Rock Stars, Frameworks, and the Hallway Track: AutoCon 5 in München
O'zapft is, indeed. In June, more than 650 network automation practitioners packed into Munich for AutoCon 5, joined by another 250+ who came a couple days early for hands-on workshops. Then, like we do after every AutoCon, we asked you to tell us how it went; the good, the annoying, and everything in between.
You did not hold back. Here's what the numbers, and your words, told us.
The headlines:
87% rated their overall conference experience a 4 or 5 out of 5
90% said they "Absolutely" had fun
Networking satisfaction came in at 4.43 out of 5 — the highest-scoring category on the entire survey
74% of workshop attendees rated their experience a 4 or 5 out of 5
Nearly half of you — 46% — were back for your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th AutoCon, and 9% have been to every single one since AC0
That last stat means something to us. A community that keeps coming back is a community that's working.
It's Still About the People
Ask attendees what they valued most about AutoCon 5, and one answer drowns out everything else: the hallway track.
"As usual, the hallway track."
"People. It's always the people."
"Random hallway conversations turned out to be more informative than most of the presentations."
We'll take that as a compliment to the presentations, too; because it means the conversations they sparked were even better. And more than one of you put words to why this format works at all:
"It's the only place where you can have automation-centric discussions that don't include someone selling you their product in the process."
Vendor-neutral and practitioner-first, still true six events in. Great!
The NAF Framework Track Landed
We introduced the NAF Framework Track this year, and it didn't just do well: it dominated. Three of the four highest-rated sessions at AC5 were NAF Framework Track sessions, and the write-in comments matched the scores:
"Finally, a construct that can be used in designing automation."
"The NAF Framework Track was much anticipated and very well prepared and received."
More than one of you asked for even more of it next time; a full day, or a dedicated workshop of its own. Noted.
Talks and Moments Worth Remembering
Michael Bushong's opening keynote on the cognitive biases behind automation's failures set the tone for the week, and it showed: 93% of attendees who saw it called it great. Ivan Pepelnjak drew the kind of reaction you can't manufacture:
"He's like a rock star in our field."
Constantin Vurli's "automation graveyard" talk on field-tested anti-patterns and Joao Soares' lightning talk on regulated-environment firewall automation both landed with 96%+ approval. And Chris Wade's closing keynote sent people out the door thinking about what's next for NetOps and AI.
Workshops: Hands-On, and (Mostly) Pitch-Free
The 16-workshop lineup once again proved that the best sessions are the ones where nobody's selling anything. "From RAG to MCP," the PyTest workshop, and Nokia's gRPC deep-dive were your top picks — all community- or practitioner-led, all rated near the top of the pack on proctor quality and materials.
"They didn't try to sell anything, which was definitely a plus."
"Nobody wanted to sell me anything."
You also told us, clearly and repeatedly, that you want more range at the edges — some of you found the pace too fast as newcomers, others wanted deeper, more advanced material. We heard both, and we're looking at how to serve both without diluting either.
What We're Chewing On
About 10% of you filled out this survey, so we're reading every note as a signal, not gospel. Room acoustics, WiFi, the general chaos of packing this many people into one building for four days — the usual texture of a conference that's grown into itself, and it's all feeding into how we plan the next one.
One note gave us more to sit with than the rest: a few longtime regulars said the content is starting to feel familiar. Fair — by your fourth or fifth AutoCon, some ground gets covered twice. Honestly, it's a good problem to have: it means enough of you keep coming back that "what's next" is a real question. We don't have a tidy answer yet, and we're not sure we want one that trades depth for novelty just to check a box. What we do know is that AutoCon works because it stays grounded in what this community actually needs — and that's our compass.
One comment summed up the spirit of all of this better than we could:
"I left a lot of feedback which might seem critical, but to be clear, I liked AC5 and want to see it get better."
Same. Keep it coming.
See You in Tucson
To everyone who came to Munich, worked a booth, proctored a workshop, gave a talk, or just showed up ready to talk shop in a hallway for three to five days straight: thank you. This community is the reason any of this works.
AutoCon 6 heads to Tucson, Arizona this November — and we can't wait to see who shows up ready to argue about YANG models over a beer, again. And if you can’t make that one, we’ll be back in Europe again next spring for AutoCon 7.
See you there.
