A constant highlight of PyCon UK is the lighting talks session. A [lightning talk][wiki] is a talk of up to five minutes, on any topic that might be of interest to the PyCon UK audience. There are usually ten talks in an hour-long session, with a bit of time for handover between speakers, and there are four sessions (one per day) during the conference. Videos of past sessions [are on YouTube][youtube], including from [just this Thursday][thurs]!
Lightning talks are always fun because you get a wide variety of topics in a short space of time — already this year we’ve heard about mutation testing, dynamic tracing, and chocolate brownies! And it’s a great way for somebody who’s never spoken before to get up on stage. The audience is always friendly, five minutes is enough to say something interesting, and you’re talking about a topic you’re enthusiastic about.
In years gone by, you’d sign up for a lightning talk by writing your name on a flipchart: first-come, first-served. The simplicity was great, but it tipped in favour of people who knew the system — it gave you a head-start compared to a new attendee. And if you hemmed and hawed over whether you wanted to speak, all the slots would be filled up before you’d made a decision.
I’m a big fan of the way the talk selection has been balanced out this year. Thanks to the efforts of Owen, Tim and Vince, the conference now has a lottery system instead.
At the start of each day, there are two empty buckets: one for new speakers, and one for everybody who’s spoken at a conference before. There’s a pile of index cards, and to sign up for that evening’s session, you write a name and title on a card, and drop it in the bucket. Very high tech!
At lunchtime, five cards are drawn from each bucket — so we’re guaranteed a good mixture of experienced and new speakers. There’s no penalty for hesitation — you have the same chance of being drawn, no matter when you put in your card — and it’s almost as simple as writing on a flipchart.
So far, we’ve used the buckets for two days, and they’re already filling up for day three. I think this system has been a resounding success, and I’d love to see it spread to other conferences.
Update, : There were a handful of comments — both on Twitter and at the conference — about the wording on the buckets. If you’ve done one or two talks (maybe a lightning talk at another conference!), but you wouldn’t describe yourself as “experienced”, where do you put your card?
On Sunday, we changed the wording to be clearer: now, rather than saying “experienced speakers”, we just have a bucket labelled “everyone else”.
