EuroPython Conference Software Requirements
This page is derived from PyConPlanning/SoftwareRequirements but focuses on things that have proven more relevant to EuroPython. The requirements here do not directly address general conference Web site issues, such as http://www.europython.org/ which focuses on the publishing of general information about the conference.
Existing Software
There are a few solutions people are using for conference management, including the following:
Indico - used for EuroPython 2006 and 2007
Zookeepr - developed for linux.conf.au
PyCon-Tech The PyCon submissions and schedule system - developed for PyCon and being developed further for PyCon UK
EuroPython Software - This was specifically written for EuroPython by the Python Italia user group as Django application and is open-source (only the design files are not open-source). It was used for EuroPython 2011-2013 and is the official conference software for EuroPython conferences.
Essentials
These are things which have been central to the organisation of EuroPython and which have already been managed using conference software:
- Account management
- Registration
- Paper/talk submissions
- Scheduling
Extras
These are things which could have been managed using conference software or which could have been made easier using such software:
- Feedback
- Sponsor management
Luxuries
These are things which people seem to find interesting but which haven't been the focus of the EuroPython organisers:
- Mapping of attendee locations
Account Management
It is not generally a good idea to allow unauthenticated users to register for a conference - this tends to attract speculative registrations from people who seem not to be serious about attending. However, a few use-cases need to be supported for people logging in to...
- Register themselves
- Register other people
- Submit/edit/withdraw materials created by themselves or collaborators
- Review paper/talk submissions
- Manage aspects of the conference
One limitation of the Indico instance hosted at CERN was the insistence that registrants must have their own account. Creative workarounds include using distinct e-mail aliases belonging to one person.
Registration
This combines some of the PyCon requirements for "users" with more general requirements:
- Support the following information:
- Name
- E-mail address
- Registrant status: participant, speaker, volunteer, session chair
- Registrant class: student, normal
- Payment class: paid, unpaid
Geographic information (this is more relevant for EuroPython given the number of countries involved)
- Organisation
- Other contact details
- Privacy preferences (would (not) like name published in delegate listing, would (not) like e-mail notifications)
- T-shirt size (if appropriate)
- Food preferences (if any)
- Export/reports of registrant information
- Badges must be able to show name, class/status, organisation, origin and must obviously be exportable (as PDF, for example)
- Payment:
- Support e-payment and later payment (bank transfer being the norm in Europe)
- Support non-paying registrants (guests, invitees)
- Must support different prices for students, non-students (and other classes of registrant)
- Keeps or can generate the total revenue for the conference
- Support tutorial registration and extra events
- Support capacity limits for tutorials and extra events
- Optional donations and/or extra items
- Support editing and cancellation of registrations by both users (for their own registrations) and by administrators
Paper/Talk Submissions
See "Account Management" for some relevant criteria.
- Reviewers can look at other people's proposals
- Organisers can mark proposals as 'accepted' or 'declined', and can set a scheduled time/location
- Proposals have: title, summary/abstract, description, category, length (30/45 min), difficulty level (beginner/intermediate/advanced), a list of 3 assigned reviewers, an accepted boolean, a list of reviewer comments, and a list of uploaded documents
A mechanism must exist for reviewers to choose or be assigned submissions; PyCon requirements involve assigning 3 reviewers at random (excluding the author)
- Reviewer voting or the mechanisms to form a consensus
- Exports/reports showing the status of submissions and their scores
- Reviewers and users can comment, but some reviewer comments can be withheld from the user until a decision is made
- Notifications via e-mail about comments and decisions
- Export conference materials for proceedings
Scheduling
- Produce online schedules with talk information, track/theme membership for each room
- Produce printable schedules for the entire conference, and for individual rooms for a given day
- Track session chairs for each session
- It can be nice to be able to edit the schedule interactively
- Room management: desirable to be able to switch or rename rooms globally
Sponsors
- Sponsors can fill in a form with contact information that gets stored in a list and also e-mailed to the sponsorship coordinator
- Support the following information:
- Contact information
- Sponsorship level (platinum/gold/silver)
- Invoice number
- Paid (Y/N)
- Web graphic, banner provided (Y/N)
- Banner received (Y/N)
- Comments on where the banner should be displayed
Feedback
- Forms for the entire conference, and for specific talks and tutorials (but not sprints since they're separate things)
- Report: feedback summary for the conference, summaries for individual talks
- E-mail authors with the results from their talk's feedback
Experiences with Indico
Indico has been used to manage EuroPython 2007. Here's how it fares in the above criteria:
Account Management
Register yourself
Yes
Register others
Not at CERN
Submit/edit/withdraw your own materials
Yes
Submit/edit/withdraw materials for others
Only as administrator
Review materials
Yes
Administer conference
Yes
Registration
Registrant information
Supported - can add arbitrary fields
Export/reports of registrant information
Yes (PDF, CSV)
Badges
Supported - interactive editor and PDF export
e-payment
Yes
Pay later
Yes
Non-paying registrants
Yes (1)
Different prices/rates
Yes
Can generate total revenue
No - would need to include non-registration revenues
Tutorials and extra events
Yes (2)
Capacity limits on events
Yes
Optional donations/extra items
Yes (2)
Edit registrations yourself
Yes
Edit other registrations
Only as administrator
Cancel registrations yourself
No
Cancel other registrations
Only as administrator
Paper/Talk Submissions
Reviewer role
Yes
Organiser role
Yes
Submission information
Supported
Reviewer assignment
Done manually
Reviewer voting/consensus forming
Yes
Export/reports showing submission status
Yes - filtering and export possible (XML, PDF)
Reviewer comments (public and hidden
Yes
User comments
Yes
E-mail notifications
Yes
Export as proceedings
Yes
- An "invitation code" feature would let people register without manual validation of non-paying registrants afterwards. Generally, some kind of validation mechanism would be required, anyway.
- Add chargeable items to the form for extra events and items.