KubeCon Europe Kickoff w/ Rootly AI, Cloudsmith, Embrace, Kusari, Pulumi, Twingate & Checkly
- Date
- 2026-03-23
- Location
- Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
- Host
- Rootly
About this event
KubeCon week moves fast, and the best conversations usually happen before the conference floor gets crowded. KubeCon Europe Kickoff is where operators, platform teams, founders, builders, and security-minded engineers can meet in person, compare notes, and start the week with real momentum. This gathering brings together people working across AI, cloud infrastructure, autonomy, developer platforms, reliability, and modern software delivery. If you want a room full of practitioners who care about how systems are built, secured, observed, and operated at scale, this is the right place to begin your week in Amsterdam. About the Event This is an in-person kickoff event in Amsterdam on Monday, March 23 at 6:00 PM GMT+1, timed to bring the community together at the start of KubeCon Europe. It’s designed as a high-signal evening for people who want more than quick intros and badge scans. The focus is on meeting peers, reconnecting with colleagues, and getting into substantive conversations early. Hosted with participation from Rootly AI, Cloudsmith, Embrace, Kusari, Pulumi, Twingate, and Checkly, the event reflects the broader ecosystem around cloud-native systems. That means you can expect the audience to span incident response, software supply chain, infrastructure as code, connectivity, observability, testing, application health, and the growing role of AI in operations. Rather than trying to replicate the formal structure of the conference itself, this event creates space for the kinds of exchanges that are easiest to have face-to-face: what teams are automating now, where cloud-native workflows are still too brittle, how security and velocity can coexist, and what is actually working in production. What to Expect Expect an evening built around networking, conversation, and community-building with people who are already deep in the cloud-native world. The format is straightforward: arrive, meet people, and get into the discussions that matter before the rest of the week fills up your calendar. You can expect a mix of: Early-week networking with attendees heading into KubeCon Europe Cross-functional conversations spanning engineering, platform, security, SRE, and product-minded infrastructure teams Practical discussion around AI, autonomy, reliability, developer experience, and cloud operations A strong community atmosphere that makes it easy to meet both familiar faces and new collaborators Because the event brings together multiple companies from adjacent parts of the stack, the room should be especially valuable for anyone interested in how modern teams connect tools and workflows end to end. This is a good setting for comparing approaches, pressure-testing ideas, and hearing how others are tackling similar technical and organizational challenges. It’s also an efficient way to start the week. Instead of waiting for chance hallway encounters later, you can make meaningful connections on Monday evening and carry those conversations into the conference itself. Why Attend If you’re already planning to be at KubeCon Europe, this event gives you a head start on the most valuable part of the week: the people. You’ll meet attendees before schedules become fragmented, which makes follow-up easier and often leads to better conversations during the conference. This is especially useful if your work sits at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, AI-enabled operations, resilience, security, and developer tooling. The companies involved represent parts of the stack that many teams are actively trying to connect more effectively. That makes this a strong room for learning how others are thinking about the operational realities behind the tooling. You should attend if you want to: Meet practitioners working on real production problems Expand your network beyond your immediate function or vendor category Trade practical lessons on infrastructure, reliability, software delivery, and security Get early context on what people are paying attention to this KubeCon week Start conversations Monday that can continue throughout the conference The biggest value here is relevance. This is not a generic tech meetup. It’s a focused gathering for people who care about building and operating modern systems, and who want to be in a room where the baseline level of conversation is already high. Practical Details The event is in person in Amsterdam, Netherlands, making it a convenient stop for attendees arriving for KubeCon Europe. As a kickoff gathering, it’s well suited for people who want to ease into the week by meeting others in a more social, conversational setting. Date and time: Monday, March 23 at 6:00 PM GMT+1. The evening timing makes it easy to attend after travel, check-in, or a first day of side meetings. If you’re mapping out your KubeCon schedule, this is a strong anchor for Monday night. A few useful planning notes: This is an in-person event, so plan accordingly if you’re arriving in Amsterdam that day Come ready to talk shop as well as make new connections Bring context on what your team is working on, especially if you want stronger conversations quickly Use it as your week-one network builder before conference schedules become harder to coordinate If you value smart rooms, practical conversations, and a better start to KubeCon week, this kickoff is worth putting on your calendar.
Who should attend
If you want to start KubeCon Europe in a room full of technically curious, well-connected people, this event is for you. - You work in **platform engineering, SRE, DevOps, cloud infrastructure, or reliability** and want to compare how other teams are operating and automating modern systems. - You’re focused on **security, software supply chain, access, or governance** and want conversations that connect policy and protection to real delivery workflows. - You build or evaluate **developer tools, observability products, incident response systems, or infrastructure platforms** and want direct access to practitioners and peers. - You’re exploring how **AI and autonomy** are changing operations, engineering workflows, or the way teams respond to production issues. - You’re a **founder, engineering leader, or technical decision-maker** who wants to meet strong people early in the week before KubeCon calendars get crowded. - You’re attending KubeCon Europe and prefer **high-signal networking** over broad, generic meetup chatter. If you care about how cloud-native systems are actually built, secured, tested, and run, you’ll likely find your people here.