KubeCon Europe 2026 - Top Speakers Schedule
March 25, 2026 - Featured Sessions (CET Times)
19 sessions featuring the most inspiring speakers
Note:All times are in CET (Central European Time = UTC+1)
11:00 CET - 11:30 CET
GPUs on Kubernetes: What Actually Happens When You Request Nvidia.com/gpu: 1
Speakers:Gulcan Topcu & Daniele Polencic, LearnKube
✨ Why Inspiring: Founder of Learnk8s, renowned for making complex Kubernetes concepts accessible through exceptional visual explanations and deep technical expertise.
Location:Hall 8 | Room G, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:AI + ML
Linkerd: Reliable Production in an AI/MCP World
Speakers:William Morgan, Buoyant
✨ Why Inspiring: Co-founder of Buoyant and Linkerd, one of the original service mesh pioneers. Known for clear, pragmatic talks that balance technical depth with real-world applicability.
Location:E103-105, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK
Strengthening CNCF Projects: Impact of Security Self-Assessments
Speakers:Eddie Knight, Sonatype; Bradley Andersen, k8gb; Justin Cappos, New York University; Shuting Zhao, Nirmata; Orlin Vasilev, SUSE
✨ Why Inspiring: CNCF Security TAG member who brings passion and clarity to security topics. Known for making security practical and actionable rather than intimidating.
Location:G102-103, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK
14:15 CET - 14:45 CET
Hello World\, Meet the Spanimals: Observability for Beginners
Speakers:Tiffany Jernigan, Grafana Labs & Matthias Haeussler, CGI
✨ Why Inspiring: VMware developer advocate known for warm, inclusive teaching style. Makes complex cloud native concepts fun and approachable for newcomers.
Location:Hall 7 | Room A, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:CLOUD NATIVE NOVICE
The KEP Lifecycle: How the Release Team Guides Enhancements To Stability
Speakers:Kat Cosgrove, Minimus; Sreeram Venkitesh & Rayan Das, DigitalOcean; Subhasmita Swain, Independent
✨ Why Inspiring: Kubernetes Steering Committee member and exceptional developer advocate. Known for passionate, engaging presentations about open source community and governance.
Location:E106-108, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK
Panel: How Platforms Can Save Junior Engineers (and Thus the Tech Industry)
Speakers:Jennifer Riggins, The New Stack; Leena Mooneeram, Chainalysis; Molly Clarke, easyJet; Paula Kennedy, Syntasso
✨ Why Inspiring: Tech journalist and thoughtful panel moderator. Brings diverse perspectives and asks the hard questions that drive meaningful conversations.
Location:Hall 8 | Room D, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:PLATFORM ENGINEERING
Audit-Ready Kubernetes: How Chase UK Leveraged Policy as Code for Continuous Compliance
Speakers:Jim Bugwadia, Nirmata & Nischay Goyal, JP Morgan Chase
✨ Why Inspiring: Kyverno creator and policy-as-code expert. Pioneering work in making Kubernetes policy management accessible and practical for enterprises.
Location:Hall 7 | Room C, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:SECURITY
15:00 CET - 15:30 CET
Enterprise Challenges with MCP Adoption
Speakers:Christian Posta, Solo.io
✨ Why Inspiring: Solo.io field CTO and service mesh thought leader. Delivers high-impact talks that bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and enterprise reality.
Location:Hall 7 | Room C, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:AI + ML
Jaeger V2: The Maintainers' Guide To OpenTelemetry-Native Tracing
Speakers:Pavol Loffay, Red Hat
✨ Why Inspiring: Jaeger and OpenTelemetry expert. Known for deep technical knowledge delivered in an approachable way, making observability accessible to all skill levels.
Location:Amtrium 1+2, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK
The Road To Strimzi 1.0
Speakers:Jakub Scholz, Cloudera & Paolo Patierno, IBM
✨ Why Inspiring: Strimzi maintainer and Apache Kafka on Kubernetes expert. Combines deep technical expertise with clear communication about building production-ready systems.
Location:G102-103, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK
Pull Request Wars: The Flux Awakens
Speakers:Ephemeral Kubernetes Environments Strike Back - Matteo Bianchi, GitHub & Stefan Prodan, ControlPlane
✨ Why Inspiring: Flux maintainer and GitOps pioneer. Brings creative energy to technical topics with excellent storytelling and practical demonstrations.
Location:Hall 8 | Room G, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:PLATFORM ENGINEERING
16:00 CET - 16:30 CET
From Classroom To Container: Teaching Distributed Systems With CNCF & Cloud Native Technologies
Speakers:Matthias Haeussler, CGI
✨ Why Inspiring: Excellent educator passionate about teaching distributed systems. Known for making complex concepts accessible through hands-on, practical approaches.
Location:Hall 7 | Room B, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:CLOUD NATIVE EXPERIENCE
Steering the Ship: Ask the Kubernetes Steering Committee
Speakers:Kat Cosgrove, Minimus; Maciej Szulik, Defense Unicorns; Antonio Ojea, Google
✨ Why Inspiring: Kubernetes Steering Committee member and exceptional developer advocate. Known for passionate, engaging presentations about open source community and governance.
Location:G102-103, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK
🚨 Contribfest: Kyverno Contribfest: Building the Future Together
Speakers:Jim Bugwadia, Shuting Zhao, Ammar Yasser & Charles-Edouard Brétéché, Nirmata
✨ Why Inspiring: Kyverno creator and policy-as-code expert. Pioneering work in making Kubernetes policy management accessible and practical for enterprises.
Location:G106, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:🚨 CONTRIBFEST
📚 Tutorial: Full-Stack Observability on a Budget: A Guide to Strategic Sampling and Data Optimization
Speakers:Pavol Loffay, Red Hat
✨ Why Inspiring: Jaeger and OpenTelemetry expert. Known for deep technical knowledge delivered in an approachable way, making observability accessible to all skill levels.
Location:Elicium 1, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:📚 TUTORIALS
16:45 CET - 17:15 CET
Merge Forward: Branching Inclusion\, Merging Belonging
Speakers:Jay Jackson, CallRevu; Jay Tihema, Stand Tall; Bhavani Indukuri, DigitalOcean; Catherine Paganini, Buoyant; Michiel van Pouderoijen, Avisi Cloud
✨ Why Inspiring: DEI advocate bringing important human perspectives to tech. Passionate speaker about inclusion, belonging, and building better communities.
Location:Hall 7 | Room B, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:CLOUD NATIVE EXPERIENCE
Ping SRE? I Am the SRE! Awesome Fun I Had Drawing a Zine for Troubleshooting Kubernetes Deployments
Speakers:René Dudfield, Microsoft
✨ Why Inspiring: Creative zine artist making troubleshooting accessible. Brings unique visual storytelling to SRE practices, making debugging fun and memorable.
Location:Hall 7 | Room A, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:CLOUD NATIVE NOVICE
17:30 CET - 18:00 CET
The Ultimate Kubernetes Challenge: An Interactive Trivia Game
Speakers:Aurélie Vache, OVHcloud
✨ Why Inspiring: Cloud advocate and sketchnoter known for creative, interactive presentations. Makes learning fun through visual storytelling and community engagement.
Location:Hall 7 | Room A, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:CLOUD NATIVE NOVICE
Right-sized Access Control & Pull with Proof
Speakers:Stanislav Láznička, Microsoft & Lucas Käldström, Upbound
✨ Why Inspiring: Kubernetes co-founder and community builder. Deep technical expertise combined with vision for the future of cloud native ecosystems.
Location:E103-105, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Category:MAINTAINER TRACK