Open Spaces

Open Spaces are self-organizing meetup-like events which happen in parallel with the main conference. They are held in Recreation Hall (R4) of the conference venue. While most of the conference is planned months in advance, Open Spaces are created “just in time” by PyCon attendees during the conference. They provide a way for you to self-gather, self-define, and self-organize any way you like.

For those who have participated previous PyCon Taiwan conferences, Open Spaces may sound familiar to you, and yes it’s basically a friendlier term for BoF (Birds of a Feather), easier to guess at a glance for new conference attendees.

How do I participate in an Open Space?

It’s pretty easy: Just show up :)

On the third day of the conference, there will be several tables on the aisles beside R4 (4th floor). The tables act as an Open Space. There will be a board on each table as its topic. You can find your interested topic and use the memo to write down your thoughts and feedbacks. If a topic is not listed yet, just write down what you would like to talk about on a non-topic board!

What Open Spaces are there?

We don’t know either! It’s up to you and fellow attendees 😉

There are Open Spaces on many subjects a bunch of PyCon attendees would like to discuss. Since the PyCon attendees are a diverse bunch, the Open Spaces are too. An Open Space can be a mani/pedi party, a feminist hacking space, an AcroYoga space, or even a board games room. It can also be some discussions about plenty of the usual suspects of technical subjects, from computer security to your favorite Python project to professional occupations like DevOps.

Where and when are the Open Spaces?

The Open Spaces will be hosted on the aisles between Recreation Hall (aka “R4”) in the afternoon on the third day (13:30–15:10). There can be up to 10 Open Spaces running in parallel. There are no other conferences at that time so that you can enjoy the Open Spaces well.

How do I host an Open Space?

On the third day of the conferenceCon, there will be several tables at the fourth floor of the venue. There will be a board on each table. All you need is to write down your name and the topic abstract, and show up on the time slot (13:30–15:10 on the third day). It’s also good to add your contact information such as Twitter handle, Gitter/GitHub ID, Telegram ID, etc. to the note in case anyone interested in attending your Open Space has a question or would like to contact you about it.

Ideas for Open Spaces

Here are a few ideas for potential Open Space topics and activities:

Take a look at what Open Spaces are there at PyCon US 2018. There are some great examples for Open Space topics.