AWS re:Invent 2021 Day 1 Recap

“Unforgettable” is without a shadow of a doubt, the most accurate word for my first day watching AWS re:Invent live! 🥳 The magic actually began even before the event when AWS liked my tweet about my top three sessions I was looking forward to watching. 😳😛 I see you, AWS, I see you!

Anyways, my first adventure on the beautiful AWS platform started when I watched "Live from re:Invent: Morning update + Doodle Wall bird's-eye view”. Right out of the gate, I was surprised because Rudy Chetty was the presenter! In case you don’t know who Rudy Chetty is, he is a Senior Solutions Architect, Instructor, and Educator at AWS. If one day you make some of the AWS Courses you will probably know about him and, for sure, be charmed by his charisma.

After Chetty's morning update and “welcomes” to us live viewers, they started to share a birds-eye view of the Doodle Wall. It was really fun watching the DJ play music while in-person attendees drank their coffee and talked. After only a few minutes, the huge blackboard was quickly filled with signatures of in-person attendees. Side note — I did some research, and at the end of the event, the blackboard was really full! I found this picture from Jeff Bar on their Twitter account! Thank you, Jeff!

In talking about Jeff, he was a part of the second session that I had the pleasure of seeing. Jeff was being interviewed in the session, “Behind the scenes: Creating content + Doodle Wall bird's-eye view”. Jeff is the VP and Chief Evangelist at AWS. Since he posts several blogs, he has won the affection and prestige of many. In that session, he talked a little about how to create content, the importance of accessible language, pleasant content, and a good goal for writing: optimize not only the viewer's knowledge but also our own! 👏 Honestly, it was a great chat — I'm NOW going to read some of your blogs, Jeff!

It’s now time to talk about the last, and possibly, the most impressive, session I attended: “Leading through uncertainty: Resilience, grit, and courage” with Francessca Vasquez, VP of Technology at AWS. This session featured five to eight leaders in an open discussion that touched on topics such as listening to employees, treating everyone with kindness in a professional environment, and how people can become great leaders without any support or mentors. It was breathtaking to listen to this conversation between these kings and queens. 👑. I will certainly remember this session for the rest of my life! 💜

In general, I only have good memories of my first day at re:Invent. In the future, I hope I’m able to attend in person and experience the magic that I felt watching it virtually. Thank you, re:Invent and AWS, for an incredible experience! 🧡