The PyCon US 2013 call for papers (CFP) ends tomorrow, September 28th, 2012. We need more talk and tutorial submissions. Talks are 30 or 45 minute efforts in front of the PyCon audience and are recorded for posterity. Tutorials are three hours long and are given to attendees who have paid an additional fee in order to slurp in knowledge from the masters.

On the 3 hour tutorial side of things, we especially need more Intro to Python level submission. That means getting beginners up to speed on basic Python techniques, so they can then exploit the other tutorials, conference, and sprints to their full advantage.

Now onto some questions...

1. I would like to give a tutorial but it's so much work to put together 3 hours of quality content.

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The organizers of PyCon recognize that putting together a quality tutorial is an amazing amount of work. Which is why tutorial presenters are compensated for their effort.

2. What is the most likely length talk to be accepted? 30 minutes or 45 minutes?

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The vast majority of PyCon sessions are 30 minutes long, so 45 minute slots are rare and valuable commodities. So if your talk needs to be 45 minutes long your proposal has to really speak to the PyCon talk reviewers.

Not only that, if reviewers send you information requests for any duration talk or tutorial, you dramatically increase your odds of talk acceptance with timely responses.

And, as said before, PyCon really needs more introductory level Python tutorial submissions.

3. I would like to present a talk or tutorial but I can't afford to come to PyCon.

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PyCon's financial aid program is said to favor accepted speakers to PyCon. They really want you to come!

4. I would like to present but I can't come up with a good idea!

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I had this problem as well! Then I looked at the Suggested Tutorial Topics and got some ideas.

5. Ack! I've got a talk idea but it's going to take me too much time to put it together!

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Submit the talk anyway before the talk and in fields you aren't ready to fill in, simply put 'TBD'. Then over the course of the next few days replace TBD with real material. Don't wait too long though to fix those TBDs, no more than a week!

6. I'm a beginner/nobody in the community, is there any chance my proposal will get accepted?

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Absolutely!

The PyCon talk/tutorial reviewers love to see new people present. While experienced/proven speakers have an edge, good talk/tutorial proposals from promising candidates can make it into the conference. Carefully double-check your submission, be responsive to reviewers, and stay positive. I'm not saying you will get in, but I am saying it's worth the effort.

Good luck!

PyCon 2013 is going to be bigger and better than any previous year. That's because we pull together as a community to run an amazing event that is known to jumpstart careers and cause amazing life changes. We can't do this without you, so hurry up on your PyCon US 2013 submissions!