[Events] Wrap-up on the 5th Boston Python Workshop

[Jessica McKellar]

Hello events!

The 5th Boston Python Workshop ran last weekend at MIT. It was our
largest event yet, at 60 attendees and roughly 15 staff. It was an
awesome group to work with, and I was really happy with the almost
100% Friday->Saturday retention given how close to the holidays the
event was. A huge thanks to all the phenomenal staff who helped make
this workshop happen.

This event was special for a couple of reasons:

1. It was the first workshop to utilize our PSF Outreach and Education
Grant: https://openhatch.org/blog/2011/grant-to-spread-the-boston-python-workshop/.
Thank you to the PSF for supporting us as we continue here in Boston
and grow to other cities!

2. PyCon donated 2 free registrations to the workshop, which we
raffled off to attendees. Our winners were a Harvard librarian excited
to start utilizing programming in her job, and a teacher excited to
write and explore the pedagogy behind educational computer games.
Thank you to PyCon for supporting this workshop and crafting a
conference that is truly beginner-friendly!

3. We found out shortly after this workshop that the talk Asheesh
Laroia and I submitted on the Boston Python Workshop and diversity in
the Boston Python community was accepted for PyCon 2012!

===

Check out:
* photos from this and other workshops:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostonpythonworkshop/
* the workshop wiki: http://openhatch.org/wiki/Boston_Python_Workshop_5
* the event description and reviews:
http://meetup.bostonpython.com/events/42610202/
* a great workshop write-up from an attendee:
http://trishofalltrades.tumblr.com/post/14496033030/boston-python-workshop-for-n00bs

===

This group was really into social media: we had a ton of tweeting,
picture posting, and even FourSquare checkins! Some highlights:

@VICTORIAeSONG Victoria Song
Learning so much @bostonpython, can feel the neurons firing and making
new connections :) #bospythonworkshop

@brainwane Sumana Harihareswara
At #bospythonworkshop reveling in the quality of the tutorial
curriculum ur1.ca/6rhh4

@Mainzoid Mariah Maines
#bospythonworkshop wish this format of tech skills training- in
person, free, pursuing diverse participants- was the norm versus
exception

@trishofthetrade Trish Fontanilla
Thank you to @ThePSF for sponsoring this free #BosPythonWorkshop @ MIT
this wknd!This n00b is having tons of fun learning about #Python. :)

@meredithkeybl Meredith Keybl
I've always wanted to use the "sudo" command and I just got to at the
#bospythonworkshop! Just like in XKCD: xkcd.com/149/

I was also really impressed to see people from the PSF and PyCon
engaging with our attendees on Twitter.

===

Our standard follow-up project night is January 10th
(http://meetup.bostonpython.com/events/36662072/). As usual, we plan
on running the next workshop in about 2 months.

Happy holidays!
-Jessica, for the Boston Python Workshop staff