Reflecting on 100 Days Before PR Campaign
This is a personal blog by @nishimotz, Chair of PyCon JP 2025.
PyCon JP 2025 will be held on September 26-27 at Hiroshima International Conference Center.
Press Release at 1:00 PM on June 18
June 18 marked exactly 100 days before PyCon JP 2025. To commemorate this milestone, we conducted a press release announcing our two keynote speakers. With a 1:00 PM embargo, we coordinated with media sponsors, related publishers, and submitted materials to the Hiroshima Economic Press Club.
Keynote Speakers and the 100-Day Challenge
The two keynote speakers we announced are Sebastián Ramírez, creator of FastAPI, and Ami Otsuka, author of “100-Day Challenge: How Creating 100 Apps in 100 Consecutive Days Changed My Life.”
Inspired by Otsuka-san’s book theme, we launched a campaign with the message: “If you start a 100-day challenge today, you can reach the conference as your goal day.” This wasn’t just an announcement, but an explanatory article about our keynote speaker selection rationale.
Results from Two Weeks of Sprint Preparation
This campaign actually began with my sudden proposal as chair and was realized with essentially only two weeks of preparation time. Despite the short timeframe, the PR team came together as one to participate in this initiative, which became an extremely valuable experience.
Fortuitous Convergence of Attention on Hiroshima
Around June 18, Hiroshima happened to be receiving significant attention from various events. Hiroshima Prefecture’s tourism campaign, activities by prominent artists, and His Majesty the Emperor’s visit to Hiroshima all converged, creating heightened interest in Hiroshima overall.
Challenges and Reality
Unfortunately, by the time of our press release, registration for the conference wasn’t ready to open. Our website launch also wasn’t ready, so we could only communicate about the Call for Proposals (CfP) and sponsor recruitment.
While we can’t claim significant impact at this point, some interesting developments have emerged. Otsuka-san has been supporting our PR efforts, and organizing members have begun their own 100-day challenges, generating intrinsic energy within our team.
Ongoing Momentum Building Strategy
Since June, we’ve started distributing printed flyers centered around the Hiroshima area. Combined with this press release, we expect this to serve as a catalyst for building buzz. We’re also preparing Hiroshima-themed invited talks and other initiatives. While we can’t announce them yet, the momentum building will continue.
Key Points for Next Year’s Succession
1. The Importance of Team Unity
Even with short preparation time, when the entire team faces the same direction and works together, we can achieve results beyond imagination. Having PR team members unite and participate in the campaign became a major driving force.
2. The Art of Timing
While we didn’t deliberately target it, the convergence with timing when Hiroshima was receiving attention was fortunate. However, rather than dismissing this as mere “coincidence,” it demonstrates the importance of constantly keeping our antenna up for regional trends.
3. The Need for Staged Information Release
A challenge this time was that registration and website preparation weren’t ready. Next year, it’s important to prepare the systems to receive participants simultaneously with press release timing.
4. Fostering Intrinsic Motivation
Most importantly, organizing members should feel a sense of achievement and excitement while moving forward step by step. While external PR is important, first raising internal energy leads to sustainable momentum building.
What I Learned as Chair
Through the 100-days-before PR campaign, I once again realized the importance of “momentum” in event management. Rather than waiting for perfect preparation, I learned the value of starting with what we can do when team motivation is high.
I also began to see the potential for region-specific PR strategies that are only possible with local hosting. By continuing to explore approaches unique to Hiroshima that differ from Tokyo, I’m confident we can create new value.
About Organizing Member Recruitment
We are still recruiting organizing members. Particularly for our PR team, we’re looking for people who can help us think together about even more effective and enjoyable PR strategies, building on this experience.
While it’s not exactly a 100-day challenge, why not join our challenge to build excitement for PyCon JP 2025?
Update History
- 2025-06-23: Initial publication