AWS Student Community Day (ASCD) was not just an event for us it was a journey of planning, coordination, problem solving, and community building. This report highlights how the event was planned and executed, the challenges we faced, and the learnings we gained while delivering a successful large scale student led AWS event.
1. The Beginning: Idea, Confirmation, and Timeline Challenges
The journey started when we received confirmation to organize AWS Student Community Day in the month of August. However, due to university exams, vacations, and academic schedules, we were unable to actively plan the event for the next three months. After careful consideration, we decided to organize ASCD in December.
Once the date was finalized and announced, we faced another challenge—final-year student exams were unexpectedly delayed. Even during the event timeline, I personally had my own exams. Fortunately, there was no exam scheduled on the final event date, which allowed us to proceed without changing plans. This phase taught us the importance of flexibility and quick decision-making while working in an academic environment.
2. Team Building and Task Distribution
After finalizing the date and venue, the next critical step was building a strong organizing team. We divided students into multiple teams, each responsible for a specific area:
Promotion & Marketing
Sponsorship & Partnerships
Social Media
Registration & Swag Distribution
Stage & Speaker Coordination
Food & Refreshments Management
We were extremely fortunate to receive strong support from our faculty mentors and the university administration. Their guidance and approvals played a crucial role in making arrangements smooth and efficient.
3. Creating the Platform: Website and Ticketing
To ensure students had a single place to get all event related information, we created a dedicated event website. The website acted as the central hub for announcements, agenda, speakers, and registration links. https://www.cloudclubpu.me/
For ticketing, we carefully evaluated multiple platforms based on pricing, reliability, and community usage. After comparison, we chose https://konfhub.com, as it is widely used within the AWS community and offered us a great experience with minimal platform charges and good support.
4. Ticket Pricing Strategy and Registration Success
Deciding ticket prices was one of the most critical decisions. We performed rough calculations and considered multiple scenarios:
Less than 400 attendees
Around 400–600 attendees
More than 600 attendees
Keeping students in mind, we decided to keep ticket prices minimal and affordable.
The response exceeded all expectations. Within just 20 hours, all 250 early-bird tickets were sold out. This initial success gave us a huge motivation boost. After the early-bird phase, ticket sales slowed down, as many students expected discounts or offers.
Instead of launching general discounts, we took a calculated risk. We introduced a group discount—students registering in groups of 10 or more received a 10% discount per ticket. This strategy worked extremely well and triggered another wave of registrations.
As a result, one week before the event, the event was completely sold out, with registrations crossing 700 attendees. The auditorium reached full capacity, and additional chairs had to be arranged to accommodate the large turnout.
This early sell-out and high registration count helped us immensely, as knowing the final audience size in advance was crucial for planning food, swags, seating, and overall logistics.
5. Financial Management and University Support
Managing funds was another important responsibility. We needed a reliable and transparent bank account to handle:
AWS funding support
Ticket revenue
With the support of university officials, we used the university’s official account, which ensured compliance, trust, and smooth financial operations. The university administration was highly supportive throughout this process.
6. Marketing and Promotions
Marketing played a crucial role in the success of AWS Student Community Day. To reach a wider student audience and ensure strong participation, we adopted a multi-channel and student-focused marketing strategy.
Our approach included:
Campus-to-Campus (C2C) outreach, where team members personally promoted the event across different departments and student groups
Social media promotions, especially on Instagram, where the team created trendy and engaging reels to attract student attention
Sharing event updates through university communication channels, including official student groups and broadcast lists
Email outreach to students and community members for formal and direct communication
Promotion through the university’s official social media pages, which helped increase credibility and reach
Displaying posters and banners on campus notice boards to ensure offline visibility among students
Our social media and marketing teams worked tirelessly throughout the promotion phase. Their creativity, consistency, and coordination ensured strong visibility, high engagement, and sustained interest in the event across student communities. This combined online and offline marketing effort played a significant role in achieving a sold-out event.
7. Food Arrangements and Logistics
Food management was one of the most challenging aspects of the event due to budget constraints and the large scale of attendance. Initially, we explored food arrangements through university-approved vendors; however, their pricing was relatively high and not feasible within our planned budget.
After extensive efforts, the food management team successfully identified an external vendor who provided high-quality food at a significantly lower cost. Before finalizing, the team conducted thorough checks, including:
Hygiene and cleanliness standards
Food quality and taste
Proper quantity planning based on expected attendance
The final outcome was largely positive, and the food received appreciation from most attendees. However, one area that required improvement was lunch-time management, particularly the number of food distribution counters and time allocation. Due to the large crowd, some congestion occurred during lunch hours.
8. Swags Planning and Execution
Selecting the right swags while staying within budget was another major challenge during the planning phase. Multiple combinations were evaluated, but many options exceeded our financial limits.
With timely support from the university branding department, we were able to finalize a well-balanced and value-driven swag kit that included:
Bag
Diary
Badge
Mousepad
Cable protector
The swag combination was well received by attendees and significantly enhanced the overall event experience.
One important learning from this phase was related to vendor selection and delivery timelines. We chose local vendors, which proved to be a practical decision. Although some swag items were delivered just one day before the event and a few on the morning of the event, choosing local vendors allowed quick coordination, flexibility, and last-minute adjustments.
Based on this experience, we strongly recommend working with reliable local vendors for swag production. Local vendors reduce logistics risks, enable faster communication, and can be extremely helpful in handling urgent requirements close to the event date.
9. Printing and Banners
For printing banners and related materials, we again leveraged university support. Since the university regularly organises large events, they already had trusted vendors. This helped us avoid higher costs that external vendors usually charge for smaller quantities.
10. Speaker Management and Community Power
One of the strongest aspects of AWS Student Community Day was the quality and diversity of the speaker lineup. Over time, by actively attending AWS events and engaging with the ecosystem, strong professional connections were built, which played a crucial role in speaker outreach and coordination.
The event featured a balanced mix of speakers, including:
AWS speakers, whose travel arrangements were supported directly by AWS
*Experienced industry professionals and active AWS community contributors, who regularly share knowledge through talks, meetups, and community initiatives *
We arranged airport pickup and drop facilities to ensure a smooth and comfortable experience for all speakers.
This experience reinforced the importance of long-term community engagement and relationship building. Strong connections within the AWS ecosystem not only help in securing high-quality speakers but also foster trust, collaboration, and shared ownership of community-led initiatives.
11. Conclusion and Personal Reflection
Delivering AWS Student Community Day was one of the most rewarding experiences of my journey. From planning under academic constraints to managing a sold-out event, every phase taught me invaluable lessons in leadership, teamwork, and execution.
I am deeply thankful to AWS Cloud Clubs for giving me this opportunity. Through this experience, I built lifelong connections, learned practical event management skills, and became part of a larger AWS family.
AWS Student Community Day was not just an event it was the beginning of a stronger, more connected student cloud community.
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