So you're attending KubeCon, possibly for the first time. And you don't really know what to expect. Or maybe you are a seasoned KubeCon attendee and you're just here to tell me all the ways I'm wrong. Either way, this is my guide for KubeCon, having attended twice - in Paris and London.
What to Bring and Planning Your KubeCon
I like travelling light, it means I have more suitcase space to bring things back (such as a skateboard). This means bringing only the essentials.
- For shoes, I get two good pairs. They are basically running shoes so are very comfortable to spend the day in. KC is a big event and you will be doing a lot of walking (americans be warned there is no golf cart to carry you between session rooms). Since it's Europe, I bring two pairs in case I encounter rain.
- Laptops is a big question mark. Of course, I bring my work laptop with me but leave it where I'm staying. A laptop is typically heavy enough to start giving back pain with the amount of walking you will do, and you will most definitely not need it. An iPad or Surface Pro is light enough if you need it, but you still probably won't use it. The exception is for CTF challenges or Kubecrawl, which need a laptop unless you phoneops it.
- Water is another thing. There are typically sufficient refreshment spots that you won't need to carry too much water with you, so just bring a bottle you can refill. I strongly recommend drinking a lot because of the physical exertion and because you will probably be talking a lot. There's also tea and coffee and some sweet cakes available at break times during the day.
- Food - there is usually plenty of food available, usually in the form of sandwiches. Something worth noting is that KubeCon food has garnered a fairly poor reputation, at least for the years I was there. So you might want to bring something with you, just in case. Maybe a controversial point, but the only plus side of conference food is that it's there and you don't need to travel anywhere to get it. Anyways, it's not easy feeding 15k people, so I'll lay off the criticism.
- Clothes is a big mystery to me. I don't live in Europe, so I bring everything from polar jackets to tshirts, and figure it out there. Even if it's cold enough for your nose to turn red outside, the conference center is usually so full of people that you'll stay warm without needing too many layers.
- Organise your talks! This is a case of personal preference, but I typically skip on the corporate-sounding talks - sort of like those which want to sell you something (typically AI related in this day and age) rather than solve a cool problem or create a cool piece of tech. The lightning talks tend to be good (shameless plug of my lightning talk). I usually shortlist some 10-15 talks and decide on the spot whether attending that talk in person is more valuable/worth-it than whatever discussion I may be having with a friend/vendor/project maintainer at that point in time.
- One of the best places to spend your time is at the Project Pavilion, where projects from the CNCF landscape are shown off by the actual maintainers and community members! You can use this opportunity to chat with the maintainers of your favourite projects and ask questions about upcoming features and what lies ahead. And I'll seize the opportunity for another shameless plug, as I believe I'll be at staffing the K3s booth, along with Orlin, at some point during the conference!
- Talks are recorded and posted on YouTube a few weeks after KubeCon! This means you can prioritise chatting with people during KubeCon and catch up on talks afterwards. Remember, the talks are online forever, but you can only be awkward talking to maintainers and sponsors and attendees in person :) That being said, I rarely watch talks online because they lack the atmosphere, so I make it a must to attend talks which really interest me during KubeCon.
This is probably not a very comprehensive guide, just stuff I thought of over a couple of days as I start packing my suitcase. If you have more opinions or advice to give, let me know and I'll add it here! For my other blogpost on my experience at KubeCon last year, go here!