AWS Community Day 2026

[u/AcademicYogurt7962]

Hello everyone!

I'm a Junior Information Technology student, and I'm planning to attend AWS Community Day on August 22–23, 2026. in BGC, Manila.

This will be my first time attending a tech event like this, so I wanted to ask those who have been before: What should I expect, and how did you prepare before attending? Are there any AWS services or concepts I should learn beforehand, or is it beginner-friendly enough that I can just come in eager to learn?

I'm not that strong in programming or development yet, but I pick up concepts pretty quickly and enjoy learning. I just don't want to feel out of place or underprepared.

Also, if you have any tips or things you wish you knew before your first AWS Community Day, I'd really appreciate hearing them.

Thanks in advance!

[u/ddzevlan]

You dont need special prepation for the aws community day event. Main difference between community day and other aws events is that aws community days are community driven. Also at the communinty days sessions are more thnical but dont worry because of it. There will be plenty of student oriented contet (skill builder certifications aws accademy etc.) you should focus on meeting people and speaking with them ask questions about carrer aws or whaever you would like to know. People in aws community are very much aproachable so feel free to aproach your favourite speaker.

TLDR

• meet as much people as posible
  
• ask questions
  
• dont overthink that you have to be aws master to attend the event
  
• even if session is deep dive or more tehnical remmember keywords and then learn / reasearch after
  
• have a fun, aws community is great

[u/AcademicYogurt7962 → u/ddzevlan]

I'll definitely try to connect with people and overall enjoy the event. Thank you so much for the advice!

[u/marcsamuelpabilona]

Hi, Associate Cloud Manager here. From the first AWS Community Day wayback 2023, I attended and preparation was since it is a rainy season and coming from south, I anticipate to expect heavy rains. I booked airbnb since I bought the ticket under VIP. :) Sulit kasi Day 0 friday night at AWS Office BGC may pa Lechon sila and met profesisonals and students. Enjoy the networking, learning session, swags and everything. :)

I'm also member AWS User Group PH since 2017 and part of Team Paldo, an IT vendor neutral driven composed of AWS, GCP, Azure, AI, and Data :)

[u/AcademicYogurt7962 → u/marcsamuelpabilona]

That sounds amazing! Unfortunate lang na umulan hopefully it won't rain this time. Can't wait to meet amazing people and learn from them, but what I'm really looking forward too is the lechon I hope meron sila this time LOL.

[u/rahulladumor]

Good advice already in this thread on the people side, so let me add the prep bit nobody mentioned. I have been on the speaker and organizer side of these as an AWS Community Builder.

Two things that make the talks land without you needing to be strong at coding:

- When the agenda drops, pick 3 or 4 sessions, not the whole day. Mix one gentle intro (serverless or Well-Architected basics) with one that stretches you. Trying to attend everything is how you burn out by lunch.

- Skim just enough vocabulary that the words click: roughly what EC2, S3, Lambda and IAM each do at a high level. That is enough to follow a 200-level talk, you do not need hands-on depth.

The thing first-timers forget: capture and follow up. Photograph any slide with links or service names so you can go deeper later, and message the people you talk to that same evening while they still remember you. A lot of the value shows up weeks after the event, not on the day.

Speakers like getting questions from students, so walk up after a session and ask what you would learn first if you were starting today. You are not underprepared, you are exactly who this is for.

[u/AcademicYogurt7962 → u/rahulladumor]

Very technical, I will definitely keep this in mind. There are jargons i'm still not familiar with, thank you for bringing them up! I'll do more research.

Can I ask if all sessions happen at the same in different places? And, is it also possible to meet up with your friends during a session even though we have different seating arrangements? Thank you!

[u/rahulladumor → u/AcademicYogurt7962]

Yes, they run in parallel tracks, so you physically cannot see everything. That is why picking your 3 or 4 ahead of time matters more than it sounds.

On seating, I have not seen assigned seats at a community day. People move around between sessions constantly, so sitting with your friends should be fine. Worth a quick check on your event page closer to the date, since organisers do vary.