I was on Startup Row in Atlanta last year and was able to meet jnoller. He was a great host and it was a fantastic and well-run event. If you're coding in Python, it's worth checking out.

Also, it looks like I will be back this year, not with my startup, but with a company I found at a booth at PyCon 2011. If you're looking for a Python job, I can strongly recommend attending PyCon.

Thank you. It's not just me - all the credit goes to the entire team, especially Van Lindberg for the past two year.

Also, we're discussing bringing startup row back en-force this year, if anyone is interested.

It would be great to see Startup Row back. It's a great way to see all the great new things people are building with Python and for them to get exposure to boot.

As always, I am available to answer any questions and provide information as needed around PyCon!

I went to SciPy this year for the first time, and I loved it. I understand that PyCon is a much broader conference, but do many people interested in scientific python show up for this?

yes - we get a lot of scientists, especially big data scientists at the conference, and we encourage talks and tutorials around scientific computing+python - check out http://python.mirocommunity.org/ for past talks for a tasting!

I imagine with it being in Santa Clara you're going to get a large number of people from every development niche showing up.

The main reason I didn't go to 2011 is because of how far it was!

I just wanted to say that the PyCon WiFi reports are some of the most interesting reading I've had on the subject of keeping a wireless network stable with that large a crowd.

I look forward to this year's report ;)

PyCon seems to be some sort of an amazing global annual movement. I haven't gone to one yet (I do have a plan in the future to do that) but I know that many more countries want to have a local PyCon as well (to cut the transportation cost). They have the people but lack of the Python skill, marketing, and organization.

I think in about 5 years or so we will see more and bigger local PyCons.

The PSF helps out local conferences as much as it can - any "revenue" from PyCon is sent back out by the board of directors to local conferences in many, many countries. Check out http://pyfound.blogspot.com/

Yeah, I noticed that PSF is trying to support local communities as much as they can as I did their recent survey for the local communities. The survey questionnaires are focused toward "How can PSF help you to grow your community".

Great stuff. PSF is expanding with a vision/goal!

Thank you. We're trying.

I wish this lined up with my spring break! Sadly this is one week before spring break for me.

PyCon Chair Jesse Noller wrote about the launch this morning: http://pycon.blogspot.com/2011/08/pycon-us-2012-official-lau...

Glad to see planning is happening quite early this year. I hope it turns out to be the best PyCon yet - this will be my first!

Any sort of ETA available for registration info and sign-up dates? Gotta start getting through the BigCo red tape ;)

We're working on the call for papers / posters / tutorials next, and hoping to finish that within a week or two. I don't have a solid date on registration yet, but once we do we will announce it.

Thanks! I'll be on the lookout.

You could get the wheels in motion using 2011 ticket pricing as an estimate to start with - http://us.pycon.org/2011/tickets

Why is Microsoft "only" a Gold sponsor? They have more cash on hand and are worth more than Google and Dropbox combined.

It may be a trivial thing to note, but it still seems odd to me.

It's not odd; sponsors pick what level they feel they can commit to in terms of marketing support (booth space, banners, etc) and how much internal support they have for the conference or the community (in this case, Python and PyCon).

Microsoft has been an amazing PyCon sponsor for years, and they continue to support the PSF both financially, and by supplying Python core developers with free, unlimited MSDN accounts to help with windows support.

So, don't take a sponsor level as a specific note about how much cash they do, or do not have - a lot goes into a company's choice about sponsorship.

As Jesse stated, it's just one of their many sponsorships, of PyCon, of the PSF, and of the Python developers. Probably their biggest sponsorship of Python is the generous donation of over 20 VS Ultimate MSDN subscriptions which they also let us renew for free, in order to keep up support of Python on Windows. If you do the math on what that'd cost for us to buy on our own, it's a hilariously large number.

Microsoft is Platinum(now?).

Ah, OK, shift the whole scale I referred to over...Google,Dropbox Diamond and Microsoft platinum.

Wasn't aware of how much support Microsoft provided in general though. Thanks!

Actually, that's a good point - they are platinum sponsors.

Any volunteer opportunities ?

There's nothing listed on the site yet since it just launched today, but here's the remnants of the 2011 Program Committee page: http://us.pycon.org/2011/volunteer/ProgramCommittee/ and here's the mailing list details: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-pc

The Program Committee does stuff like gather and review talk submissions, come up with the conference schedule, etc. It's a good mailing list to find out what work needs to be done and what help is needed.

Keep an eye on the site for a volunteer page as we fill in the gaps and build out the content as we dig in.

I'd add the best way to get involved is to join pycon-organizers (http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pycon-organizers) - as things ramp up, more and more opportunities will pop up.

Thanks much. I'll join and keep an eye out.

I was a volunteer for my first PyCon last year - it was a great experience and I highly recommend it. I also went solo, so it gave me another opportunity to meet folks. There are lots of volunteer opportunities with different levels of commitment.

Any idea when registration will be open?

See: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2841639