It’s time to kick off the lead up to a great PyTN 2017! I’m very excited about this year event, and I hope you are as well. I’m pleased to welcome a few new organizers to this year’s event: Bill Isreal (co-chair) and Jessica Wynn (Volunteer Chair). I know you’ll find their extra efforts will help the conference feel more coordinated and organized, so please thank them if you see them. Let’s start with the keynotes, which we’ll be posting full profiles of in the coming weeks. However, here are the reasons they are special to me:
- Sophie Rapoport: A software engineer from Nashville who has made a distinct impression on me with her sharp intellect, dedication to learning, and teaching nature. Simply an amazing person.
- Courey Elliott: A software developer who I first meet about 2 years ago with an amazing capacity for reasoning, a wide array of interests, a constant desire to learn, and a wonderful soul.
- Jurnell Cockhren: An amazingly wide and deeply learned individual inside and outside of technology. Working right at the line between software engineering, operations, and teaching, Jurnell’s sharp mind, excellent sense of humor, and beautiful humanity endeared him to me from the beginning.
- Sarah Guido: One of the people I greatly admire in the data science world, Sarah can take complex concepts break them down into understandable pieces with ease. Sarah’s impressive engineering skills lead her to solve complex problems in data science and development alike. With a great compassion to empower others, powerful logic, and writing, Sarah is truly an asset to our community.
CFP Opens Saturday Oct 1st!
PyTennessee 2017 is accepting all types of proposals starting this Saturday Oct 1st through Nov 15th, 2017. Due to the competitive nature of the selection process, we encourage prospective speakers to submit their proposals as early as possible. We’re looking forward to receiving your best proposals for tutorials and talks. Lightning talk sign-ups will be available at the registration desk the day of the event.
Note: To submit a proposal, sign up or log in to your account and proceed to your account dashboard !
Special Sponsorship ProfileIntellovations has been the first sponsor of PyTN for all 4 years we have had the conference, and in addition to their financial support, they have been providing words of encouragement behind the scenes for all those years as well. They are truly part of the PyTN family, and for that, we are greatly appreciative and lucky to call them friends.
Young CodersWe will be having young coders again this year. Tickets will be available December 15th at noon and they normally go fast. The program will be lead by Brad Montgomery, a masterful python teacher, again this year. This free program is open to ages 12-17, and all attendees will receive take home books and a Chromebook.
After PartyLast year, we had a games night put on by Eventbrite, and behind the scenes of that party was a group called Meeple Mountain. We heard from many MANY of you how much you enjoyed the game night, and it will be returning this year! The Meeple Mountain crew will be on hand and you can learn more about this and this event at their website.
A Closing NoteFour years ago, a collection of us started PyTN to fill what we felt was a gap in our community. We wanted a place to come together to learn about python, share our experiences, and add a human touch to what is sometimes a tough profession in which to do that. This year as we started planning for PyTN, I realized that we had grown from 110 to over 360 people during these years. On behalf of myself, my wife and all the other organizers, we personally want to thank you for sharing in our vision of this event, you all have made it far more than we every imagined. I’ll greatly cherish all the experiences we shared, Katie Cunningham painting my nails, Lars telling us the story of two braids, Eric eating the Publix sushi, and so many other countless fun things. On that note, PyTN 2017 will be my last one as Chair of the conference, and I want to throw a party! So I hope you’ll join me and all the other organizers in a celebration of the community you all built.
Thank you,
Jason Myers
PyTN 2017 Chair