It is July again and months of preparation have lead us to a new edition of EuroPython. Once again in the beautiful city of Prague and a little bit different for me this year: I got to do work as a volunteer!
EuroPython
EuroPython is a conference for the community but also by the community. This means that the conference can not take place or even exist without sponsors and volunteers.
Call for volunteers
Having been to a few conferences myself over the past years I found myself in the position of wanting to give back to the awesome Python community. That is why when the call for volunteers was announced I immediately stepped in and applied for a spot to help out. A few weeks later I received an e-mail telling me my application got accepted and I was one of the lucky few to lend a hand at the conference.
Preparations
Volunteers come from all walks of life and come from all over the world, they just want to be part of the Python community and give something back. There are a lot of people volunteering each year, but there are also a lot of people volunteering for the first time. To make sure everybody is on the same page regarding the tasks at hand a meeting is held a few weeks before the conference where everything is explained. This is also the time and place to ask questions to locals about things like public transportation or if there are shops around to get last minute supplies.
The meaning of being a volunteer
Does being a volunteer mean you are not being able to see anything of the conference? Absolutely not! There is plenty of time and opportunity to see the talks you want to and enjoy a long evening walk through the city. And that is exactly what I did. I went to see some very interesting talks, and I saw some other talks where I was the room manager for the room. Perhaps not all that appealing to me, but interesting to see nonetheless because I got to see how much work is being done by the volunteers.
Different jobs
Scanning tickets
How does it work, you might ask. Well, imagine every event of the conference is defined by a time slot. For certain time slots an estimated amount of people are required. One of those things is that there are a lot of people are coming in on the first day to have their ticket scanned and getting their badge for the conference. Whenever there are a lot of people expected to be at a certain location of the conference venue at a certain time that is when a more than usual amount of volunteers are needed. So, scanning tickets at the first day is pretty chaotic but loads of fun and slows down when most tickets have been scanned. Most of the times while scanning tickets volunteers get in each other’s way, but through the chaos a system starts to evolve and everybody gets in the flow of scanning tickets, handing out badges, and telling people where to go next.
Managing rooms
Another task a volunteer can apply for is acting as a room manager. This task consists of making sure the room is ready for a talk, there is water in the room for the speaker, and everything is nice and neat so a new batch of visitors can come in and sit down without having to worry about knocking over a glass of water somebody forgot to take with them. The room manager is also responsible for making sure there are no more people in the room than the amount of seats available. Why? Because this is a potential safety hazard where people can not get out in time whenever they need to get out quickly. This also means you need to make sure people are not coming in when the room is full. This in itself is a challenge and causes friction from time to time where people might still want to come into the room and they do not see the need to leave the room. So, what happens then? You can send out a call for help on the volunteers Discord and somebody comes to the room to help out.
Runner
There is also the job of running various errands to pick up wherever help is needed. It could be that a speaker in a room needs some water, the runner is responsible for getting a bottle of water to the room. There are a lot more things to do when you are a runner, just look out for small tasks that need to be handled, and keep tabs on Discord to check if there is anybody in need of assistance. Speaking of assistance, since EuroPython is considered to be a very welcoming conference also means people with disabilities (in various forms) are welcome to attend the conference. This just might mean that runner duties consist of guiding visually impaired people around the conference and making sure they have everything they need. As unappealing as it may sound it is actually quite fun: you get to push people out of the way and ask people to move out of the way, all politely of course.
Hosting
Volunteers have the opportunity to host talks and introduce speakers to the audience. Since I am not that comfortable with speaking in front of people I did not apply for the job. However, I did see a lot of great hosts who were able to entertain the audience while they had to wait for the speaker to find the room, one of the speakers actually got lost in the venue and turned up a bit too late. Being a host also means keeping track of time and making sure the time slots are used most efficiently. You might ask yourself if the hosts are natural born entertainers. To that I can say: not all of them, they just have the courage to step up and stand in front of an audience. Perhaps because it is their dream to do so, or just because they want to experience something that might be scary and they want to go out of their way to do something out of their comfort zone. Either way, they are trained beforehand by a very skilled host who teaches them how to host a talk and what to look out for during talks.
Social event
Each year a social event is organized, a place where people can meet up for a drink and a bite to eat, a time to slow down from the pace of the conference and have a bit of fun. This time the event took place on the island of Střelecký Ostrov in the middle of the Moldau river which is a beautiful venue in itself. Despite the rain it was a great evening with good food and drinks, music, stories, jokes, and most of all great people. A great time to talk to people, a time to hear stories, and just relax.
Sprints
The weekend after the conference sprints for various projects are organized as a means of “unconferencing”, and getting back to working hard. The sprints are a great way of contributing to, among other, the Django framework. Or, if you are not sure of what you should do, there is also the possibility to work on small issues or even contribute on documentation. No matter how small the contribution, everything is considered valuable and appreciated. Also, you get to know to people working on the project itself on a regular basis which just may motivate to continue contributing to the project.
Final thoughts
This edition of EuroPython has been very special for me because I got to see how much work is being done by the volunteers and see the EuroPython conference from another side. Would I do it again? Absolutely! I met a lot of new people, made new friends, had a lot of fun being a volunteer at such a great conference, and even went home with a new nickname (thanks, Jake!). I am proud to have been part of this experience and will most definitely apply to volunteer next year.
All in all, it takes a lot to organize a conference on this scale, and I have gotten a sneak peak behind the scenes of EuroPython. EuroPython is very much worth visiting, even if you are not a Python developer or a data scientist. Why? Because the Python community is one of the best, if not the best, there is. Everyone is welcomed with open arms, nothing is weird or out of place. One of the things often said is “I came for the language, and I stayed for the community” which is something that is held high by the community itself. This is true for the entire community, and one of the main reasons at the end of the conference a lot of photos are taken with new friends, and you see a lot of the same people each year.
So, my message to the Python community, and especially the EuroPython part of it, is: can not wait to see you all again next year!