AWS Finland March Special Meetup with Jeff Barr - Sponsored by AWS & Cybercom

This was a truly special one. Jeff Barr, the legendary Chief Evangelist of AWS and the voice behind the AWS News Blog, visited Helsinki for a dedicated AWS Finland meetup. The event was co-sponsored by AWS and Cybercom and held at Epicenter on Mikonkatu. The demand was something I had never seen before – registration filled up almost immediately, and due to popular demand I ended up opening 50 more seats. Those sold out too. With 174 attendees, it was by far the biggest meetup we had organized up to that point.

Having Jeff Barr in Helsinki was a big deal for the Finnish AWS community. Jeff has been writing about AWS services since the very beginning, and his blog posts have been the primary source of information for countless developers and architects worldwide. Getting to hear him speak in person and ask questions directly was an opportunity that does not come around often.

Jeff’s main talk was titled “How it all began – the history of AWS blog,” where he walked us through the origins and evolution of the blog that has become the definitive source of AWS service announcements. His storytelling ability is remarkable – he has a way of making even the behind-the-scenes history of technical writing feel engaging and personal. After the talk, Rolf Koski joined Jeff on stage for a fireside chat, and the evening wrapped up with an open Q&A session that was almost an ask-me-anything. The audience was captivated throughout.

The venue at Epicenter was packed to capacity. People traveled from other cities in Finland just to attend, which speaks volumes about the pull Jeff Barr has in the cloud community. It was clear this was a once-in-a-while moment for our community and everyone wanted to be part of it.

The timing of this event turned out to be significant. Just days later, the COVID-19 pandemic began to shut down in-person events across Finland and Europe. This March meetup became the last physical AWS Finland meetup for a long time. Looking back, we were lucky to have had such a memorable event as our send-off from in-person gatherings.

Huge thanks to AWS and Cybercom for making this happen, and to Jeff for taking the time to visit our community in Helsinki.