DjangoCon Europe 2021 Announcement
This announcement retracts the previous announcement regarding the hybrid DjangoCon Europe 2021. Sadly, this year, we will not have the physical component, we are deeply sorry for our initial over-optimistic announcement.
We are happy to announce that DjangoCon Europe 2021 will take place online-only between June 2 and 6! The website is will be online soon at 2021.djangocon.eu and it will be kept up to date with the latest updates. Don't forget to follow @djangoconeurope on Twitter.
Last year, we postponed several contracts with the venue, sound team, video team, catering, security, and other partnerships. Therefore, we were prepared to organize a hybrid conference with several "in-person" restrictions (incl. negative Covid-19 test and health authority inspection). In addition to that, we would offer the virtual conference not only for everyone that was not able or not comfortable to come to Portugal.
We do believe that the chosen date would already be safer to travel, nevertheless, the general idea behind the hybrid event was to give people the choice, not to enforce any option.
We meant to do a good thing, and bring the conference to the community in a safe environment. We can now see that we might have been either too optimistic in the best case or completely misread the situation in the worst case. We apologize for our mistake and accept the criticism which made us change our view on the subject. As a result, following the DSF board and members' remarks, a virtual-only conference is the only viable path.
Last year's edition was the first virtual DjangoCon Europe ever. The conference was a huge success with more than 800 registrants from 5 different continents. With the support of everyone from grants and sponsors, we were able to offer the community 500 registrations for free! This allowed for a lot of underrepresented or marginalized groups to have access to the event that otherwise would be in a very difficult position to attend. For example, there was a group of 18 students from the Cummins College of Engineering for Women in India.
For this edition, there is a lot to do, but it's very much worth it – DjangoCon Europe is an extremely friendly, open, inclusive, and informative (for beginners and advanced users alike) conference. Here are some themes and examples of activities and responsibilities that we seek help with:
- Communications: Press, community relations, announcements, social media, attendee tools, volunteer coordination.
- Support and hospitality: Helpdesk, attendee support contact, chat support for attendees, speaker support.
- Financial Aid: Setup, grant selection, aid organization Sponsors: Outreach to companies, organizing their virtual presence at the event, and other types of visibility.
- Program: Committee work, talk selection, scheduling, session chairs, sprint/open space/keynote/lightning talks session organization (we will open the CFP soon!)
- Code of Conduct: Drafting documents, handling of requests and issues.
- Diversity advocate: Accessibility considerations and outreach (an online-only conference is an outstanding opportunity for inclusion).
Join us regardless of your prior experience: this is also an opportunity to learn! In other words, you don't have to be an expert to join. Apply through this form here.
Your location before and during the event is not significant, since it will be hosted in a virtual format. The only important thing is that you have the energy and free time to help organize a wonderful DjangoCon Europe. The official language of all these prior activities will be English, as well as the conference itself.
Don't be shy 😊. For any inquiries, you can email us at 2021@djangocon.eu or chat with us on Slack at DjangoConEurope2021
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