Today we’re excited to share our conference roadmap!
Planning a conference
We initially started to think about our 2026 conference as far back as a year ago, and there is a full (and very busy) 9 months between now and when the conference will run in Brisbane.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, we know you’ve got lots of questions about when details about “everything” else will be forthcoming.
PyCon AU 2026 Roadmap
You’re welcome to download this roadmap as a PDF to share as well.
Ticket availability
Early bird tickets are available now and the first release is almost sold out already!
We also realise that many people weren’t prepared to purchase a conference ticket a year ahead when we dropped the surprise announcement on stage back in September. If that was you, a second release of early bird tickets will be available early next year - but they’ll be for a limited time only.
As hinted at in our earlier announcements, two more ticket types will also be available in the middle of next year:
- Student Tickets: These tickets are substantially subsidised for students who hold a government issued student concession card. We welcome students from overseas to purchase this ticket type too.
- One Day Tickets: These tickets are for admission on a specific day. They’re perfect for attendees who wish to try PyCon AU for the first time, or who wish to attend specific talks or specialist tracks.
Some ticket inclusions like t-shirts must be locked in with our suppliers several weeks ahead of the conference. To that end, late-bird purchases may miss out on some ticket inclusions. Don’t miss out - register your full conference pass today!
The conference plan
Our call for specialist tracks will open very soon. Specialist tracks are dedicated ‘mini-confs’ around a particular niche, technology or community. Previous specialist tracks have included Education, Scientific Python, Data & AI, “DevOops”, Security & Privacy, and DjangoCon AU.
Now is an excellent time to be thinking about what specialist track you might be interested in organising!
Having specialist tracks on board is also a pre-requisite for opening our combined call for proposals. We’ve heard your feedback, and our intention is to have CFP open for a longer period of time than previous years. We want you to have extra time to polish up your talk ideas into amazing proposals. You can also take this as foreshadowing that CFP will open early next year - so start thinking about your talks now!
We intend to share more details about financial assistance and volunteering opportunities in the months ahead. Noting upfront that the financial assistance budget is heavily reliant on how our overall budget is looking; available funding is dependent on both early ticket sales and sponsorship commitments.
Un-announcements ✨
You might notice a few other icons on this roadmap, and yes they’re there for a reason. However some of the fun of a conference is in the excitement from announcements along the way.
So, stay tuned for all the things we haven’t announced, but will be sharing very soon!
The usual caveats
Remember PyCon AU is run by volunteers, and sometimes life happens. To that end, this roadmap is an aspiration that we want to share with you - but it is not a firm commitment on specific dates.
We appreciate your enthusiasm and kindness when these timelines flex throughout the next 10 months.