Last week I had the pleasure of attending KubeCon 2024 EU in Paris, which is why I must begin these lines by thanking SIGHUP for giving me the opportunity to participate in the second consecutive KubeCon, THANK YOU!
I decided to write these lines to try to motivate those who have never been to a large-scale event to participate!
In this case, size matters!
If you're involved in the cloud native world as a client, developer, consultant, or big vendor, you can't miss it! Colleagues, clients, partners, competitors, maintainers of small projects, volunteer committees, big corporations, they'll all be there!
It's a unique opportunity to meet people, talk, engage, and establish relationships.
In many cases, you might come across other attendees and simply by listening to them speak or explain their problems or needs, new scenarios may unfold that you hadn't considered!
If you're in consulting or a client, you'll likely meet vendors you work with during the year in the showcase area, and it will probably be an opportunity to meet technicians, sales representatives, or executives who will then remember you or your company throughout the year.
The inevitable gadgets like t-shirts, socks, or stickers can be a pleasant additional incentive.
Education
Of course, a conference mainly means sessions!
You have the opportunity to listen to some of the most authoritative voices talking about the topics you work with, whether they're business or technical sessions!
Don't underestimate the chance to ask questions in the Q&A following the session or to have a chat with the speaker right after.
Community
KubeCon means community; let's not forget that CNCF projects are based on the open-source community, which you can collaborate with on many levels, and what better opportunity to meet and put a face to the people you may chat with during the year on Slack?
Immersing yourself in the community is a unique opportunity at the end of the first quarter that allows you to pause projects (as much as possible 😅), recharge your batteries, and come back charged and determined!
Resources
Whether you were present or not, you certainly couldn't have followed all the sessions that interested you or already found them on social media! CNCF records all sessions, provides videos and presentations, practically in real-time: WOW.
Within the conference agenda, you can find everything; the videos are obviously available on the CNCF's YouTube channel, and there's a photo album of over 5000 photos to consult!
Are you already looking forward to planning the next conference?
You can find CNCF-sponsored conferences on this page; I'll be present at KCD Italy in June in Bologna, and you?
