What is AWS re:Invent?
For the last 10 years, Amazon Web Services has hosted its annual flagship event that is an incredible experience for any IT or Cloud enthusiast. It is the ultimate Mecca of the cloud world and thousands of professionals like me attend, both virtual and in person. It is exactly what Vegas offers – both exhilarating and exciting for any tech professional. With less than 30 days to go for this mega event, I am putting up a list of things to do. I have researched on this topic and I will be hosting a webcast on this with my colleagues Mark Dalton and Andy Montgomery as well. Mark is our A Cloud UK Director – feel free to say hello to him if you see him around talking to people. And Andy is our CTO, who you will be seeing at the cool things to see along with networking at the end of the day. Both will be joined by some of the Devoteam leadership team from across EMEA. Look out for the webcast info released on 18th of November 2022.
After going 100% virtual in 2020, the event returned to Las Vegas in 2021 and is ready to kick off this November in 2022. Attended by approximately 50,000 to 60,000 IT professionals, AWS re:Invent enables visitors to learn more about and make better use of core AWS Services such as Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, Amazon Redshift, and Amazon Aurora. Typically, there are also several announcements of new AWS products and services made during the event. That is my favourite part of every re:Invent, the new services are often disrupters in technology and it’s amazing to see Amazon exhibit their culture of customer obsession and working backwards values. The services help innovate and solve real life problems for customers. The global cloud community has been meeting at re:Invent since 2012 in order to network, get inspired and imagine innovation.
Where does it happen?
AWS re:Invent takes place in Las Vegas across 4 days, a conference that goes from 28th Nov to 2nd December 2022. For a complete guide and details on the AWS re:Invent see here. People will be able to go to badge pick-ups on Saturday, November 26 and the event kick-off, the shenanigans will take place on Sunday, November 27.
The event is spread across six dedicated venues that include hotels. These venues are:
- The Venetian: this is the main center for AWS: reInvent. This year it will host breakout content, badge pickups, the Expo, keynotes, content hubs and meals.
- Caesar’s Forum: This venue will host a content hub, breakout content and meals.
- Encore: This venue will host breakout content and bookable meeting spaces.
- Mandalay Bay: As in other years, this venue will be used for breakout content, content hubs and meals.
- MGM Grand: Visit this venue for breakout content, badge pickup, content hubs and meals.
- Wynn: The activities in this venue are breakout content and meals.
A high level map for your knowledge:
How to register
This year, re:Invent is available both in-person and online. We love this because it lets YOU decide.
- For a pass to the in-person event, register here.
- For the virtual-only event for those of us who are unable to attend in person, register online for free!
If you are not sure whether you can attend, but want to stay up to date? Subscribe for updates.
If you need to convince your management that attending AWS re:Invent is a worthwhile cause, AWS has supplied a template justification letter that outlines the benefits of attending AWS re:Invent. You’ll sure to learn a lot, fast, during an entire week connecting and collaborating in-person with AWS experts and other customers.
You can see the sample justification letter on the Justify my trip page. Of course you are allowed to create one suiting to your reasons, I found this quite cool and appreciate the effort and thought which AWS Marketing has put into this.
Who is speaking at AWS re:Invent?
Besides the 100s of speakers in different stages, breakout stages, partner stands etc, on the keynote front, the first one will be delivered by Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon Web Services, Dr. Werner Vogels, VP and CTO at Amazon.com. Additional keynotes will be delivered by Swami Sivasubramanian, VP in charge of all Amazon AI and machine learning services, Peter DeSantis, SVP of AWS Utility Computing & Apps and Ruba Borno, VP of Worldwide Channels & Alliances for AWS.
More high-powered talks take place during Leadership Sessions, where AWS leaders offer insights into a variety of topics. Some of these include:
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Candi Castleberry, VP, DEI, Amazon
- Networking & Content Delivery, David Brown, VP, Amazon EC2
- Analytics, G2 Krishnamoorthy, VP, AWS Analytics
- Security, Compliance & Identity, CJ Moses, VP & CISO
- Hybrid Cloud, Wayne Duso, VP, Storage, Edge & Data Protection
- Public Sector, Max Peterson, VP, AWS Worldwide Public Sector
What kind of sessions can you expect at the AWS re:Invent?
Session levels can be divided into free sessions and paid sessions. Additionally, they can be filtered by foundational, intermediate, advanced and expert level sessions. A further filter lets you select between leadership sessions, builders’ sessions, breakout sessions, bootcamps, chalk talks, workshops, theatre sessions, lightning talks, labs and gamified learning.
Luckily, once you have signed in for an account, it is easy to build an agenda depending on the sessions you would like to attend. The event provides a Sessions Catalog that can help you build your agenda by scanning the varied sessions available and selecting the ones that best suit your interests.
This year, there will be over 1,500 breakout sessions on a variety of AWS topics including cloud architecture, continuous deployment, large-scale migrations, data analytics, IOT, machine learning, and more. You can also get hands-on experience at the technical boot camps, self-paced labs, and several two-hour workshops. You will gain valuable hands-on experience and hear from experts on the topics such as cloud architecture, continuous deployment, large-scale migrations, machine learning, and more.
- Leadership sessions to help you hear about the key topics like key notes
- PeerTalk is the new re:Invent’s new networking program designed to help facilitate meaningful connections among the re:Invent community. In-person re:Invent attendees can request in-person meetings of 2-4 people in designated public spaces located across the campus.
- Breakout sessions, which are organised by experience level and led by AWS experts. AWS re:Invent breakout sessions tend to be hour-long lecture style sessions that take place across the whole campus. These sessions cover topics at all levels and are delivered by AWS experts, partners and customers. Silent breakout sessions are similar, but take place in a single room with headsets so that attendees can connect to the content of their choice in that room. Check out the program to understand and pick the sessions you are interested in – tip is to pick sessions in order; else you might end up walking from one room to the next.
- Bootcamps designed to expand your understanding of AWS services, solutions that help prep you for certification. The AWS Bootcamp or AWS Partner Training workshop are expert-led training sessions set to deepen your abilities with AWS services and help prepare you for an AWS Certification exam. You will see thousands of people brushing their AWS skills with certifications – its like a thing to be proud of! Think of the Olympics and no competition!? Not possible! You can choose from technical bootcamps, partner training workshops or exam preparation bootcamps over half-day and full-day sessions. These events will take place on Monday, November 28 and Tuesday, November 29. Participants must register to attend re:Invent to join the bootcamp. Prices can range from £200 to £500, while partner training workshops are free and available exclusively to AWS Partners.
- Workshops are two-hour interactive sessions. Workshops will provide scenarios to encourage interaction and attendees can work in teams to solve problems using AWS services. A main speaker will provide a brief lecture and then encourage attendees to work in groups with the help of AWS experts who will be in the room.
- Expo, the busy floor where it all happens: peer networking, hands-on chats, and interactive demos. The Expo is an ideal way to connect and interact beyond the sessions. Held at the Venetian, the Expo will host the AWS Village, AWS Builder’s Fair, AWS Community Lounge, AWS Jam Lounge, AWS Marketplace Solutions booth, AWS Partner Network booth, AWS Startup Loft, AWS Partner theatres, AWS Deep racer, AWS Worldwide Public Sector Pavilion, and sponsoring partner booths.
- AWS Builder Labs, where cloudies and devs can experience AWS in a live sandbox environment. Set at the Venetian and MGM Grand throughout the whole week, the AWS Builder Labs let participants get cloud experience in a live AWS sandbox environment. Attendees can explore authentic scenarios and gain valuable insights into the AWS Management Console, while learning more about different features including security, networking and machine learning. With over a hundred self-paced labs, attendees can try out their knowledge on their own or join an AWS Spotlight Lab to practice with an expert who can directly answer your questions and provide technical insights and tips.
- Builders Sessions are the classroom sessions where up to ten attendees and one AWS expert work together during one hour. After a short demonstration of what you are going to build, you will get an opportunity to collaborate together to reach your objective. Really cool experience for a classroom and lab sessions.
- Chalk talks are smaller interactive sessions focussed on a smaller audience that likes to know more about real-world architecture challenges. These talks generally begin with short lectures delivered by an AWS expert, followed by a 45 minute Q&A session. Chalk talks will have one main speaker and a couple of additional AWS experts who work through problems on a whiteboard as questions and discussions arise during the session and Q&A.
- Attendee Guides curated by AWS Heroes, AWS industry teams, and AWS Partners. Each guide contains recommended sessions, tips and tricks for building your agenda, and other useful resources.
- Content hubs are specified areas that allow attendees to watch livestreams of popular sessions in one place. So if you don’t want to walk around or are tired, this could be a good place to sit back and watch the talks on a big screen.
- Partner experience shares stories of cloud-powered innovation and how partners like Devoteam are helping customers globally use AWS. Learn how to apply AWS technologies to serve your customers and how APN programs can help you build, market, and sell your offerings built on AWS.
- Gamified Learning is a wonderful learning but fun part of the re:Invent. This is where AWS and their partners offer four gamified learning opportunities to bring a competitive edge to your learning experience: AWS GameDay, AWS GameDay Quest Fest, AWS Jam and AWS Jam Lounge. While the first three are scheduled sessions based on expertise levels, the Lounge experience is self-paced.
- Last but not the least and my favourite, re:Play party is the coolest party in tech! You thought you’d go to Las Vegas and not have a party!? That ain’t happening! For AWS’s 11th annual re:Play party, they have an amazing lineup, featuring all the classic re:Play activities like dodgeball and the Office Chair Grand Prix, plus a very special musical headliner.
Devoteam at re:Invent
As an AWS Premium Partner, we want to take the opportunity to invite you to the Devoteam A Cloud evening. This year, we’re going bigger than ever before, with numerous expected guests, featured games and trivia’s, cocktail and networking opportunities, and a few special surprises – all at a premium entertainment venue in Las Vegas.
Top Golf Event:
Join us on the 29th of November at the premier entertainment destination in Las Vegas, NV. Devoteam A Cloud is welcoming you at the TopGolf Location for an exclusive evening featuring top tier activities, networking and Food & Beverages. Join us as we connect with other customers and enjoy top tier networking and top tier entertainment at TopGolf. Even if you do not play golf, we have lots of other highlights waiting for you.
Please fill out the registration form to sign into this event. A confirmation email with the event details will be sent to you shortly. To know more details about the event and the registration link, please visit here. You can also email Mark, Andy or me directly to ensure your entry to the event. If you’d like to speak to us or know about Devoteam, feel free to contact at the following numbers during the event:
Mark – +44 – 7903 792125
Winning Prize:
2 Premium Tickets for Thursday, 30th of November 2022
KA – Cirque de Soleil/Mirage
Tips for new attendees
If you search the internet you’ll definitely pick up some tips from the attendees who’ve been doing this for awhile. Here are some tips to think about before you get to Vegas:
- Book sessions with the mobile app. AWS will release a mobile app, but it isn’t out quite yet. Still, book sessions as soon as you can, because many of the popular ones will fill up in advance. The app will be available for both Android and iOS.
- Carry good walking shoes – you will end up walking A LOT. Be prepped for it and have comfortable shoes.
- Its not chilly winter in Nevada! You might be travelling from part of the world which is cold – but worry not. You don’t need to carry your biggest jacket or coat. Your attire doesn’t mean preparing for snowy weather but rather to prepare for mild days and chilly nights
- Meet people, meet people, meet people! These events are great for formal and informal networking. Introduce yourself, wear some fun swag, and even schedule meetings in advance with colleagues, friends or clients that you know will be there. With the event so spread out, it’s impossible to just “bump into” someone you’re looking for. This has always been my favourite part of the re:Invent. You will make friends, see folks that are legends of the field and have a great time!
- Plan for packed shuttle buses. AWS does run shuttle buses, but at particularly busy times like mid-morning or for major keynotes. That’s why your comfortable shoes are key. There are cabs and taxi services also available but shuttles are an easy and cheaper option.
- Do not miss the keynotes – these are special with special people presenting them. Try to make maximum use of the keynotes events. It’s like an Oscar winning speech for some. And why not!?
- Explore Vegas. Yes, the cloud is everywhere, but Vegas itself is worth experiencing IRL. Book a special restaurant or check out one of the many excellent art museums for yourself.
- Be kind and Have fun! The most important one – networking, technology and knowledge is wonderful but be kind and compassionate towards fellow attendees.
I hope you have a great time at the AWS re:Invent this year. The pandemic led us to miss such face to face events, meeting colleagues and friends from different geographies of the world. Make most of your time at the re:Invent and get back home safely. However, this is one of the events where I can safely say “What Happens in Vegas doesn’t have to stay in Vegas”. I will be hosting a webcast with Andy and Mark on 8th of December 2022 to share all the important announcements that you need to know! Follow our Devoteam A Cloud linkedIn page to see daily updates from ground zero!
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