Our regional conference in 2026: No call for proposals.

[Iqbal Abdullah]

Hello folks,

To those of you who are not on our Discord, I'm also bringing this up here. But first, if you're not on Discord yet, I suggest that you join us as many of our other friends are there too: https://discord.gg/kVdBbQjh

This discussion is also being done on the Discord server here: https://discord.com/channels/904229032651030568/1331089756452290722

Anyway, as you know, we've started the Python Asia Organization (PAO) in Aug 2024. One of the reasons we're having PAO is to reduce the workload of local organizers by producing the conference by a single entity, PAO.

Many of the moving parts of organizing and running the conference yearly are the same for us organizers. Making PAO handle this will allow the organizers on the ground to focus on the logistics and event experience. The conference will still need to be held at a physical location, where PAO will work with the local community organizers.

We're thinking of producing our first regional conference in 2026. The name of the conference will be decided at a later date (it won't be PyCon APAC anymore and we'll have an informal vote on Discord), but what I want to discuss here is how we can actually execute the conference.

PAO doesn't have all the answers yet and this is something new for us to try. What we're thinking now is this: For 2026, instead of having a call for proposals for conference hosts, we're thinking of having it in Malaysia and working with the PyCon MY team for the first production of PAO. The reasons are:

1. One of the PAO directors (me) has experience running PyCon APAC in MY and has personal connections
2. MY is relatively inexpensive and has less stringent visa restrictions for foreign participants
3. The community there is open to the idea

I've spoken about this with Ivy and James from PyCon MY previously on a "what do you think?" basis and they seem open to the idea so I would like to explore this further. The earlier we discuss this and sort it out, the more time we have to prepare. What we learn from this initial experiment will be put into an initial standard operations manual and knowledge base so that **from 2027 onwards when we call for proposals for hosts again**, we know what to do and what the would-be hosts need to be prepared for.

I'm putting this here for discussion to get input and thoughts from as many people as possible so we can get wider views. You can join the discussion on the Discord channel above, or just reply to this email and I'll try to keep track of it.

[James Ing Wei Tang]

Hi Iqbal,

Below are Concerns on hosting conference with PAO after discussing with MY team:

1. Financial Concerns.

1. Who will collect the participation fee? 

2. What if local companies who are interested to sponsor, and who will collect the sponsorship amount? If a local company requests a Malaysia entity, PyCon MY will issue the invoice, and the money belongs to PyCon MY?

3. Food, swags, transportation, etc payment will be in MYR, will PyCon MY be the one who pays?

4. Is there any annual fee? If yes, how does it work?

2. Protocol Concerns.

1. If it involves a certain big name from any nation, by protocol, someone from the government needs to attend.

3. Immigration Concerns.

1. Who will be the inviters for the visa?

4. Administration

1. Would each country have a vote in any decision made in PAO?

2. Will there be a board like PyCon US?

5. Visual & Hardware assets

1. Who does it belong to?

2. Who comes out with the capex and opex?

3. Who gets to have the final say on this?

6. How does PAO benefit the overall community?

7. Who owns the copyright for the artworks, photo, audio and video recordings or other promotional materials?

8. Responsibilities and jurisdiction over reports for CoC violations.

9. Collaboration with Local Community

1. What is the collaboration model between PAO and local community? Will PAO drive the coordination while local community assists PAO in realising PAO Python event?

2. Will the voting for PAO Python event remain the same as previous PyCon APAC

Best regards

James Tang

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[Iqbal Abdullah]

Thanks James,

Freilla has started documentation and we will discuss this during our next monthly PAO call.

I think these are good questions to lay the groundwork on figuring out how PAO can work with and for the local communities while also being the main producer/organizer of our regional conference.

[Iqbal Abdullah]

James, PyCon MY folks and other on the list:

I've written down our thoughts as PAO addressing your concerns here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NqB8Weg-U5Jhv2y10NSHa2RjXQIAX3orEdtt-4uZ9xQ/edit?usp=sharing

What we want as PAO is to learn the best model we can have to work together with local communities, so this will be an experiment for us. It would be great to get feedback from you folks on this and see how we can work together to get our regional conference in MY for 2026.

On Fri, 7 Feb 2025 at 11:35, James Ing Wei Tang <tangingw...@gmail.com> wrote:

[James Ing Wei Tang]

Morning Iqbal and APAC/PAO team,

After deliberate consideration, unfortunately the MY decides not to host PAO conference for Year 2026.

Best regards

James Tang (MY)

[James Ing Wei Tang]

Hi Iqbal,

Thank you for clarifying the concerns PyCon MY had over the concall last night.

As discussed, let's have a living document to put our points together to iron out some details, including financial issues, collaboration, and responsibility sharing. This shall help PyCon MY to reconsider. We are positive about the possible outcome after the call.  


Thank you

Best regards,

James Tang