One thing that you can’t deny about the AWS re:Invent event is the demand in place to take it all in. The crowd seems beyond the level that you’d expect in a space that the Venetian was designed for, and it isn’t just an illusion. It’s validating the shift as upwards of 24,000 people come to learn about Amazon Web Services and what has already become the clear leader in the public cloud industry.

Numbers are fuzzy, but even if we bet on 24,000 as the mark to measure against, that is larger than VMworld (23,000), Microsoft Ignite (estimated 20,000), and any of the largest open source ecosystem events. In 2012, the event was called a huge success by then Netflix Director of Web Engineering, Adrian Cockroft. This year, Adrian will be on site in front of 24,000 people in his new role as the VP of Cloud Architecture for AWS. Rather fitting if you ask me.

Scenes From the Expo Floor

There are names on the expo floor which many of our readers may already know. There are many names which you may not have been introduced to in the past, who may have been in stealth or in early stages of growth. There are also some veteran companies putting their names in the hat as partners and supporters of the AWS ecosystem to make sure that they can try to find or retain relevancy among the rapidly shifting cloud marketplace.

It’s rare to be able to see a VMware or a Dell/EMC booth beside a smaller player in the market, all in the backyard of a “little bookstore.” Especially when that “little bookstore” has delivered around 8.5 Billion dollars in revenue in the first 3 quarters of 2016. That has to sting a little for some of the traditional players who were widely quoted on how there was no fear about the public cloud. Now they are all fighting to find their footing with some sort of cloud story to make sure the world doesn’t pass them by.

People were packed during the initial two-hour hall crawl. It was undoubtedly the most full the event has ever been, given its growth and the lack of any larger venue to support the tens of thousands who flocked to the hall to learn who is on the floor this year.

There is much more happening around the overall event venue which I’ll be exploring in the coming days. Hopefully, you will get to enjoy as much of it from a distance with some quick views of how it looks like from the inside.

The keynotes will be streamed live if you wish to see it in action, and the videos will be published for later consumption. Prepare for lots of news and blogs as updates hit the AWS re:Invent site and associated blogs. There will be daily recaps coming from my view as well to share the news from the floor as it happens.

Make sure to watch live if you can using the link here or by clicking the image below.