[python-users] EuroPython 2011 Election -- Polls open now, close Nov 8

Di Nov 3 13:05:03 CET 2009

Hallo zusammen,

hier ist er endlich: Der offizielle Wahlaufruf zur EuroPython 2011 !!

Wahlberechtigt seid Ihr im Prinzip alle! Genaueres könnt Ihr unten 
in den Ausführungen von Laura nachlesen. 

Die Wahl ist fast geheim; also bitte stimmt frei nach Eurem Gewissen ab ;-)

Viele Grüße,
Andreas

PS: Bitte verteilt den Aufruf doch auch an weitere Listen weiter.

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Laura Creighton [mailto:lac at openend.se] 
Gesendet: Dienstag, 3. November 2009 12:36
An: europython-improve at python.org
Cc: Schreiber, Andreas; lac at openend.se; onyame at googlemail.com; Fabio Pliger
Betreff: EuroPython 2011 Election -- Polls open now, close Nov 8

Hello EuroPython Organisers:

It is my pleasant duty to tell you that now is the time to select which city will host EuroPython in 2011.  We have two excellent proposals, one from Florence, Italy and another from Cologne, Germany.

You can read the proposals here:
http://www2.openend.se/~lac/EP2011/

Who should vote?

    My intent is to restrict the voting to people who have a past
    history of working EuroPythons, and whom we can reasonably expect
    to work both this year's Birmingham 2010 EuroPython and either of
    the two proposing bids.  For that reason I am sending this notice
    to europython-improve at python.org and to the proposal submitters,
    Fabio Pliger and Andreas.Schreiber, asking them to circulcate
    this notice among those who helped write the proposal and who can
    otherwise be expected to work on their successful bid.

I'm one of those helpers, and I don't speak English all that well.  It's not clear to me that I can be of much help to the Birmingham organisers.
Do you still want me to vote?

   Yes.  And we will work harder at finding ways to make you useful
   this year, after all.  

I read the proposals and there is a large discrepancy between the proposed levels of 'sponsorship donation' which effects the price.
What gives?

    Do not worry too much about differences in the proposed
    Sponsorship revenue.  Experience has shown that the only way to run
    this thing is to build a budget with 0 Euros Sponsorhip, which is a
    'bare bones EuroPython' where everything is paid for by conference
    fees.  And then you build spreadsheets saying 'assume we get so
    much' - ok, we will add this, that, and some other feature (and
    decrease the cost to attendees by so much, if appropriate).  Thus
    the sponsorship numbers are 'best guess' sort of figures.  The
    Italian one is significantly higher than the German one, but then
    PyCON Italia has a track record of raising significant money for
    the Italian conference.  Indeed, they have raised more for PyCON
    Italia than we have for EuroPython.  So -- do not take the numbers
    too seriously, but don't take them as crazy, either.

    This means that people who only care about price will not know
    which horse to bet in this race .... but actually, this was always
    the case.  How much one can raise in sponsorship seems directly
    related to 'who is hiring' and 'how's the economy doing' and little
    else.  I don't have a working crystal ball for 2011, alas.

    What matters is that these are both solid proposals whose authors
    have seriously looked at the real charges for actually hosting a
    EuroPython.  I wanted to include a budget so that I could reject
    proposals that were done by people who didn't understand enough
    of the realities of hosting a conference (while encouraging them
    to get more involved with EuroPython organisation to learn such
    things).  Luckily, I didn't have to veto any proposals for being
    immature.

I have more questions for the proposers.  Where do I ask them?

    europython-improve at python.org  Please do not send them directly.
    If you have the question, chances are somebody else does as well.

I want to help with EuroPython no matter where it is held.  Is that Ok?

    That's wonderful.  Please subscribe to europython-improve at python.org .

Enough, already! HOW DO I VOTE?

    Please send a piece of mail with your full name included to either:

    germany at pbf.openend.se

    or

    italy at pbf.openend.se

When is the election period?

     The polls will close on Sunday Nov 8 at midnight CET.  That's
     the same timezone as Florence and Cologne.

Can I send you my vote directly, or post it to europython-improve?

    *** NO. NO. NO. ***
    And I won't count it if you do that.

Who will read these votes?

    Just me. (Laura Creighton)

What's to keep people from cheating?

    Risking my extreme displeasure.

No, seriously, there are a lot of things that could go wrong about this, what will we do if that happens?

     We will deal with this if we come to it.  There are a lot of
     problems with the other proposed ways to hold an election.

How will you publish the results?

    I will make a list of who voted (so you can check that your vote
    went through), but not who you voted for.  This means that people
    who worked the Italian proposal are free to vote for Germany, and
    vice versa, if they so chose.  Nobody will find out how you voted.
    On Monday I will announce the totals.  I'm opposed to the leaking
    of information prior to the closing of the polls -- so there will
    be none of this 'with 3 days into the poll, xxx is ahead by
    3 votes, nonsense'.  I think it influences the result, and in a
    very bad way.

What happens if two people have the same full name but different email addresses?  

     When I get two votes from different email addresses I will
     make an effort to determine how many people this represents.
     If the number turns out to be '1 idiot, voting twice' I will
     be quite annoyed, so please do not do that.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you who have worked on both of these excellent proposals.  I wish you both the best of luck, and look forward to working with you in the future.

Best,
Laura Creighton
Election Commissioner