Why attend PyCon AU?

We’re a community of professionals and keen amateurs who work with Python every day. PyCon AU isn’t about hype or sales pitches, it’s about hearing how things really work from the people building, fixing, and experimenting with them. You’ll learn from people working on everything from the Synchrotron to large-scale enterprise systems, open source projects, and scrappy startups.

At PyCon AU you can:

1. Learn from people who’ve done it
   Hear how projects actually work in the real world, from large-scale deployments to clever side projects, without the marketing gloss.

2. Meet the community
   Connect with developers, data scientists, educators, and other tech-minded people from all over. Swap ideas, share challenges, and maybe even find your next hire through the jobs board.

3. Give your company a bit of visibility
   If you come on a contributor ticket, your organisation gets a public thank-you. Even without that, meeting people face-to-face is a great way to put your name out there.

4. Learn from genuine experts
   Our speakers are people who’ve built things, fixed things, and learned what works along the way, and they’re here to share what they know.

5. Step outside your usual bubble
   See how others are solving problems and discover best practices you might not come across in your day-to-day work.

6. Keep up with what’s next
   From new Python features to AI, data science, and education, find out what’s getting traction now and what’s worth watching.

7. Get inspired
   There’s something energising about listening to people talk about work they love. You’ll head home with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm.

Convince your boss to send you to PyCon AU

Here is a handy email template to send to your boss.

Feel free to use as little or as much of this as you would like. Some points will be relevant to you, and your boss, and some won’t.

Hi [boss],
I’d like to request approval to attend PyCon AU 2025, Australia’s National Developer Conference for Python users, running from 12-16th of September 2025 in Melbourne.

The conference is an independent, volunteer-run event centred on Python and featuring a wide range of topics in technology and open source. It brings together developers, data scientists, researchers, educators, and other technology professionals from across Australia and the world.

PyCon AU is focused on practical, real-world insights rather than sales pitches, with sessions covering current best practice and emerging trends in Python, AI, data science, and security.

Attending PyCon AU will support my professional development by allowing me to: Learn from experienced practitioners about what works (and what doesn’t) in production environments.

• Bring back best practices by identifying new tools, processes, and approaches that can improve how we deliver our own projects.

• Build professional networks by connecting with peers and potential collaborators, as well as contributors to open-source tools we use.

• Represent our organisation. Sharing what we do with a wide audience, and if we opt for a contributor ticket, receive a public acknowledgement at the event.

• Hear directly from experts about developments in Python, AI, and data that are relevant to our work.

One of the sessions I’m particularly interested in is [Presentation Title] presented by [Speaker Name]. It will be directly relevant to my work on [Project/Initiative Name], as it covers [brief explanation of topic]. I expect to gain insights into [specific skill, technique, or approach], which could be applied to [intended outcome or improvement in your project].

Estimated costs:

    Ticket: [Insert ticket type & price]

    Travel & accommodation: [Insert estimate]

    Total: [Insert total]

I’m confident the insights and contacts I’ll gain from PyCon AU will deliver value to the team and our projects well beyond the event itself. I’m happy to provide a short post-conference summary or presentation to share key takeaways with the team.

Cheers, [my name]