KubeCon Europe is almost here—let’s reflect on key conversations from North America!

With KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025 less than a month away, I’ve been looking back at some of the most insightful conversations we had at KubeCon North America 2024. One of those standout moments was my chat with Nic Vermandé, an experienced developer relations (DevRel) leader who has brought Instruqt with him to every company he’s joined over the past five years.

As someone who’s been in the DevRel space for a while, Nic has a deep understanding of what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to engaging developers, enabling adoption, and scaling education—especially at a startup. His perspective on hands-on learning, automation, and data-driven DevRel made for a fascinating conversation, and I’m excited to share his insights.

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Why Instruqt? Real-time engagement at KubeCon

At KubeCon North America, Nic and his team set up their booth with a simple but powerful strategy: give developers a hands-on experience with their product—immediately.

They used Instruqt-powered labs, accessible via QR code, so that attendees could jump right in and test out key use cases for themselves. It wasn’t just another pitch—it was a real-world, interactive experience designed to make the product’s value instantly clear.

“We had a QR code where people could scan and jump into labs right away—allowing them to see the value of our technology in action.” –Nic Vermandé, Head of Developer Relations 

For anyone in DevRel or sales engineering, this is a goldmine. The ability to meet developers where they are, let them explore the product at their own pace, and capture meaningful engagement data is what makes a difference in today’s competitive landscape.

‍Scaling DevRel with live workshops

One of my favorite parts of this conversation was hearing why Nic prefers using Instruqt for live workshops—something that resonated with me as someone who’s passionate about developer engagement.

“Live workshops are my favorite because they combine the engagement of hands-on labs with real-time conversations. If someone has questions, they can ask right away and get instant value.” –Nic Vermandé, Head of Developer Relations 

Nic explained how, before using Instruqt, running a hands-on workshop meant spending hours setting up Terraform environments, managing infrastructure, and troubleshooting automation issues. Now, that’s all automated, meaning he can focus on what matters—teaching and engaging.

For companies investing in DevRel programs, onboarding, or technical training, this is a huge win in terms of:

• Reducing operational overhead for technical teams
• Delivering more impactful workshops with interactive content
• Improving knowledge retention through hands-on practice

Going beyond events: Webinars, meetups, and self-paced learning

Another key takeaway was how Nic and his team extended their hands-on approach beyond just in-person events.

Slides-only webinars and one-way meetups? Not engaging enough. Instead, they use Instruqt-powered labs during virtual events, webinars, and self-paced learning programs to give developers a way to actually use the product, rather than just hear about it.

“Slides are cool, but they lack engagement. With Instruqt, we provide hands-on experiences that allow developers to learn by doing.” –Nic Vermandé, Head of Developer Relations 

This is an important insight for any company looking to scale developer adoption effectively. Giving developers the ability to engage at their own pace, on their own terms, while tracking engagement in the background is a powerful combination.

Using data to drive DevRel success

One of the most surprising (and impressive) parts of this conversation was how Nic uses Instruqt’s data and integrations to run DevRel like a growth function—without a traditional marketing team.

Most of the team is made up of developers, meaning they don’t have a massive marketing operation to support outreach and engagement. Instead, they leverage Instruqt’s analytics, webhooks, and integrations with HubSpot and PostHog to capture insights on who is engaging, where they drop off, and how to follow up.

“For a startup with 20 people—mostly developers—having automation between Instruqt, HubSpot, and PostHog makes a huge difference.” –Nic Vermandé, Head of Developer Relations 

This is something I see more and more DevRel teams embracing:

• Tracking real engagement instead of relying on vanity metrics
• Optimizing content based on data to improve adoption rates
• Automating follow-ups to turn engaged developers into long-term users

For startups and growth-stage companies, this is a game-changer—allowing them to punch above their weight without the need for a massive sales or marketing operation.

How Instruqt has evolved: Meeting the needs of DevRel teams

Nic’s experience with Instruqt goes back five years, and it was great to hear how he’s seen the platform evolve to meet the needs of both developers and DevRel teams.

For developers using Instruqt labs:

• Dedicated IP addresses for better networking-based labs
• Real-time validation and auto-save features for a smoother experience

For DevRel and enablement teams:

• More automation and integrations to reduce manual setup
• An improved CLI that makes workflows more efficient

It’s always exciting to hear how a platform keeps innovating to meet the needs of both learners and content creators.

Final thoughts: Hands-on learning is the future of DevRel

This conversation reinforced what I’ve seen across the industry: hands-on learning isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s the future of developer engagement.

By making real-world product adoption seamless, measurable, and scalable, Instruqt is helping DevRel teams:

• Shorten the developer onboarding process
• Drive deeper engagement in workshops and events
• Capture real data on how developers are interacting with content
• Scale technical enablement without increasing headcount

If you’re attending KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025, now is the time to start thinking about how your company engages developers. Are you just showing slides, or are you giving developers the opportunity to truly experience your product?

I’m excited to continue these conversations at KubeCon Europe—if you want to chat more about hands-on learning, DevRel, or Instruqt, reach out and connect on LinkedIn ! 🚀