And it opens with a bang. During the Early Bird period we will be offering short-lived ticket bargains at extra-special discounts. Keep an eye on this site, follow @TheOpenBastion on Twitter and watch your usual email channels to hear more about these offers.
As in previous years we will be using Eventbrite as our registration system. The easiest way to register is with a credit card. Register now to get the best prices. Other mechanisms are discussed below.
You need to tell us your requirements by email. We reply telling you what the cost will be, and if you approve we send you a PayPal request. When the payment is made we issue your registration confirmations by email.
We accept purchase orders from corporations, government departments and educational establishments, and will issue an invoice on receipt. When payment is received we issue your registration confirmations by email.
Educational institutions and registered non-profit organizations may claim a 20% discount on all registrations. Please email djangocon2013@theopenbastion.com to discuss your requirements and obtain the necessary access code.
Please remember that discounts cannot be combined, used in conjunction with other special offers, or applied to student tickets.
DjangoCon remains first and foremost a community conference. Its success is largely due to the relevance and topicality of the talks and tutorials. Please respond to the Call for Submissions - we are looking for tutorials and talks of general interest to the Django community. Also please tell us what would make this the best DjangoCon ever.
We want input from you, the Django community, about the kinds of talk you want to hear. Tweet to @TheOpenBastion either to tell us in the tweet about talks you would like to see at DjangoCon or to point us to longer blogs posts and the like telling us about your interests using hashtag #djangotalks. You can also mail us at djangocon2013 at theopenbastion dot com
We want this year's talks to be the best to date, and previous years have set the bar pretty high already. So let's start the dialogue, and make sure that the program is as relevant as possible to as many people as possible.
Thanks for your help.
This hotel, in the heart of downtown Chicago, offers the same excellent quality of accommodation and meeting facilities as last year's conference. If you book your stay by following this link you are assured of the lowest available rate and free in-room Internet service to keep you productive whenever you need to be.
On East Wacker Drive and connecting with the Illinois Center, the Hyatt commands waterfront views of the Chicago river. Centrally situated, all of Chicago is outside your door, so make sure you book extra time around the conference to enjoy everything the city has to offer. And don't forget to take a ride on the El!
The conference facilities are second to none, and The Open Bastion is sure that the food and beverages are up to our usual high standard. We want you to get the most you possibly can out of your stay in Chicago, and the conference suite will ensure a pleasant and productive DjangoCon.
Your comfort is important. There is often little time to relax, and so you want to make sure that you make every minute count. The Hyatt bedrooms, with complimentary Internet for registered DjangoCon guests, are comfortable and spacious.
At the rates we have negotiated, why stay anywhere else? Enjoy the convenience of staying at the conference hotel, with no travel time and instant access to all conference events.
Please let us have your suggestions and recommendations for other hotels in the area.
The annual tradition of lightning talks has captivated the Django world. This year we will again be running three sessions of lightning talks. Sign-up sheets will be displayed near the registration desk, and if there are more candidates than slots we will use a semi-random algorithm to select the talks that are actually presented.
With about three hours we should (if we are lucky, and efficient) be able to get through at least thirty talks. But there is a way we can do more ...
A lightning talk is a chance to say something to (a large subset of) the whole conference. The thing is, lightnings should last "a MAXIMUM of five minutes." Allowing a minute between talks, if each talk averaged THREE minutes there would be time for roughly forty-five talks. So please don't feel that you HAVE to speak for five minutes. Say what you have to say, and stop.
So if you have ever considered giving a lightning talk and didn't put your name down because "I don't have five minute's worth of stuff to say" this year is for you too! We will be putting an "estimated talk length" item on the sign-up sheet, and shorter talks may be given some preference in the selection process.
Also, to have the selection process be reasonably transparent we would like two or three volunteers from the community to run it. Please let us know if you would like to volunteer.
So, you have spent three days learning about all the great, interesting new stuff that's been happening in Django and the many projects surrounding it. What could be more interesting than to cement your practical skills by applying this new knowledge?
The DjangoCon sprints are a time where people who normally live around the world, and collaborate over irc and mailing lists, come to one place to work together in person. Many people will be working on the Django code base, lots of others will be working on related projects (Pinax, South, Armstrong, etc.) or they'll be working on tasks to support Django as a project (documentation, ticket triage, promotion). Regardless of your experience level the sprints are a great opportunity to collaborate, learn, and give something back to the community.
The sprints are normally kicked off at the very end of the conference with a session that ends the Thursday afternoon. This allows people to discover what sprints are talking place. The sprints themselves notionally run from 9am - 9pm on Friday and Saturday.
There is no registration required to attend the sprints. At the last session of the main conference, we'll be having a sprints kick-off. During this session leaders for the various projects and efforts that will be worked on during the sprints will be asked to give a quick intro to the project and a quick overview of how best people can contribute. During the sprints themselves, it's mostly a matter of showing up at the venue, introducing yourself to the people you'd like to work with, and then getting down to work. If you have any questions or run into any problems feel free to talk to one of the on-site organizers or simply ask the person you end up sitting next to.
Open Space is traditionally a way of allowing people to self-organize around activities they feel will be of common benefit. These are ad hoc sessions rather than being pre-planned.
Open Space allows a speaker to continue in-depth Q&A after her talk, for example, or any group to have a discussion on any topic of their choice. It really is up to you how to use the space, which we try to make available in sufficient volume.
There are very few formalities associated with Open Space sessions. Simply sign up on the provided board, and turn up at the time to you have reserved to facilitate your session.
Almost everyone who attends this conference develops Django, or uses Django to develop applications. Many do both. So this event is the place to meet and interact with Django developers.
DjangoCon is the place to find out straight from the horse's mouth what's coming down the pike. You will also discover lots of detail about an enormous range of applications different people are building with Django.
You can meet your friends from the Django community, socialize with Django core developers, and enjoy time in downtown Chicago with all it has to offer.
DjangoCon: Chicago, September 2-7, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Be there, or miss out.
DjangoCon tutorials are one of the most cost-effective ways to get information about basic through advanced Django topics.
The tutorials are written and presented by world experts in their field, at unbeatable pricing levels.
Tutorial proposals are due in at the same time as talk proposals, and we will publish a schedule of tutorials at the same time as the main conference schedule. Keep your eyes open then!