This weekend I attended and spoke at my first ever <a href="https://us.pycon.org/2014/">PyCon</a>. For those not familiar, PyCon is the largest annual gathering of the Python programming community. This year it was in Montréal.
I'm pretty wiped from the conf, so I don't have time for a longform post. Here are some stream of consciousness points and tweets.
Shout out to <a href="https://twitter.com/juliaelman">Julia Elman</a> for convincing me to go and submit my talk. I wouldn't have been there without her. &#x3C;3
<a href="http://girldevelopit.com/">Girl Develop It</a> had a great presence at the conference. It was so wonderful to meet folks from other chapters in person and do some outreach.
<a href="http://www.pyladies.com/">PyLadies</a> were in full force at the conference. They sponsored a bunch of scholarships, were speaking at the conference, helping out as organizers, and generally being awesome. The PyLadies lunch on Sunday was a great way to end the conference for me.
I won $500 for Pyladies from Heroku!
There were 1/3 women speakers and attendees! It was noticeable even without hearing those numbers. I hear the majority of this is due to Jessica McKellar and Pyladies. Thank you!
The geek feminism open space gave me a great place to go relax, decompress, and hang out with friends. Every conference needs this.
It was wonderful to see ALL THE FRIENDS. The tech feminist cabal (that title is a joke) was in full force and it was the best thing.
I spent $160 on a signed copy of Lean In. Don't worry, the proceeds go to benefit Pyladies. I donated the book to Double Union for corrections and edits. I kept the slipcover for potential future use.
I love the conference's dedication to their <a href="https://us.pycon.org/2014/about/code-of-conduct/">code of conduct</a>, especially after all the things that happened last year.
My only constructive criticism is that the conference could improve how they handle Q&#x26;A. Many people used the space as a mini lightning talk or asked multiple questions. A moderator that instructs people to be brief and actually ask questions might help. I totally understand this is a hard problem, and I rarely see it handled well (unless you count not having Q&#x26;A). Audience members don't tend to listen, so it's difficult to improve. I'd love the conf even if they can't fix this.
<h2 id="favorite-talks">Favorite talks<a aria-hidden tabindex="-1" class="anchor before" href="#favorite-talks"></a></h2>
Here are some of my favorite talks listed in the order that I saw them. It's amazing how fast they <a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/category/50/pycon-us-2014">got videos up</a>, so that I could catch things I missed and share with all of you right away.
<a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/video/2694/the-python-pipeline-why-you-should-reach-out-to">Selena Deckelmann's The Python Pipeline: Why you should reach out to local teachers</a>
<a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/video/2684/keynote-jessica-mckellar">Jessica McKellar's keynote</a>
<a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/video/2658/analyzing-rap-lyrics-with-python">Julie Lavoie's Analyzing Rap Lyrics with Python</a>
<a href="http://www.pyvideo.org/video/2671/farewell-and-welcome-home-python-in-two-genders">Naomi Ceder's Farewell and Welcome Home: Python in Two Genders</a>
I missed seeing this talk live because of my early flight, and I'm really sad about that. Thankfully, videos were up quickly, and I got to watch it when I got home. It's so good. Everyone should watch this, but especially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender">cisgender</a> people.
<h2 id="my-talk">My talk<a aria-hidden tabindex="-1" class="anchor before" href="#my-talk"></a></h2>
This was my first talk at a multitrack conference. I was a little nervous about people showing up because I was late in the day and would have competition. Thankfully, I had a full audience with a bunch of friends in the front row. It was an honor to have Naomi Ceder introduce me.
I think the talk went really well - I got a ton of positive feedback afterwards. I'm so thrilled that it resonated with people and really enjoyed the conversations we had afterwards. Thanks for creating a great environment for me to speak.
You can find my <a href="https://speakerdeck.com/juliepagano/its-dangerous-to-go-alone-battling-the-invisible-monsters-in-tech-pycon-2014">slides</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i8ylq4j_EY">video</a> online.
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion<a aria-hidden tabindex="-1" class="anchor before" href="#conclusion"></a></h2>
I had a great time at PyCon. I want to go again next year. It convinced me that it's finally time to move communities. I tweeted the things below my last day at the conference. I stand by them.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Had such a great time at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pycon?src=hash">#pycon</a> this year. This event has definitely convinced me to move communities. Bye, ruby.— bees have flown away (@juliepagano) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliepagano/status/455364551505367040">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Also amazing to see pyladies actively involved &#x26; supported. A part of the conf &#x26; community. Not something tacked on to check a diversity box— bees have flown away (@juliepagano) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliepagano/status/455365372980768768">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I’m sure python has its warts too, but the leadership cares and sets an important tone and the overall community seems friendly.— bees have flown away (@juliepagano) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliepagano/status/455366074406801408">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Note: not to say I’ll never use ruby. It’s a fine language, but I’m not interested much in the community any more.— bees have flown away (@juliepagano) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliepagano/status/455366736649658368">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I will still be at <a href="https://twitter.com/MadisonRuby">@MadisonRuby</a> this year cause they are awesome and have ruby + the community things I care about.— bees have flown away (@juliepagano) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliepagano/status/455366951272210433">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Sitting at the airport thinking about how much I want to come to PyCon again next year and stay longer next time. :D— bees have flown away (@juliepagano) <a href="https://twitter.com/juliepagano/status/455415630054031360">April 13, 2014</a></blockquote>

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Conference Recap: PyCon 2014