A First-Time Speaker’s Reflection on PyCon Indonesia 2025

Some journeys don't start at an airport or a conference hall.

Mine began during the annual Engineering Teamcamp of LaLoka Labs in October 2024 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I work at LaLoka Labs as an NLP & Backend Engineer, and we're the team behind Kafkai, the AI tool that helps SMEs gain clarity for effective content marketing.

During our teamcamp, I first shared my interest in becoming more involved with the Python community. I spoke with Iqbal Abdullah, the CEO of LaLoka Labs, who encouraged me to submit proposals to PyCon CFPs. He told me that the PyCon Community has travel grants for speakers and that our company would also support my travel as a speaker.

With guidance and thoughtful feedback from Iqbal Abdullah, Kamal Mustafa, and Ngazetungue Muheue, I learned about proposal preparation. When I finally received the acceptance email from PyConID 2025 in September 2025, it felt unreal. PyCon Indonesia 2025 would be my first time speaking at an international PyCon.

Getting accepted was only part of the story. I received the formal invitation letter in October 2025, and the conference was scheduled for December 13-14, 2025. So, the next challenge was the Indonesian visa process. The overall process from Bangladesh was long, complex, and mentally exhausting. On the other hand, in November 2025 we also had our 2025 Engineering Teamcamp in Melaka, Malaysia. So, I attended our engineering teamcamp first from November 8-15.

After the team camp, I returned to Bangladesh, applied for the Indonesian visa, and waited anxiously. While waiting, instead of pausing, I shifted my focus to preparation. I finalized my slides, wrote a detailed script, and carefully structured the flow of my talk. I conducted two demo presentations with Iqbal, Kamal, and Ngazetungue. They didn't just say "looks good", they provided invaluable and concrete feedback: how to tighten the narrative, how to make it interesting through storytelling, and where technical explanations could be simplified.

By that point, I had already delivered the talk twice in demo form. I felt comfortable with the topic, confident about the structure, and clear about the story I wanted to tell.

At the time, I didn't realize how important that preparation would become.

The visa was approved, and I got my passport back from the Indonesian Embassy on December 10th, just one day before my flight. I departed from Dhaka on December 11th to Kuala Lumpur, then flew from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta on December 12th. I landed in Jakarta at 9:00 AM. After clearing immigration, getting a local SIM card, and booking a Grab, I finally reached my hotel at mid-day.

My body was tired, but my mind was alert. The kind of alertness that comes from knowing something important is about to happen.

As I've learned from the Python Asia Discord chat, community conferences don't really start at the venue; they start with people. So even before resting properly, I reached out on the PyCon Indonesia Discord to see if anyone wanted to meet and grab lunch. Peter Anderson, another speaker from Russia, responded, and a little later we met at the hotel lobby and headed out to a restaurant named Solaria near Plaza Kalibata. After a while, Lutfi Zukri joined us. He is one of the organizers of PyCon APAC 2024. We had a lot of discussion about Python communities in Indonesia and local cultures, and this is how Day 0 already felt meaningful.

It's always a good idea to visit the venue before the conference begins so the venue won't be surprising on talk day. That afternoon, Peter Anderson, Lutfi Zukri, and I headed over to the venue at Trilogi University. There I met Dima Dinama and his organizing team of PyCon Indonesia 2025. He kindly arranged for volunteers to show us around, including the classrooms, the auditorium, and the overall setup. That small act helped ease a lot of first-time speaker anxiety.

On the December 13th morning, I met Thosan Seceng, who is a Data Engineer at Insight Timer and was staying at the same hotel. We walked to the venue together and registered our entry for Day 1.

This is how Day 1 had officially begun.

The conference opened with a keynote by Onno W. Purbo, a pioneer in low-cost wireless networking techniques long before broadband became widespread in Indonesia. The keynote focused on local LLMs and Indonesia's AI education landscape and was delivered in Bahasa Indonesia. Before starting, Onno checked whether Peter and I were comfortable with Bahasa Indonesia. Thosan then generously offered to translate the key points for us throughout the session. From Onno's keynote, I learned that if you want to give back to the community or country, don't expect or wait for someone to change the system. Just start yourself from the ground.

Later, I attended a session by Shafia, a software engineer from Gojek, on REPLs and debuggers, followed by Rishaldi's fascinating talk on controlling UAVs with Python. The diversity of topics reminded me why PyCon works so well: Python is everywhere, and so are its people.

My Talk and the Unexpected Twist

My talk titled "No Cloud, No Problem: Turn Your Phone into a Remote Linux Server for Python Apps" was scheduled for 1:40 PM in the auditorium. I arrived early for technical setup, but things didn't go as expected. The technical team's system couldn't detect my laptop via HDMI. We tried different cables, adapters, and ports, but nothing worked. Maybe there was a problem with drivers.

With time running out, I decided to present from Thosan's laptop using my presentation slide's PDF version. This created a bigger problem than I initially realized: my slides were built in Canva with detailed scripts organized per slide in the speaker notes. On Thosan's laptop with just the PDF, I had none of that. I would have to deliver my talk entirely without speaker notes.

Before I started, my talk moderator, Alfi, did a great job energizing the audience with short exercise, which was crucial for a post-lunch slot. Then it was my turn.

I stepped onto the stage, kept the rithm, and began.

Surprisingly, it felt... freeing.

Without a script, I spoke more naturally and could connect with the audience better. I focused on the story and the why behind the talk, not just reciting prepared lines. The engagement was real.

After the talk, people had lots of questions and curiosity. They asked about running Docker and Kubernetes on a "pocket server," using it as a remote Linux environment, running small language models, and managing battery life. I explained how it works without root access, shared practical limitations, and emphasized monitoring and safety.

This experience taught me a lesson I won't forget:

Always know your content, not just your slides. And always, always have a backup plan.

Facing that moment felt like a musician losing their sheet music right as the lights come on. The panic is real, but sometimes playing from the heart creates a more memorable performance than the most rehearsed one.

Wrapping Up Day 1

Day 1 ended with another keynote session on Personal Branding for Software Engineers by Listiarso Wastuargo, an ex-Meta engineer and startup mentor. While the topic was familiar to me, the session offered valuable perspectives and reinforced principles I believe in.

As the day came to a close, I stopped by the donation booth in front of the auditorium. I was happy to contribute to the Python Indonesia community and received some great conference swag as a thank you.

Community Evening

In the evening, we had a speaker dinner at Tekko, where I got the chance to connect more with other speakers and organizers. The conversations were engaging. I shared insights about AI applications in content marketing from my work at Kafkai.

I also learned about the behind-the-scenes arrangements of PyCon Indonesia 2025 and discussed the roadmap for reviving PyCon Bangladesh with Dima Dinama and Setia Budi.

After dinner, I had a meaningful discussion about LLM training and APIs with Roberto Hutapea from Huawei. During our conversation, I demoed Kafkai and he was amazed by the strategic keyword insights comparing his client company with their competitors. Impressed by what he saw, he signed up right away and became a Kafkai user. Roberto also gave me a ride to my hotel since it was already late at night.

And, that’s how the Day 1 ended.

If you're a first-time speaker wondering whether you're ready, you probably are.

Remember that things can go wrong, cables can fail, scripts can disappear, visas can test your patience but community carries you through.

PyCon Indonesia 2025 reminded me that speaking isn't about perfection. It's about sharing, learning, and showing up, even when things don't go as planned.

Stay tuned for the second and last part of this series!

Continue the Journey

Want to read more about our experiences at Python conferences around the world? Here are some stories you might enjoy:

• Reflecting on PyCon Namibia 2025: A Decade of Open-source
• Our Experience at PyCon US 2024 in Pittsburgh
• Participating in the last PyCon APAC in Manila 2025, Part 1 and Part 2