PyBeach 2025: If You Love Something, Set It Free

The Backstory

Just under eight years ago, in December of 2017, I found myself heading home from the very first North Bay Python, displeased about the fact that Petaluma now had a Python conference and my beloved metropolis of Los Angeles didn’t. Inspired—and admittedly slightly indignant, perhaps—I thought “surely I can make this happen” and registered pybeach.org before I’d even left the Bay Area.

A little over two years later, on February 29th, 2020, PyBeach 2020 happened, with plenty of community support, but still primarily as my baby. It was a great time, with around 40 attendees present for a day of fantastic talks, and the plan was to keep going. Since the event happened on a leap day, I obviously joked along the lines of “that was a lot of work, so maybe I’ll see y’all back in four years”, and I deeply apologize if I manifested what subsequently transpired.

As hosting in-person events started becoming at least somewhat sensible from 2023 or thereabouts, I’d wanted to bring PyBeach back. Organizing a conference is indeed quite a bit of work, and it all starts with a venue and dates, with everything else subject to that combination. As I vaguely attempted to solve that problem on my own for over a year, two awesome people in the Python world got in touch and wanted to get involved.

We started as a triumvirate, but over the ensuing months, personal circumstances rendered me disproportionally unhelpful. After much stressing over letting them down, I decided the best thing I could do was to officially hand over the reigns and get out of their way, so I did just that.

They kept running with it and put on a kick-ass event. PyBeach 2025 happened on September 27th, and it was a blast.

The Event

PyBeach 2025 was awesome.

The talks were fantastic, and I kept overhearing people referencing them throughout the day. I watched a few, and really appreciated Carol Willing’s opening keynote about asking questions. The slate that followed was of the highest caliber. The talks were recorded using the venue’s setup, and the viability of the recordings is still unknown, but if they make their way to the public, you should give them a watch. I know I will for the ones I missed.

The hallway lobby track was exciting and lively. I got to chat with some old acquaintances and make new ones. This is arguably my favorite part of every conference, and it delivered.

The food track was also top notch. The dinner the night before the event, lunch, and dinner after all involved excellent company to go with great food and drinks. Santa Monica fortunately has plenty of great dining options, so we were well covered. And as much as I appreciate the thought behind being fed, I tend to strongly prefer eating out around the event whenever possible, so I get to experience the locale a bit.

The vibe was awesome. This energy is why I go to conferences—around twenty by now—and why I started one. It’s why I got involved with organizing SoCal Python, and why I want it to come back. In my eyes a well-run event lets the people present make it great, and this was a shining example.

The Feelings

Early in the day I tooted a photo of my badge with the “Volunteer” ribbon and captioned it with:

“Many feelings today, all positive.”

It was a pretty emotional experience to be involved and see the event flourish.

At PyCon 2018 I was in a community organizing open space, and someone said “your conference can be 40 people in a room”. I took this wisdom to heart, and PyBeach 2020 was just that. I basically wanted a conference that’s convenient for me and serves Southern California. If it had remained “40 people in a room” forever, it still would’ve been great. To see it double was gratifying in a way I didn’t anticipate.

It was also extremely gratifying to see it thrive “without me”, so to speak. I helped a little bit with the t-shirts, assembled one of the Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, staffed the registration desk for part of the afternoon, and helped with the cleanup. While that’s not nothing, it’s also not even a little bit like organizing, and anyone could’ve done it instead.

There was something special in seeing a thing I started take a life of its own and grow, through hard work and care of others. There is perhaps no better testament to the value of said thing and the power of the community than this happening, and it is my proudest professional achievement.

The Future

I don’t know if and when the next PyBeach will happen. The organizers expressed interest in not doing it again all by themselves, and I hope someone else will step up. I also hope to continue to be involved, but don’t want to try taking on more than I can handle, especially as the personal side of my life isn’t really changing for the better. I remember during the lead-up to the original event thinking that it would be nice if PyBeach traveled—as PyCascades does between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland—primarily with San Diego Python in mind, but we also have Orange County, Ventura, and Santa Barbara roughly within the same geographic area, so there are some other candidates for that approach as well.

And if it doesn’t pan out, it will be a shame, but I’ll be proud of the role I played in what this community I so dearly love made happen twice.

But I think we can figure something out. And I hope to see you there.

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