About us
This Grafana & Friends meetup group hosts events focused on open source monitoring and observability using Grafana and related technologies. Some meetups feature formal presentations, while others are more relaxed and discussion-driven. Every event is designed to encourage learning, connection, and community. Snacks and stickers included!
🎤 Interested in speaking?
We’re always looking for meetup speakers! Submit your talk ideas here, and we’ll reach out with next steps if your proposal is accepted.
Grafana & Friends meetups aren’t the only way to connect with the community! Explore additional ways to get involved below:
Interact and be heard:
- Forums: Do you have a problem, question, or curiosity? Visit our forums for a reservoir of knowledge- submit your own questions and answers!
- Community Slack: Eager for real-time connections with fellow users? Begin a conversation on Slack.
Learn:
- YouTube: From getting started to exploring newer projects like Pyroscope and Beyla, the Grafana YouTube channel has what you need to get started!
Contribute:
- Github: Check out our open github repositories to report bugs and contribute code
- Meetups and blogs: We’d love to feature your OSS Grafana Labs use case or story at an upcoming Grafana & Friends meetup or on the Grafana blog! Submit your idea here and we’ll connect with you on next steps if accepted.
- Champions: Join the Grafana Champions program! It’s designed to recognize and empower individuals who are actively contributing to the growth and success of the Grafana ecosystem.
All events hosted by this group and communication on this platform are subject to Grafana Labs' Events Code of Conduct.
Upcoming events
1
Hands-on Lab: Getting started with OpenTelemetry
Nokia Toronto Downtown (14th floor), 100 Queens Quay East, Toronto, ON, CABRING YOUR COMPUTERS TO THIS EVENT! And check out the prerequisites below.
Join us for the first hands-on lab session, snacks, and discussion! This time around instead of talks we are going to run a free hands-on lab on how to get started with OpenTelemetry.
We'll teach you how to run your own local observability stack and how to capture telemetry from the host all the way to the application layer.
Repository
https://github.com/grafana/grafanacon2026-opentelemetry-instrumentationPrerequisites
- Git
- Docker and Docker Compose — or Podman with the `docker compose` CLI, see PODMAN.md for setup
Pull all Docker images at home before the session to avoid slow WiFi at the event:
git clone https://github.com/grafana/grafanacon2026-opentelemetry-instrumentation
cd grafanacon2026-opentelemetry-instrumentation
docker compose pull
docker compose up --buildThe first build downloads images and compiles both services — it can take several minutes. Once images are cached, rebuilds are fast. See TROUBLESHOOTING.md in the repository if you hit issues.
Again special thanks to Nokia and Mark Prosser for hosting us at their downtown office.
Agenda:
6:00-6:15 PM: Arrivals and introductions
6:15-7:40 PM: Hands-On Lab
7:40-8:00 PM: Q&A, networking and wrap upFacilitators: Nikola Grcevski and Marylia Gutierrez
29 attendees
Past events
14
Group links
Members
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