For anyone who hasn’t attended PyCon I’ll offer this anecdote. This was my 10th year attending. In my first year I meticulously planned all the talks I’ve as g

For anyone who hasn’t attended PyCon I’ll offer this anecdote. This was my 10th year attending. In my first year I meticulously planned all the talks I’ve as going to attend. I later learned this was a giant mistake. As the years went on I spent less time in the talks and more time in other areas… Talking to people in the exhibition hall (what hard problems are you guys solving? How do you manage the business side of open source?) The “Hallway track”. Joining groups of people for random excursions. This year I went all in on open spaces. They are the most unique part of PyCon. I don’t know how to phrase it other than “what topic are you interested in but haven’t yet heard about? Do an open space on that and people will show up.” PyCon is truly about the people. All of those “I came for the language and stayed for the community” comments are 100% and it’s hard to get this point across if you haven’t experienced it.