London Python Announce

Last night went very well, I thought. Good crowd (50 or so), good speakers, plenty of beer and pizza, and I didn’t screw anything up.

Thanks to ThoughtWorks for the venue, beer, and pizza, thanks to all the lightning speakers, thanks to Jacob for giving up time for us on his holiday, and especially thanks to all of you who turned up. Watch this space for more…

Oh - and we all managed to end up in the same pub afterwards. Result!

Filed by simon at 1:15 pm under meetup, python
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It’s doubly good time for a Python meet-up. Firstly, Django’s Jacob Kaplan-Moss is in town. If I can coax him into speaking, I will.

Secondly, what with the release of the Google App Engine, I expect a big increase in interest in Python in general.

The venue is the ThoughtWorks UK office (map here). The time is seven in the evening, for a seven-thirty start. Beer and (hopefully) pizza provided.

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Filed by simon at 4:16 pm under meetup, python
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There’s a couple of upcoming events that some of you might be interested in.

Firstly, Brighton’s first Python meet is planned for February the 20th, and Ian Ozsvald sent us all an invite. Sounds like fun. (I can’t make the first of these, but I’ll keep an eye out for later events.

Secondly, QCon London will be running again this year. It’s a great line-up again. I missed last year, but I hope to be able to make it this year. If you fancy going, you can save £50 with the use of discount code “user_group_50″.

Filed by simon at 1:43 pm under meetup, python
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I’d like to try another formal event for March - see if I can be a bit less disorganised this time - but for that, I’ll need speakers. Any volunteers?

Filed by simon at 9:51 am under meetup, python
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Following a couple of semi-formal meetups, I thought it was time for one of our decidedly unformal booze-ups. The Porterhouse, Covent Garden, Tuesday, February the 12th anyone?

Filed by simon at 9:47 am under meetup, python, beer
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Sorry about all the cock-ups last night. I still have no idea why the pizza didn’t turn up. And I never did find out which pub you all went to…

Still, The speakers were great, I thought, even though I let people go way over time.

So, next time, I’ll watch the speakers’ times very much more closely, I’ll have a pub pre-planned, with a few maps printed out, and I’ll double check the pizza!

Thanks to ThoughtWorks for the facilities, and for the beer.

Update: Fuzzyman’s take on the evening. Glad you enjoyed it, Michael!

Filed by simon at 9:40 am under meetup, python
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Tomorrow is shaping up well, but there may still be room for more lightning speakers.

I’m looking for, oh, half a dozen or so. So far, I have James Casbon and Andy Nelis, and maybes from Michael Foord, Menno Smits, Jonathan Hogg, and Michael Grazebrook. Feel free to sign up anyway - there will be space for you next time if not tomorrow.

Update: I have confirmation from Michael Foord and Michael Grazebrook now too, and cancellations from Jonathan Hogg and Menno Smits.

Filed by simon at 9:50 am under meetup, python
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I’ve been given the go-ahead to organise another Python meetup. Again, the venue is the ThoughtWorks UK office (map here), and as last time, there should be someone speaking by 7:30 so we can be in the pub well before ten.

Arrive early if you want beer and pizza!

I’m looking for just the one main speaker this time, and up to half a dozen lightning talks.

Please comment below if you plan on coming - I’d like to get some idea of numbers - and especially if you’d like to give a talk. Hope to see a lot of you there!

Update: We have a main speaker - Andy Robinson of ReportLab, Python stalwart, will be telling us about Personalised publishing with Django. Thanks, Andy.

I’m still looking for lightning speakers.

Also, O’Reilly have donated a couple of copies of the forthcoming new edition of Learning Python which I’ll be raffling off. So, thanks to them, too.

Josette at O’Reilly has requested that whoever wins a copy of Learning Python writes up a quick review of it somewhere. I’m sure Amazon would be a good place to put it if you don’t have a blog or whatnot.

Also, if you want to be included in the raffle, make sure you’ve left a comment to tell me you’re coming.

Filed by simon at 2:09 pm under meetup, python
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Last night went pretty well, I thought. Good speakers, good pizza, a good crowd, and acceptable beer. No such thing as bad free beer, right. We did run a little later than I’d planned, but not horribly so.

So, thanks to all who came, thanks to all the speakers, and thanks to ThoughtWorks for the venue and victuals.

A spot of coverage from Tim Golden and Fuzzyman.

I’m hoping to arrange more evenings like this soon. I was thinking that in future I’d aim to have just the one 30-45 minute main speaker, and leave more room for lightning talks.

What does everyone think? Volunteers?

Filed by simon at 1:26 pm under meetup, python
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Following the superb PyCon UK, there’s been a fair amount in interest shown in Python meetings in London, so I’m hoping for a good turn out this time. The venue this time is the ThoughtWorks UK office (map here). I’ll be there at seven, and aim to have someone speaking at half past or so.

I’m sure we’ll end up in the pub at some point, though.

This means that we can do presentations and demos and the like, so I’m looking for speakers. Any of the sessions or lightnings from PyCon UK would be very suitable.

Please comment below if you plan on coming - I’d like to get some idea of numbers - and especially if you’d like to give a talk. Hope to see a lot of you there!

Update: We are all systems go for the meetup. Don’t be shy - do leave a comment if you are coming!

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Filed by simon at 8:51 am under meetup, python
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