Helping people get the most out of AWS re:Invent

In the fall of 2012, 5,000 people gathered in Las Vegas for the first AWS re:Invent. I was there and spent almost all of my time with my laptop open, surrounded by other builders, working together to try out new techniques and tricks that we were sharing with each other.

That spirit of community was infectious. After the event, a lot of the connected we made shifted online. And year after year, I would see those friendly faces are various events around the world and we all did our best o make it back to Las Vegas in November for the biggest conference in cloud.

Monstrous growth

re:Invent grew almost too big. Every year it would expand to move venues and add more sessions. The event was scaled back in the pandemic, with the 2020 edition moving entirely online.

As the world has moved through the pandemic, the conference has grown back to it's previous size and beyond. Almost 60,000 people attended the 2024 event.

it's at the point now where I don't think the hours in the day will permit anything more to be jammed into the week...though I'm sure I'll be surprised.

What should I do?

I've participated in every edition of the conference. As a builder from the start, an AWS Community Hero for ~6 years, and now as an Amazonian. During the period of rapid growth, I started writing an annual guide to the conference.

It started simply enough. I was trying to remind myself how to prepare for a physically and mentally exhausting week. I love attending this show, seeing my friends, making new ones, and learning a ton. But, it can take a lot out of you.

I started to experiment with how I approached the conference. I figured out little tricks that made my week easier. I genuinely wanted others to get the most out of the week too.

Eight times, I published my guide, starting in 2016:

Define 'ultimate'

You'll notice that the 3rd edition of the guide introduced the adjective, "ultimate". I debated whether or not to do this at the time.

It's a bold claim and I'm deeply uncomfortable drawing attention to myself.

However, that guide is also a 19 minute read. It's comprehensive to say the least. I think the "ultimate" description is accurate. The guides quickly became a months long effort.

Not because they took that long to write, but information about the show changed in the lead up. AWS would announce the basics (where, when, etc.) and then add more details as they locked things in.

In addition to the level of details, the guides started to get a lot of attention. Each year the audience grew. People would reach out to me with great feedback and share how they had come across the guide and how it helped them.

All said, over the eight guides, more than 500,000 people read them. That's a crazy amount of people and inline with the majority of attendees.

Copycats?

While some companies did try to copy the guides, more simply wrote up their schedules and linked to my work. I really appreciated that and tried to keep things as neutral as possible.

The personal recommendation approach resonated with people. I'd like to think that it helped to seed the idea for the official AWS guides to the event. These guides were written by individuals in the community and helped a specific audience select sessions at re:Invent. I wrote the security guide for the first few times and I'm happy to see the effort continuing to this day.

Constant #protips

Looking back at the guides, there are a few tips that still hold up and probably always will:

Wear a good pair of sneakers that you've already broken in
Pack snacks
Hydrate often
Chap stick and hand cream—casinos are absurdly dry
Plan ahead to eat at reasonable times
Don't be shy–take advantage of being there in-person
Have fun!

A fun show

The guides were a way for me to share my excitement for the show. I always feel an odd combination of exhausting and exhilaration when I attend AWS re:Invent.

There is so much to learn. So many people to connect with. It's a great reminder of the unlimited possibilities that drew me into technology in the first place.

While I don't write the guides anymore, I'm happy I did. I'm even happier that I still get to attend re:Invent—and re:Inforce!—even if it's a little more stressful helping to deliver the show vs. trying to take it all in.

Most of all, I'm glad that I was able to contribute to the amazing cloud community in a meaningful way. I'm happy I still get to contribute and more than a little relieved, those contributions don't needs 3+ months of work each year!