Conferences and virtual watch options

I have not been to a tech conference in person post COVID. Before the lockdowns hit I attended three to five each year. I always had a lot of fun, despite not necessarily liking big crowds or constant socializing with people I do not know. Yet I got to know lots of folks and I am certain if I would attend a Python or Go adjacent conference right now, I would find some people to have a drink with and enjoy my time.

Here comes the big "but". My wife had a really hard time after having COVID. Basically a whole year lost where she barely could walk our dog, two years in and she's still struggling. It also kicked my own butt for a few months, during which working out was not in the cards. I am not too eager to repeat this experience. So I have a risk / reward analysis any time I plan to do something... and tech conferences simply do not make the cut.

A technical conference serves two different purposes to me. 1) Hang out with people and 2) learn new things. I can do the latter from the comfort of my home. Conferences are either live streamed or most talks will appear online after some time. Same information, nothing really lost. And if a talk would spark a question it is rare to find a presenter you cannot contact online.

That leaves hanging out with people. I can go to a conference for that, or I can meet friends outside of a conference and spend some quality time with specific people. A long weekend with friends in Spain is far more quality time than two beers after a long day of talks which mentally drained me already.

Additionally transportation is always tricky. Within Europe I prefer to not fly. Yet when I ask for a train ticket from Heidelberg to Spain for example the lovely person behind the Deutsche Bahn counter laughs at me and tells me that that is what flying was invented for. Then quotes me nine times what it would cost me to go there by car and twice as much as plane tickets. I guess that is what you get for trying to be environmentally conscious from Deutsche Bahn.

Internationally things look even worse. For DjangoCon Europe in Cardiff we flew to London Heathrow and booked a black cab to drive us to Cardiff. It was faster and cheaper than flying to Cardiff. It was absurd. I could list more examples where, even within Europe, it is a major inconvenience to get to a conference.

None of this factors in the recent political developments as Brett outlines in his blogpost. Or the fact that air travel has seen a recent uptick in accidents in the US, as control institutions are being gutted. I think flying is still the safest transportation medium right now, but time will tell if it stays that way. And I appear to not be alone with my reservations.

Which brings us back to virtual watch options. They worked during COVID. They are still working post COVID. And they are amazing.

I can see the talks live, I can interact with presenters and I can give the conference money. I heard conferences like money, it helps running the whole thing. I am happy to pay for a virtual ticket, including for my employees. It is a rather small disruption of our work and the return is significant. When you have a week long conference (plus a couple of days for travel) economics of everyone "attending" a conference suddenly look very different.

There are also certain accessibility benefits for people who cannot travel out of different reasons, be it physical limitations, VISA restrictions, monetary restrictions, dealing with family situations... the list goes on. While it is not the same experience as being there in person it does not make you feel completely excluded watching a YouTube video a month later.

Providing a virtual watch option is a considerable amount of additional work for conference organizers. You need a proper video and audio team - something most conferences have figured out. Sufficient bandwidth at a location is absolutely not a guaranteed given, even in 2025. You also need a proper moderation team for chat, never trust people to behave, especially online.

Personally I am sad PyCon does not provide a virtual watch option. I understand the logistical problems and financial constraints, but I disagree with the conclusion. This year I am aware of about 20 people who cancelled trips to conferences and with all that is going on I would expect this number to go up in the future.

I have a hard time reading

PyCon US continues to keep the safety of our community as our top priority and wants PyCon US to be an event that everyone feels safe attending.

and the focus on "community" across all communications while removing literally the one option that definitely can keep people safe. It feels worth pointing out that safety is also not just a concern of catching a virus, or a plane crashing as people often like to forget this part or ignore it (such as universal access to healthcare).

This is not supposed to be a jab at the PyCon US organisers. I am aware of all the different factors that go into decisions when organising a conference and you will never be able to make it "right" for everyone. PyCon US is also obviously not the standard or any indicator in which direction conferences worldwide will be moving. And some of the points outlined above were absolutely not foreseeable when the decision to cut online was made.

I personally hope we continue to see virtual watch options, for all the benefits they bring. If a gamer can stream to hundreds of thousands of viewers with a few moderators on Twitch, I am fairly certain tech savvy communities can come up with something that is feasible from an effort and price perspective.