Montreal Python

Hi Montréal-Python Users!

The PyCon organizers are happy to announce that ticket sales for the March 2013 conference have opened at https://us.pycon.org/2013/registration/ ! Early bird rates are available for the first 1000 purchases, which is a departure from previous time-based systems. With PyCon 2012 having been a quick sell out, we’re expecting this one to be the same. Keep in mind that attendance is strictly limited to 2500.

PyCon 2013 is going back to Santa Clara, CA before heading up north for two years in Montreal, Quebec for 2014-15. The event starts with two days of tutorials on March 13, followed by three days of talks starting March 15, and ends with four days of sprints starting March 18.

Individual and corporate ticket prices remain the same as they have been for the last few years, with early bird rates of $300 and $450 respectively. The regular rates of $350 and $600 for individual and corporate are still an incredible deal.

For 2013 we’ve reduced the cost to students by 50%, bringing the early bird rate to $100 with a regular rate of $125. Providing a more affordable conference experience for students is a priority for the organizers and the Python Software Foundation, and we’re hoping the decrease helps bring more of them out.

We’ve also increased our financial aid program, and hope to assist more attendees for PyCon 2013! You can apply for financial aid through the new consolidated form

We’re still accepting proposals for talks and tutorials, with a deadline of September 28. Poster proposals are accepted through January 15, 2013. For more information, see https://us.pycon.org/2013/speaking/cfp/

If your company is interested in sponsorship, we need you. Sponsors are what make PyCon a possibility, and sponsorship offers some great values to the generous organizations who support the conference. Check out https://us.pycon.org/2013/sponsors/whysponsor/ to find out what you get out of sponsorship, with a prospectus at https://us.pycon.org/2013/sponsors/prospectus/. Contact Jesse Noller at jnoller@python.org with any sponsorship inquiries.

Keep an eye out for news on our blog at http://pycon.blogspot.com/ and follow us on twitter at @pycon

As most of you know, we have been working pretty hard during the last few months to get PyCon in Montréal.

The Python Software Foundation held, today the 13th of March 2011 at PyCon 2011,
a Site Selection Meeting to choose the host city for PyCon 2014 and 2015…

It’s with great honour that we announce that Montréal has WON the bid!

On behalf of the whole crew, I have to say thanks to all of you, the pythonistas of Montréal. If we were able to win this bid, it’s because we have awesome speakers, regular attendees, people who show up at the pub, sprinters, free software hackers, and a whole bunch of very enthusiastic people.

What we did in here at PyCon, was simply to carry your enthusiasm and your passion. You are the community of Montréal pythonistas and we owe PyCon 2014 and 2015 to you.

João Bueno wrote to let us know the Libre Graphics Meeting will be back in Montréal in 2011. In the past, Libre Graphics Meeting always featured a healthy dose of Python. Indeed, essentially all the modern graphic tools on a GNU/Linux desktop are scriptable in Python, if not written in it as the main language.

We are looking forward for this state of the art conference, which might also allow us to have a graphics special edition in May. Stay tuned…

Big news this week.

The Confoo team just put the complete schedule of the 2011 edition online. It will be an amazing edition again, with 3 days of intense presentations, a real marathon.

Everybody will be able to find something for them, and us, pythonistas will not be left alone. Many speakers will honor us by their visit. And since it will be a Pyramid year, Blaise Laflamme, one of the core developer will be there, Andy McKay from Mozilla Foundation, and many others.

Take a look at the list of the Python speakers and don’t forget to visit confoo.ca and to get your ticket before the end of the early bird rate.

Andrew Francis, who did the main presentation at Montréal-Python 13, will be presenting at EuroPython. His talk on Implementing Go’s Select will be a slightly shorter version of the one that he did at Montréal-Python. It’s good to see fellow Montréalers presenting at large international conferences.

Hello Pythonistas !

This Friday, at 9 am., we want to invite you to an unofficial montreal-python gathering, at Savoir-Faire Linux’s booth, in the St-Pierre room (across from the blue “Dinner/Lunch” room). (Hilton Bonaventure Hotel)

Proposed subjects:
- Intro to Python, for newcomers
- Hands-on Pylons, Django and TG2
- Distutils2, packaging .deb, .rpm, .egg
- Documentation in Python, Sphinx and al
- …

And more than that, you can come if you’re registered to Confoo after 13h30 ! Wow !

ConFoo starts tomorrow but that it’s not too late to register. Don’t miss that unique opportunity to meet famous Pythonistas such as Mark Pilgrim (Dive into Python), Raymond Hettinger (core Python), Tarek Ziadé (Distribute), and Antoine Pitrou (new GIL).

Sunday is officially the last day to register for ConFoo at the current price.

Actually, that not quite exact because as a way to thank you for reading this blog, we offer you $100 of rebate. Simply follow this link to register at the community rate: http://confoo.ca/pymontreal

You probably recall that Chris Perkins is giving a one-day training session on Web development with Python and Turbogears. You get an additional $100 of rebate if you attend to both the training and the conference. Having seen Chris in the tutorials at PyCon, I can’t put enough emphasis on how good a teacher he is. This is a very unique opportunity to get high quality training on Web development with Python right here in Montréal.

As we mentioned during the last Montréal-Python meeting, Chris Perkins, core developer of TurboGears2, will be giving a one-day hands on training on TurboGears2 on March 9th. His tutorial covers several parts of TurboGears2 that are common to Pylons so those who were interested by the presentation by Alexandre Bourget will certainly get the opportunity to dig deeper into Pylons and the other parts of the WSGI ecosystem. At $300 and with the $100 rebate if you go to conference, it’s a real bargain.

Next Friday, why not celebrate the end of the week with members of
other user groups? Montréal-Python, W3Québec, PHP-Québec, AMUG, Montréal Girl Geek Dinners, and many others invite you for a drink or two at Pub Ste-Elizabeth starting at 6pm.