August 08, 2010

PyOhio 2010 review

My own PyOhio 2010 wrap-up post is highly suspect, because I'm probably not one to deliver an unbiased opinion. So, when I say that

IT WAS AWESOME

you can be forgiven for being a little skeptical. In fact, one of my few regrets is that I didn't collect firm, objective data on just how awesome it was. I don't have accurate numbers on attendance yet - our sign in sheets are, um, somewhere around here. We had 179 pre-registrations; subtract some no-shows, add some walk-ins, and you get... I don't know. But the place was bustling!

The talks were good, and more importantly, they stimulated some excellent informal activity. The Open Space activity was stronger than ever this year; some of them packed our Open Space rooms to the walls. There were a fair number of Python newcomers there - yay! - and I was glad that we had a good Beginners' Track for them. An After-Hours Board helped people coordinate some evening fun together. Overall, it was not at all just "a place to see talks", but a full immersion in the awesomeness of Python people. Of course, the sprints were the big after-hours event, but they deserve their own post (soon to follow).

OSU's new Ohio Union was a great locale. It helps a lot that it has a design and a staff specialized in holding meetings and conferences, and it's just fantastic that the OSU Open Source club was able to provide the space at incredibly good rates. We look forward to using virtually the same space next year, with just some minor tweaks.

And, for everybody who wondered how we put on a great show at no charge... thank our sponsors!
  • Microsoft
  • Intellovations
  • AGInteractive
  • Dayton Microcomputer Association
Anyway, I'm delighted. I had fun and learned a ton. I hope you did, too! Thanks so much to everybody who took part!

Here are a couple other wrap-up posts I've happened across. Let me know about others you find.

Alex Gaynor
William Chambers
Richard Harding

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