PyCon US in Long Beach delivered an intense, social experience with opportunities to meet both longtime friends and new people. An opening reception created unstructured time for conversation and community, including a playful moment counting greetings. A booth giveaway of full-size Osprey backpacks became a standout perk, with attendees learning that no requirements were needed beyond asking. New acquaintances from Brazil formed part of the attendee’s experience and returned in later moments. Volunteering offered a practical way to engage, especially as a session runner, where someone helps speakers by meeting them in the green room, ensuring timely arrival, and supporting setup. The green room provided coffee and snacks throughout the day.
"I came with five of my colleagues from Netflix. I got to the Thursday night reception with Anika (first PyCon) and Josey (first PyCon with me). They said, "we're going to count how many people Ned says hi to!" They were at 16 after five minutes and gave up. I don't blame them. The reception is a very social time, and I have lots of friends I really enjoy seeing there."
"Tower Research Capital was giving away full-size Osprey backpacks at their booth. This was easily the most appreciated swag at PyCon. At the booth a clump of us were wondering what was required to get one. While there I met Maria, Camila, and Vinícius. They are from Brazil, and were very friendly. They will re-appear in this story a few times. BTW: nothing was required to get a backpack, just ask and you get one. Everyone was very impressed."
"A good PyCon life-hack is to do some volunteer jobs. In particular, being a session runner is great. Pick a talk you want to go see anyway. Volunteer to be the session runner. Your duty is to go to the green room 15 minutes before the talk, meet the speaker, and help them get to the room on time and get set up. It's a good way to make a connection with the speaker and help them at a particularly stressful time. It helps PyCon run smoothly. Also: the green room has coffee and snacks all day long!"
Read at Ned Batchelder
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]