PyPodcats at PyCon US 2024
We’re so excited about PyCon US 2024 in Pittsburgh. It was the first time the four of the hosts were in the same room together to share news about our podcast series to the Python community.
Good morning #pyconus ! Walked to the venue and bumped into the lovely folks behind @pypodcats !
— Elaine Wong (@elthenerd@fosstodon.org) (@elthenerd) May 16, 2024
Great podcast! Totally check them out! pic.twitter.com/sKy1vjEcjE
At PyCon US, the PyPodcats team, Cheuk, Georgi, Mariatta, and Tereza, gave a talk about the issues within our community with regard to diversity and inclusion, specifically in the Python podcast community. We shared with our audience the idea behind the podcast, the issue that we are addressing (not enough representation of underrepresented folks, especially women, in Python podcasts) and how we make our production process welcoming and inclusive.
Watch our PyCon US Talk now:
Audience response
After our talk, our audience asked how they can go about inviting women to their podcasts or events, because, in their experience the women usually said no to their invitations.
Our advice is to show sincerity when inviting women. Explain the reasoning of why you’d like to invite them to the event, perhaps mention their accomplishments and their involvements which would be relevant for the event. We also suggest asking for introductions from other women in the network who know them more personally.
Our talk was received very well. After our talk, many from the audience came to us to suggest amazing women that they know of, and we were delighted to hear about them!
Our Advice
We are just one podcast team with limited production time. We have a long list of great guests waiting to be interviewed. So we may not be able to feature everyone that was recommended to us. Therefore:
- We recommend that you suggest the names of the underrepresented group members who are doing amazing work to other Python-related podcasts.
- Invite them to speak at conferences and events that are happening in your community.
- If you are a podcast host and would like to learn how to be more welcoming to the guests from the underrepresented group members, please watch the recording of our PyCon US talk as we have shared some advice on how to treat the guests with respect and to gain their trust.
Inclusivity
Overall we found the PyCon US conference to be a welcoming and inclusive event, as can be seen from the following:
The Inaugural Outstanding PyLadies Award
The Outstanding PyLadies Award was established to recognize the contributions and achievements from diverse group of Pythonistas.
We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the first Outstanding PyLadies Award recipients: Abigail Mesrenyame Dogbe, Maaya Ishida, and Jessica Greene.
Outstanding PyLadies Award Recipients: Abigail Mesrenyame Dogbe, Maaya Ishida, and Jessica Greene. Photo credit: Cheuk Ting Ho
Accessibility
Live captioning has been a feature at PyCon US conference for many years, and we are happy to see that PyCon US continued to provide this by hiring the team from White Coat Captioning.
PyCon US hired a personal guide from OneWell Health Care for one of our podcast guest, Jessica Tenger, who is fully blind, to help her navigate the vast conference venue during her time there.
PyCon US hired ASL interpreters from Silent Visual Media to provide sign language during the talks.
We appreciate the level of care and attention by PyCon US staff to ensure everyone felt welcomed.
MicroPythonistas
It was such a delight to see many attendees bringing their children along, and to see that the children were enjoying the conference too! Georgi even came up with the terminology: MicroPythonistas.
PyCon US
— georgically (@georgically1) May 19, 2024
More MicroPythonistas @calvinhp @JackieKazil pic.twitter.com/q1CVkLstzU
Diverse topics in the Open Spaces
We noticed very diverse topics in the open spaces showing that our community members were being welcomed and encouraged to explore a variety of topics that interests them. For example, some of the topics were: a Sushi-themed open space, juggling open space, an open space for high-schoolers, and even one for a different programming language, Rust.
Global community representation
We noticed representation from worldwide Python communities. At the Expo Hall, there were Community Booths from PyCon APAC, Black Python Devs, PyLadies, and Python en Español. At the conference, there was a Spanish-language Charlas track.
We also personally met other Pythonistas from as far as Brasil, Namibia, Ghana, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, just to name a few. We stumbled upon the Candy Exchange hosted by Python en Español community in the expo hall.
Our Talk about Podcast was accepted
We are grateful that the PyCon US Program Committee accepted our talk, considering it was not a technical talk at all. It showed to us that you don’t have to be only a programmer or a developer in order to attend and enjoy the conference. Python is not just a programing language, but there is also a community surrounding it. By accepting our talk, it showed us that the Python community and the conference organizers do care about the health of the community and that everyone is welcome at PyCon US.
PyCon US Statistics
- 65% were first-time attendees
- 57% were speaking at PyCon US for the first time
- $351,436 travel grants awarded to 226 attendees
- 636 attendees received complimentary registrations to the conference
- $60,397 raised during PyLadies Auction
- 42 attendees received travel grant through PyLadies
- $11,000 raised during Black Python Devs donation drive at PyCon US
Sources:
Parting Thoughts
While overall, we had a positive and inclusive experience at PyCon US, we also want to recognize that this year, the representation of women speaking at the conference was at 27%. This ratio is lower than it was 10 years ago, where at PyCon US 2014 and 2015, 33% of the talks were by women. We hope that by highlighting this, the community as a whole can think about, and work towards more equity and inclusion in this space in the future.
We are glad to receive positive feedback and compliments about our project and podcast series from the community members at PyCon US. Your support is what drives us and the community forward. Please subscribe and stay tuned for our next episode.
Saw an awesome presentation today about @pypodcats and how they are trying to grow the under represented community in Python through podcasts 🙌👏
— Matt Coulter (@NIDeveloper) May 25, 2024