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 US 2018, Financial Review



    The following table contains a summary profit and loss statement for PostgresConf US 2018.



    In review of these numbers two things will probably jump out at you:
    1. Venue and F&B of 238,000.12
    2. Net Revenue of 202,201.62
    Yes, we spent almost 250,000.00 dollars on the venue and food and beverage. In fact, the Food and Beverage alone was over 135,000.00 dollars. 

    We were fortunate to have very strong ticket sales as well as partner support through Sponsorships. This support will allow us to not only meet our financial requirements for PostgresConf Silicon Valley 2018 but will help us make our financial requirements for our European, Chinese, and US conferences in 2019. We are also hoping to set aside more money for our popular diversity and professional development initiatives.

    The Chairs would like to thank all our organizers, volunteers, partners and attendees for helping us continue advocacy of People, Postgres, Data!
    Joshua D. Drake     May 25, 2018

    An Invisible Disease

    Invisible Disease Awareness

    “According to the Disabled World website, an estimated 10% of the U.S. population has what could be considered an ‘invisible’ disease, defined as a health condition that causes significant impairment and undermines the overall quality of life but does not outwardly manifest itself in ways that are apparent to others.” [1]



    While normally our focus is Postgres, we wanted to take a moment to bring attention to the People side of People, Postgres, Data. May is mental health and Ehlers-Danlos awareness month. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a rare condition that affects the collagen throughout the entire body, resulting in dislocations, subluxations, lack of joint stability and support, tendinosis, and debilitating pain. There is no cure and the symptoms are life long.

     

    In 2020, PostgresWarrior (AKA Amanda Nystrom) was diagnosed with Hypermobile EDS and Fibromyalgia. She is an instrumental and invaluable member of the People, Postgres, Data community. She has driven us forward in ways that so many of us never see and yet require to succeed. Many of our community are affected by invisible diseases - let's take a moment to appreciate what they accomplish and fight for in Postgres/Open Source.

    Upcoming webinars | RSVP here

    • May 25, 1pm ET: Creating a Resilient PostgreSQL Cluster with Kubegres

    • June 15, 1pm ET: When it All Goes Wrong - Incident Response in Large Postgres Databases

    • June 23, 1pm ET: Making Postgres Fly on Kubernetes

    • June 29, 1pm ET: Implementing Cluster File Encryption in Postgres

    24x7x365 Postgres & Linux servicesCommand Prompt, Inc.The last of the original Postgres companies

    Sponsored

    Community Chat

    Our Discord Channel has 2000 community members waiting to participate in your Postgres success. Join us today with a community that has rule #1 of: Be Nice.

    Podcasts








    1. https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/072417p32.shtml
    Joshua D. Drake     May 19, 2021     eds postgresql

    Cancelled: Postgres Conference 2020: March 23rd - 27th

    People, Postgres, Data,

    Due to the health risks and travel restrictions created by the Coronavirus we unfortunately have to cancel Postgres Conference 2020 which was to be held at the Marriott Marquis on March 23rd, 2020 thru March 27th, 2020.

    We want to thank all of our attendees, partners and volunteers for all the hard work we all put in to try and pull this event off. Sadly, the stars were not aligned this year. We now focus our efforts on Postgres Conference Silicon Valley 2020 and our Digital Events. 

    Thank you all for your patience and support,

    Postgres Conference Chairs

    Joshua D. Drake     March 12, 2020

    Community Days: BigApplePy and DockerNYC

    In 2016 we started working with horizontal communities. We wanted to make sure that PgConf US was an inclusive community that advocated not only for the best database in the world but also all the external Open Source technologies that make the best database in the world the best platform in the world. 

    This year we wanted to continue building a stronger community through relationships and our efforts are proving successful. We have joined forces with several horizontal communities to bring original and related content to PgConf US. The first is Big Apple Py. They are working with PgConf US to run a full track of Python content as well as a development workshop. 


    The workshop is particularly interesting as it will focus on a code sprint to develop a mature and user friendly Python based conference software. I wonder if they know we already use a Ruby on Rails solution...

    We also have a great workshop being presented by DockerNYC and Jesse White: Automating production ready databases in Docker
    DockerNYC
    PgConf US 2017 is less than two weeks away and we continue to work with communities to bring you even more new content! Stay tuned as we expect to announce more workshops in the next few days. If you haven't purchased your tickets, today would be a good day.
    Joshua D. Drake     March 15, 2017

    Articles, Webinars and Charities

    The Chairs (myself, Jim Mlodgenski, and Amanda Nystrom) have recently decided to bring some visibility to charities that are close to our hearts. They are listed below:

    • Joshua Drake: Navajo Water Project. The Navajo nation is approximately the size of West Virginia and has a population of over 150,000 people (300k in the tribe). Anywhere from 15% - 40% of the residents do not have access to running water. The Navajo Water Project aims to bring clean water to each person and family through support from those that donate. 
    • Jim Mlodgenski: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The hospital is one of the premier research hospitals for cancer and other life threatening illnesses for some of our most vulnerable people. Approximately one in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday. Through donations, St. Jude’s provides treatment to those with cancer, and is actively dedicating resources to the research and cure for cancer. 
    • Amanda Nystrom: ASPCA. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCS) was the first humane society to be established in North America, with the goal of providing kind and respectful treatment to animals under the law. Unlike humans, cases of animal abuse aren’t compiled but studies have shown a correlation between domestic violence and animal abuse. The ASPCA prevents animal homelessness and actively rescues animals from dangerous and/or cruel situations.

    Upcoming Webinars

    With the Coronavirus causing the conference market to dry up for 2020, we at Postgres Conference have pivoted to ensure that we continue to provide quality Postgres content to the world of People, Postgres, Data. We have been performing multiple webinars per month. Here is the current schedule and you can register (free) here:

     

    • May 21, 11am PT: A Deep Dive into PostgreSQL Indexing
    • June 2, 10AM PT: How to Move Data from Oracle to Postgres in Near-Real Time
    • June 9, 11am PT: Community vs. Enterprise Open Source – Which is Right for Your Business?
    • June 10, 11am PT: Bring Compression to Postgres at Zero Cost of Performance
    • June 16, 11AM PT: Mostly mistaken and ignored PostgreSQL parameters while optimizing a PostgreSQL database
    • June 30, 11am PT: Deeper Understanding of PostgreSQL Execution Plan: At plan time and run time
    • July 15, 10AM PT: Working with JSON Data in PostgreSQL vs. MongoDB
    • June 17, 11am PT: Postgres vs. MongoDB for real-time machine learning on wind turbine data

    Articles from the community

    Coronavirus Resources:

    Joshua D. Drake     May 19, 2020

    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

    PostgreSQL High Availability and Geographic Locality using consul by Sean Chittenden




    The presentation includes an introduction and setup for consul as the means of providing highly available PostgreSQL in local and geographically disparate data centers or cloud providers. The presentations includes:

    *) Introduction to consul and its architecture
    *) Setup of a single consul cluster
    *) Setup for a few sample database instances (OLAP and OLTP)
    *) Firewall requirements
    *) Integration with bind, djbdns, and dnsmasq
    *) Setup geographic failover to two different data centers and cloud providers
    *) Various Best Practices tips and suggestions
    *) Q&A

    Joshua D. Drake     April 25, 2017

    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

    PostgresConf Silicon Valley: Schedule now available

    PostgresConf Silicon Valley is being held October 15th-16th at the Hilton San Jose and the schedule is now available.


    The two day event received over 80 submissions! A lot of the usual and legendary speakers are present but we were pleasantly surprised to find that so many new (to the conference) speakers submitted. It shows that the mission of People, Postgres, Data is growing at an amplified rate. The presentations are all of the "best-in-class quality" our attendees have come to expect from PostgresConf events.



    Whether your needs are Big Data, Google Cloud, AWS RDS, GPDR Compliance, or you just have a burning desire to learn more about Kubernetes, PostgresConf Silicon Valley has you covered!

    We also have two fantastic training opportunities which are the first of their kind:



    Joshua D. Drake     September 04, 2018