FAQ

General

What is EuroPython?

EuroPython was the first major Python programming language community conference ever organized by volunteers. It started in 2002 in Charleroi, Belgium, which attracted over 200 attendees.

It now is the largest European Python conference with around 1200+ participants every year, the second largest Python conference world-wide and a meeting reference for all European programmers, students and companies interested in the Python programming language.

How can I help with the conference organization?

Please have a look at our workgroup page and sign up: http://www.europython-society.org/workgroups

How can I get to Basel?

We have collected information about Basel and how to get there on our Basel page.

Important: Please note that if you are from outside Europe you may need a VISA to enter Switzerland and attend the conference. Please check this before buying your tickets!

In case you still need help, please contact helpdesk@europython.eu

I love what you’re doing. How can I sponsor this great event?

You will find all the information needed at our sponsor page.

If you need any extra information, please contact us by sending an email to sponsoring@europython.eu

I want to book my flight/hotel. Could you give me an idea of what the schedule will look like?

The schedule has not been finalized yet. We will first have a call for proposals, then a talk voting phase and then announce the final schedule in May. As always, we will announce the details on our blog.

However, we can already provide you with the overall structure for the conference from July 8–14:

• Monday & Tuesday, July 8 & 9: Trainings, Beginners' Day and other workshops; registration desk opens
• Wednesday–Friday, July 10–12: Conference talks, keynotes & exhibition
• Saturday & Sunday, July 13 & 14: Sprints

Trainings and Sprints will happen at FHNW Campus. Main conference days will be at Basel Congress Center. Please note that we will not serve breakfast; only a light lunch will be provided.

Just like last year (2018), attending training sessions will require buying a separate ticket. The conference ticket will include the main conference days, the Beginners’ Day workshop (provided we can organize one) and the sprints. A light lunch and coffee breaks will also be provided as part of the ticket.

Tickets

When will ticket sales start ?

Ticket sales are open. Please proceed to the registration page.

What will the ticket prices look like?

We have kept the ticket prices at similar levels as for EP2018, with only a moderate increase due to the higher costs in Basel.

For EP2019, we will again have an early bird ticket sales day, followed by a phase of regular ticket price sales; and a late bird period will commence a few weeks before the conference.

As always, we will make announcements on our EuroPython Blog.

Please note that we will have separate tickets for trainings this year. The trainings will not be included in the main conference ticket price. The training tickets will give you access to all trainings offered on the two training days before the main conference days, with training seats offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

Access to sponsored trainings and Beginners' Day

Access to sponsored training and the Beginners' Day workshop on Monday and Tuesday is free for training and conference ticket owners, but there is a catch: since a larger part of the ticket price goes towards catering, we cannot provide catering on the training days, unless you have bought a training or combined ticket, since this is not budgeted into the conference ticket prices.

If you want to atttend the sponsored trainings or the Beginners' Day workshop, you will have to present your conference or training badge (which you can get at the registration desk on the training days).

If you only have a conference ticket, you can buy lunch coupons on-site and there will also be a coffee bar where you can buy coffee.

Will you have a financial aid program for EP2019 ?

Yes, we have set up a finaid program similar to the one we had in 2018. Please see EP2019 Financial Aid for details.

How can I buy my ticket?

Once we start selling tickets, you will be able to purchase them from our registration page.

We have three different tickets available:

• student (only available for students, PhDs, postdocs and pupils; please bring your student card or postdoc infos)

• personal (for people enjoying Python from home, e.g. hobbyist or freelancer)

• business (for people using Python to make a living, i.e. a company pays for your ticket)

We would like to encourage you to pick a ticket type that reasonably fits your personal situation. Some examples:

• If a company, institution, government or university is paying for your ticket and you need a proper VAT receipt with correct company address, please get a business tickets. The personal tickets do not have any company name field, so those won't work as VAT receipts which permit VAT refunds by companies.
• If you are using Python as a hobby or as freelancer working from home and don't need a VAT receipt, the personal ticket is for you.
• If you are a student, postdoc or still attending school, we have the highly subsidized student ticket for you. Please note that paid educational staff does not fall under this category.

Finally, if you would like to support EuroPython, please consider getting a higher priced ticket. We assure you that your contribution will be put to good use. Thank you!

The tickets are sold in three batches:

• early-bird (the first 200 tickets),

• standard (usually until about a month before the conference)

• on-desk (after standard tickets end; these can also be bought at the registration desk)

Which payment options do you support?

Our website supports the payment option of:

• Credit or Debit cards (via Stripe)

Please note that we do not support other payment options such as bank transfers directly to our accounts or purchase orders.

You can also use our website for purchasing on-desk tickets during the conference or at the registration desk.

While the above option usually works fine, we have had a few reports about failures when trying to purchase tickets from abroad. We list them here to inform you of such known issues:

• We have had some reports from people in France having problems with their VISA cards. Some banks apparently have fraud prevention filters in place which prevent Stripe payment. Please get in touch with Stripe to find alternatives.

Do I need to send any documentation proving my student status?

No, because we trust you :-)

You don’t need to send or upload any documentation during the registration and payment process, but the organizer may ask for your student card when you pick up the badge during on-site check-in.

I need to verify the VAT information for the conference organisation. Where can I find the address and VAT-ID?

The EuroPython Society is invoicing for the tickets. Since the conference is held in Switzerland, we have to charge Swiss VAT on the tickets. For this purpose, we are registered in Switzerland for VAT under VAT ID: CHE-195.676.403 with registered address: EuroPython Society c/o Rhenuba Treuhand GmbH, Hardstrasse 127, 4052 Basel, Switzerland.

Sponsors are invoiced directly by the EuroPython Society in Sweden. Please see the EPS About Page for details.

I'm buying business tickets and I think I don't have to pay the VAT.

We're sorry but European regulations (as well as our tax advisor) define that conferences are taxable in the country where the conference takes place, so the EU VAT reverse charging mechanism cannot be applied. However companies can easily apply for a VAT refund.

I bought my ticket early, but I cannot attend. What can I do?

You can send an email to refunds@europython.eu and let us know. We will fully refund your ticket costs except the administrative (bank, online payments services, etc) costs until June 9th 24:00 CEST.

Please note that we will be processing refunds mostly after the conference, since we will be too busy with other things before and during the conference.

I helped organize the EuroPython 2019 conference as EuroPython WG member. Do you have special rates for volunteers ?

For volunteers who have invested a significant amount of time into organizing the conference, they will get refunds on tickets or compensations for their travel/accommodation expenses.

The refunds depend on the amount of work done and based on the budget the finance workgroup (WG) can set aside for this. Please contact the WG chair of your workgroup for more details.

How do I know my t-shirt size?

Please check the vendor pages:

Women's cut: Sol's Imperial T-Shirt

I've bought more than one ticket and now I want to assign it to a friend but the website does not allow me. How should I proceed?

When assigning tickets to others, please make sure that:

a) the other person has already created a user account on our website, and

b) you have the email address the person used for registering with the system.

In some cases, people register with multiple email addresses. Please make sure you are using the correct email address, so that ticket and other details such as talk submission are associated with the same account.

Someone emailed/phoned me trying to sell cheap tickets/accommodation. Was that you?

Unfortunately, over the years, a few scammers have started using information from our website to contact people and try to fool them into buying e.g. cheap plane tickets, hotel rooms or even conference tickets.

Please note that we will normally not email or phone attendees or sponsors directly offering discounts in form of coupons, unless we have already established a prior relationship with them. If you have doubts, please contact our helpdesk@europython.eu before proceeding to get confirmation that the requests are legitimate. Sponsors can contact sponsoring@europython.eu directly.

Accommodation

Ok, I’ve booked the conference. Where can I stay?

There are a lot of nice hotels in Basel. Please see our Accomodation page for more details.

If you need help, contact us by writing to the helpdesk@europython.eu!

Visas

I need a visa to go to Basel. Could you please write me an invitation letter?

If you require an invitation letter please check our VISA page for details. You will have to fill in a form and the letter will be provided to you by email.

Talks, Training Sessions, Posters

I would like to present an interesting topic. Which formats do you have available?

We will have standard conference talks, training sessions, helpdesks and poster sessions. The formats are explained on our Call for Proposals page.

How can I give a talk at EuroPython?

We will issue a Call for Proposals (CFP) when we’re ready to receive talk submissions. Please watch our blog for updates.

Once the CFP is open, you can propose your talk by logging in to the website and going to the CFP page.

Talks will then be voted on by the attendees. A subset will also be selected by the program workgroup members to give less mainstream topics a chance and to enhance the diversity of speakers, if needed (please help us not need this).

How can I add another speaker to my proposal?

Can I rely on Internet during my talk?

The conference venue's wifi should be able to handle the large number of devices we expect at the conference. However, as experience shows, relying on Internet during talks is a risky game, so we advise to have a backup plan available to be able to give the talk without Internet connection.

We will try to have cabled Internet available at speaker desks, but cannot promise anything at this time.

Do I need video adapters for my talk?

We will have HDMI to VGA and mini-DisplayPort to VGA adapters available in each room, but it's always a good idea to bring your own.

If you are speaking, please test your notebook and adapter with the projector in the room where your talk is scheduled on the day before you give your talk. For speakers giving their talk on Monday, please test your notebooks in one of the breaks before the talks.

Please also check our tips for speakers page.

Do I have to print my poster?

Yes. We are not offering poster printing service, only the panels to attach them to.

What size should be the posters?

Posters should be portrait DIN A0 sized: 84.1cm wide × 118.9cm high.

Where will be the poster session?

The area for the poster session will be in the exhibition hall, so there will be more people around doing other things.

There won't be tables in front of each poster.

I have submitted a talk, but would like to make some edits. How does that work?

Please log in to the website and navigate to your user panel  (click ‘My account’ in top right). At the bottom of the page you should see a list of talks you have submitted. Clicking on each of these links will take you to the appropriate talk page where you can edit the talk description.

Will I get a discount if I get selected as speaker?

Yes, we will make the following refunds available for speakers:

• Talk, poster, panel organizer, interactive session organizer: 25% refund on your ticket

• Training: 100% refund on your ticket

We will send out coupons to all speakers of accepted talks and other session types.

For those of you who have purchased tickets before the schedule is announced and thus cannot use the coupons, we will be refunding the corresponding amount after the conference upon request.

In order for us to issue the refunds, please provide us with your details by sending us an email at  refunds@europython.eu or come to the conference desk to have the details stored in our spreadsheet.

Refund coupons which are not used and speaker refunds for already bought tickets which are not requested until one week after the conference (July 21), will be put to good use and automatically go into the financial aid budget for next year's conference.

Must I sign the video recording and publishing agreement?

To simplify the organization, we ask all speakers and trainers to accept the video recording and publishing of their session. We are aiming to have all talks and similar sessions recorded. Training will not be recorded.

Lightning Talks

A lightning talk (LT) is a short presentation which must not be longer than five minute.
To sign up for a lightning talk, please put your name and topic on the whiteboard close to the registration desk.
Signing up is on a first-come-first-served basis. The queue is reset every day in the morning.
You may talk about / present (almost) everything with certain boundaries:

• no promotion for products of companies, no call for 'we are hiring' (but you may name your employer).
• conference announcements are limited to one minute only
• one LT per person per conference policy: everyone who has not given a LT at this year's conference, yet, is ahead of you in the queue
• keep it short, the shorter the presentations, the more people can give a talk