What I'm looking forward to at DjangoCon US 2026

DjangoCon US is coming up, and I’m pretty dang excited! This was the conference that helped me turn the corner in getting involved in the community. This will be my 5th time attending, and at this point it’s absolutely what summer camp must have been like for a kid. For this year I expect things to be slightly different; I’ve got a new job and DjangoCon US is hosting open spaces, but I know things will largely be the same.

Side note, if you’re on the fence about attending DjangoCon, you should come. Fair warning, you’re going to want to come every year.

So what am I looking forward to?

The talks

I was going to do the thing where I list which talks I was excited for, but quickly realized I was just putting down the entire schedule. There are a bunch of fantastic topics on this year’s schedule. If the only thing I did was attend talks, I’d definitely come away with my money’s worth.

But talks aren’t the only reason to come to DjangoCon US.

The people, of course

I wouldn’t participate in the Django community if it wasn’t for the people. And those that come to DjangoCon US are my favorites. There are my friends that I’ve known for years, my conference pals, and all the new people who are interested in Django. Everyone is always welcoming and happy to chat about something.

One thing I’d like to do this year is to help connect people to others and to the community. One side effect of my roles in the Django community is that I’m familiar with many of the groups and people in our ecosystem. I want to leverage that to help point people in a direction to help them contribute back.

And if you’re that person who wants to get involved but you’re not sure, find me! I’ll be the tall, gangly man with big ears. My wife says I have the gait of Jack Skellington, if that helps. You can also ping me on the conference Slack.

Open spaces

I’m super excited that DjangoCon US will feature Open Spaces this year. These are otherwise known as an unconference. This will be group discussions on a specific topic, organized by conference attendees. These can be a lot of fun and very enlightening. If there’s a topic you’re passionate about and want to hear from others on, you should consider proposing a space.

For me, I’d like to host another package maintainers discussion. In 2024, Carlton Gibson organized one based off his Carlton’s maintainer discussion group, which had a bunch of people attend.

What’s neat is that all of the people in that photo are significant contributors to the Django community. One of the purposes of a DjangoCon is to cultivate the community. This type of discussion is a fantastic way to do that. Plus, I’d like to be that friendly face guiding people to where they can get involved.

By the way, open spaces don’t need to be community-specific. They can be on any topic! So when you get to Chicago, put something on the board.

Sprints

For those who are unaware, sprints are the time when people come together to collaborate and contribute back to the community. These contributions are varied; some examples are code, documentation, and community organizing.

This year, I’m the Sprints Chair with Kudzayi Bamhare. Besides helping people contribute, I’m excited about the sessions we have planned this year. We’re going to have short presentations on how to contribute to Django and how to perform code reviews for Django PRs, after which participants will work on those contributions with support from experienced Django contributors. Then in the afternoon, we’ll have a collaborative session where people review and discuss the ideas in Django’s New Features queue. This is being modeled after the Django on the Med session, which did the same in 2025.

If you’ve wanted to contribute to open source or Django in particular, please drop by and say hello!

Speakers dinner

Each year, to say thank you to all the speakers’ (and organizers’ efforts), the conference organizes a thank-you dinner. They are a great way to meet people and connect with people. In my case, it’s a fantastic way to connect with a bunch of people who share my passion and are much smarter than me.

Every one of them is enjoyable, with some creating very vivid memories. In 2022, in San Diego, I first met Eric Matthes and had one of my favorite conversations. Later, Melanie Arbor helped me see the work situation for what it was, and while I didn’t act on it then, it certainly planted a seed. Then in 2023, in Durham, Natalia Bidart sat down next to me to strike up a conversation where I told her about my FIRE goal, and we quickly became friends. Then 2025 became unforgettable when Ken Whitesell mentioned me during his ad-libbed retirement speech. It was touching to see my efforts recognized by a community member I looked up to¹.

Now I’m not going to say this one dinner is worth all the stress of giving a talk, BUT it certainly is a lot of fun. So next year when you’re on the fence about proposing a talk, remember the dinner and click that submit button!

See you in a few weeks?

Hopefully I’ll see you in Chicago. The organizers have worked tirelessly this year to put on another fantastic conference, and I can’t wait.

Oh, and if you’re a fan of books, come say hello. I have bookmarks to give out!

If you have thoughts, comments, or questions, please let me know. You can set up a meeting with me, or find me on the Fediverse, Django Discord server or use email