Talk Leveling Guide
Level definitions in detail
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Goal: Provide a broad overview of AWS services, focusing on the “what” and “why.”
Key Outcomes: Attendees learn basic concepts and how to get started.
Audience Knowledge
New or very limited experience with AWS/cloud computing.
May have heard of AWS but not used it extensively.
Characteristics
High-level introductions (e.g., “What is Amazon EC2?”).
Simple demos or step-by-step walkthroughs.
Little to no code, with a focus on fundamental concepts and terminology.
Covers essential benefits of AWS and basic use cases.
Sample Sessions
“Getting Started with AWS: Building Your First Application”
Explains AWS global infrastructure, AWS Console basics, and how to deploy a static website on Amazon S3.
“Introduction to AWS Compute Services: EC2, ECS, and Lambda”
Presents an overview of compute options at a high level with simple examples.
“Cloud Concepts 101: Terminology, Billing, and Support Plans”
Introduces fundamental cloud terms and walks through AWS billing methods.
How It Differs from Level 200 (Next Level)
Level 100: Focuses on conceptual understanding; no assumption of prior hands-on experience with AWS.
Level 200: Builds on that foundation with best practices, deeper demos, and moderate technical detail.
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Goal: Expand on foundational knowledge with more specific details, best practices, and moderately deep demos.
Key Outcomes: Attendees learn to implement standard designs, optimize basic configurations, and follow recommended patterns.
Audience Knowledge
Familiar with AWS basics; know how to spin up resources.
Understands fundamental terminology (e.g., VPC, EC2, S3).
Characteristics
Covers best practices, standard architectural patterns, and typical use cases.
More in-depth demos - beyond a basic “hello world” but not overly complex.
Might touch on cost optimization basics, IAM roles/policies, or autoscaling.
Sample Sessions
“Architecting Highly Available Web Applications on AWS”
Discusses multi-AZ deployments, load balancing, and autoscaling.
“Building a CI/CD Pipeline with AWS CodePipeline and AWS CodeBuild”
Demonstrates setting up an automated pipeline with recommended practices for testing and deployment.
“Securing Your AWS Environment: IAM Best Practices”
Shows IAM role usage, policies, MFA, and best practices for restricting permissions.
How It Differs from Level 100 (Previous Level)
Level 100: Audience may be brand new to AWS; sessions focus on definitions and high-level overviews.
Level 200: Assumes the audience already has foundational understanding and is ready for practical best practices and deeper demos.
How It Differs from Level 300 (Next Level)
Level 200: Focuses on established best practices and typical usage patterns.
Level 300: Dives deeper into advanced features, specialized configurations, or complex edge cases.
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Goal: Provide in-depth coverage of a specific service or pattern, focusing on advanced usage, performance, or best practices for complex scenarios.
Key Outcomes: Attendees learn how to solve non-trivial problems, optimize further, and address challenging technical nuances.
Audience Knowledge
Strong AWS foundation with significant hands-on experience.
Familiar with architecture diagrams, code snippets, and advanced service features.
Characteristics
Explores advanced features (e.g., advanced VPC configurations, Lambda concurrency tuning).
In-depth demos, code snippets, performance metrics, real-world scaling or troubleshooting examples.
May include cost optimization strategies at scale, advanced security, or multi-service orchestration.
Sample Sessions
“Optimizing Serverless Performance and Costs with AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB”
Discusses concurrency settings, memory tuning, and advanced metrics.
“Advanced Networking: Building Secure, Multi-Region VPC Architectures”
Covers VPC Peering, Transit Gateways, cross-region traffic management, and advanced routing.
“Deep Dive into Amazon RDS and Aurora Tuning”
Explores parameter tuning, read replicas, failover mechanisms, and real-world performance metrics.
How It Differs from Level 200 (Previous Level)
Level 200: Demonstrates standard usage, best practices, and moderate complexity.
Level 300: Showcases specialized configurations, performance optimization, and solutions for edge cases.
How It Differs from Level 400 (Next Level)
Level 300: Stays within advanced usage scenarios for specific AWS services or a particular architecture pattern.
Level 400: Focuses on cutting-edge or large-scale solutions, often including service internals or custom methods that go “beyond the documentation.”
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Goal: Share cutting-edge knowledge, advanced or specialized architectures, or extremely deep technical aspects that push AWS services to their limits.
Key Outcomes: Attendees gain insights into unique, large-scale, or highly specialized implementations that go far beyond standard best practices - or even official AWS documentation.
Audience Knowledge
Expert-level AWS users who have built and operated complex solutions in production, often at significant scale.
Comfortable with code-level exploration, advanced multi-service interactions, or specialized frameworks.
Characteristics
Detailed exploration of how things work “under the hood” (e.g., AWS Nitro System).
Addresses design decisions in real-world production environments at high scale or complexity.
Often covers scenarios that extend well beyond official AWS documentation, requiring innovative solutions or deep service internals.
Sample Sessions
“Operating at Scale: Multi-Region, Multi-Account Governance for Enterprise Workloads”
Covers organizational units, cross-account role management, large-scale security, and cost governance.
“Under the Hood of AWS Nitro: A Deep Dive into EC2 Virtualization and Security”
Explores how Nitro offloads virtualization to dedicated hardware and its implications for performance and security.
“Building a High-Performance, Global Data Lake with AWS Lake Formation and AWS Glue”
In-depth exploration of petabyte-scale data processing, advanced data catalog management, and real-time ingestion at scale.
How It Differs from Level 300
Level 300: Addresses advanced usage and best practices for complex but relatively common scenarios.
Level 400: Involves specialized, large-scale, or groundbreaking implementations—often including aspects not fully covered in AWS documentation.
Tips for Level Selection
Identify Your Audience
Is it newcomers (Level 100 or 200) or seasoned pros (Level 300 or 400)?
Focus on the correct audience rather than trying to draw the biggest crowd.
Set Clear Learning Objectives
Level 100/200: Introduce services and demonstrate foundational best practices.
Level 300/400: Deep dives, real-world optimizations, advanced troubleshooting, specialized architectures.
Gauge the Technical Depth
Basic setups and demos typically fit Level 100 or Level 200.
Advanced configurations, performance tuning, or multi-service orchestration belong in Level 300 or Level 400.
Align Your Abstract
Indicate prerequisites (e.g., “Attendees should be comfortable with AWS CLI and VPC configurations”) to signal the correct level.
Stay in Your Chosen Lane
Don’t start at Level 200 and end with a sudden jump to Level 400. Maintain consistency for the best attendee experience.
Engage the Right Audience, Not the Largest
It’s okay if fewer people attend your talk, as long as they’re deeply interested. A smaller group of the “right” attendees often results in more insightful Q&A and a richer overall discussion.
Good to know
If you’ve delivered talks at local meetups, you might be used to spending a portion of your talk bringing the entire audience up to speed on the basics. In a dedicated AWS Community Day setting, however:
You don’t need to cover every foundational concept. It’s perfectly acceptable - and encouraged - to assume attendees already have a baseline of knowledge that matches your stated session level.
Stick to one level throughout your session. If your talk is described as Level 300, begin at that advanced depth and stay there, rather than trying to ease in at Level 100 basics or cram in a quick Level 400 deep dive at the end.
Aim for the right audience, not the largest audience. It’s better to have a smaller group of highly engaged attendees who genuinely want a deep dive at your chosen level, rather than a packed room of people who leave unsatisfied because you tried to please everyone. This approach fosters more impactful Q&A and in-depth discussions.
By focusing your content on the level you’ve chosen, you ensure your audience gets maximum value from your session - and you’ll likely have a more productive Q&A and discussion at the end.