Working with Local Hosts to Deliver Training

It’s time once again to give a shout-out to the organisations that have helped us - and hopefully encourage those that might one day help us - to deliver high-quality in-person training across our service region. While our online courses continue to grow, face-to-face training consistently delivers the highest engagement, and their delivery depends on collaboration with local hosts.

Why local hosts matter

Our in-person training programme depends on local organisations that help us bring courses to communities across the RIPE NCC service region. These hosts provide venues, help promote our courses locally, and connect us with participants who will benefit most from hands-on learning. Not only that, but hosts also play a key role in ensuring training is relevant to the regional context. By working with organisations on the ground, we can better understand local needs and adapt our training accordingly.

What we’ve seen recently

In 2025, we exceeded almost all our goals for in-person training, including increasing cooperation with local hosts. We travelled to 25 destinations (up from our target of 24), delivering a total of 56 courses. Of these, 17 courses took place across seven locations made available thanks to the dedication of our hosts.

Following a strong year for in-person training, demand has remained high. Participants continue to value the opportunity to interact directly with trainers, ask questions in real time, and connect with peers.

At the same time, delivering training across a large and diverse service region presents logistical and financial challenges. This makes collaboration with local hosts more important than ever.

What it means to host a course

Hosting a RIPE NCC training course is a practical way to support your local Internet community. Hosts provide a suitable venue (typically for 20-25 participants), help promote the course locally, and support on-the-day logistics, while we take care of the training content, trainers, and organisation.

In return, hosts gain visibility within the RIPE community, support capacity building in their region, offer staff access to training, and connect with local network operators and engineers. We asked one of our 2024 hosts what they got out of the experience:

• What motivated you to host a RIPE NCC training course?
  “Community and investing in its development is one of our purposes, especially when we have the opportunity to include international experts.”
• What did hosting the course mean for your organisation and the local community?
  “Our local community was very excited about the course and we had very positive feedback on collaborating with RIPE NCC. For us, it was a great opportunity to gain visibility as an expert organisation within the local technical community.”
• What did you or your participants gain from the experience?
  “Participants really valued the practical knowledge they gained. For us, it was a good experience to engage with a technical community also outside of the domain industry.”
• Did you involve other parts of the local Internet community?
  “Yes, most participants came from outside our registry and registrar community, including Estonian state IT organisations and the private sector.”
• Would you consider hosting again, and why?
  “Yes, absolutely. It’s a good investment in our technical community, and the organisation of the training went smoothly.”

Looking ahead - upcoming hosting opportunities

We're always on the lookout for local hosts for upcoming training courses. Looking ahead, here's a map of courses we'll deliver in the remainder of 2026 highlighting where we need hosts:

We are pleased to share that NTS Workspace AG has agreed to be host for the upcoming course in Bern, and we would also like to thank the other organisations that have hosted courses so far this year:

• LU-CIX ASBL and Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity (LHC) for hosting courses in Luxembourg
• .PT – Associação DNS.PT for hosting courses in Lisbon

Get Involved

If you would like to host a course or learn more about what is involved, take a look at our host requirements and please contact us at training@ripe.net. We look forward to working with you.

Thank you!

And finally, it only remains to say thank you once again to all those hosts who helped us to deliver in-person training across our service region through 2025 - we couldn’t do it without you and, as always, we look forward to meeting new hosts in the year ahead!

• Ankara: Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu (BTK)
• Solna: NETNOD
• Tallinn: Eesti Interneti at the Tallinn Zoo
• London: London Internet Exchange Limited (LINX)
• Skopje: SkyNet
• Doha: Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA)
• Prague: CZ.NIC