What a day.

The doors opened, and the Community booth was packed from minute one. Day 1 of DAIS 2026 brought hundreds of new faces, old friends, instructors, champions, and the kind of energy that reminds us why we do this. Here's the recap.

The people who made Day 1.

A small thank-you to the champions, instructors, and team who showed up and made the booth what it was.

Community Champion

Raman Gupta @Raman_Unifeye 

Raman dropped by the booth and brought exactly the kind of energy you want on Day 1.

Instructor

Marcelino Mayorga @mmayorga 

One of the instructors who runs the hands-on labs and skills sessions in the Learning Hub. If you've been to a session this week, you've probably seen him.

Instructor · Community Fellow

Louis Frolio @Louis_Frolio 

“Super Excited” doesn't really need a caption, does it? Louis showed up to teach, to mentor, and to remind everyone why DAIS week feels like a family reunion.

Community Architect & Community Fellow

Mitchell Grewer @Commitchell 

The architect behind Fellows Hub was on the floor today — complete with matching ink. Mitchell is the kind of contributor who quietly makes the program better for everyone.

Community Team

Christy Seto @christys 

Holding a tiny Lego Community booth, which is somehow exactly the energy. Christy and the team made sure every visitor got greeted, looped in, and pointed to the right session.

It got busy. Very busy.

A look at the Community booth across Day 1 — from the welcome wall to the conversations that spilled into the aisles.

When the booth feels like a reunion.

Mandy Ross with an attendee — one of many "wait, I know you from the forums!" moments at the booth today.

Caught between conversations.

Mandy Ross (@MandyR ) with Jody Soeiro de Faria (@JodySF ), AVP of Learning and Enablement.

Day 1 was full of these.

The Databricks Team with Partners.

Day 1 brought the Community team together with the partners who keep the ecosystem moving. From left: Mitchell Grewer (@Commitchell ), Rahul Pathak( @RahulPathakDBX ), Mandy Ross (@MandyR ), and two of our Databricks partners.

Mitchell Grewer · Rahul Pathak · Mandy Ross · with Databricks partners.

Thank you to the volunteer team.

None of this happens without the folks running the booth, the registrations, and the “hey, can you point me to…”. To everyone who showed up for shift after shift today — thank you.

The Day 1 crew. The booth runs because they do.

Three reasons to swing by the booth.

1. Grab your AI Selfie Trading Card — takes about a minute, and you walk away with your own one-of-a-kind card.
2. Pick up a Databricks Community LEGO — yes, the tiny booth Christy is holding above. Booth-exclusive, free, and surprisingly addictive.
3. Meet the people behind the answers you've been reading all year — Fellows, MVPs, instructors, and the rest of the Community team.

One day down. Two to go.

Got a photo from Day 1 you'd like to share? Drop it in the comments. 📸