AWS re:Invent 2025 Recap – Lightning Talk Edition ⚡

Join us for an evening of pizza, insights, and re:Invent swag! 🍕🎁
re:Invent 2025 delivered an incredible wave of innovation—from AI agents to serverless advancements, data engineering breakthroughs to cost optimization strategies.

For this year's in-person recap, we wanted to try something different and more collaborative. Instead of walking through every announcement, we're bringing you 6 lightning talks from local AWS enthusiasts who attended re:Invent or have been diving deep into the new releases. Each speaker has 10 minutes to share the service or feature that excites them most and explain why it matters.

You'll get diverse, practitioner-focused perspectives on what's truly impactful—straight from engineers, architects, and developers who are already thinking about how to apply these innovations in real-world scenarios.

###

🗓️ Agenda

• 18:00 – Welcome & Networking (with Pizza)
• 18:30 – Introduction & re:Invent Overview
• 18:40 – Lightning Talks (10 minutes each)
• 19:40 – Q&A and Open Discussion
• 20:00 – Closing & Swag Giveaway

###

⚡ Lightning Talk Lineup
AWS Lambda Durable Functions – Thomas Bouleau
Thomas is a data engineer with 7 years of experience building cloud solutions and data ingestion pipelines on AWS. Recently relocated to Montreal from Grenoble, France, he'll explore how Lambda's new durable functions capability is changing serverless workflows.
AWS DevOps Agent – Ramesh Murugesan
Ramesh, a Cloud Operations Engineer specializing in Terraform and AI-enhanced cloud operations, will demonstrate how the new AWS DevOps Agent acts as your virtual DevOps teammate—troubleshooting issues, analyzing logs, and automating operational tasks using natural language.
AWS Transform Custom – Malcolm St John
Malcolm, a Senior Software Developer at Nexapp passionate about DevOps and infrastructure, will show how AWS Transform Custom helps teams tackle technical debt and modernize codebases automatically—comparing it to tools like Moderne and OpenRewrite.
Lambda Managed Instances – Margad Yahya
Margad, a Cloud Architect at Teamwork.net, will break down how Lambda Managed Instances works, identify use cases where it shines, and provide a practical pricing analysis with real-world examples.
SageMaker Unified Studio – Marc Campora
Marc, an independent consultant specializing in cloud architecture and data engineering, will cover what's new in SageMaker Unified Studio's data governance capabilities and how organizations can make pragmatic choices in this evolving space.
Amazon S3 Vectors – Aboubacar Ari Gonimi
Aboubacar, a Data Engineer with 7+ years on AWS and multiple certifications, will explain how S3's native vector storage changes GenAI and RAG architectures—potentially reducing vector storage costs by up to 90% compared to dedicated databases.

***

👥 Who Should Attend

• Cloud engineers and architects curious about re:Invent's biggest announcements
• Developers building serverless, AI, or data-intensive applications
• DevOps professionals looking to improve operational efficiency
• Anyone who wants a community perspective on what really matters from re:Invent
• Tech enthusiasts who prefer collaborative learning over slide marathons

***

📍 Event Details
Date: Wednesday, January 14th, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: McGill University-Leacock Building
855 Sherbrooke Street West
H3A 2T7-Room 232
Format: In-person, collaborative session
Come ready to learn, ask questions, and connect with fellow AWS practitioners in Montreal!
NOTE: Room location will be confirmed closer to the event date. Stay tuned for updates!