Feedback from the 2007 PyCon UK Conference

Spurred on by the promise of being entered in the Grand Prize Draw, 108 delegates completed feedback forms for the 2007 Conference. Here is a summary of the results:

Questions which could be analysed numerically

Percentage breakdown of delegate types

Percentage breakdown of Delegate's Python Experience

17 Delegates were new to Python and used other languages

Delegates are using the following development platforms

The following questions had to be rated 1-5 (1==Poor, 5==Excellent)

How many talks did you attend?

The following questions had to be answered Yes or No

Comments which could not be analysed numerically

Feedback Form 2

Best about Conference

found out a lot of new things

Worst about Conference

conference dinner, need group social but not there again

Suggested Improvements

accept Amex on the registration web site

Feedback Form 3

Best about Conference

Lecture halls good.

Worst about Conference

Common areas not as good for group discussions as could be - Bit of a 'waiting room' feel.

Suggested Improvements

Better - more purpose built venue.

Feedback Form 4

Best about Conference

Smooth organisation.

Worst about Conference

No coffee on Sunday morning. No daylight on venue -> sleepy especially after lunch.

Suggested Improvements

Having conference at/close to the main hotel. Some solution to not have to switch computer connected to the projectors every time (would save time).

Feedback Form 5

Best about Conference

Lightning talks. Meeting twisted devs.

Feedback Form 6

Best about Conference

Many thing: General community atmosphere; Everybody seem genuinely interested in other people's talks.

Worst about Conference

Not enough coffee! Would have been better as self service -> quicker.

Feedback Form 7

Best about Conference

Picking up information about new developments

Worst about Conference

Hard to answer, even the pub food supplied wasn't that bad

Suggested Improvements

The PGP signing should be run as a dedicated session

Feedback Form 8

Best about Conference

Lightning talks, dinner, networking & chatting

Worst about Conference

so tired

Suggested Improvements

• mix sprints with talks. less talks but make sure they are all really good
• more lightning talks
• badges with more info?

Feedback Form 10

Best about Conference

• Meeting people who've worked on similar projects.
• Double-sided name badges - awesome idea.
• Personalising the event - e.g. by have table 'Exceptions' instead of numbers - awesome idea!

Suggested Improvements

• Open spaces a good idea in theory but running them alongside regular slots causes a clash. Perhaps run them to conflict with nothing and be in a slot immediately after lightning talks so that delegates can easily seek more info.
• Have a bit of slack between slots to allow time get get a coffee, set up equipment, answer the call of nature etc.

Feedback Form 11

Best about Conference

Great speakers

Worst about Conference

Maybe toast Guido rather than say grace?

Suggested Improvements

Keep up the good work Thanks.

Feedback Form 12

Suggested Improvements

1 min talk by each speaker at start of conference describing talk

Feedback Form 14

Best about Conference

• The lightning talks are a good idea.
• Good opportunities for talking to delegates.

Worst about Conference

I didn't enjoy talks about obvious/easy-to-use/well-documented/mundane technologies - more speculative ones were better, especially non-tech ones.

Suggested Improvements

Perhaps a few more conceptual papers from a broader range of people - academics, artists etc.

Feedback Form 15

Best about Conference

Talks/tutorials

Worst about Conference

Not enough space for sitting/working on laptop. Nice to have fresh "real" coffee 100% of time. Especially on Sunday Morning

Suggested Improvements

Create streams -> e.g. Newbie Stream, Web stream, Dev stream and label talks as such and don't allow talks in same stream to conflict.

Feedback Form 16

Suggested Improvements

Better seating.

Feedback Form 17

Worst about Conference

Expected more from Etap facilities. B&B in Cambridge offered better value at same price.

Suggested Improvements

• More hands on tutorials.
• Was expecting Django and advanced Django to be hands on.
• Delegate list should be sorted alphabetically and state which part of UK the delegate is from.

Feedback Form 18

Suggested Improvements

Dinner as optional extra.

Feedback Form 19

Best about Conference

lightning talks

Worst about Conference

some full-on talks were poorly thought out or poorly presented

Feedback Form 20

Best about Conference

There were lots of people!

Worst about Conference

The vegetarian main meal (conference dinner) was poor.

Suggested Improvements

Somewhere to put our heavy bags.

Feedback Form 22

Best about Conference

Best - opportunity to meet interesting programmers.

Worst about Conference

• Worst - unfortunate clashes.
• Give speakers hands free microphones.
• Use timetabling software with pre-conference 'interest' indicators to reduce clashes.

Feedback Form 23

Best about Conference

Overall, it was really good, I was really impressed with the turnout.

Worst about Conference

Just getting there to the Conservatoire was a little confusing.

Suggested Improvements

Maybe start the Sunday sessions a little later? (Given that I made it in rather late I missed the talks).

Feedback Form 25

Best about Conference

Getting to see how other people make the most of python

Worst about Conference

little overcrowded in places

Suggested Improvements

just keep doing them

Feedback Form 29

Best about Conference

People.

Suggested Improvements

• Need time between talks to move rooms.
• More lunch.

Feedback Form 30

Best about Conference

Don't know - will need to think about it!!

Worst about Conference

Don't know - will need to think about it!!

Suggested Improvements

Get more people next time.

Feedback Form 31

Best about Conference

• The whole thing was very well organised, especially by a bunch of volunteers with more volunteers co-opted as chairs etc.
• The dinner was surprisingly good, especially given the number of people. Definitely to be repeated if possible.

Worst about Conference

• Not sure if this is a fair criticism, but I was surprised that some people where giving two talks, assuming that some people had presumably offered but not been selected. Difficult decisions, obviously, but I relish the variety no matter how knowledgeable or well-known a speaker might be.
• It would be good to have some easier ways of breaking the ice with people.

Suggested Improvements

• Give more people jobs and involve giving help finding people/asking for things etc.
• Have some list of people's projects or professional affiliations (authorised of course) so that people can meet others whose work they've heard about or used.

More lightning talks are good - some people are better in 5 minute than in 1 hour.

Feedback Form 32

Best about Conference

• Good cost / benefit ratio

Suggested Improvements

• Keep everything the same

Feedback Form 33

Best about Conference

Interesting talks interesting people to talk to

Worst about Conference

getting up for 9am session after dinner

Feedback Form 34

Worst about Conference

9:30 may have been a more convenient start time for Saturday?

Suggested Improvements

Name badges could have delegate association / organisation / company.

Feedback Form 36

Best about Conference

Excellent organisation

Worst about Conference

Website was unintuitive

Suggested Improvements

• Larger break before conference dinners
• Includes talkers name into schedule

Feedback Form 37

Best about Conference

Atmosphere.

Worst about Conference

Schedule conflicts.

Suggested Improvements

More days, space out more, separate tutorial day.

Feedback Form 38

Best about Conference

Good talks showing how to do things as a beginner, that was very useful

Suggested Improvements

Lunch

Feedback Form 39

Best about Conference

Laura's keynote

Worst about Conference

• The Conservatoire v hard to find
• More signs outside?

Feedback Form 40

Best about Conference

• Good mix of speakers

Worst about Conference

• One or two speakers unprepared / hesitant

Suggested Improvements

• More stalls in the fair
• More corporate keynotes (eg Python in Mozilla, Python on Nokia phones)

Feedback Form 42

Best about Conference

The people

Worst about Conference

Some talks not so high quality

Feedback Form 43

Best about Conference

Jono Bacon's stand-up comedy

Worst about Conference

Not enough fresh air

Suggested Improvements

More advanced talks instead of introductions.

Feedback Form 44

Best about Conference

• Meeting people in open source projects

Worst about Conference

• Not enough open space

Feedback Form 45

Best about Conference

Very good talks and atmosphere.

Worst about Conference

A little crowded, but not badly

Suggested Improvements

All talks captured on video for later viewing.

Feedback Form 46

Best about Conference

Informal atmosphere , lots of talks, open to all.

Worst about Conference

May be a couple of presenters were 'squeezed' - 30 mins can be too short.

Suggested Improvements

• Put the city on the badges, to make it easy to connect with people from the same areas -- after all it is a 'localized' con!

• May be a bit less talks but longer & with more breaks.

• Great job! Looking forward to next year!!!

Feedback Form 47

Best about Conference

• CD of materials is good.
• Website was excellent.
• Delegate list good.

Worst about Conference

• Would be nice to have delegate blog / homepage URLs, + organisations.

Suggested Improvements

• More extension leads, sprints, a "plug my favourite project(s)" session/room or other semi-impromptu speaking, run OpenSpace/BOFs in breaks too. "Soap boxes"?

Feedback Form 48

Best about Conference

Pretty damn good first effort for a low budget, volunteer run event!

Worst about Conference

Not enough stuff geared at novices, sometimes novice talks (Django, intro) overlapped.

Suggested Improvements

• Have a few tracks - novice, integrator, developer or something and * Have fewer, better, long, presentations. 30 mins wasn't enough for a couple of very good sessions. Be choosy!

Feedback Form 49

Best about Conference

• Wide range of people, possibly attracted by good price, therefore came in personal capacity rather than just corporate
• Comprehensive talk program.

Worst about Conference

nothing major to complain about

Suggested Improvements

• More seating area for breaks

• Lounge break after last session & dinner

Feedback Form 50

Best about Conference

• Lots of talks
• Low cost
• Good Location (Birmingham accessible by air and train)

Suggested Improvements

• Add the talk abstracts to the printed timetable that is included in the bag; so that it is easy to find out what a talk is about.

Feedback Form 51

Suggested Improvements

More books ! More time ! More talks !

Feedback Form 52

Best about Conference

Friendly people.

Worst about Conference

Some talks should have been tutorials with better focus.

Suggested Improvements

More lightning talks centre stage, with space for talk to be expanded if enough interest in a second venue.

Feedback Form 53

Best about Conference

Most fits into the 'best' category

Suggested Improvements

• Could have a feedback for views on each speaker
• Could have a map of facility somewhere to find rooms.

Feedback Form 54

Best about Conference

• Food and organisation very good

Worst about Conference

• Some of the talks could have been more advanced

Suggested Improvements

• More advanced talks
• Demos of cool, real world Python projects
• Food at lunch could have been better on Saturday (maybe its because there were so many!)

Feedback Form 55

Best about Conference

Varied talks, lots of interesting topics.

Worst about Conference

No TurboGears talk.

Suggested Improvements

Make venue closer to hotel, although I'm probably just lazy!

Feedback Form 56

Best about Conference

FREEDOM AND CHOICE

Worst about Conference

Talks for beginners

Suggested Improvements

Better talks tracks. e.g. beginners, novice, experts, infoers

Feedback Form 57

Best about Conference

very well organised

Worst about Conference

finding the venue

Suggested Improvements

start the talks a bit later on sunday

Feedback Form 58

Best about Conference

Meeting people, talking, learning new things.

Worst about Conference

Veg. conference dinner was small!

Suggested Improvements

Try to keep similar project talks (i.e. Twisted & Kamelia) from clashing.

Feedback Form 59

Suggested Improvements

Secure storage for bags.

Feedback Form 60

Best about Conference

Organisation

Suggested Improvements

20 mins & 50 min talks, with 5 min questions + 5 mins to get to next talk!

Feedback Form 61

Best about Conference

Meeting people.

Worst about Conference

Travelling from Southampton.

Feedback Form 62

Best about Conference

Dinner & social events.

Worst about Conference

Small rooms (sometimes).

Suggested Improvements

Videos & podcasts of the talks would be a nice improvement.

Feedback Form 64

Best about Conference

Lightning talks very good for making contacts

Worst about Conference

Saturday keynotes should be on a topic of wider interest

Suggested Improvements

More business presence.

Feedback Form 65

Best about Conference

Simon's keynote

Worst about Conference

My hangover

Suggested Improvements

It would be good if there were 5 minute gaps between talks to give people time to move from room to room and for the speakers to plug in their microphones

Feedback Form 66

Best about Conference

Lightning talks.

Worst about Conference

Too many breaks.

Suggested Improvements

More single session key notes.

Feedback Form 67

Suggested Improvements

More tutorials for beginners.

Feedback Form 68

Best about Conference

Meeting loads of smart & friendly Python programmers

Worst about Conference

Lack of sleep

Suggested Improvements

Guido! OK, so I couldn't think of anything...

Feedback Form 69

Best about Conference

Most of the rest.

Worst about Conference

• People coming into talks late.
• Using laptops during talks.

Suggested Improvements

• 5 minute gaps between talks.

• Displayed timetable to have brief resume of talk content for latecomers & those who haven't studied the website.

Feedback Form 70

Best about Conference

Broad topic range

Worst about Conference

lack of detailed abstracts for talks

Suggested Improvements

few hundred abstracts for talks

Feedback Form 71

Best about Conference

Talks related to new ideas and technologies.

Worst about Conference

Some talks too basic but described as advanced.

Suggested Improvements

Lunch was a bit disorganised.

Feedback Form 72

Best about Conference

• Twisted talks were excellent

Feedback Form 73

Best about Conference

Very well organised, especially considering this is 1st conference & no-one's getting paid to organise it!

Worst about Conference

Insufficient fruit & water.

Suggested Improvements

• (a) Print off talk details & speaker details & pin them up somewhere.

• (b) I saw no fruit, and a water-cooler would have been fantastic!

Feedback Form 74

Suggested Improvements

• A structured way for people to meet people they don't know

Feedback Form 75

Best about Conference

Django and metatests were excellent.

Worst about Conference

Can't find anything bad.

Suggested Improvements

Have more of advanced topics.

Feedback Form 76

Best about Conference

Good talks & well organised

Worst about Conference

Would have preferred more talks in afternoon, less in the morning

Suggested Improvements

Just keep doing the same

Feedback Form 78

Suggested Improvements

I would prefer separation of talks and tutorials into separate sessions.

Feedback Form 80

Suggested Improvements

Add speaker name/summary to printed timetable.

Feedback Form 81

Suggested Improvements

Titles for keynote speeches.

Feedback Form 82

Best about Conference

Dinner

Worst about Conference

Two of the rooms, chairs at the same level, hard to see the screen.

Suggested Improvements

Allow 5 minutes between talks.

Feedback Form 83

Best about Conference

General conversations best.

Worst about Conference

Water should be available at all times.

Suggested Improvements

More veg. food.

Feedback Form 84

Worst about Conference

I would have liked to see at least one Zope 3 talk but I assume no one offered to give one.

Suggested Improvements

Haven't got much there, excellent job organising this!

Feedback Form 85

Best about Conference

• Best internet access all conference season this summer

Suggested Improvements

• Early start on Sunday

Feedback Form 87

Best about Conference

The people.

Feedback Form 88

Suggested Improvements

Have it in Brum

Feedback Form 89

Best about Conference

New ideas

Worst about Conference

No electric outlets in conference rooms

Feedback Form 90

Best about Conference

Lots of interesting & useful talks.

Worst about Conference

Too many talks I want to see on at the same time.

Suggested Improvements

• Have all talks start & end at the same time to help minimise schedule clash.

• Post up more info on the talks - not always obvious from the title.

Feedback Form 91

Best about Conference

Some of the speakers were excellent esp fludiinfo talks + Simon's key note + good to chat to people during breaks.

Suggested Improvements

* For UK delegates publish which city they're in so you can find local people to meet with again. * Let delegates publish a profile on the conf website in advance of the conf so you can find people you would particularly like to meet!

Feedback Form 92

Best about Conference

• Friendly people

Worst about Conference

• Sunday start too early

Suggested Improvements

• Start later on Sunday morning

Feedback Form 93

Best about Conference

Meeting fellow Pythonistas

Worst about Conference

occasional music in talks

Suggested Improvements

more talks on advanced topics

Feedback Form 94

Best about Conference

Quality of talks for 'new age of A...', Fluidinfo and PyQT.

Worst about Conference

Talk clashes.

Feedback Form 95

Best about Conference

John Pinner

Worst about Conference

Sprints need ad on main page and should be signed up a some time as t-shirts

Suggested Improvements

Promote sprints as equal to everything else in the conference.

Feedback Form 96

Best about Conference

The people.

Worst about Conference

Perhaps too little breathing space between talks.

Suggested Improvements

Open space needs to be separate, not concurrent. Better BoF arrangements?

Feedback Form 98

Best about Conference

Variety of talks.

Worst about Conference

Lunch - selection of food on Saturday.

Suggested Improvements

3-4 days, dedicated tutorial day.

Feedback Form 99

Suggested Improvements

• Longer talks, the 30 ones usually ran out of time and there was no room for questions or even enough time to get to the next talk on time.
• Dinner somewhere that doesn't think vegetarians are anorexic 12 year olds with no taste (lunch was pretty good though)

Feedback Form 100

Best about Conference

• Internet access
• Simon Willison
• After dinner speaker

Worst about Conference

• Moving between events

Suggested Improvements

• More time (5 minutes) to move between talks and for speakers to get settled
• Time synchronisation, starting same time, ending same time

Feedback Form 101

Best about Conference

Good mood (means a good overall conference).

Worst about Conference

Sprints before weren't used (wrong time? not established yet)

Suggested Improvements

Please write (mention) the names of the speakers in the Talks schedule (not only the title of the talks)!!!

Feedback Form 102

Best about Conference

• Attitude of everyone

Worst about Conference

• Public spaces were a bit crowded at break times

Suggested Improvements

• Not on Sunday, move to Friday / Saturday

Feedback Form 103

Best about Conference

• Best networking

Worst about Conference

• Missing talks due to clashes

Suggested Improvements

• Dinner somewhere where they serve real ale

Feedback Form 104

Suggested Improvements

• to seek more international participation
• overview of Python libraries in OSS as well as wishes of people for next developments
• Badges showing keywords about main topic of interest of the person.

Feedback Form 105

Best about Conference

PyPy

Worst about Conference

Early starts

Suggested Improvements

Push everything back an hour.

Feedback Form 106

Best about Conference

Friendly Atmosphere

Worst about Conference

Printed Program

Suggested Improvements

The organisers did a very good job - how can I ask for more? So, to improve, ask for and encourage volunteer helpers. Also, have a regional BOF session.

Feedback Form 107

Best about Conference

The variety of talks to use Python in different applications, tutorials.

Worst about Conference

Some of the talks were too short in time.

Suggested Improvements

I would like to see other Python related applications to scientific programming (SciPy).

No WEP password.

Feedback Form 109

Best about Conference

Great talks, great people.

Worst about Conference

Lack of seating w open space.

Suggested Improvements

Less labyrinthine venue.

Feedback Form 110

Best about Conference

Being able to find talks easily via signage.

Worst about Conference

Initially being unable to find exits.

Suggested Improvements

Put the after eights in the fridge.

Feedback Form 111

Suggested Improvements

• Radio mics. Some speakers were clearly uncomfortable with hand held mics.
• Balance - some talks were v.introductory, others v.heavyweight, not much in between.
• Good though.

Feedback Form 112

Best about Conference

Hard to say, overall organisation, variety of talks, good time keeping.

Worst about Conference

Copy of talks not on the conference CD for many talks.

Suggested Improvements

Possibly adding the company name to conference badge & delegate list (for those delegates who do not object).

Mark speakers on the delegate list, possibly using the talk number.

Feedback Form 113

Best about Conference

Huge amount of people who use Python and lightning talks.