Divmod won't be going to PyCon this year.
Unfortunately, even a small conference like PyCon can cost too much when you are an un-funded startup. When we evaluated whether or not it was a worthwhile idea to go, we just couldn't make it add up - by the time PyCon rolls around, we are going to need to be doing a lot of deployment, marketing, and sales work, and PyCon is more like a vacation than a sales venue for us. In previous years we've been able to rationalize the cost because we were mostly on the east coast, and all in the US, so it was generally a cheap trip. This year we have an overseas developer and the conference is on average farther away from all of us.
I also wanted to say something publicly because this isn't a comment on the conference - I'm definitely going to miss going, and I am sure it will be a lot of fun. I apologize to anyone who thought they were going to see us there. We were planning to go before we re-evaluated our priorities. I hope we will be there again next year.
Ironically I will be on a business trip to Texas anyway at around the same time as PyCon - in Austin, which is to say, the part of Texas that isn't totally awful. (Seriously, I know the conference had to move because it was outgrowing the venue, but Dallas? I'm still confused about that.) I hope to post something about the super secret projects I am going there to discuss, but don't hold your breath - they are super secret after all.
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4 comments:
I missed 2005, but at PyCon2004 you guys were a real presence. You will be sorely missed.
I miss it all the time. Same fate for developers in poor countries. :(
It's a pity you won't be able to make it. Maybe some of you can take a day off and join the sprints on IRC. Remember, I have no problem with transferring your memberships to someone else, and transferring will save you the $50 cancellation fee.
Why Dallas? Because there's an active Python user group there who were willing to do lots of the local footwork. Apparently the Austin PUG is moribund, and in fact someone wants to have a BoF at PyCon on reviving it. I expect future PyCons will continue to be driven by the answer to "which locations have people willing to help?"
While I'm in Austin I will annoy the local Python people and echo the sentiment about locals willing to help, since I am going to see several of them, and they are neither in the local PUG nor going to PyCon. ;-)
Thanks for the tip about the cancellation fee, too.
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