Day 2 — The Top 10 free T-shirts I got from PyCons this Fall
Humans have long given great importance to gifts of clothing. This is especially true in Japanese culture alone: consider the subtle differences between the kimono worn by children at each age in Shichi-Go-San festivals, the ornate and beautiful furisode signifying a new stage in life during Seijin no hi, the meanings and types of wedding kimono ranging from simple white all the way to the many-layered jūnihitoe, and even how one wears a kimono with the left side draped over the right, except for when it is your burial garment and you are dressed by another person for the last time.
In this grand tradition, I spoke at five PyCons in five countries this fall and got ten free t-shirts along the way. Here’s my review of each of them:
Taiwan:
This sets the standard for free t-shirts. Everyone looks stylish in a good quality white cotton tee and the logo is tasteful yet baffling (a pun I don’t understand?). My only criticism is that the logo is pretty similar on the front and at the base of the neck. I’ll wear this to the office for sure.
Honorable Extras: the two HENNGE tees I was given so that I could wear company logo tees each of the three days.
This was my first time speaking at any conference, let alone an international one. My talk was a half-hour adaptation of my blog posts about beating a video game using Python. This whole thing started with an MTS presentation that turned into those blog posts, those posts became my PyCon presentation, and that presentation let me write this blog post. If I can turn this blog post into an MTS presentation, I’ll manage to come full circle!
Best food: Night market crispy pork and Thai tea
New Zealand:
My favorite design of all of them. The subtly different colors and geometric pattern are incredibly eye-catching. Bonus points for still looking good if the logo is partially hidden by an open jacket. The Kiwi PyCon team shouted out the graphic designer in their closing talk, and I get why.
The other t-shirt I got from this conference is identical except for HENNGE’s name is on the back under the sponsor section.
Oops. But it’s a good reminder of how many plates a conference has to keep spinning. There are countless decisions to be made, hundreds of people to coordinate, hundreds of talk proposals to be reduced to a few dozen, and costs to be paid from coffers, tickets, and sponsors, and that’s all before the event itself!!! Things will go wrong, and I feel like the Kiwi PyCon team made things right by sending us reprinted shirts and adding HENNGE’s name to next year’s shirt.
Speaking of things going wrong, this was also the conference where my live demo completely failed! Things go wrong; all you can do is use your safety video and move on.
Best food: Morning *and* afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream
Japan:
Hell. Yes. The boldest color by far. This highlighter-green design is exclusive to speakers and is equally good at showing how important you are and making sure you don’t get hit by a car during a night jog. The logo’s pretty stylish as well, featuring a retro design with an offset shadow to make it pop. As a regular con-goer, I also got a white version but that isn’t nearly as fun.
Honorable Extra: Just like last year, members who stayed at the booth got limited edition HENNGE sports tees.
People have asked me how I got into this many talks, either out of curiosity, concern for me doing this much travel, or a desire to talk at conferences themselves. I usually credit the topics (Video games! Automation!) and that I could link my existing blog posts to give reviewers a concrete example of what I would present.
But truthfully, audiences respond to passion more than anything. All of my favorite talks were from people with small, simple, or just plain weird questions that they had to get answered. If you want my advice on getting into a conference, skip the hot new trend and pitch a talk about the niche interest that keeps you up at night.
Best food: I live here, so that’s hard to answer… if you want to see my favorite restaurants in Shibuya in person, apply to our internship program or check out our full-time roles.
Hong Kong:
I’m sorry, Hong Kong, you had a lot to love, but your free t-shirt was only okay. Navy fabric and a mono-color design over the heart? There's not a lot going on, and the big sponsor section on the back isn’t doing any favors. Sorry, but this is a sleep shirt now. Plus, it was overshadowed by perhaps the coolest freebie any conference gave out: custom mahjong tiles with the Python logo. I thought that custom plushies were the coolest swags, but this absolutely gets a place of honor on my shelf.
This was the first conference that I didn’t attend alongside other HENNGE members. Fortunately, I already knew some of the organizers and attendees through previous PyCons. Plus, I’d gotten better at giving this exact presentation at this exact kind of conference. My Taiwan talk was fine, but I was noticeably more stiff, less conversational, and tried to cram in too much information. If you get nervous talking in front of crowds, great news! That’s just a skill, and skills can get better no matter where you’re starting.
Best food: Dim Sum with Sau Yee (read her past article here)
Indonesia:
The theme for PyCon ID was “Python is fun,” and whoever designed the t-shirt took that to heart. Bold, bright colors, rounded letters, and a happy python in front of the words “party time” on the back? This absolutely rules, a big swing of graphic design and a big hit for me.
This whole experience has been an incredible reminder of how honing communication skills really does open doors, even as an amateur writer. Prior to joining HENNGE, I had no reason to do any writing. I figured that maintaining a personal blog or even filling a word doc just for myself was pointless. I couldn’t have been more wrong; even if you think nobody wants to read what you write, it can be a chance to record something you care about, and that’s worthwhile.
Best food: Indonesian fried rice (Nasi Goreng) is the best in Asia and if you disagree, you can make me something better to change my mind.
On a more serious note, everywhere I went and everybody I met was pretty darn similar. Cultures varied of course; details about how people lived and the ways they spent their days were different from country to country. But at heart, everyone I met could have just as easily lived down my street instead of across the ocean.
The world is full of cruelty these days; it’s easy to find news about genocides, famines, and warfare. All I ask is that when news reaches you from another country, you remember that violence against anyone could be violence against your neighbors. It’s worth standing up for kindness, both at home and around the world.
Doing so might even be more valuable than a free t-shirt.
If you like my writing, check out my kid’s book at afraidalot.com!
If you hate my writing, tell me to my face by joining my company!
Check out other 2023 HENNGE Advent Calendar articles here.
