Why Are There Two Types of Student Tickets? Understanding Our Student Support System - PyCon JP 2025 Chair's Report
Hello, this is Nishimotz, the Chair of PyCon JP 2025.
PyCon JP 2025 will be held at Hiroshima International Conference Center from September 26-28, 2025 (the final day is for development sprints). PyCon JP is Japan’s largest Python community event, an international nonprofit conference organized primarily by Python community members.
This year, we’ve prepared two types of tickets for students: the “Student ticket (¥2,000)” and the “Free ticket for students (Free).”
Why did we prepare two different types of tickets? Today, I’ll share the discussions and thoughts of our organizing members behind this decision.
This post is based on my note article “Why Are There Two Types of Student Tickets?” from July 28, part of my #100-day challenge.
Investment in the Future
All our organizing members share one strong common desire: we want as many students as possible who will carry the future Python community to participate.
Conference participation offers invaluable experiences that money cannot replace—not only technical learning, but also community connections and new discoveries. We believe these experiences will be hugely positive for your futures.
This is our “investment” in future Pythonistas.
Paid or Free?
However, there wasn’t just one way to give form to this desire. When we discussed “what to do about student tickets,” various opinions were exchanged:
“The ¥2,000 price for two days including lunch is already set far below cost. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to ask for this level of contribution?”
“No, it should be completely free.”
“Making it free might increase so-called ‘no-shows,’ taking seats away from others who genuinely want to participate, ultimately leading to lost opportunities. It would also make operational planning difficult.”
All these opinions had merit, and the discussion didn’t end easily. We had to consider both students’ ease of participation and the sustainability of conference operations.
Eliminating Barriers to Zero
Ultimately, we reached the conclusion of providing both paid and free tickets. I welcomed this decision from the organizing members from the perspective of “wanting to eliminate situations where adult help is needed for participation decisions.”
PyCon JP registration uses a system called connpass. For paid tickets, this connects with another service called PayPal for payment processing, requiring a credit card. The security around such “payment” services has become increasingly strict year by year, and I find myself confused more often when multi-factor authentication and identity verification suddenly appear during such operations.
Many minors don’t have their own payment methods. In such cases, they must ask their guardians to pay the participation fee. This creates a hurdle where they “must discuss money with parents” before they can act on the pure feeling of “I want to participate in a conference.”
I believe that when young people think “I want to learn” or “I want to participate” of their own free will, they should be able to realize those feelings without anyone getting in their way. A situation where you can’t even apply to participate without adult help doesn’t respect independence or the right to learn.
The free tickets this time do have limitations. However, we wanted to reduce by even one person those who give up participation due to lack of payment methods. This sentiment led to our decision.
Choose Wisely and Make Good Use
Therefore, we sincerely hope students will wisely choose between these two ticket types based on your own situations and make good use of them.
Student Ticket (Paid - ¥2,000)
If you want to fully participate for two days, get a T-shirt, and interact with other participants during lunch time, please choose the “Student ticket (paid).” It’s definitely a great deal.
Free Ticket for Students (Free)
If you don’t have payment methods or want to first get a taste of the atmosphere, please feel free to use the “Free ticket for students.” Saturday-only participation is also very welcome!
Saturday-Only Participation Welcome!
Some of you might think “I have school on Friday and just can’t take it off…” Don’t worry! One of this year’s keynote speakers, Ami Otsuka, is scheduled to present on Saturday afternoon (September 27).
Even if you can’t participate on weekdays, Saturday-only participation has more than enough value. Please adjust your weekend plans and visit Hiroshima International Conference Center.
Looking Forward to Meeting You in Hiroshima
PyCon JP 2025 truly, genuinely welcomes student participation. We believe that young energy like yours will create the future of the Python community.
Let’s meet at the venue in Hiroshima. All organizing members are looking forward to your participation from the bottom of our hearts!
PyCon JP 2025 - “pieces of python, coming together” - September 26-28, Hiroshima