Transcript: PyCon US 2026 - Elaine Wong & Jon Banafato

Whether it's scaling an application, deriving insights from data, or getting results from AI, Six Feet Up helps you move forward faster.

See what's possible at sixfeetup.com.

Hello, welcome to another episode of Django Chat.

I'm Will Vincent with Carlton Gibson.

Hey Carlton.

Hello, Will.

Welcome back.

I'm going this year in Long Beach, but either one of you, like let's let's start with the facts.

Like when is it?

Uh how long?

Give the pitch.

Uh as some folks may or may not know, Jang um DjangoCon.

PyCon US uh rotates uh basically locations every two years.

Uh last year we were in Pittsburgh, so this year is our first year of one year of two in Long Beach, and we'll be hanging out starting May 13th, and we'll go all the way to the 19th.

So book your tickets because it'll be a lot of fun.

Uh we start out with two days of tutorials, followed by three days of talks, and then my favorite part, which is the sprints, which will be the last two days on Monday and Tuesday.

Yeah.

I'm gonna be there for the tutorials at the booth for PyCharm JetBrains, but then I get to stay for the sprints too, for a change.

So I'm pretty happy about that.

And Long Beach is great.

I haven't been there since a friend got married well like seven years ago, and we stayed on the Queen Elizabeth um out in the harbor.

And Long Beach is really beautiful.

So it's a great venue, especially in, especially in May.

I've already got my my runs planned along, because you're right along the beach.

You can just go and go and go along the paths.

Oh yeah.

It's an old ocean liner that went back and forth uh to Europe and now it's it's been parked and it's it's a hotel, I guess.

We did the we did the reception on it.

Um I don't know, I didn't spend the night there.

So if I spent the night, maybe I would feel it was haunted.

Didn't feel haunted just being there for a party.

Yeah, you

to get the ghosts.

Um I'm not sure.

Um I don't know.

I have I have a couple things for the community, but I'm always happy to also just work with people there.

Um yeah, that those are things that hopefully develop organically around uh being at the event.

I don't know.

Do you are um are you gonna be able to make the the sprints, John?

Um, you know, for us, I think it's still a bit of hey, there's still a lot of stuff to do, uh, even as the event is winding down.

But um I do I do try to uh find some time to work on some stuff.

Uh, you know, usually for me that's PyVideo.

It was like you know, getting people to do their first PRs to Django.

Uh and um I basically just spent the entire day running around table to table, the you know, giving the same you know, three-minute introduction to look, here's the issue trigger, here's this, here's it, like trying to get people going.

And I was like, this doesn't scale, I don't scale.

I was I could hardly speak at the end of the day, I was exhausted.

I was like, no, no, no, this doesn't work.

So that year in um Jang Con US, I um I organized a workshop where we just did getting started.

We had four tables and we had some experienced hands helping, and it was amazing.

It went really well, and so that became a bit of a tradition to you know run that kind of getting started, contributing to Django workshop because a lot of people turn up at the sprints and they're looking for a project to join in on, or they they've never been to a sprint before, or this is their first opportunity to contribute, and they're like, okay, what?

And you you can't just have people stood there not knowing what to do in that point.

You have to have some way of um welcoming them in and concierging them into you know the the sprint experience because it's wonderful.

I I honestly think it's the best bit of the conference.

Like uh for this year, we have a lovely sprints chair truck, and actually she'll she'll be running the lovely, hey, have you done sprints before?

No, let's get started.

So she will be running the table to kind of get everyone sorted and situated.

We have a lot of projects usually at Sprints, so uh it's a bit of just like how how do you get set up, and then we'll unleash you to the maintainers of various Python packages and libraries to kind of get you all excited to contribute.

I know CPython also will have a table as well for like folks who want to contribute but haven't done it before, so just here get everyone started so that way right after Monday morning when we go through the spiel, you're you're in that good place where you can tackle that first issue.

Uh, I know BWare in the past um actually has a buddy system.

So that was my first my first open source contribution was hang out with the BWare folks.

Uh and and yeah, I had a great mentor.

Um, and he kind of showed me ropes, and I felt kind of bad because I was so new to everything.

And he was like, Oh, do you want to do this like highly internal thing together?

And I was like, sure.

Yeah, how hard can it be?

Oh, okay.

Uh yeah, go ahead, sorry, Carlton.

Cool.

And I think that's a really important thing as well.

If you're maintaining a project and you're gonna run a sprint to at least have thought through, well, what can I, you know, what issues can I give to people?

What what um tickets can I point them towards?

What you know, what work is there?

Because if people can turn up, oh I you I want to work on your project, you're like, ah, that can be an awkward moment when you haven't really thought it through in advance.

I speak from experience.

Where if you show up to a conference not knowing about all the work that has gone into the sprints and and and the rest of the uh the rest of the aspects there, um, you know, it's easy to think, oh, it just all comes together.

Um, but there are people who doing, you know, prepping those projects uh with good first issue and uh and getting their their contribution workflows defined, you know, well, well in advance.

Yeah.

Like PyCon US, EuroPython, these are the two tent poles I would say globally of the Python experience.

And within that, there's all these summits that happen, you know, specifically in PyCon US.

Is that something one of you could talk about, right?

Because a lot of places don't have their own summits or conferences, so they meet while they're at PyCon US.

Summits are basically kind of even more specialized kind of area where um a lot of different folks um will talk specifically about certain things like packaging and maintaining.

And also we have an education summit.

So like it's kind of like kind of focusing your interests or what you're really passionate about or what you're working on into these kind of like half day and sometimes full day sessions.

And you kind of and and it's kind of like, and that's a lot of and it takes a lot of work to kind of find people who can speak to these topics, um convincing them to speak and also convincing them to all get in the room together.

So it's it um the McCainers Summit folks are doing a fabulous job right now.

Um they're about to, they just released, um, they're about to release, I think, John, please correct me, um, their schedule.

And it's additionally more, a lot in addition to work that other folks are doing in other aspects.

So like we have a talks committee and they were in charge of like reviewing talks.

Um, and same with the tutorials folks, they had to review the tutorial proposals, and we had posters, and we also have Charlis, which is your Spanish-speaking track.

So it kind of like bubbles across.

And this year we also have two new tracks, which is security and AI, and we also got folks to come in and share those kind of tracks and um get reviewers as well.

And it's been really cool watching a lot of folks in the Python community who are specialists in these areas kind of pop up and be like, oh, let me help you pick, and kind of really shows because we got over a thousand proposals this year, and it's been a great year for us seeing the community goes, hey, I have something to talk about, or I have something to present.

And the hardest part was just getting everyone to go through all the reviews, tag them, you know, think, okay, here's 10, 20, 50 talks to review.

Um, so we really appreciate everyone who's kind of done all this work to make this possible.

Like you would think, oh, you know, how hard could it be?

Just a few thousand people hanging out for a couple of days, you know, you just show up, right?

But but this thing has been in motion and planning.

I feel like maybe even during last year's conference.

I feel like we started planning, John and I, for this year.

And and same with the PSS staff that we that are great, that have been kind of shepherding a lot of the logistics as well with the venue, catering, A V.

There's so much stuff that happens behind the scenes at this conference that seems very magical.

Like, like you walk in, you're like, everything's done.

There's posters everywhere, there's signage.

You just kind of like go, just point me to the coffee, tell me where I can get jet brain swag.

We're gonna have a lot of swag.

Well, just just even setting up a booth at at a conference takes a lot of work.

Yeah, yeah.

We I mean, PyCharm team, we're gonna have, I should know, I think, I think like at least 10 people and three or four come the day before, but then there's also there's a whole uh booth, what is it, like union that you know gets the packages that we ship and then helps us set it up.

And yeah, it it it's an unbelievable amount of work just top to bottom.

I mean, Carlton and I last week were at Pi TV, which is an event um PyCharm did with 15 speakers, one day, one track, and that took you know, half a year, like for a lot of us.

So to put a bunch of zeros on terms of the number of attendees and speakers at PyCon US is mind-boggling.

Yeah.

I I'm not totally clueless about how much work goes into it, but um, yeah, it's nothing like actually doing it and being responsible and shepherding all the the talent, you know.

So hopefully for Carlton, Carlton was one of the speakers there.

Hopefully it was pretty smooth for you.

I just sort of turned up, walked where people pointed me, did did my thing, walked off okay.

Like we did at a professional studio, but even just that, we you know, there were half a dozen staff people at the studio and doing the run through and like what if this breaks, what if that breaks, and the talent, the catering again, just for like one room with just one event.

So to do it at at the scale that you all do.

Um yeah, so it's a lot.

I I you know, I appreciate conference organizers and I appreciate them even more having done this like teeny tiny by comparison one, but um, it's not something to go into, you know, and I would say so it's a ton of work, but also it's a great way to get to know and work with colleagues, you know.

So some colleagues I in other departments I hadn't worked with as closely.

I'm sure for the two of you, you know, in doing this over these years, you really, really get to know staff and volunteers uh much better.

I mean, I'm I think much of my social circle uh over the years has has become Python conference organizers.

Um and and so it it's it's it's always super fun to be able to put in some work with with those folks and like see that come to life, right?

Um it's it's it's very enjoyable to uh to go from that, like um probably when it's most noticeable is is right right before when you're still doing like the final setup for whatever whatever like physical materials and you know you're putting up the booth and whatever.

Uh and then and then the doors open, right?

Uh PyCon US has has an opening reception, um, as as you know, Will.

Um and so I think that's that's a good uh kind of microcosm of of this, right?

Up until those doors open, everybody's putting the final touches on their booth at booths, and then when the doors open, you know, however many people flood into that room.

Uh, and it goes from from being before the event to right in the middle of it um in in no time at all.

You come in, say hi, you know, how's it going?

It's okay, you know, just just making sure everything's not on fire, right?

Like, and then you know, hopefully both of you have like a decompression period after the conference because um you must need that, right?

It's so it's so such an intensity of of work and focus.

I always tell my coworkers always think I'm absolutely crazy at home because I would spend my vacation hanging out with people at a Python conference for you know eight, nine days and then go back to work.

They're like, oh, that's not a vacation, you know that.

And I keep telling them it's my summer camp.

This is get to hang out with my friends, I can make new friends, we get to nerd out on my favorite things, which apparently all are related to Python.

And it's such a fabulous time.

Um there's always the old, you know, the old saying that you know, you come for for the language, you stay for the community.

Um, that's very true about this language.

It's it's very beginner-friendly, and then you as soon as get there.

I I can't describe it.

Every every time I get so excited, like you just have such a lovely time.

People are so nice and they give you such great advice, and you learn something new all the time.

I remember one year I had no idea what CircuitPython was, and I think we got little um uh got something in our swag bag from those lovely folks, Fomato Fruit.

And it was just kind of like learning, like, oh, how how does electronics work?

How do I make it run?

How do I make it work?

And it had so many lovely people come up and be like, oh, you want to learn more?

Yeah, of course, happy to help.

And you know, where where else can you get that?

It it just seems like such a rare thing these days to just be in a whole big giant room of strangers and come out with so many great ideas and idea and for projects, for stuff to implement on, things to fix, and kind of just going, Hey, you you're cool.

That's just and you want to talk to me.

This is great.

Um and I think also not not competing, because that's something I want to get across to people is that you know, PyTRM's gonna be there.

I'm sure Microsoft VS Code will be there.

You know, the products are competing, but the people like we're all friends, we're all sharing tips and tricks.

Like it's not um, I don't know, it's not this like death match amongst the the people, you know, who are who are at all these companies and all these projects.

Same thing, you know, Django, Fast API, Flask, like we're all cheering each other on.

Um Carlton, you were gonna add something there, I think.

How it's a two-part question.

How how many people are we expecting first, like roughly?

Um and you know, new city.

Um, and and so we'll we'll see how many uh how many folks locally join?

Yeah, it's hard to say in Long Beach and yeah.

So if I'm a first-time attendee, I might I might walk into the big big reception at the beginning.

I might be overwhelmed by two to three thousand people.

How do what sort of tips have you got for, you know, first-time attendees who, you know, in that kind of thing.

So it's your very first Python US.

Um and and this is you know, they're gonna cover lots, lots more than the like very quick bullet points.

Um last year I ran around and saying to a bunch of people who were like, hey, we should talk.

Yes, I have all the time in the world, but in 30 second increments.

Um so you know, I I can't I can't give the full newcomer orientation spiel there for them.

Um but right, uh, you'll get tips like the Pac-Man rule, right?

Where uh when you're standing in a circle talking with people, as often happens, make sure to leave a space for more people to join your circle.

Um you know that that's uh that that's one of the one of the examples of how to make a good um good time out of your uh you know your first or your 20th conference.

For sure.

It's it's just lovely when that there's a group and you sort of sidle up and they see you sidling up and they open up and you can sidle in and you can, you know, get a feel for what's going on, and then all of a sudden you're friends with people.

It's amazing.

ic example is always just if this if you're this is um pretty casual conference don't worry about wearing your business suits you you won't need it as well as much um always wear comfortable shoes this convention center like all convention centers are larger than you think please please please wear shoes that are super comfortable because you'll be spending a lot of time walking despite the fact you come in thinking oh I'm just gonna walk you know watch a few talks it'll be a couple hours right just even walk around the expo hall walk

ing walking from talk room one to talk room two as we all know California is a very large state not what what not super known for for walkability so and

p or find ways to get get there via vehicle.

But I will say there there are ways via public transportation just get ready to load up a podcast perhaps this one that will give you nice nice tricks on how to get there which is basically I believe there's like a a an A line that gets from I want to say once you get to the transit hub there there you kind of kind of I I call the subway perhaps they don't call it a subway but it's kind of like a metro line that gets you all the way from kind of that's above

ground yeah most of the ye

I'm I'm planning to go running and hop in the ocean every morning before stuff.

You know this is something that often happens at these conferences is some will say hey I'm I'm going for a run you know Saturday morning before the talks who wants to join me and it'll be a whole whole big group of uh

Actually that's a good question.

So somebody who is attending what's the best way to stay informed?

Is it Discord, Slack?

Like how do they stay up to date on stuff both before and then while they're at the conference?

some folks are listening to this you'll probably see lots of schedules for for uh talks and tutorials and and posters uh and so um that that's probably the the main place people should be should be looking um we do we do have an app for the conference as well so when you're on site you might find that uh easier to navigate

a room and um and kind of get like minded people to talk about projects so it's kind of like a type of hallway track but more um more organized so in the past we had some fun stuff like juggling is always a big very big popular open space you will if you don't know how to juggle we will teach you how to juggle at PyCon if you know how to juggle we have a lot of juggling balls um available for juggling uh so that's uh always a fun one there's always been kind of like hard like a ham radio meetup there's alwa

ys been um for example one of my one of the first folks I met was at conference organizing meetups um uh open space so it's it's kind of a a eclectic mixed bag of kind of like hey there's 3,000 people here and I want to talk about this and you just sign up sign up um on on the website or via our PyCon US app uh saying like hey at 8 a.m I want to talk about how to data scrape for investigative journalism and you'll be surprised a bunch of people show up and you'd be like o

kay let's talk about data scraping and so it's it's a great way of kind of meeting folks outside the talk tracks um and kind of nerd out on your favorite topics.

What's stopping you?

With deep expertise in Python Django and AI they solve hard software problems modernize platforms and get teams to market faster their impact speaks for itself automating healthcare pipelines for hospitals helping NASA explore Pluto building severe weather prediction tools and applying AI to connect farmers with vital crop data.

When the stakes are high and the problems are hard six feet up is the partner that delivers see what's possible at six feet up is the partner that delivers

what would be would be a good open space was of several people came up to us and said hey look I have this hardware project and it uses Python um and absolutely you know that sort of thing um is is the is the kind of thing that we would expect someone to put put a open space um I I almost said on the board uh it used to be a physical thing uh we we've gone digital you know um uh

I recall a board way back then yeah

I mean there's the education track I remember going to one again twenty my first one 2019 the sticky note um last year in Pittsburgh there was a Python book authors group and I think there were like 30 people there.

So there was a whole bunch of published authors and then people interested in being published and um you know all the top top five ten python book authors were there there's some publishers there.

It was a really interesting conversation I mean just as an example of you know geeking out on like a subgenre like Carlton that that that wouldn't be as interesting to you but to me that's like oh wow like everyone's here everyone's here like I

was just imagining you in your element there as you were just

Yeah.

And yeah, we were super proud of it uh because it came as a hatchery project.

So it came as kind of like an idea that the conference decided to kind of like hatch from and kind of like a let's try an experiment with the Spanish language check and then kind of grew from that and it actually became a permanent part of our programming, which is fantastic.

So it's two days technical talks in Spanish.

Um, there are captions available, and it's a great kind of way of realizing that, like, hey, everyone, not just English speakers, use Python around the world, and we really want to champion that.

And it's been fantastic.

I don't know if I'm allowed to spoil the surprise, but we we but I'll do it anyways.

Why not?

Do it live.

Yeah.

So so we're really proud we're gonna have a Spanish speaking keynote this year.

Oh wow, so yeah.

I don't I am not about to say anymore, so I can't really say much.

But at least I could tell you that that one that's one of the big things this year is the fact that we really want to celebrate the fact that there's Python users around the world who might not all speak English.

Yeah.

So it's it's great to see.

Thanks for being so inclusive.

So we're we're we're hoping that that uh we're like, look, look how great we are.

Uh please come, please hang out with us.

When I started out as a junior, it literally was if you you know if you didn't speak English, it was learn English.

And it's like, so I want to learn the program, I'm gonna learn a second language first.

Like there's that's a bit of a barrier, right?

We're we wanted to talk for about 30 minutes.

I mean, there's so much about organizing, calling out new things.

Um maybe I'll toss a question to each of you.

So, what's one thing that's different about this year versus last year that you're excited about, either John or Elaine?

We're in a new city, uh, right?

And I've I've not spent time in So I've not spent time in in Southern California, really.

Um, so I'm excited to be there.

More importantly, I'm excited to uh be there and meet the the local Python community, right?

Um lots lots of our attendees come from the the local area, right?

Of course, it's a big conference, we get people flying in from all over, um, but in in in in many, many cases, right?

People are people are coming in, you know, via train or car or um uh when depending on the venue, maybe they're even walking there, right?

Um and I'm I'm stoked to to be able to meet a bunch of Python community members that I might not otherwise encounter in my day-to-day, right?

Um, you know, even with uh all the all the online stuff we're doing, um it's a lot harder to to just randomly bump into someone to uh you know um than it is in the hallway or in the expo hall or yeah, whoever you whoever happens to be sitting to your left uh in in the keynote, right?

Um and those sort of coincidences uh lead to long friendships and and uh you know I've seen I've seen people uh meet at at a talk together and start a start an open source project or start a conference or uh you know go on to do a new job, start a podcast, exactly.

There we go.

Indeed.

Uh it's is you know, I re I really I'm looking forward to connecting with uh a big community that I'm um probably uh not all that um all that familiar with yet.

That like you know the fruit has taste.

I mean, Carlton, you're in Spain, so it doesn't apply to you, but in the winter in New England, there's really good food.

But I lived in San Francisco for a number of years.

It was better.

So I'm pretty excited to get some California food, get some Mexican food.

I'm I'm excited for that.

I'm super excited about being a new city.

I'm super excited to meet all the lovely folks that could make it out to the East Coast when we're in Pittsburgh, but can be able to be out in the West Coast.

I know for me, I'm a giant film nerd.

So part of me is just like I really want to meet folks who are doing Python with movies, uh, whether it be special effects or um my day job has been kind of just doing a lot of analytics for viewership and data.

So even just meeting those folks who are are using Python in not maybe not non-traditional ways, but kind of using Python in more creative ways.

And I feel like I remember reading an article way, way, way back in the day that like a popular US band called Weezer, the front man was learning Python.

I remember reading, yeah, River Cuomo.

Hopefully River will join us.

He might be in the area.

Um maybe, I don't know.

Uh, and and also uh um even big stage shows.

Like I remember reading like Nine Inch Nails, was using Python to kind of mount like very cool special effects um for one of their tours, and they made a little drum machine using Python that actually I thought he was they were just mimicking, like he was putting his hands up to kind of like start the start the the drum pads or whatever.

And it turns out it was this literally like mapping his hand movements and like checking where his hands were going, and then using Python to kind of interpret what he was doing and then make the synth the drum loops start going.

So so hopefully meet some of these folks who are usually not necessarily based in in Pittsburgh, but based out west to kind of meet up and be like, hey, that's awesome.

Tell me more about what you do with Python because there's so many different applications that we often forget because you know the the classic answer is always like, oh yeah, I use Django, oh yeah, I you know, I do some scripting, but but some of those folks are just taking it like to a whole new level.

So I can't wait to meet those folks.

Um I'm excited about I'm always so I sometimes go to Django events or I always like going to Python events and just getting a in-person pulse on what what people are thinking.

I mean, last year I was really struck by obviously Fast API has tremendous mind share and trying to unpack a little bit about where does that come from?

Like what do people mean?

And I think one thing I realized last year is a lot more Python people are coming in, not just through data science, but through AI training models.

Um, and so to them, the web is a secondary or an afterthought in a way.

So they're like, well, all I need is an API endpoint, or all I need is to hook up my model to something else.

So that was really interesting to have that conversation a couple dozen times and realize, oh, okay, that makes sense.

You know, how can Django fit into that?

So one of my talks I gave last year was around Django and AI and how to do some of these things, but I'm still just curious, yeah, just the conversations.

I mean, specifically, just before this, I was on a call with a colleague, you know, AI, right?

So we're all dealing with AI, we're all using AI, PyCharm Jeffrains is integrating AI.

I really want to hear how people are actually using it, right?

Like right now, everything is about agents, agentic this.

Um, I want to see, like, is that the case?

Are people using chat stuff?

Like, lots of people also come up and say, like on my flight back from Amsterdam, someone heard me say pie charm.

My seat mate asked me, I don't just like hold up a sign saying pie charm.

And he was like, I love PyCharm, da da da.

And I was like, Well, what do you think about these features?

And he's like, Oh, I can't use AI.

I'm I'm in the Navy, like, you know, it's all military, so it's only for local stuff, right?

So it's all and there's a lot of those people, right, who just can't use AI at all.

So it's only when I go in person that I get a sense of like how it's actually being used.

So sorry, that's a very long answer, but basically I want to like actually see how people real world people are using it.

And then even you mentioned, John, like students will show up, right?

In Pittsburgh, there are a whole bunch of Carnegie Mellon, UPIT students will show up.

There's a ton of schools around Long Beach.

Um, they have sometimes the best questions because they just sort of come out of left field and make me rethink everything.

So yeah, I'm excited to be there and excited to stay for the sprints after.

I think what it is

And so the person next to me, you know, was a CTO in Boston.

And so I really, as much as I like, once you get me going, you can't shut me up.

I like, I try not to just like, you know, I just spent a almost a week talking about Python.

So it wasn't like I was trying to talk about it, but these things present themselves.

And and to your point, all these people in the world are using it in different ways.

So this specific person, he was coming back from mobile world cellular in Barcelona, Carlton, which is like this huge, huge.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They they

So he was just routing through Amsterdam, but he was, you know, based in Boston and um, you know, so it's just like an informal thing.

And he was saying how Python's used in some of the cellular stuff, and it's like, well, that's how you learn.

Um I'm always really excited to hear about um all of those.

Oh, I never really considered that that would use Python, but of course it does because it's it's such a big language.

Uh and and so my uh when we were at scale uh this this this past weekend, um, you know, we we were at a booth with uh with some some folks from SoCal Python and Pi Beach, um which was awesome and and I'm very uh very grateful that they they hosted us.

Um my opener to a lot of the folks who came up to the booth was, you know, do you use Python?

But it should probably be how do you use Python, right?

Because so, so many people are using it for um things I didn't even know existed.

Like I think someone was building a Py jail, or and I was like, I don't know what that is, and then they spent a couple of minutes explaining it to me and kind of going like, oh, we're just like stress testing to see what's going on.

And I was like, um, I was like, so it's literally kind of you're trying to break it and you're trying to find security vulnerabilities like sort of, and I'm like, oh, okay, that's cool.

Um, and the big thing also is that um, which I will also want to highlight is that it's actually been, I believe 2026 is 15 years since the starting of PyLadies.

And for any of you folks who who love PyLadies history, uh uh Pylladies actually originated in the Los Angeles area.

So it actually um it kind of so it's been really cool to meet um when we're at scale, which is the Southern California Linux Expo, like the folks who who started it, who were part of that original group.

And to me, that was super inspiring as someone who really found PyLadies as like the greatest organization ever.

Um they really got me in in this place where like, you know, without the PyLadies travel grant, I couldn't go to my first PyCon US and meet all these lovely people.

Um, my first PyCon was Portland, and I just remember, as this is my favorite of all time, where I don't think I hung out with a single dude for the first three days of my conference.

It was there was this back-to-back Py Ladies events and Py Ladies folks who just take you on the wing, like, oh, go here, oh, we're gonna have dinner here, come with us.

And I was just so shocked me, like, oh, for a very male-dominated industry, for male-dominated event, like all these, all these women just kind of came around and went, come with us, hang out with us.

And it made it super welcoming and nice for someone, you know, as a female solo traveler who didn't know anyone at the conference, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?

And then just having that community come up to you immediately to be like, let us take you under our wing, make you feel safe and welcome, and make you feel like you're you you are part of this community.

And so for me, Pie Ladies is is is so great, and I'm so excited that it is their 15-year anniversary, it's a big milestone for them, and we get to have our big pie con in their backyard in Long Beach.

I think there's something, I think there might be a pie charm item that's part of the auction.

I'm so excited.

The auction, of course, is is the biggest fundraiser for pile ladies for the year.

If you if you have never been, it is I don't know how to describe it outside of you just have to experience it.

It is um, it is a great

That was the one of the big things last year.

Or rather, all I is it all the folks I I think it's all the all the all the C Python folks that that worked on C13.

So really, really fun auction items.

All of it's going towards ensuring that PyLadies can do great work um with their chapters, and also um it is also our main fundraiser for uh the Py Ladies Travel Grant, which allows more folks um who might not be in a position to attend, uh, to attend PyCon US in the future.

Um highly recommend it.

It is one of the most uh hilarious moments you can get at a conference, if only to watch a lot of people fight over a pen.

But which is a very, very popular auction item.

If you ever win the pen, kudos to you.

It is uh it is a well-fought battle.

Last week there was a PyLades panel at Pi TV with um Georgie, Una, and um oh gosh, Jessica.

Sorry, Jessica Green.

Um, so I'll put a link to that where they talk about Py Lades, the fact that every chapter really does handles things differently, um, even as it's a global organization.

So that was a really good conversation.

Um I do want to mention some of the other the other events that people might not know about that happen at PyCon US.

Um so we talked about um talks, tutorials, uh I think maybe we briefly mentioned posters.

So on the on the third day of uh of of talks in the expo hall, there is a poster session where uh people will be presenting their um uh their posters.

You can come ask uh you know, read about what they've been working on, ask questions.

Um we've also got uh uh I I already mentioned the newcomers orientation and the opening reception that happens on the uh the day before talks start.

Uh so try try to get to uh get to the conference a day early if you can, because uh opening reception is always always a blast.

Um, you know, it's it's where if you've been coming for a long time, uh you'll you'll you'll see, you know, your friends who have just just gotten into the city for the first time in, you know, maybe a year, right?

Um and if it's if it's your your very first event, uh there's there's a a ton of energy in that room, right?

Uh everybody's just really, really excited for for the those next days of uh of talks and sprints.

Um the two days before that, uh, we have tutorials.

So if you've got something you're you're looking to learn more about, uh maybe there's an AI topic, maybe there's a security topic.

Um you know, maybe you've you've got some you're looking for, hey, this AI stuff is really cool.

How does all that machine learning work under the hood?

Right?

Uh we we we've got all sorts of content for you there.

Um uh and then and

The two tutorials.

So you can do two in a day if you want.

Several times throughout the conference.

Also, we have lightning talks.

Uh, and for folks who don't know what lightning talks are, uh, they are very short.

They're hard limited to five minutes.

Um, much as we would like to see people, you know, go go give a longer talk.

Uh, we we do only have five minutes per lightning talk.

Um uh and you can you can go give a presentation uh on maybe something that inspires you while you're at the conference, right?

Uh hey, I've been working on this project.

I I I see that some people are are interested in the same kinds of things as I am because maybe I attended an open space and we talked a little bit about it, and I want to introduce the rest of the conference to it, right?

Um it's a really uh good example of why someone might give a lightning talk.

Um there are also uh often things that people will prepare, you know, well in advance, just just as a uh a fun um you know uh a fun way to present a topic that that people uh might not already know about.

We talked about the auction, uh there are a couple of lunches that happen.

Um uh on the on the same day as the uh the posters, there's also a job fair.

Um so uh if if you've met uh a bunch of folks at uh uh you know through throughout the expo hall um while that was open, uh many of them will also have job fair tables, some other companies too.

So if you're looking for uh for work um and and do you do Python, this is a really good place to to find people who are hiring.

Elaine, I'm sure that I'm I'm I'm missing some stuff.

There's so much that happens uh at this conference and uh and especially uh so so many people that uh that make it all happen, right?

Uh, you know, we we get the opportunity to talk with you here, but uh there there are uh you know dozens and dozens of people who who are working behind the scenes uh to make sure that, right, all of this does go off without a hitch.

What did I miss, Elaine?

What's Startup Row?

Yeah.

It's a great highlight of the up-and-coming companies that k would like to showcase some of the great work they're doing.

Um at the Python at PyCon, um, we usually have what about eight folks that kind of come up and and some of the good um and kind of say like hey, uh check out our work is a great way for them to kind of meet the community.

Also say like, hey, check out my products, see what you think, and it's a great way to kind of get like, of course, the classic, I need testers, I need feedback.

Um so I I I feel like I always default to like one of my my favorite folks from from um from Startup Row is this lovely company called Anvil.

Um they kind of make kind of Python accessible, like basically all you have to worry about is just writing code, they'll kind of deal with all the deployments for you and kind of make it super easy.

So you're just like you don't you want to concentrate on one thing.

You don't have to like they want to all the all the friction goes away.

You just write the code, it magically appears, and then it runs.

Um, so that that is my classic example of like a company that started Startup Row, has done quite well, great product.

They come back every year to sponsor.

Um, you know, huge shout out to the folks at Anvil.

They're they're fantastic folks.

I believe they're based in the UK.

Um, I am John, you probably have a few more examples of folks who are from Startup Row that have gone on to do nice things.

And and so to give maybe a little more uh insight into some of the behind the scenes work that I was talking about, um uh, you know, I I as a local meetup organizer um worked with some of the the startups in uh in New York to to put on a pitch event uh in uh in coordination with PyCon US Startup Row.

Um and and so you know that this this is like a lot of things in in Python communities, right?

A lot of this is like uh sort of local up, right?

Um and and so um it was it was super super exciting to get to coordinate with uh with Jason Um and now and now Shay um on that process, you know, that that year that I helped out because there was we we essentially had um you know a a local meetup that was startups talking about how they use Python uh and and what they're building.

And uh and you know that um back then that's uh that that was one of the ways in which um startups got got in through that process.

Um Elaine, I did want to ask, what if I'm a community organization and not a startup?

So not the row.

Um and we usually accept about, depending on how much space we have in the in the expo hall, about eight to ten booths per year.

So folks in the past have been like Pie Ladies.

So if you want to get a PyLadies exclusive t-shirt, that's that's the way to go.

We also showcase a lot of communities like uh EuroPython, uh this lovely Django Software Foundation, I believe, also had a booth in the past.

Uh, we also showcase um other lovely folks like uh last year we had the Carpentries, which is a lovely nonprofit that kind of teaches folks how to code in a more academic setting.

So we have that lovely uh space going, and we also have a community showcase that also happens during the job fair.

So uh a lot of other folks come on that Sunday.

So if you're looking for a job, if you're looking for uh looking at those lovely posters, you can also look at a lot of local uh groups who will be there to kind of and kind of showcase their projects and see like, hey, have you heard of Civic Band or have you heard of Pie Beach?

Um like it's just kind of like projects that um have cool stuff that they want to show you um in a more informal setting.

Um and I think I mean we could easily keep talking.

I think we're almost at an hour, so I might try to um wrap it up.

But the main action items for people is the Python website is amaz uh the PyCon US website is amazing.

It has all the information right on how to travel, how to uh register.

Um, that's where people should go, right?

For further questions.

You can find John and my contact information there if you have any additional questions and you want to ask one of us, or you can and there's also other contact information for stuff like if you want a sponsor.

We always love sponsorship.

So please, you if if you if your company has a few dollars to spare and would love a great PyCon experience, uh we're here to help.

Um, but yes, website is probably the best way of communicating or slash getting all the relevant information.

The schedule is gonna come up later this week.

Fingers crossed.

By the time this come this episode comes out, yeah.

So check out all the fun talks that our poor talks committee had to whittle down.

There was a loss of missions this year, and they did a fantastic job.

So kudos, talk committee.

Um there are so many people's name, but quickly, Felipe, Sarah, Christian, Zach, Salona, I'm sorry, but you didn't know your name, Juanita, Seth, and Christian and Denny.

Um they did a fantastic job.

And and this is not just talks committee, this is also uh tutorials and posters.

This is this has been a very, very, very large operation this year to make everything work.

And um they were really the true backbones to make this conference successful because without content, why hang out?

Yeah, exactly.

Um when you uh sign up for an account on the website, uh, if if you're interested in in hearing uh exactly when when the schedule comes out and when uh you know open space signups are live, those sorts of things.

Uh, we do have a newsletter.

Um so the you can you can check that box and uh and and you'll get the email with with the schedule announcement and uh and with the you know all of the day of um day of info, uh any any other events that are that are happening and added to the webpage.

Um we we do try to try to send that out.

Um uh and uh another thing that will be opening up at some point um is as we get closer to the conference is uh on-site volunteer sign-ups.

Uh so uh in addition to all the people who work uh year round and then some uh to make this thing happen.

Um we rely on uh lots and lots of on-site volunteers.

Um Will, I I think uh I I stepped away from the the DjangoCon US uh registration desk for for a little bit last last year to uh to to chat with you.

But um, you know, I had I had such a fantastic time uh volunteering at the registration desk there.

Um yeah, it's the best way to meet people is to help out, for sure.

It's a it's a great way to uh, you know, if you're if you're looking to to be in a talk room um and and you want to you want to help make that uh you know that that space happen, uh we've got lots and lots of uh places for for people to pitch in.

Um so that'll be open uh on the website.

Uh there's also a mailing list that I I think we can probably share in the show notes.

We'll we'll have all that in there.

And and yeah, if you can make it, make it all the talks are available on uh online after.

And um yeah, can't highly recommend it enough.

Yeah, like

And and I just one last thing because I always forget to to plug this.

We actually have a when you register, you can also register for hotel rooms that are very, very close, the convention center.

And we actually got really great deals.

We've been negotiating a lot back and forth with these folks, and this actually helps keep our conference costs down is by partnering with these hotels.

So if you can, when you register for your ticket, uh please register with one of the hotels that we've partnered with.

Uh, it will help the conference a lot in terms of just costs and also you don't have to walk as much.

And after a long day of walking back and forth in the convention center, trust me, you'll be thanking yourselves by not having to walk additional 30 minutes back to your Airbnb.

We are DjangoChat.com and on YouTube.

And John and Elaine, thanks so much for coming on again.

And it'll be fun to see you both uh two months in person.

Yeah, looking forward to it.

Two months.

Have a good point.

From scaling applications to simplifying data complexity and unlocking AI outcomes, they help you move forward faster.

See what's possible at sixfeetup.com.