@CAISconf was sold out but small, focused on a particular well-scoped area (compound agentic systems). Some workshop papers were submitted as late as just a couple weeks before (fresh content), and good thing, too! Agentic systems already look quite different today than even 3 months ago. Perhaps the systems focus naturally attracts researchers who are inclined to build prototypes and libraries (not just publish), but I was still pleasantly surprised to see how many members of the Laude community had independently identified this conference as one they wanted to submit to and attend. On top of that, throwing a lounge after hours with food, drinks, demos, salon-style conversation, (and a mini podcast studio, because why not?) made it easy to get an even higher concentration of interesting people with interesting half-baked ideas in a particular niche that happens to be on fire right now. Loved the experience. Well-done, CAIS organizers (@heathercmiller, @lateinteraction, @matei_zaharia, @deeptir18, et al). Same time, same place next year?