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Presenting a poster at PyCon - a first timer's perspective

You should present a poster at PyCon. Why? Why not is more like it! I presented a poster at PyCon for the first time last year, and it was a fantastic experience. Let me tell you why.

I have presented posters many times in the past at several conferences. Those poster sessions are usually the same ole' same ole'; you hang up your poster, maybe you are required to be there during a certain time period, maybe not. If you are required to be there at the poster, you might have a few people stop by and chat you up. You take down the poster, that's it. Not a whole lot to be gained, really.

Well, PyCon is much, much different. Sure, you put up the poster, are required to be there for an hour and a half, and you take down the poster. What's different is what actually happens during that hour and a half you are at your poster. You actually talk to people, probably a lot of people. I'd say I probably personally talked to a couple dozen people last year during the poster session, but had many more dozens actually stop by for a look at my poster, listen in on conversations, and pick up a flyer of my poster. That's the beauty of a poster session; if you want to get in on a conversation, then just chime in, the free and open exchange of ideas (and contact information) is what it is all about. You'd think that an hour and a half would be a long time to stand there, but believe me, it really flies by, and it's a lot of fun.

Simply put, the PyCon poster session is a low-pressure, low-stress way to share your idea, project, or something you have learned with the PyCon community.

The poster proposal submission deadline is January 16, 2013, which is fast approaching. Got a library you are working on you'd like to show off, a project that uses Python, or something else Python-related to present? Please submit a poster proposal, we'd love to have you at the poster session in 2013 in Santa Clara.

To submit a poster proposal, sign up or log in to your account and proceed to your account dashboard.

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