Hi David,
Thank you for the feedback on PyMCon 2020. I’ve got a short answer and long answer for you
The short answer for you is I agree, that in person events having a certain “magic” that online only doesn’t. To that end I’ll explore options for what we can do in person for 2022. We’ll certainly do our best
The long answer is we’ll have to balance not only the “old world” challenges, like budget, location, site visits, travel etc, with all of the “new world” concerns like COVID, travel restrictions, gathering restrictions etc. Others just have to do with conference intent. I’m really proud to say 100% of the proceeds went to NumFOCUS and the PyMC project which is awesome. With an in person conference I believe we would want to strive for a conference can similarly fund the project, versus draining its funds, but again at this point this is speculation. That being said I have some ideas such as a globally managed virtual conference, with satellite watch parties hosted by volunteers in each country.
Nonetheless we will figure out something, PyMCon 2020 was the first PyMCon but it certainly wont be the last.
Again thank you for the feedback, its really helpful in knowing what is useful for attendees. Keep it coming!