2026 Keynote
Keynote: John Papa
One of the most recognizable voices in the developer community opened The Cloud & AI Summit 2026.
John Papa
Technology Executive | AI, Developer Experience & Community
Our 2026 Keynote Speaker
Three decades of helping developers navigate what’s next
John Papa is a technology executive, developer community leader, and professional storyteller who has spent more than 30 years helping people and organizations navigate major shifts in software — from web and cloud to open source and AI. A former Partner and General Manager at Microsoft, he led global Developer Relations teams and partnered with Product and Engineering across Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot, Azure, and AI.
His work has reached more than four million learners, supported developer tools with over 10 million installs, and helped open-source AI experiences drive more than seven billion service calls per quarter. He is the co-host of the Web Rush podcast, author of the Angular Style Guide, and a longtime Pluralsight author.
Outside technology, he enjoys running, fitness, Disney, and time with his family. And that professional-storyteller part is exactly why we asked him to open our 2026 event — whether the topic is developer experience, community, or where AI is taking our craft, John has a rare talent for making complicated things feel obvious.
A Teacher at Scale
John’s Pluralsight library has been training developers for well over a decade
What He Has Been Teaching Lately
His most recent courses say a lot about what is on his mind heading into 2026 — modern Angular tooling, typed JavaScript at scale, and the craft of actually getting an idea across to a room full of people.
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2026Angular: CLI Fundamentals Modern Angular tooling and developer workflow
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2025The Art of Public Speaking and Effective Presentations The storytelling craft he brings to the keynote stage
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2021TypeScript Fundamentals Still one of the go-to introductions to typed JavaScript
Behind those sit years of work on Angular, Vue, JavaScript build tooling, single-page application architecture, and Visual Studio Code. Browse his full Pluralsight library
The 2026 Keynote
John Papa opened The Cloud & AI Summit 2026 with a look at where cloud development and AI are taking the way we build software. Thank you, John, for setting the tone for three great days — and thank you to everyone who filled the room.
How the Summit Opened
The keynote opened three days of deep technical content
A Big-Picture Opening
A keynote built for the whole room — developers, IT pros, architects, and technology leaders — that set the tone for the rest of the summit.
The Full Audience Together
Every attendee in one room before the breakout tracks began — the one moment of the conference when the entire community was in the same place.
Then Deeper
Attendees followed the themes into more than a hundred technical sessions across Azure, AI, .NET, data, security, DevOps, and the Power Platform.
Thank You for Being in the Room
September 30 – October 2, 2026 · Brilliance Convention Center, St. Charles, MO