The Benchmark
DigitalOcean's Deploy24 was a digital conference that showcased the company's latest offerings and provided a platform for developers and business professionals alike to learn, engage, and grow. If you've attended digital conferences in the past, you know that these events are often a wash. The format and technology is relatively new, and that can lead to a somewhat disjointed and awkward experience. That feeling was one elegantly sidestepped by the entirety of the Digital Ocean team; from Chris DeMars to Wade Wegner, the team working on Deploy24 really distinguished themselves in orchestrating the best digital conference I've ever attended. They've set the benchmark for what can be achieved in the medium, let's get into everything I liked!
Engaging Digital Experience
Digital conferences often face challenges such as moderation, scheduling, and maintaining engagement. Deploy24 implemented two distinct tracks: Build and Grow, catering to different audiences within the tech community. The titles of the talks themselves paint a vivid picture for wide of a net was thrown:
The Build Track
The Build track was tailored for developers, with sessions covering a range of topics:
Building an AI-powered business with DigitalOcean
Simplifying generative AI software as a service development
A comprehensive review of the past four years of DigitalOcean's evolution
Crafting a photo editor powered by gRPC and DigitalOcean Spaces
These sessions provided developers with valuable insights into leveraging DigitalOcean's services for innovative projects.
The Grow Track
On the other hand, the Grow track focused on business owners and marketers. It included talks on:
Building and co-selling with DigitalOcean
Leveraging DigitalOcean's marketplace to attract customers
Customer success stories with DigitalOcean
An introduction to the premium optimized Droplet families
These discussions were instrumental for those looking to expand their businesses using DigitalOcean's ecosystem.
Inclusive Conversations
What I found particularly impressive, which can be seen above, was the effort to include non-developers in the conversation. The diverse range of topics ensured that everyone, regardless of their role in tech, could find something relevant and engaging.
Keynote and Standout Sessions
The keynote set the stage for the conference, outlining DigitalOcean's vision for the coming years. One of the first sessions I attended was by Wade Wagner on using experimental GPU Droplets for building embedded RAG architected LLMs and DigitalOcean's GenAI platform. This no-code solution for implementing trained chatbots based on website content was a standout for its innovation and practicality.
Another memorable talk was Zack Eddy & Cody Baker showcasing four years of DigitalOcean's features, highlighting the excellent developer experiences (DX) the company offers. For instance, they have implemented alerts for GPU or CPU threshold exceedance , as well as limiters to prevent services from scaling too quickly. This is a very welcome feature to companies leveraging AI models. Additionally, the introduction of egress IPs was a game-changer, allowing for secure outbound traffic from applications to databases or other endpoints. This is in addition to massive decreases in both cost and build-time for cloud services.
The last session I attended delved into programming a PhotoEditor with gRPC. It provided a deep dive into the architecture of gRPC, the rationale behind its use, and how to integrate it with DigitalOcean Spaces. Presented by Abi, this talk was both informative and technically rich. It's the kind of in-depth technical demo I aspire to give one day, hats off to you for pulling it off dude!
Post-Conference Engagement
After the main event, I had the opportunity to visit various booths. These were staffed with employees and professionals experienced with DigitalOcean's services. They were ready to field questions, discuss onboarding processes, and offer general resources. This level of access to expertise was a, frankly, unqiue experience for the attendees that took part it in it. Having folks that understand the platform so deeply right there is a rare opportunity.
Final Thoughts
Deploy24 was a well-executed conference that provided a wealth of knowledge and networking opportunities. DigitalOcean's ability to host a digital event that was both informative and engaging is commendable. Whether you're a developer looking to build on the platform or a business professional aiming to grow with DigitalOcean, this conference had something for everyone.