Who on Earth is coming to DjangoCon at 5:15 this afternoon?

Unfortunately, that has to be a surprise - nothing is definite, yet, but we are hoping to receive a short talk from a surprise guest at 5:15 today.

In order to accommodate this extra 15 minutes into an already-busy program we are shortening the lunch period by 15 minutes, and so will restart at 1:15 rather than 1:30. This means the whole afternoon has to run 15 minutes ahead. Being geeks, I am sure you can cope.

I hope this special treat actually comes off, but this is not a promise. If not, we will simply start the DjangoConversazione a little early.

All work and no play makes Jill a dull Djangonaut. Fortunately this year we are also paying attention to the social side of things.

Q: How do you tell the difference between and introvert geek and an extrovert geek?

A: An introvert geek looks at his shoes. An extrovert geek looks at your shoes.

This year, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, there are two social events on the DjangoCon calendar, so you have plenty of opportunity to disprove the above stereotypes about geeks.

On Tuesday September 7, pretty much right after the end of the last session, GitHub (who are also sponsoring the lanyards this year) are inviting everyone for a drink at the Standard bar. This would be an excellent start to a night out on the town, or just something to do for an hour before going back to the hotel to hack.

On Wednesday there will be a party hosted by Whiskey Media at the conference hotel. So you won't even have to leave the building to have a great time.

We are very grateful to both Github and Whiskey Media for making sure that your social nature is properly exercised, and look forward to meeting you at these events.

PS: Is anybody getting married this year? That's a really hard act to follow.

The schedule of talks for Djangocon.us 2010 is finally live.

We're very excited to announce this year's line-up of talks. There is a great mix of topics, focus, and experience level in this year's program. Check the full program out now at http://djangocon.us/schedule. We can't wait to see all of these talks!

As registrations continue to swell we all await the announcement of this year's DjangoCon program. Here's what's happening.

Sean O'Connor opened talk submissions for DjangoCon some time ago, but there is still just over two weeks to get your talks in. Make sure that your paper has a chance of being presented at DjangoCon 2010. Submit your paper at Get your submissions in by July 10th.

This year's conference plans to repeat the success of last year's format. The initial program announcement is due on July 25th. By then we should also know who our keynote speakers are, and registrations should start to take off.

Make sure you take advantage of the special pricing.

Just a quick reminder that DjangoCon 2010 early bird rates end on June 8. If you want to save on your registration please make sure you register straight away.

Early bird rates are offered to encourage early registration so we can get some idea of the likely attendance at the conference. It gives you a great reduction on the price, so register now while you still have a chance to save money!

It's that time of year again. The Django community is coming together and you have an opportunity to speak to them. For the last couple of years we've had some awesome talks and we can't wait to see what you have in store for this year. Get your submissions in by July 10th.

Below are some recommendations, based on what has worked well in the past, for you to consider in your proposal

• Focus on a specific audience within the community: beginners, contributors, designers, advanced dive-deep types, etc. Your talk doesn't need to be perfect for every single person at the conference. Blow a few people away instead of mildly amusing everybody.
• Django should be a core element of your talk. If you plan on talking about Shiny Thing X™ and simply mention that you can use it with Django, it probably won't go over too well. That being said, feel free to be adventurous, just make sure the adventure stays relevant.
• You have 40 minutes for your talk and Q&A. Make sure you have enough material to fill the time, but remember there's only so much you can squeeze in there.
• Your talk will be recorded and posted on the web. Make sure that's something you and your topic are comfortable with.

Talk proposals will be accepted until July 10th and accepted talks will be announced by July 25th. Sign up, create a speaker profile, and get your submissions in now! You will be able to come back and revise your submission until the deadline. Remember that speakers must register and pay to attend the conference.

Your talk idea doesn't fit with some of these guidelines? That's OK! We will have open spaces and lightning talk sessions where your topic will fit right in.

We're delighted to finally be able to official announce DjangoCon US 2010 and launch this site.

There's still lots more to come but we wanted to provide information on the dates and venue as well as open up talk submissions right away. If you have any feedback or suggestions on the website, please contact me at [email protected]