The PyCon US Blog

In a first-ever event, the PyCon organizers hosted a charity auction with the proceeds benefitting PyLadies , a mentorship group to help bring more women into the Python and open source community. Held on Saturday March 16, the evening event brought in $9,284 in two hours by auctioning items donated by many of PyCon’s sponsors. After the event, the Python Software Foundation contributed the difference to make an even $10,000. The group also raised $900 through t-shirt sales at the conference. “I was stunned at the amount we raised,” said PyLadies member and volunteer auctioneer Katie Cunningham. Just days before, with the help of Barbara Shaurette, Cunningham was running a free two-day tutorial series for children titled “Young Coder: Let’s Learn Python”, which has been covered on the PyCon blog . “It was great to see people having to stand in the room, all seats were taken,” said organizer Lynn Root of the event’s attendance. While PyCon’s formal schedule only lasts until the ea

Another new event for PyCon 2013 is our charity auction on Saturday March 16, with the proceeds benefiting PyLadies ! They’ve been a driving force in diversity efforts around the Python community and we’re thankful to have them involved in another PyCon. Their actions have made a significant impact on our call for proposals for tutorials and talks, and their financial aid grants as well as events throughout the conference have made PyCon a better event for everyone. We have a lot of great items lined up for the event, including some from our wonderful friends in the clothing business: Elegant Stitches . They’ve been running a booth for many years at PyCon to sell various Python related items, from t-shirts to laptop bags, and much more. Conference sponsor Eventbrite is also joining the fun with the donation of a two-hour lunch with co-founder and CEO, Kevin Hartz . You never know where this delicious conversation could go! If your company is sponsoring PyCon or you want to donate ite