Talks at BelPy

If you’re going to walk the walk, you have to be able to talk the talk — the ‘Tech Talk’ that is.

Technology is becoming more and more important as we move forward, and it is changing our lives in ways that were unimaginable before. Trends such as the Internet of Things are enabling us to monitor and control our environment like never before. Machine learning is enabling computers to decide like—and sometimes better—than humans. End-to-end encryption is giving us (back) privacy that can’t be undermined. Bitcoin and blockchain are revolutionizing the payment industry and domains beyond. Virtual and augmented reality are transforming a host of industries by enhancing the human experience.

This is just a glimpse of where technology stands today. A whole lot of exciting opportunities are waiting beyond the horizon.

• At BelPy Talks, we examine trends in technology, how they affect the way we live and do business, and the problems they solve. But we also discuss the evil side of technology, the darker implications of new tech and what we need to look out for.
• Talks are selected through a CFP (Call For Proposals) process. Interested members of the community propose their talks. An editorial panel designated by the organisers makes the selections.

What To Propose

Anything of interest to Python Community and Python programmers is welcome.

‘The secret of getting ahead is getting started.’ - Mark Twain

To get started, here are a few topics that we feel might be great.

• Data Science, Machine Learning and AI
• Networking and Security - Network Programming, Network Security and Encryption
• Web - Web development, APIs
• Frameworks - Django, web2py, Pylons etc.
• Scientific Computing
• Community
• Core Programming

Or did you read some research paper and would like to explain the aspects of it or just enlighten with some views of yours? Yes, feel free to do so! Alternatively, just brainstorm and look around, you might just come up with a great idea that can catch your mind!

All in all, One in one

‘A well delivered lecture even at a beginner level is often well received.’

The Secret Recipe to an amazing talk or workshop:

‘Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.’

Presentation goals are usually some of the following:

• Introduce the audience to a new topic.
• Speak of new developments on a well-known topic.
• Show the audience real-world usage scenarios for a specific topic (case studies).
• Dig into advanced and relatively unknown details on a topic.
• Compare different solutions available on the market for a topic.

The Review Process

• Authors should propose their talks using the CFP application.
• BelPy members review the proposals for completeness.
• Once the proposals are ready, they are reviewed by a panel of experts.
• If the proposal does not look complete, or the reviewers need clarifications, the author is notified via comments.
• The panel of experts finally vote on the proposals.
• A pre-final shortlist is eventually prepared based on the votes.
• The shortlisted proposals go through a round of rehearsals (more details in the section below).
• A final list is created and published.

Best Practices for Speakers

• Apply

Even if you have a vague idea, submit a proposal. We're available for help with ideas and feedback (contact information is in the section below). Don't worry about communication skills or English - we are there to help with that too. And our focus is more on the content. Make it detailed

• Add as much detail as possible to the proposal.

Add the presentation slides if you already have one. Add a short minute video giving a summary of the proposal. More detail helps reviewers make better judgement.

• Propose early

We will start the review process as the proposals come in, and not at the end. Proposals submitted early will get more attention and feedback

• The code of conduct

Take a look at the code of conduct, and be mindful of it. The gist is, be nice and avoid using sexist language.

Notes:

• Please do not share any confidential information in your proposal.
• The BelPy team will not be liable for any intellectual property related to your content. Do get proper approval as required from your respective organisation for your content involved.
• All the artifacts from selected talks are to be made public under creative commons license post conference.
• The content you submit for your talk will be visible to the volunteers and reviewers of the BelPy Review and CFP working groups.