By Tech conferences spend millions on booth design, keynote production, and attendee experience. Almost none of that investment reaches the youngest people in the room. Children who attend KubeCon alongside parents navigate a space designed entirely for working adults, with no dedicated programming, no age-appropriate engagement, and vendor interactions that default to ignoring them or handing them the cheapest swag available. The community talks about building for the future. It has not yet built anything for the people who are the future.
In this interview on TFiR, Neev Bhartiya and Aadi Bhartiya, two young KubeCon regulars, walk through what the conference experience actually looks like for kids, what is missing, and what organizers could do to make the event genuinely inspiring for the next generation.
Guests: Neev Bhartiya and Aadi Bhartiya
Show: TFiR
Here is what every KubeCon organizer, exhibitor, and community member needs to hear from the next generation.
Technical Deep Dive
Q: Who are Neev and Aadi Bhartiya and what is their background with KubeCon?
Neev Bhartiya is a fourth-grade student at Cheat Mill Elementary School. Aadi Bhartiya attends West Springfield Irving Middle School and has eight teachers across his subjects. Between the two of them, they have attended KubeCon roughly eleven or more times, with Aadi estimating around eight attendances and Neev around three or four.
“I go to West Springfield Irving Middle School and my teachers are eight. I have eight teachers.” — Aadi Bhartiya, KubeCon Attendee
Q: What do Neev and Aadi do in their free time outside of KubeCon?
Both favor outside activities over video games, though they do play occasionally. Neev runs a YouTube channel called Blue Gaming focused on Roblox and other games, and has reached 500 subscribers. Aadi runs a channel called Teammate, where he uploads content about Geometry Dash and tracks his progress.
“We don’t play a lot of video games. We mostly do outside activities.” — Aadi Bhartiya, KubeCon Attendee
Q: What do kids enjoy most about attending KubeCon?
Neev values the exploration aspect of walking the conference floor. Aadi is drawn to the atmosphere and specifically to learning about technologies and how AI is evolving. Both find the people at the event friendly and approachable.
“I like the atmosphere. I like learning about the technologies and how AI is evolving.” — Aadi Bhartiya, KubeCon Attendee
Q: How do KubeCon exhibitors treat child visitors at booths?
The experience differs sharply by age. Neev, who is younger, reports that exhibitors do not expect him to have any knowledge of AI or technology. They skip the pitch entirely and hand over toys or swag without explanation. Aadi, who is older, finds that exhibitors treat him more like an adult prospect and attempt to advertise the company to him before handing over swag.
“They don’t expect me to know any AI knowledge. They don’t teach me anything. Give me the toys and stuff because I’m a kid.” — Neev Bhartiya, KubeCon Attendee
Q: What changes would Neev recommend to make KubeCon more welcoming for kids?
Neev recommends that booths stock items kids actually want, specifically more toys, fidgets, and interactive objects rather than the standard squishy giveaways. He also suggests dedicated booths that teach kids through games, framed so that learning feels like play rather than a product demo.
“They should make booths that kids will definitely like. Like some toys, more toys and fidgets. And like more toys to play with, not just some squishy.” — Neev Bhartiya, KubeCon Attendee
Q: What changes would Aadi recommend to make KubeCon more welcoming for kids?
Aadi agrees with Neev on better physical items at booths, and takes the recommendation further. He proposes a dedicated toy station within the conference floor, similar to how KubeCon currently offers a relaxation station, where kids could gather and play. He also advocates for kid-friendly demos of technology and AI that are designed for a younger audience rather than adapted from adult-facing materials.
“A fun educational game where kids could play, and also a kid-friendly demo for technology and AI, that would be good.” — Aadi Bhartiya, KubeCon Attendee
Q: Why does engaging kids at KubeCon matter for the cloud native community?
Swapnil Bhartiya raised the point during the interview that if a company can explain its technology clearly enough for a child to understand, it can explain it to anyone. More directly, children attending KubeCon today are the engineers, architects, and contributors of the next decade. Creating spaces and experiences that genuinely inspire them is an investment in the future of the cloud native ecosystem.
“If they can explain your technology to you, that means they can explain to anybody.” — Swapnil Bhartiya, CEO and Co-Founder, TFiR
Resources & Documentation
- KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, the flagship conference of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation
- TFiR, B2B video-native media covering cloud native, open source, and AI infrastructure
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👇 Click to Read Full Raw Transcript
Swapnil Bhartiya: Hi, I’m here at Kukon. I have two guests with me. One is Nev Bhartia and one is Adi Bhartia Neeb. Can you please tell us about yourself? What do you do, which school, which class you are in?
Neev Bhartiya: I go to Cheat Mill elementary school. I’m in Miss Fair’s class. Fourth place.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And what about you Mr. Adi?
Aadi Bhartiya: I go to West Springfield Irving Middle School and my teachers are eight. I have eight teachers.
Swapnil Bhartiya: What do you guys do in your free time?
Neev Bhartiya: We don’t go play Roblox games.
Aadi Bhartiya: Yeah, we don’t play a lot of video games. We mostly do outside activities.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And how many Kubecons have you attended so far?
Neev Bhartiya: I think four Kubecons or three.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And what about you?
Aadi Bhartiya: About eight. I think more.
Neev Bhartiya: I’m not sure.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And what do you like the most about QCon?
Neev Bhartiya: Just exploring.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And yeah, how about the people here?
Neev Bhartiya: They’re nice.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And what about you Adi?
Aadi Bhartiya: I like like the atmosphere. I like learning about the like technologies and like how AI is evolving.
Swapnil Bhartiya: When you go to, when you go to booth to find goodies and free stuff, do they try to explain technology to you or you just go and take that stuff and they just give it to you?
Neev Bhartiya: They don’t expect me to know any AI knowledge. They don’t teach me anything. Give me the toys and stuff because I’m a kid.
Swapnil Bhartiya: And what about you?
Aadi Bhartiya: Whenever I try to go to get free stuff and get swag, usually they try to advertise the company to me so I can get it.
Swapnil Bhartiya: You’re big now so they start explaining things to you. Yeah, I think that’s actually a good idea. If they can explain your technology to you, that means they can explain to anybody. Do you guys have any online presence? Do you have your own YouTube channels? If yes, what are they about?
Neev Bhartiya: I have a YouTube channel called Blitz Gaming. It’s about like me playing what.
Swapnil Bhartiya: What is the name of the channel?
Neev Bhartiya: Blue Gaming. I play games on it like Roblox and some other games.
Swapnil Bhartiya: How many subscribers do you have?
Neev Bhartiya: 500.
Swapnil Bhartiya: Wow. And what about you?
Aadi Bhartiya: My YouTube channel is called Teammate. I mostly upload about like Geometry Dash and like Progress.
Swapnil Bhartiya: What do you want to tell the organizers of Kubecon so it is more friendly for kids.
Neev Bhartiya: I would probably tell them that they should make like things that like booths that kids will definitely like. Like some toys, more toys and like like fidgets. That’s what I’m talking about. And like more like toys play with not just some squishy.
Swapnil Bhartiya: What about you Adi?
Aadi Bhartiya: Yeah, I agree with Neve, I think like if there was like, you know how there’s like a relaxation station, there would be like a toy station where there’s like, like toys and all that in a small area for kids to
Swapnil Bhartiya: play, you know, what about, what about some events where you can learn about technology? The kids can learn about technology?
Neev Bhartiya: Yeah. This should be like probably some booth where they can teach kids like a game, look like a video game or something that teaches them and they have fun.
Aadi Bhartiya: Yeah. I also agree with Nev, like I think like a fun educational game where kids could play and like also like a kid friendly like demo for technology and AI that would be good because
Swapnil Bhartiya: so that next generation gets inspired. Excellent. Adi Neet, thank you so much for joining me and I look forward to our next show. Thank you.
