Call for Proposals

Want to share your expertise? PyCon DC 2004 is looking for proposals to fill the formal presentation tracks.

PyCon DC 2003 had a broad range of presentations, from reports on academic and commercial projects to tutorials and case studies, and we hope to extend that range this year. As long as the presentation is interesting and potentially useful to the Python community, it will be considered for inclusion in the program.

Important Dates

Submission deadline Jan 15, 2004
Acceptance deadline Feb 1, 2004
Electronic copy deadline March 10, 2004

PyCon Topics

Suitable topics for PyCon presentations include, but are not limited to:

  • Web-based Systems
  • Databases
  • Network Programming
  • Games Programming
  • Programming Tools
  • Python Documentation
  • Packaging Issues
  • Python in Business
  • Project Best Practices
  • The Python Core
  • Open Source Python Projects
  • Python Integration
  • Python in Education
  • Science and Math

Submission Format

Proposals should ideally be 250 to 1000 words long (i.e. one to four pages in manuscript format), containing the following information:

  • Author name(s)
  • Contact information
  • Requested timeslot (thirty or sixty minutes)
  • Author background
  • Summary of proposed presentation
  • Presentation outline
ASCII format is preferred (plain or reST), with HTML as a secondary alternative. If you have any queries about submission, or if you would like to discuss the possibility of submitting in a different format or style, please send mail to the conference organizers at pycon@python@org.

Submission Mechanics

Use the PyCon Online Proposal Submission to send us your proposals and ideas.

If your paper is accepted, you have the option of including a companion paper along with your presentation. The paper will get published on the PyCon web site. Presentations and papers may be in text (plain or reST), HTML, or PDF; HTML and PDF are preferred.

Other Presentations

If you don't want to make a formal presentation, there will be a significant amount of Open Space to allow for informal and spur-of-the-moment presentations for which no formal submission is required. There will also be several Lightning Talk sessions (five minutes or less).

Open Space consists of thirty-minute blocks that are allocated during PyCon. These blocks can be used for presentations, round table discussions, hands-on tutorials, or anything else. Typically, people propose ideas for the sessions which are then voted on by attendees. This lends a flavor of popular democracy as opposed to the elitist committee-controlled formal presentations. <0.8 wink>