AWS Community Day CEE | Budapest

AWS Community Day CEE 2025 - Budapest

AWS Community Day CEE was something special - not just because it brought multiple countries together, but because it felt like a shared regional identity forming in real time.

This was the first edition of the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe) Community Day in Budapest - a collaboration between AWS User Groups across the region. It didn’t feel like a new event. It felt like something that had been waiting to happen.

A Regional Community Coming Together

The CEE tech community has always been diverse - different languages, different cloud maturity levels, different backgrounds and stories - but united by a practical, builder-first mindset.

In Budapest, that became visible:

• Attendees and speakers from across Central and Eastern Europe
• Communities supporting each other rather than working in silos
• Organizers sharing lessons across borders

There was no single “center” of this event - it was distributed, collective, and collaborative by design.

Women of Cloud Workshop

I had the opportunity to lead the Women of Cloud workshop once again - and what stood out this time was the range of backgrounds in the room. People shifting careers. People returning to tech. People just starting.

We talked about:

• How to enter community spaces
• How to ask for opportunities
• How to practice speaking and visibility
• How to make space for others while moving forward yourself

There was openness. Curiosity. Support. Not theory - shared lived experience.

The Intro Video

Before the event began, we presented an intro video that captured the energy of AWS communities across Europe - the meetups, the late-night slide editing sessions, the last-minute cables, the “we’ll figure it out” teamwork, and the moments of connection that happen between sessions.

Watching it on the big screen in Budapest made something click:
We are part of a larger story.

Dima’s Talk: The Photo Story of AWS Community Day DACH

One of the highlights of the event was Dima’s presentation.
He showed how he handled the photography and media workflow for AWS Community Day DACH.

He took over 8,000 photos throughout the event and then walked us through the automated processing pipeline he built using Amazon Rekognition and other tools.
The workflow automatically selected and grouped images so that content could be published fast - while the event was still happening - with our full Marketing team supporting with texting and publishing.

Because of this, we were able to do live reporting and achieved over 50,000 impressions on LinkedIn for the Förderverein AWS Community DACH during the event.

Organizing with Intention

A huge acknowledgment to Mihály, who led the organizing effort with clarity, warmth, and a deep sense of purpose. The event didn’t feel rushed or improvised - it felt considered.

From speaker hospitality, to session flow, to the ease of moving through the space - it was clear that someone cared about how the community would experience the day.

What I Take With Me

Budapest showed me something important:

• Community grows faster when communities grow together
• Regional identity can be a strength, not a boundary
• Shared stories build momentum

CEE is not “up and coming.” CEE is already here.

And I’m grateful I got to be part of its first chapter.