Can we talk about the PyCon schedule?

I've been to two PyCons - 2024 and 2025. I had a terrific time in '24, there were so many cool talks about how people were using Python creatively and weirdly and amazingly. And even though masking was required, the hallway track was vibrant and talkative and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

In '25, I gave a talk, so I was a bit focused on that, but still heard some good talks on diverse and inspiring and creative topics. The hallway track, however, struck me as empty and somber - even without masks that year. There were fewer exhibitors in the expo area, and best as I could see, simply fewer people attending in general. It was, to be frank, kind of depressing. But I didn't want to harsh anyone's groove, so I kept my opinions to myself - maybe I just wasn't in the right places at the right times to catch any upbeat vibes.

So even though PyCon 2026 is in my own backyard and my travel costs would be $1.75 each way, I was quite ambivalent about whether to attend or not. I figured I would wait until the schedule came out and see if there were any talks or speakers I really wanted to see. And now that I've seen the schedule, I can definitively say that I won't be attending this year.

It looks like anything fun and creative has been superseded by two tracks of talks - an AI track one day and a security track the next. The rest of the talks look pretty technical - couldn't see much I'd describe as even vaguely creative or fun - not even any data visualization talks. And fair enough, it is a Python conference after all, and you can't fault the organizers for booking talks about, you know, Python. But there's not much there for someone like me - an artist and advanced beginner at Python - this year.

It makes me kind of sad for the event - diversity is important, not just across genders and ethnicities, but across disciplines as well. I guess that, as is often the case, the arts are the first thing to be cut when things get financially tricky, and I know AI in particular is on everyone's mind right now. But it's a shame to see the schedule so unmitigatedly technical.