OSCON, or the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, is a major technology conference held on the west coast of the US each year. Allison Randal is the chair of the programme committee.
Women at OSCON
Women usually represent a small minority of attendees at OSCON; informal headcounts suggest around 5%. A somewhat higher proportion of speakers are women:
Conference format and activities
The conference consists of multiple streams of formal presentations, most lasting 45 minutes. These are usually held on Wednesday through Friday. An unconference runs in parallel with these sessions. Tutorials are held on the Monday and Tuesday preceding the conference.
There is an exhibit hall where various vendors have booths, and some vendors put on parties connected with the conference. These have at times featured Sexist advertising, Booth babes, etc.
