improving-pycon.md

Checklist for PyCon India 2017

A list of suggestions to improve PyCon India. To be used as a checklist for next year.

Disclaimer: All things mentioned is this post, are the opinions/suggestions/views of the author, and in no way depict/endorse the views of any group/community.

Tshirts

• Make 'Tshirt size' a mandatory field in the explara form. Also mention that tshirt sizes won't be changed later, for any reason whatsoever.
• Request all speakers/sponsors for their respective tshirt sizes beforehand on mail.
• Make 3 to 4 queues for Tshirt distribution. DONOT make queues based on names; that approach doesn't work with Tshirts. Each queue should be entirely independent, and volunteers will have a complete list of names.
• Consider distribution in second half daily
• Make a separate area/queue for tshirts of speakers/sponsors, OR pull out shirts for them before the tshirt distibution begins, and volunteers can hand over the tshirts to them.
• Generate token for tshirt along from explara

Pre-Event

• Registration

  • Get the badges, lanyards, flaps, notepads, pens, welcome kits from the supplier.
  • Get PyCon India 2017 stickers.
  • Get plenty of extra blank badges, lanyards & flaps.
  • Decide the letters for each registration queue (using the pandas script).
  • Print schedule of the conference, along with the level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) of the talk in brackets
  • Print stickers with the names of all attendees along with the QR code containing the Explara Order ID which is unique
  • Print 10 lists of all the - Conference Attendees, Speakers, Sponsors, Workshop Attendees
    • List of Workshop Attendees based on the workshop they are attending. These lists shall also be used for validating the entry to the workshop audi.
    • List of Conference Attendees based on their names. The list should contain - Name, Order ID, Tshirt size. Have separate lists as per the letters. This year we used: A, B-L, M-N, O-R, S, T-Z. The distribution is subject to change based on the registrations.
    • List of all speakers (workshops & talks) along with the title of their talk/workshop.
  • Purchase/Procure
    • Blank Sheets (2 packets)
    • Whiteboard Markers
    • Permanent Markers
    • Ball pens
    • Tape (4 roles)
    • Scissors (4)
    • Punching Machines (same as the number of tshirt distribution stalls + 1)
    • Sticky Notes
    • White Board (3)

• CFP

  • Enforce that all speakers put up their slides/content/requirements on junction before accepting
  • Inform all workshop participants of the requirements & minimum intellectual level

• Speaker Affairs

  • Print workshop feedback & video release forms (to be handed to the session chair of each audi)
  • Consider getting video release forms on mail itself
  • Ask the speakers to mention all requirements on junction beforehand
  • Purchase/procure
    • Flash drives
    • HDMI convertors
    • Water Bottles
    • Extension Cords

• Sponsors

  • Ask the sponsors to send us any pamphlets and/or stickers they want us to include in the welcome kit

Registration

• Scan QR codes on Day 2 of conference, to speed things up
• Badges should be of the following types:
  • Colour Scheme 1: Conference Attendee
  • Colour Scheme 2: Speaker, Sponsor
  • Colour Scheme 3: Workshop Attendee
  • Colour Scheme 4: Volunteer
• Conference badges should be handed out to Dev Sprint attendees on Day 0, so that they don't have to re-register on Day-1 of conference

FAQ/Email Blast

• Information regarding how to register, and when to register, and whether you'll need to bring your badges again tomorrow, should be added into the FAQ section. The link to the FAQ page should be shared in the mail that goes to all attendees a day before PyCon.
• Inform Sponsors/Attendees how to share attendee data with sponsor via the QR code. Pick one QR code scanning app and ask all sponsors to use the same.
• Mention in the FAQ, that the Tshirts will be provided on the last day of the conference in the second half, a little after lunch time. A lot of people have this query since due to their flights/trains in the evening.
• Tshirts will be given as per the sized mentioned in the explara form, and shall not be changed for any reason whatsoever.
• On-spot registrations shall not be given Tshirts
• No on-spot registrations for workshops

To Discuss and Decide

(Public facing information should be added to the FAQ after finalizing)

• A lot of people come with their friends' ticket, and ask for Tshirts. -- True
• Ticket transfer on the same day remains an issue. People coming with their friends' tickets. -- Use github for ticket transference, with an empty repo, to create issues for every unclaimed ticket.
• Clear system for registration for Open Spaces, Dev Sprints, Lightening Talks. -- Volunteers can add on feedback-app to register people along with their content.
• Several people suggested that we make a Jobs Board where people can put up information about their companies. -- Go for it
• Either have queues on both sides of the stalls, or have more stalls to accomodate the crowd. -- One counter per 150 people
• Wifi details of the venue should also be part of the email blast. Also add the fact that downloading obscene amounts of data can lead to being kicked off the network.
• Maintain a list of all volunteers and their primary duty(e.g. speaker affairs), along with their contact info. This list should stay only among the team leads to avoid misuse.
• Try to partner with companies like OYO Rooms, to provide some discount to PyCon attendees coming from outside NCR, and in return we can provide branding to them via PyCon India website
• Use of the 20L water bottles, instead of disposable water glasses
• Use of white boards to allow people to self-register for Open Spaces & Lightening Talks