Hi! I’d like to propose making sure that the dates of Devcon don’t pose conflicts with known religious holidays. If I’m not mistaken, Devcon Osaka had Yom Kippur (a major day in the Jewish calendar) in the middle of it.
I can only provide context for the Jewish calendar. There are a number of holidays grouped together in Q3 of the year, and all would pose difficulties if not flat out impossibilities for attending if Devcon shares dates with them. The Jewish calendar is lunar, so the dates change (in reference to the standard Gregorian calendar) yearly. Next year the ‘holiday season’ ends in late September (the last holiday day is the 29th), so anything in October would already be fine. Devcon has traditionally been in October, so I don’t see this posing a problem, but figured it’s better if I speak up now.
Jewish Sabbath happens weekly from sundown Friday to a bit after nightfall on Saturday. Sabbath observance itself makes an almost certain inability to attend the conference, and truth be told, preperation for Sabbath makes Friday afternoon difficult at best. Devcon has traditionally been Wed-Thurs-Fri, but for Sabbath observers Tues-Wed-Thurs would almost definitely be better. I understand that this may be too big an ask for what I believe is a very small minority of potential attendees, but I figured that I’d bring it up just in case there is a serious discussion about moving it to different days of the week.
In general, I do not expect the Devcon committee to make a decision for a small minority at the expense of the majority, just to be clear. If there are numerous potential dates being discussed, I would merely hope that these considerations be borne in mind, perhaps giving weight to one of roughly equal options.
Thanks a bunch for reading this! Feel free to add other dates that might have a group that would prefer them to be avoided, or to ask me about the above - I’m happy to answer questions.