Patrick Hannah, VP of Engineering at CloudHesive, provides a survival guide for attending AWS re:Invent with tips in three main categories: navigation within the large event, general planning advice, and events information. The document offers concise tips such as using the stairs to get exercise between hotels, planning meetups ahead of time, and bringing a comfortable backpack and chargers. Sessions will be added after keynotes, and some repeat on other days with less crowds. The expo has limited swag so arrive early, and third party events provide additional options.

1. © 2016, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.
Patrick Hannah, VP of Engineering,
CloudHesive
11/28/2016
The Survival Guide
Lightning Talk

2. Navigation
• Want to save time, get some bonus exercise and see
some interesting things along the way? Use the Stairs:

3. Navigation
• Perpetually late? Be early. The scale of the event (and
Las Vegas in general) is likely larger than what you are
used to – journeying between adjacent hotels may take
15 minutes, you’ll probably get lost too:

4. Navigation
• Hate Lines? Rest rooms fill up during breaks and
between sessions. Consider waiting until sessions start.

5. General
• Plan on catching up with Vendors, Customers, Partners,
Friends, Enemies, etc? If you haven’t made plans ahead
of time it’s likely not going to happen; ad-hoc meetings
are difficult to coordinate in the chaos.

6. General
• Plan on bringing a comfortable backpack. Fill it with
swag. Your back will thank you.

7. General
• While the Internet may be plentiful, access to Power may
be limited; plan on charging ahead of time, bringing
chargers, cables, spare batteries, power bricks, etc. If
you’re like me, bring an Aircard as well.

8. General
• Caffeine? There are plenty of ways to keep caffeinated
throughout the day, but I prefer to do it before I get to the
event, in case I forget. Also, you are in the desert (not
dessert) so you probably want to hydrate.

9. Events
• When planning the sessions you wish to attend, pay
attention to the tracks, experience level, size and type of
session.

10. Events
• Check the agenda throughout Re:Invent - New sessions
are likely to be added, especially after Keynotes (new
product announcements) or for sessions in high
demand.

11. Events
• Some sessions will be repeated. If you don’t make it to
the first one, check the other days/times - It’s likely the
other days/times will not be as busy.

12. Events
• Sessions are posted to slide share so there’s no need to
take blurry pictures of the back of peoples’ heads, unless
that’s your thing.

13. Events
• Get to the expo early and load up, especially if you want
a T-Shirt that fits you. The swag goes fast.

14. Events
• The Re:Play party gets busy. No tip here, just plan on it.

15. Events
• Don’t forget about third party events. /r/aws on Reddit
(https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/) or sites like Event Bright,
Meet Up, etc. are a good source for third party events.

16. Tech
• During sessions is a good opportunity, to sign up for
Previews or learn about newly announced services and
features (especially if you have access to the
certification lounge).

17. Tech
• Some of my favorite sessions:
• ARC401 - From One to Many: Evolving VPC Design
• NET401 - Another Day, Another Billion Packets
• NET402 - Deep Dive: AWS Direct Connect and VPNs
• NET403 - Elastic Load Balancing Deep Dive and Best
Practices
• NET404 - Making Every Packet Count
• STG301 - Deep Dive on Amazon Elastic Block Store
• DEV303 - Deploying and Managing .NET Pipelines and
Microsoft Workloads

18. Outside of Re:Invent
• If you find yourself with time outside of Re:Invent,
explore the Las Vegas strip, and take a trip to Flavor
Town:

19. Outside of Re:Invent
• Taking a Red Eye? AmEx Cardholder? Consider a Day
Pass:

20. Thank you!