You’ve never seen anything like this at a tech conference before!
When it comes to The Human Edge, your unfair advantage in the AI era comes from your uniquely human abilities, imagination, empathy, and adaptability. The whole CloudFest community knew that, with this theme, they should expect the unexpected. Still, when we announced that one of the highlight sessions of CloudFest 2025 was going to be an improv comedy workshop, a few people were left scratching their heads.
Understandable.
However, as soon as professional actors Julie Nolke and Gina Louise Philips—who you’ve seen in some of your favorite shows and movies—took the stage in front of a standing-room-only audience, all doubts were erased.
In a well-researched and systematic two-woman show, Nolke and Phillips took the audience on a journey through the active-listening process, bridging the gap between performing arts and the daily challenges faced by those working in the internet infrastructure industry. Come for the insights, stay for the androids and horses! (Oh, the horses… you’ll see…)
Sitting in the front row, I was somewhat nervous (unlike Nolke and Philips, who were totally in control). I kept thinking, “I hope the crowd thinks this is as cool as the Agenda Strategy Team does… Did we finally go too far?”
Within moments it was clear that this session was perfect for the audience, perfect for CloudFest, and perfect for the moment we’re all living in. Just like how Formula 1 is a test bed for automotive technology that can make its way onto everyday roads, sometimes you have to see something in its most extreme form to make sense of how it can work in daily life.
Improv is a Full-Contact Sport
Nolke and Philips then followed up with two hands-on workshops, so CloudFest attendees could try some improv techniques themselves. The Tomi Ungerer Masterclass Room was packed both times, and I practically needed a broom to chase everyone out at the end—once they started, nobody wanted to stop!
(During these kinetic workshops, a few items of furniture may or may not have gotten broken, and some participants may never look at each other in the same way again… but what happens in improv, stays in improv.)
Whether you were unfortunate enough to miss this session live, or if you somehow couldn’t make it to CloudFest 2025 at all, you’re in luck: “Just Say Yes: Improv for Cloud Professionals” is now available on demand.
As we developed the theme of The Human Edge, we kept coming back to one particular phrase:
Machines Can Predict—but Humans Can Imagine
As we discussed in one of our newsletters (and I know you read each and every one, right?), in order to thrive in the AI era, we must redefine ourselves as not solely a tech industry, but primarily as a service industry. “Just Say Yes” was a particularly effective—and spectacular—example of a cross-training session for the fundamental skill of listening.
Keep your ear to the ground and your eyes on our channels to see what we’re planning for CloudFest 2026—you won’t want to miss it!
