Why I Am Sponsoring PyCodeConf (and What It Means to You)

tl; dr: Magic in Miami, a limited number of tickets for PyCodeConf are available for you at $300/each. Don’t forget to pick up your hotel rooms at $179/night. Hooray.

When I first saw that GitHub was producing their own conference series, I was quite stoked. GitHub has easily become a great asset for conference organizers both in terms of advertising visibility and their willingness to sponsor conferences of every ilk in almost every programming language. They support the community at a deep level both in their drive to turn coding into a social activity (through various GitHub meetups) and their funding of people with crazy ideas (aka conference organizers). I have always thought highly of the team at GitHub and so when I heard they were entering the conference space, I will admit I was both giddy and concerned.

The concern comes from the obvious overlap between the CodeConf events and JSConf events in terms of nature, style, and love of community. They are willing to showcase some arguably risky presentations and provide the critical social event backbone that makes conferences a success. In crafting JSConf, Laura and I stumbled into a lot of the decisions that made the conference what it became - CodeConf evolved from GitHub’s experience both as attendees, sponsors, and speakers at various events of all types. It is because of this that I actually turned my concern into a desire to help CodeConf grow by lending as much of a hand as I could. We need more events driven by passionate groups of people who have experienced all sides of the conference world. Speaking at most conferences sucks, sponsoring most conferences sucks, and attending most conferences – well that is hit or miss depending on your expectations.

I have helped GitHub organize their latest conference, focused on the Python community. Our experience of organizing a conference in a very well established community like Python has been quite interesting. The Python community is a very proud group and rightfully so, their community has been tended quite well by the Python Software Foundation (PSF) and a benevolent dictator. Our creation of a conference about Python is by no means an attempt to undo or insult these groups, but to add a new voice to the chorus. We have selected an amazing batch of speakers representing the aspects of Python that make it great; including, but not limited to, the PSF, PyLadies Advocacy, SciPy, Django, Microframeworks, and PyPy (and a little JS for good measure). We did this to bring together a nice cross cut of the broad Python community into a single event and allow you to get the full breadth in two jam packed days. To go along with this, we are putting together a line up of social events that will rival JSConf starting with an opening party on Wednesday night October 5th and ending the evening of Friday, October 7th.

I believe deeply in the benefit of organic conferences driven by love for the communities that they represent. I have to otherwise I wouldn’t continue doing what I do with JSConf. I would love for all communities to experience the magic of sharing drinks with “the best and brightest” on a completely level playing field. It is the anti-thesis of elitism, if anything it is a deliberate breakdown of such things. PyCon and other PSF events do this as well, PyCodeConf is just an attempt at a different take on the concept. Both can and should co-exist happily.  Part of the reason for choosing Python is that it seemed well suited for the type of environment we are working towards BECAUSE of PyCon, not in spite of it. That is why I am doing something that is absolutely crazy. I am, as a representative of JSConf, sponsoring PyCodeConf.

Most sponsorships mean that the organization gets money to create a better event and I have discussed this over with the GitHub team that the best way to do this is to get even more people there. So we are sponsoring to obtain a bigger space AND… Get ready for it…

OFFER TICKETS AT HALF THE REGULAR PRICE

This price reduction is only available as part of our sponsorship and as such there are only a few tickets available at the lower price (sorry I am not made of money). The offer is only open until September 9th or we reach the number of tickets covered by the sponsorship. If you already have a ticket, you rock, but unfortunately we cannot do a refund to the lower price (buy one for a friend/co-worker!). If you have been on the fence about attending PyCodeConf, consider this a big push. We want this conference series to grow and we want you to be a part of it, now is your chance. If you don’t program in Python, please pass this on to someone you know who does. If you are taking advantage of this, be sure to pick up your hotel rooms while the block is still open until September 9th.

Organic Technical Conferences FTW. Hooray!