The slides and keynotes are one part of any conference — but the real value lives in the conversations between them. The How to Roll Out OpenTelemetry at Scale event at Grafana Labs in Amsterdam delivered both in abundance, but it was the hallway track that made the day memorable.
The Venue
The event was hosted at the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal, a venue with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the canals and the Amsterdam skyline. The light, the space, and the canal views set a tone that was professional but relaxed — perfectly suited for a day of deep technical discussion.
The opening title slide: “How to Roll Out OpenTelemetry at Scale” with Ted Young, Developer Programs Director at Grafana Labs.
Coffee Break Conversations
Between the technical deep-dive sessions, the coffee break became a living room for the community. Attendees gathered around the high-top tables, the Amsterdam map on the wall serving as an anchor point for newcomers.
A selfie captured during the coffee break — the “Map of Amsterdam” on the wall marks the spot where the European observability community gathered.
A group selfie during the morning session, with the Amsterdam canal visible through the windows behind us.
Attendees gather near the coffee station between talks — the hallway track in full swing.
The Community
What struck me most about the event was the mix of people in the room:
- CNCF maintainers working on the OpenTelemetry spec
- Platform engineers from fintech, e-commerce, and SaaS companies
- SREs who had already shipped OpenTelemetry to production
- Developers just starting their observability journey
- Security teams looking to integrate telemetry with their threat detection
A selfie captured during the afternoon break, with the Amsterdam cityscape in the background.
Why These Moments Matter
Events like this are where the community builds its collective knowledge. The slides are published, the recordings are shared, but the conversations — the “oh, we solved that same problem by…” moments, the “you should check out this pattern…” recommendations — those are irreplaceable.
Between the technical sessions and the informal networking, the density of practitioners in one room created an environment where a single question at the coffee station could unearth a solution that had taken someone else months to discover.
The Amsterdam Connection
Amsterdam has become a hub for cloud-native and observability communities in Europe. The city’s mix of international tech companies, startups, and open-source communities makes it a natural gathering point. The canal-level venue at the DoubleTree provided a distinctly Amsterdam experience — professional, but with a human scale that matched the intimate feel of the event.
Looking Forward
Events like this are proof that the OpenTelemetry community is not just surviving — it’s thriving. The technical content is world-class (thanks to speakers like Ted Young and Austin Parker), and the community is welcoming, collaborative, and actively solving real problems.
If you’re in Amsterdam next time this rolls around, you should be there.
Related Reading
- How to Roll Out OpenTelemetry at Scale: Grafana Labs Amsterdam Recap
- Ted and Ed’s Hierarchy of Observability Needs
- Observability IRL: Fire Lookout Towers and Software Monitoring
About the Author
I am Luca Berton, AI and Cloud Advisor. I work at the intersection of cloud security, platform engineering, and enterprise AI deployments. Book a consultation.