AWS re:Invent 2024 Reflection

I attended AWS re:Invent 2024 in Las Vegas, and what a fantastic week it was! So amazing that it felt appropriate to share my experience so that others who wish to attend in future may learn what happens at this conference to help plan their own re:Invent itinerary. 2024 was my first ‘proper’ re:Invent experience. I attended with a sponsor back in 2018 and spent most of my time on the sponsor booth pitching their services. I also attended the free online conference in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, so I have had three very different re: Invent experiences. However, attending in person in 2024 was by far the best!

Being an AWS Community Builder and AWS user Group Leader gave much more structure to the event, so I would strongly urge readers to get involved with the AWS Community in some way to get much more out of the re:Invent Experience. Let’s start with the journey to re:Invent - Las Vegas is a long way from Brighton!

Friday

I left home on Friday, November 30th, to stay overnight at Heathrow T5 so I could wake up fresh for our 10 a.m. flight to Las Vegas via Los Angeles. By the time we committed to attending, all direct flight options were sold out. I met my colleague , and in a vain attempt to beat jet lag (more on this later), we met up with my friend Demi, who lives in Vegas, and she took us to Meow Wolf’s !

After the run, I met with Jon for breakfast in Denny’s - first day in the US, of course, called for T-Bone steak & eggs breakfast to set me up for the day ahead - and we benefitted from free pancakes as the waiter thought Jon looked like Prince Harry!

The main activity for Sunday was the AWS Community Builder’s hike. A bus picked up 42 AWS Community Builders & Heroes and took us away from the madness of Las Vegas, out to Red Rock Canyon, where we separated into groups - short, medium and long routes. Jon and I opted for long, which we were told would be 10Km but ended up being 12.8Km, with some severe elevation! The weather was great - t-shirts and shorts, and it was an excellent opportunity to network with our AWS Community peers, most of whom we had only ever met online. One of the nice things about the AWS Community Builder hike is that everyone brings a snack from their home country to share with others. I brought a tin of seemed to adore! We also had German gingerbread, alfajores from Argentina, Finnish chocolate and much more that I can’t remember! This was a great way to kick off the week in Vegas, beat the jet lag and meet our peers - thanks to all of the organisers, including , , I created of the hike.

at The Linq Promenade, where all the hikers reconvened and were joined by

After the t-bone breakfast, 5 km run, 12.8 km hike and BBQ feast, I slept really well, believing I had cracked the jet lag and got onto the timezone, ready for the conference to begin properly on Monday.

Step Count - 37,615

Monday

After a great rest, it was time to head to The Venetian for breakfast in the AWS Community Hub in . Well, I say straight - I got lost again, but I still made it on time for the session, which was packed out, with standing room only.

Next up was a session on . Another packed session - we waited in line for an hour for this one to bag front-row seats with Johannes Koch and on his morning commute - the first of several LogiCast fans that we would meet at re:Invent! I was also recognised in the line by fellow AWS Community Builder (who is much taller than I expected!), .

I was also approached by more LogiCast fans - , who wanted photos with Jon and me! This was the most unexpected thing at re:Invent. Of course, we measure podcast downloads, but it was nice to meet some of the faces behind the statistics and get feedback on how the podcast is landing. I particularly enjoyed hearing Rejoice’s story of her 3-year career transition from sales & marketing into tech and how LogiCast has been an integral part of her learning journey.

’ water-carrying activity, which supports the installation of water filtration systems in Cambodia.

On Monday evening, we arranged dinner with the , and in Cosmopolitan, a Chinese/Mexican fusion restaurant - it sounds weird, but it’s excellent! After dinner, we located one of Cosmo’s speakeasy bars -

Step Count - 16887

Tuesday

Tuesday started with breakfast in Sands Convention Center before heading to line up for the .

My slot on the Community Booth was at 3 pm, so I headed back there to be issued with my coveted and exclusive rhinestone AWS t-shirt! The first thing I did was check the AWS User Group interactive map to see if the

After my stint on the Community Booth, it was time to head back to Buddy V’s and wait in line for the evening’s AWS Community Builder Mixer Party. Also in the line was former LogiCast guest - great to catch up with these guys and while away the time in the queue. There’s a joke there somewhere about , , , , .

, having a selfie with him, and getting his exclusive AWS Builder Card - this was my first Builder Card, and I had no idea what to do with it, but I would soon find out…

could line up at the Swag booth and obtain a slick AWS bomber jacket with custom flight tags - I got 3 - one with my AWS Community Profile ‘handle’ (

We had also heard on the grapevine (well on the User Group Lead Slack) that the would be giving away as many sets of AWS Builder Cards as User Group leaders could carry to take back to play with their user group members. So I headed over to Ceasers Forum (a long walk from the Expo!) and picked up ten base game sets with ten resilience expansion packs for the

After handing Jon half of the Builder Cards, I headed for the . While the room was filling up, we were treated to a string quartet playing 80s, 90s, & 00s pop covers - they were great!

After the partner keynote, I returned to the expo hall to listen deliver his talk ‘

After Martyn’s talk, it was time to head back to the Community Hub in Buddy Vs for the AWS User Group Mixer, where we had the chance to network with User Group leaders from all over the world. The highlight of this event for me was Brian Tarbox,

During the UG lead mixer, I was tipped off that some senior AWS personnel I was hoping to meet were at the EMEA mixer party in XS nightclub at Encore. So I said my goodbyes, hot-footed it from Venetian to Encore and checked in to the EMEA mixer. I was greeted with a sea of 2-3,000 partygoers in a massive indoor and outdoor club, and I thought I had no chance of finding the guys I was looking for. But within 5 minutes, I had located came over - the other person I was hoping to meet! We had a great chat about user groups and the power of community and exchanged contact details to continue our conversation back in the UK. Sadly, I was too late to enjoy , so I streamed it live in my hotel room. After the keynote, I headed over to the Venetian. En route, I bumped into AWS Developer Advocate  to deliver this year’s re:Cap in his own inimitable style!

Back at the Venetian, it was time to trawl the expo hall for more swag - mostly socks and t-shirts, and I won a $50 Amazon gift card in an HPE raffle! Then, it was time to hear .

Rounding off the conference for me was the re:Play party. We picked up the Vegas Monorail from The Linq station. We headed out to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds to be treated to sets from the re:Invent All Stars, ! Some of today‘s step count definitely happened on the dancefloor with Principal AWS Solutions Architect

Step Count - 27,795

Friday

As we were flying home on Friday evening, we checked out of our hotel and went souvenir shopping for our families - while some re:Invent sessions were running on Friday, we were conferenced out by this point! As we started the week with my Vegas friend Demi, we finished it with her and a visit to the Las Vegas Underground Mansion - a Cold War-era nuclear bunker home! Another suitably weird Vegas experience to round off our week! After the mansion, we headed to purchase a suitcase to carry home all of the swag collected during the week - the laundry bags I purchased for this were not up to the job!

I slept most of the flight home from Vegas to Heathrow and for 12 hours straight on Saturday night at home!

Step Count - 17,281

Total re:Invent Step Count - 131,192, an average of 16,400 per day!

Summary and 5 Top re:Invent Tips!

re:Invent was an intense but highly valuable experience! When asked what the main benefit was, it was tough to narrow it down. But for me I would say networking - with AWS staff, Logicata clients and fellow AWS Community members. In our world of remote work and virtual businesses, it’s great to get out and meet people face to face, build real relationships and learn from one another. I’ve already passed a business opportunity to someone I met for the first time at re:Invent.

So, what are my top tips for re:Invent?

Tip 1 - book early to secure direct flights if you can

Tip 2 - wear comfortable shoes - check out my daily step count to understand why! I wore running shoes and hiking shoes - alternating between them to give my feet some relief!

Tip 3 - take a suitcase for swag - if you like collecting swag, you can easily fill one!

Tip 4 - stay hydrated - Vegas is in the desert. Drink lots of water and carry lip balm! Some vendors even have lip balm as swag!

Tip 5 - engage with the AWS Community before you go - being an AWS Community Builder or User Group leader gives you access to private areas, great food, great swag and great networking!

So there you have it - my re:Invent 2024 experience. See you there in 2025? I hope so!