Joshua D. Drake Blog Posts

PGConf Local: Seattle 2017 registration open and schedule published

The first ever PGConf US Local: Seattle event is happening in partnership with SEAPUG on August 11th and 12th at the Sheraton Downtown Seattle! On August 11th we have four training options available:
  1. Mastering PostgreSQL Administration by Bruce Momjian
  2. Migrating from Oracle to PostgreSQL by Jim Mlodgenski
  3. Postgres Performance and Maintenance by Joshua (JD) Drake
  4. Database Automation by Robert Bernier 

Tickets are now available!


On August 12th we have 14 break-out sessions between the Development and Operations tracks. A sample of our break-out sessions is available below but please check the full schedule for all of the fantastic content!
We would not be able to produce PGConf Local: Seattle 2017 without the generous support from our sponsors:
    Sponsorship opportunities for the conference are still available. If you use Postgres, support Postgres, or if you are looking to recruit a local Postgres expert, this is a great opportunity. Become a part of our dynamic and growing ecosystem! The prospectus is available at:
    Joshua D. Drake     July 11, 2017

    PostgresConf 2019: Back on the island and call for papers

    We are pleased to announce that PostgresConf 2019 will be held at the Sheraton Times Square March 18th - 22nd, 2019. 


    Following on the success of PostgresConf 2018, 2019 will include five days with added training and partner summits.
    March 18th and 19th will have immersive training. Instructors are encouraged to submit half and full day material for consideration. The preferred topics are centered around Postgres but anything People, Postgres, or Data related will be considered.

    Monday, March 18th through Friday, March 22nd will host several partner summits, including popular and upcoming topics within the Postgres community and the annually hosted Regulated Industry Summit. Break out sessions will be held from Wednesday - Friday.

    Important Dates:
    • Call for Papers Open: 09/12/2018 
    • Call for Papers Close: 01/11/2019 
    • Confirmation/Acceptance: 01/18/2019
    Can't wait until March? Join us at our West Coast event, PostgresConf Silicon Valley, October 15th and 16th, 2018 at the Hilton San Jose.

    About PostgresConf:

    PostgresConf is a global nonprofit conference series with a focus on growing community through increased awareness and education of Postgres and related technologies. PostgresConf is known for its highly attended national conference with the mission of:


    Joshua D. Drake     September 25, 2018

    Registration is open for PostgresConf US 2018

    Welcome to a new and bigger year for Postgres in 2018!

    As our events have grown and evolved, so has our branding. We started as a small pgDay event, grown to a larger pgConf and now we are happy to announce that we matured into a full week long event called PostgresConf.

    PostgresConf US 2018 is focused on People, Postgres and Data. People are the driving force behind the Postgres Ecosystem from the hackers writing the code, to the advocates telling the world about Postgres and to the administrators and developers using Postgres day to day. They will all be represented at PostgresConf.

     

    Tickets

    We have excellent news for you all: registration is open for PostgresConf US 2018 and discounted Early Bird tickets are just $399 -- $200 off the regular $599 -- and available through January 31, 2018, at https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018

    Please note that the early bird registration admits one person to the main conference sessions on Wednesday April 18 - Friday April 20, 2018, the Regulated Industry Summit, the Greenplum Summit, the Community Summit, and all evening activities from Wednesday - Friday. This registration does NOT include any training sessions on Monday April 16 or Tuesday April 17. Tickets for the training sessions are available separately, at $199 for half-day training and $499 for a full day training.

    Day passes will be available for single day admission Wednesday through Friday, for $299 -- why not register early and get all 3 days for just $100 more?!


    About our Conference

    The Postgres Ecosystem is more than just the exceptional PostgreSQL database. It encompasses tools, solution, and services that enterprises demand for their mission-critical applications. PostgresConf brings the whole ecosystem under a single roof so enterprises can learn about all of the possible ways Postgres can be used in their environments.
     
    This year, we are back in Jersey City from April 16th to April 20th at The Westin Jersey City Newport.  We also listened to our past attendees and expanded our training classes to 2 days so on April 16th and 17th, we are pleased to offer training sessions taught by professional trainers to bring additional depth to your learning experience. That will be followed by 3 days of great talks on April 18th - 20th. Additionally, we will host our 4th annual Regulated Industry Summit as well as the inaugural Greenplum Summit.

    CFP

    Want to present?  Our CFP is open!  Please visit https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018 for Call for Papers information.  

    Where to Stay

    For those planning to attend, don’t forget to book your room early for the best rates. The Westin Jersey City Newport is the best place to stay and enjoy all conference activities. Attendees will surely mingle at the Westin bar and hallways throughout the afternoon and long into the evening. We have reserved a block of rooms at the special conference rate of $260/night plus applicable taxes for attendees who make their reservations via this dedicated Westin booking page. The hotel block will fill up quickly. The special rates will be available until March 26 or until the group block is sold out. 

     

    Sponsors

    Sponsorship opportunities for the conference are still available. If your business PostgreSQL based products or services or if you are looking to recruit a PostgreSQL expert at our job fair, this is the place to be. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this dynamic and growing ecosystem. Download the sponsorship prospectus at:
    https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018/sponsorships

    Our current premium sponsors are:

    Diamond: Amazon Web Services, Pivotal
    Platinum: Compose, OpenSCG, 2ndQuadrant, Microsoft
    Gold: Cybertec, JetBrains, Citus Data, EnterpriseDB

    For more information, please visit https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018

    We look forward to seeing you in April!
     
    Joshua D. Drake     December 19, 2017

    PGConf US Local: Seattle CFP reopened and three new tracks added!

    Oh my goodness, Data Days!


    When we rescheduled PGConf US Local: Seattle from August to November we did so due to attendee feedback. It was amazing - people didn't want to go to a conference on Saturday in August (I wonder why). I know, we should have known but it was a new model and we tried. We are extremely pleased with the results of the shift in schedule. The conference now takes place during "professional hours" on "professional days."

    Image result for creative commons professional

    Because of the shift and sponsor support we have added three new tracks, reopened the CFP, and created Data Days. The new tracks are: Big Data, AWS/Cloud, and Data Science. As these three Postgres content areas are Postgres independent we are also requesting that all communities within this realm submit to present. Let's turn PGConf US Local: Seattle into not only the best West Coast Postgres Conference but also the most highly integrated, heterogeneous data event in the Pacific Northwest.

    CFP Dates:

    • Open until: 10/15/2017
    • Notification:  10/18/2017
    • CFP Link
    Joshua D. Drake     September 19, 2017

    Let's meet some speakers for PostgresConf US 2018!

    PostgresConf US 2018 is in 9 days. Here is the obligatory "Buy your tickets" reminder! If you look around (a Google search of Gold sponsor Google Cloud is a good place to start) you will find a lot of discount codes.

    In 2017 we launched a community wide effort to better recognize contributors for not only the conference but the wider Postgres Community. We continued this effort in 2018 and are pleased to have many speaker profiles available, with more being published every day:

    As one of the Chairs of PostgresConf, I am honored by the resounding support from sponsors, speakers, and volunteers to help create a fantastic event for all attendees. It has been a pleasure working toward the common goal of creating a global, non-profit, Postgres Conference series.
     
     
     
     
    Joshua D. Drake     April 05, 2018     postgres community speaker spotlight PostgresConf data

    Breaking down the walls of exclusivity

    When you are considering a conference about Postgres, one should pick the one that is focused on building the community. PostgresConf is all about building the community and we even captured it on video!
     
     
    PostgresConf embraces a holistic view of what community is. We want everyone to feel welcome and encouraged to give back to PostgreSQL.org. However, that is not the only opportunity for you to give back to the Postgres community. We all have different talents and some of those don't extend to writing patches or Docbook XML. 

    Giving back

    When considering who is part of the community and who is contributing to the community, we want to introduce you to a couple of fantastic organizers of our conference: Debra Cerda and Viral Shah. Some in the community will know Debra. She has been in the community for years and is one of the primary organizers of Austin Postgres.
     
    Debra Cerda

    Debra is our Attendee and Speaker Liaison as well as our Volunteer Coordinator. She is also a key asset in the development and performance of our Career Fair.

     
    Viral Shah

    Viral is our on-site logistics lead and is part of the volunteer acquisition team. It is Viral that works with the hotel using a fine tooth comb to make sure everything is on target, on budget, and executed with extreme efficiency.

     
    Without her amazing attention to detail and dedication to service we wouldn't be able to deliver the level of conference our community has come to expect from PostgresConf.
     

    Building relationships

    There a lot of reasons to go to a conference. You may be looking for education on a topic, a sales lead, or possibly just to experience a central location of top talent, products, and services. All of these reasons are awesome but we find that the most important reason is to build relationships. The following are two exceptional examples of community projects.
     
    Our first example is ZomboDB. No, they are not a sponsor (yet!) but they have a fantastic Open Source extension to Postgres that integrates Elasticsearch into Postgres. 
     
    Our second ecosystem community member is an entity that most have heard of at this point; TimescaleDB. It too is a fantastic showing of what is possible when you combine brilliance with the extensibility of Postgres.
     
    What is notable about these two mentions is that they represent what we would call, "Professional Community." Recently ZomboDB wanted to bounce some ideas off of a Postgresql hacker regarding the Index Access Method API. We at PostgresConf were able to facilitate an introduction to Timescale and a couple of amazing minds ended up chewing the fat on their respective projects. It's relationships such as these that enable the community to grow and offer the best opportunities possible.
     
     

    Part of the community

    Join the Professional user and ecosystem community for Postgres today! You can start by submitting a presentation to the upcoming PostgresConf 2019 being held March 18th - 22nd, 2019 at the Sheraton Times Square.
     
     
     

     
    Joshua D. Drake     November 26, 2018

    PostgresConf Silicon Valley 2019 dates and 2018 numbers!

    Announcing PostgresConf Silicon Valley 2019, September 18th - 20th at the Hilton San Jose! An absolute perfect pairing of training, breakout sessions, and a fantastic weekend break to enjoy the valley for every speaker, attendee, volunteer, and organizer. 

    Didn't you just host the community at PostgresConf Silicon Valley, you ask? Why yes we did! That event was October 15th and 16th of 2018. The event was such an unexpected success that we immediately started working with the hotel to lock in our dates for 2019. We requested mid-October to early November. Unfortunately, the only week they had available was the week of September 15th, 2019. We are again working with the Silicon Valley Postgres Meetup; the fastest growing Postgres meetup in the United States. 

    As we continue to be the fastest growing, non-profit, inclusive, and volunteer organized event we are providing you the breakdown of the Silicon Valley 2018 financials:


    PostgresConf Silicon Valley is much more cost effective than the "big" conference in Manhattan and that is exactly what we want as a development or "local" conference. We are targeting 50% growth for 2019 and we want do so in a way that is inviting to new community members that won't overwhelm them. We succeeded with that in 2018 and we are going to continue the mission of People, Postgres, Data!

    The global non-profit Postgres Conference Series


    Joshua D. Drake     November 14, 2018

    PGConf US Local: Ohio CFP Open and Training announced

    PGConf US, in partnership with Ohio Linux Fest, is pleased to announce that the call for papers for PGConf Local: Ohio is now open.

    The inaugural PGConf US Local: Ohio Conference (PGConf Ohio) will be held September 29th - 30th at the Hyatt Regency Columbus Ohio (350 North High StreetColumbus, Ohio, USA, 43215).

    This two day, single track conference is a perfect opportunity for users, developers, business analysts, and enthusiasts from Ohio to amplify Postgres and participate in the Postgres community.
    The Call for Papers for PGConf Ohio can be found here.

    Call for papers will be open until Sunday, August 24th, 2017 and speakers will be notified of acceptance/decline no later than Monday, September 1st, 2017.

    Conference Schedule:
    • Friday, September 29, 2017: Trainings
    Mastering Postgres Administration: Bruce Momjian
    Postgres Performance and Maintenance: Joshua D. Drake 
    • Saturday, September 30, 2017: Breakout Sessions (To be announced)

    Registration for the     PGConf Ohio trainings is open now.

    Conference speakers receive complimentary entry to the breakout sessions on September 30th. The half-day training options on September 29th are separately priced sessions. As a nonprofit event series, funding is currently not available for speaker travel and lodging accommodations.

    Sponsorship Opportunities
    The PGConf US Local series is supported by its generous sponsors: Diamond Sponsor Amazon Web Services and Platinum Sponsors Compose, 2ndQuadrant, and OpenSCG. Please contact us if you are interested in joining our wonderful sponsors for Ohio or National!

    About PGConf US:
    PGConf US is a nonprofit conference series with a focus on growing the community through increased awareness and education of Postgres. PGConf US is known for its highly attended national conference held in Jersey City, New Jersey, and has expanded to a local series for 2017.

    The PGConf Local series partners with regional Postgres and open source groups to bring dynamic and engaging Postgres related content and professional training experiences to local communities. Host cities of 2017 include Philadelphia, Ohio, Seattle, Austin, and Cape Town, South Africa, with more locations to follow.

    Contact: organizers@pgconf.us

    Joshua D. Drake     August 15, 2017

    PGConf US welcomes 2ndQuadrant as a Platinum sponsor

    After National 2017, the PGConf US team decided to take a long hard road to bring the best in educational content and advocacy to the entire Postgres ecosystem. Today, we welcome 2ndQuadrant as a Platinum sponsor and thank them for helping us with our year over year projects.


    2ndq logo color no cross

    It is sponsors like 2ndQuadrant that are allowing us to achieve our goal of having not only our National event but Philly, Seattle, and Austin all within 2017. We also have other education and advocacy initiatives that continue to develop include webinars, community profiles, and e-training. Stay tuned for more information on those!

    Other PGConf US news:


    Joshua D. Drake     June 29, 2017

    PGConf APAC 2018

    The International Postgres conference  series continues to grow! PGConf APAC 2018 is the latest PGConf.Org addition.

    Following the success of two consecutive pan-Asia Postgres event - pgDay Asia 2016 and pgDay Asia 2017 held along with FOSSASIA, we are pleased to announce PGConf APAC 2018 to be held in Singapore from 22nd to 24th of March, 2018. Once again the conference will be held along with FOSSASIA - one of the largest FOSS conference on the planet. PGConf APAC will be PostgreSQL conference series for all PostgreSQL enthusiasts and users in the Asia Pacific region.
    For more details on FOSSASIA - http://2018.fossasia.org
    You will be able to enjoy one of the largest PostgreSQL conference in Asia and one of the largest FOSS conferences to meet like minded individuals in the same week!
    pgDay Asia 2016 and pgDay Asia 2017 would not have been possible without your awesome talks and we would like to invite speakers from all over the globe to present at the PGConf APAC 2018. We would like to open Call For Paper for PGConf APAC 2018. Some of the topics which can be used for submitting a talk are-
    1. Migration projects
    2. Performance troubleshooting and tuning
    3. noSQL and geo-spatial features of Postgres
    4. Unique use-case and customer stories
    5. Useful new features in PostgreSQL 10
    For more examples you can refer to the papers which were presented at last year's event - 2016 and 2017.
    Of course we are happy to accept paper proposals on any other interesting topics as well.
    To submit you proposal for presentation please go to this link - http://2018.pgconfapac.org/cfp
    Venue
    To be Announced
    Call for Papers
    2017-10-10: Proposals acceptance begins
    2017-12-04: Proposals acceptance ends
    2017-12-13: Authors of accepted proposals contacted
    If you need any additional information please contact our team at pgconfapac(at)googlegroups(dot)com.
    This conference is organized by the PostgreSQL people from Asian communities. If you have any question, feel free to contact us on pgconfapac(at)googlegroups(dot)com.
    For sponsorship related queries please get in touch with our team at apac-organizer(at)pgconf(dot)org.
    Joshua D. Drake     October 10, 2017