Last week I attended the first ever PyCaribbean conference, organised by the local community and held in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic.

Conferences like PyCaribbean are an opportunity for Python developers and enthusiasts to come together and meet, network, discuss, and generally enjoy being part of a global community.

There were over 250 attendees at around 50 sessions, including talks, workshops and keynotes. Topics ranged from Python’s new type-hinting tools, Django and conda through to machine learning, supercomputing and metaprogramming. One room was dedicated to Spanish-language sessions.

Steve Dower presenting on Microsoft Azure

As Microsoft helped sponsor the conference, we were invited to come and present a session. I spoke about Microsoft Azure, teaching attendees about core services like virtual machines and Azure Machine Learning, and also demonstrating some of the magical features that we have built on top of them, such as Project Oxford.

Besides the main conference, the organisers did a fantastic job of entertaining attendees. We were treated to social events each evening, which were a great opportunity to experience local food and culture (especially for those of us who couldn’t speak Spanish well).

It was very exciting to see the first PyCaribbean be such a success. Though many speakers came from other countries, the majority of attendees were local to central America.

The organizers deserve congratulations for an excellent conference, and we are very excited to support and participate in future PyCaribbean events.