AWS North Community Conference, which was created to support the expanding technology sector in the North of England, is set to return to the region later this year.
Powered by leading digital product engineering company and AWS specialist, Leighton, the one-day event will bring together the regional technology community and thought leaders from across the globe to facilitate discussions that can shape the future of cloud computing with AWS.
The inaugural event, which took place in 2025, saw over 150 attendees – including 24 speakers and six AWS heroes – come together from all over the world to explore all things modernisation, migration, serverless and AI, as well as learn how AWS is transforming how we build, innovate and scale software solutions
This year the conference will take place at The Baltic in Gateshead on Thursday 15th October 2026 and is designed to give the North’s AWS community a space to innovate together without having to travel outside the region.
Leighton CTO, Steve Morland, along with his colleagues AWS Practice Lead, Lee Gilmore, AWS Hero and Principal Solutions Architect, Mark Sailes and AWS User Group Leader and Solutions Architect, Dan Pudwell are some of the North East’s biggest AWS advocates and will be responsible for shaping the conference.
Speaking on the announcement of this year’s event, Steve Morland, Chief Technology Officer at Leighton said: “It’s great to be able to announce the return of AWS North Community Conference. Last year was a hugely successful event and the feedback we received was absolutely fantastic with a 100% satisfaction rate and over 92% of respondents saying they plan to return this year.
“We’ve taken on board some of the insight we gathered from our delegates to inform what this year’s event looks like and ensure we provide more of what people want to see. We’re really looking forward to sharing more information about what people can expect in the coming months.
“The next milestone will be when our call for speakers opens at the end of this month. We had a huge volume of great submissions last time around, so we’re excited to see what people have up their sleeves this year.”
Over the course of the day the conference will bring together AWS practitioners and technical experts, developers and engineers, SMEs, tech innovators and disruptors, industry leaders, academics and students to explore how AWS is transforming the tech landscape and how as a community the sector can transform how it designs, builds and scales software solutions.
Speaking on the announcement of the return of the event, Claire Cundill, Chief Commercial Officer at Leighton and executive sponsor for the project said: “The strength of the technology community in the North is one of the region’s greatest assets, and this event is our way of investing back into it.
“Last year’s conference brought together the AWS community, and teams from some of the region’s leading brands, to connect, learn, innovate and explore what’s possible with cloud technology. This year, we’re taking it further. We’re expanding the scale, ambition and impact of the event, and we’re hugely excited about what we can achieve, together.”
Early bird tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here. For more information visit www.northcommunityconf.com or for sponsorship opportunities, speaking slots and exhibiting please contact Holli Taylor, Head of Marketing at Leighton: holli.taylor@leighton.com.
As part of our commitment to making AWS North Community Conference as accessible as possible we also have a social impact ticket allocation that can be accessed by underrepresented groups, not-for-profit organisations, students and those early in their careers. For more information, please contact the team: community@leighton.com.
