Last month I attended Pycon India conference which was held in Bangalore from 26-28 September. I had different experiences there and many things happened for the first time. It was my first open source conference. First time I travelled alone to a new city. First time met Indian Fedora contributors. First time volunteered for the conference. First time gave a talk in conference. Became member of Python Software Society of India(PSSI) and Durgapur Linux User Group (DGPlug).
I reached Bangalore one day before the conference started. I went to the conference venue directly. There were workshops going on that time. There I met Kushal Das da, Ratnadeep da, Elita, Devyani and a few volunteers. I came to know that my friends Elita and Devyani were volunteering for the conference. I was also interested so i asked Chandan da who was actively involved in organising the whole event. He got agreed and I joined the team. Next we had to arrange for our accommodation. Thanks to Kushal da and Ratnadeep da for helping out in arranging everything. I stayed with my new friends Elita and Devyani.
Day 1: Though we were supposed to reach early but we got bit late. In a hurry, first we registered ourselves for the conference and had breakfast. Day begin with a keynote by Kushal Das. He shared different stories on his experiences, how he got started in open source, different people he met and how they put an impact on his life. After this we had regular talks but I didn’t like them much. There were booths for companies who sponsored for the event. I visited their booths and discussed their ideas, technology they are using. I also got goodies from these companies which was most exciting. The day ends with a lovely dinner treat given to all the volunteers.
Day 2: It started with keynote by Michael Foord. In afternoon after lunch there was meeting of all DGPlug members on the staircase where we discussed the ongoing projects, future goals and upcoming events.
I gave a small lightning talk on my project Datagrepper that i did in OPW. I barely got 10 minutes to speak but I tried to make most of those 10 minutes.
After the conference there was meeting of all PSSI members. I attended that meeting and registered for the group and became a member. Day ends with dinner with DGPlug members at a chinese restaurant. I had a great time in my first ever conference and best part was that I could meet fedora contributors whom I had only talked on irc.
OPW'2013 