KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2020 did not take place in Amsterdam as originally planned. CNCF moved its first virtual KubeCon + CloudNativeCon to August 17–20, 2020. The organizer reported more than 18,700 registrants, a 70% attendance rate and positive attendee feedback.
When and where did KubeCon Europe 2020 take place?
CNCF initially announced an in-person conference in Amsterdam for March 30–April 2, 2020. That was the original plan, not the final event. KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2020 ultimately ran online from Monday, August 17, through Thursday, August 20, as CNCF’s first virtual conference. The chronology is documented in CNCF’s January announcement and its final event report.
How many people attended?
CNCF reported more than 18,700 registrations and a 70% attendance rate for the virtual event. It also said 72% of registrants were attending KubeCon + CloudNativeCon for the first time. These are organizer-reported figures from 2020, rather than independent attendance measurements. The published summary is available in CNCF’s event report.
The audience included people from organizations using cloud-native technologies: CNCF reported that 45% of attendees were part of an end-user organization. It also counted participants from 7,800 companies, including 3,598 end-user companies. These figures describe participation as reported by CNCF, not a separate census of the industry.
#1 Best Overall
What was the virtual program like?
The four-day event combined live presentations and Q&A with networking, sponsor interaction and access to session materials. Live content began at 13:00 CEST each day, according to the updated schedule announcement. CNCF’s 2020 annual report described more than 215 live and on-demand sessions, including keynotes, breakouts, tutorials, maintainer sessions and an expanded 101 track.
The January announcement had described a proposed Amsterdam program of more than 240 sessions. That was the initial in-person plan; it should not be read as a count of sessions in the final virtual program. Its examples included Kubernetes sustainability, air-gapped deployments, service mesh, regulatory compliance, high-performance computing, tracing, Prometheus and neuro-inclusivity.
What did attendees think?
In its September 2020 transparency report, CNCF reported average overall satisfaction of 87% and an average session rating of 9.1 out of 10, based on feedback through Sched.com. It also said 61% of attendees spent at least 10 hours on the event platform. These metrics indicate substantial engagement and favorable feedback among respondents, but they are organizer-published results and do not establish how every attendee felt.
CNCF reported that 74% of keynote speakers identified as women or gender non-conforming. Its transparency report also listed attendance at the three CNCF-hosted co-located events:
Rank #3
| Co-located event | Attendees reported by CNCF |
|---|---|
| Cloud Native Security Day | 890 |
| Serverless Practitioners Summit | 496 |
| ServiceMeshCon | 891 |
The attendance, engagement, representation and feedback figures in this section come from CNCF’s September 2020 transparency report.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Can you still find the schedule and session materials?
CNCF’s post-event look-back said talk pages in the schedule linked to presentation PDFs and closed-caption transcripts. The Linux Foundation event archive also points readers to the archived schedule and session slides. The archive is a useful starting point, though availability of every individual recording or file is not established.
For background on the event’s reported session count and programming, see the CNCF Annual Report 2020. CNCF’s August 2020 look-back describes how to locate talk materials through the schedule.
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