Re:Invent Re:cap 2021 - AWS Finland Online Meetup

The first AWS Finland meetup of 2022 was the annual tradition of recapping the biggest announcements from the previous year’s re:Invent conference. Held virtually on Amazon Chime on January 27th, the community showed up strong with 68 attendees joining the session.

re:Invent 2021 had been a return to in-person events in Las Vegas after the fully virtual 2020 edition, and there was a lot to unpack. We had an outstanding Nordic lineup to walk us through the highlights. Theo Tolv, an AWS Senior Solutions Architect based in Stockholm with deep expertise in Athena, covered the data and analytics announcements. Rolf Koski, AWS Hero and VP of Technology at Knowit, brought his usual sharp perspective on what mattered most for practitioners. Anders Bjornestad, an AWS Hero and principal consultant at Webstep in Oslo, added the Norwegian angle, while Gunnar Grosch, an AWS Hero turned Developer Advocate, rounded out the hero contingent. Marcus Karlsson, Cloud Unit Manager at Knowit Gothenburg, also contributed to the discussion.

The online format worked well for this kind of content-heavy session with so many speakers. People could follow along, ask questions in the chat, and discuss which announcements were most relevant for their own projects and organizations. Having multiple AWS Heroes on the same virtual stage meant the commentary went beyond surface-level summaries into practical implications for teams building on AWS in the Nordics.

Even though we all missed being in the same room together, the online recap served its purpose. It got the community aligned on what was new and exciting in the AWS ecosystem and set the tone for the year ahead. Little did we know at the time that 2022 would turn out to be the year when in-person meetups would finally come roaring back to life in Finland.