And… it’s a wrap. KubeCon Europe 2023 is officially over.

I can’t begin to express what this KubeCon has been for me, but let’s take it step by step. This has been the third KubeCon I have attended after Copenhagen and Valencia. But this one checked out all the boxes for me.

Having such a conference come to the city you live in was definitely part of that. The chance of meeting friends and colleagues in person in the town you call “home” has a different taste and makes you want to experience it at its full potential.

The hype was pretty high:

Before the conference, I had the chance to meet other Kubernetes Community Days Organizers. We had the opportunity to spend time together and share our experience organizing the community days from the ground up. Location? Single day? Multi-day? Single track? Multi-track? What about sponsors? Diversity? Call for papers? So many things to think about and so little time to do them!

For the first time ever, Kubernetes Community Days had its own booth at KubeCon! This was a fantastic initiative that attracted many interested in knowing how to get involved in the organization and the steps to get started.

It was also great to have a dedicated panel about the challenges of growing a healthy and robust community around Cloud Native. The panel included organizers from Kubernetes Community Days Amsterdam, Italy, Munich, and the UK.

I took this panel as a reminder for the community that you are not alone, even when challenges arise. People might think they are the only ones to experience a particular issue or situation, but that’s often untrue. Sharing struggles and successes is crucial. Being transparent and supportive of each other is the only way forward.

This KubeCon was the first time I had the chance to attend such a conference as a CNCF Ambassador. It was great to meet other Ambassadors from all over the world and share our work for our communities. Videos, blog posts, local meetups, podcasts, and talks are just a few of the ways these fantastic people create an inclusive and open environment. Seeing the CNCF revamping this program and announcing us on stage was nice!

The following three days have been a mix of meeting friends and former colleagues. During KubeCon, I attend talks where friends are speaking, but overall I prioritize the human aspect of the conference over the technical one. My philosophy is that I can always watch a talk online while meeting people is really the core of this event. Having the possibility of meeting people is why I attend KubeCon.

On the technical side, I have seen a steep rise in end-users and companies working with OpenTelemetry. Companies are deploying more complex workloads on Kubernetes, and now observability is becoming an issue. Back in Valencia, I remember projects like Crossplane being on the rise (and they still very much are), but observability has taken the center of the stage this year.

Overall, attending KubeCon EU 2023 was an incredible experience, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of it as a CNCF ambassador. I learned so much, met many amazing people, and returned feeling inspired and energized. I cannot wait to attend future KubeCon events and continue to be a part of this incredible community.

See you in Chicago for KubeCon NA and in Paris for KubeCon EU 2024!