The annual tradition of lightning talks has captivated the Django world. This year we will again be running three sessions of lightning talks. Sign-up sheets will be displayed near the registration desk, and if there are more candidates than slots we will use a semi-random algorithm to select the talks that are actually presented.

With about three hours we should (if we are lucky, and efficient) be able to get through at least thirty talks. But there is a way we can do more ...

A lightning talk is a chance to say something to (a large subset of) the whole conference. The thing is, lightnings should last "a MAXIMUM of five minutes." Allowing a minute between talks, if each talk averaged THREE minutes there would be time for roughly forty-five talks. So please don't feel that you HAVE to speak for five minutes. Say what you have to say, and stop.

So if you have ever considered giving a lightning talk and didn't put your name down because "I don't have five minute's worth of stuff to say" this year is for you too! We will be putting an "estimated talk length" item on the sign-up sheet, and shorter talks may be given some preference in the selection process.

Also, to have the selection process be reasonably transparent we would like two or three volunteers from the community to run it. Please let us know if you would like to volunteer.