---
title: 'Last day of May will be cloudy: Jeff Barr, Amazon Web Services chief evangelist, stops by Portland on Friday'
date: '2013-05-30T13:17:12-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 403
char_count: 2362
tokens: 524
categories:
  - Events
  - Oregon
  - Portland
  - Startups
tags:
  - Amazon
  - aws
  - 'jeff barr'
  - PDC
---

# Last day of May will be cloudy: Jeff Barr, Amazon Web Services chief evangelist, stops by Portland on Friday

Spring is a good time for road trips. And that’s just what [Jeff Barr](https://twitter.com/jeffbarr "Jeff Barr")—Chief Evangelist for [Amazon Web Services](http://aws.amazon.com/ "Amazon Web Services")—has been doing for the past few weeks. [Roadtripping from town to town. Chatting about AWS](http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2013/03/aws-user-group-road-trip-aka-hit-the-road-jeff.html "AWS User Group Road Trip"). On Friday, he stops in Portland.

> In the last ten years I have spoken at AWS, PHP, Linux, Perl, Java, and .NET user groups in the US, Europe, and Asia. User groups are simultaneously less formal and more intense than conference sessions. Instead of the usual 20-30 minutes allotted to a speaker at a conference, a good session at a user group can sometimes last 60 to 90 minutes, with a lot of that time devoted to heavy-duty Q&A. With time for announcements and some pizza, it is not unusual for the entire meeting to last for two hours.

> For several years I have wanted to drive across the United States, speaking at as many user groups as possible. After lots of planning, I am happy to kick off the first AWS User Group Road Trip. I’m planning to start in Boston on May 13th and end up back at home in Seattle almost three weeks later.

Curious about AWS? Have some deep dive questions about Amazon services? Just wondering about transitioning to the Cloud? Now would be a good time to start getting those questions ready.

Jeff will be here in Portland around 4PM on Friday, May 31. The event is currently slated to be held at PIE, but we may need to change venues to provide more space.  The Portland Development Commission (PDC) has volunteered to host the event for us. [So head to the PDC to meet with Jeff.](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Portland+Development+Commission,+Northwest+5th+Avenue,+Portland,+OR&hl=en&sll=45.543408,-122.654422&sspn=0.302008,0.714798&oq=pdc&hq=Portland+Development+Commission,&hnear=NW+5th+Ave,+Portland,+Oregon+97209&t=m&z=16&iwloc=A "Portland Development Commission")

Whatever the case, if you’re interested in attending, [please RSVP to chat about AWS and hang out with Jeff](http://awspdx.eventbrite.com/ "Portland stop AWS User Group Road Trip"). And we’ll make sure you know where to go.