Below is our response to the Postgresql.Org Community Conference Recognition program. Our responses to each guideline or statement from the Postgresql.org Core team are bulleted, italicized and bold.
Are you part of the Postgresql.Org Community Conference Recognition programme?
- PGConf US/ORG is a non-profit, volunteer organized community conference. We do not qualify for the Postgresql.Org Community Conference Recognition programme of which the criteria is below with our response to each guideline.
Assessment Criteria
General
The event must be primarily focused on PostgreSQL and targeted at existing and/or potential developers and users of PostgreSQL.
- Our mission is to be one of the best resources for PostgreSQL education and advocacy available. Our Mantra is: People, Postgres, Data.
The event must adopt and follow an appropriate Code of Conduct to ensure a safe and enjoyable environment for anyone who wishes to attend.
- Our code of conduct is here: http://blog.pgconf.us/p/code-of-conduct.html
The PostgreSQL Core Team reserves the right to recognise, not recognise, or rescind a previous recognition for any event without justification.
Events are self-certified as complying with these criteria when listed on the PostgreSQL Website. If an event is self-certified by the organisers and later found not to comply with the criteria, the PostgreSQL Core Team reserves the right to rescind the recognition of the event as a community event and, where appropriate, take further action up to a permanent ban on future event listings from the organisers. These criteria may be reviewed and potentially updated at any time.
- We find this clause anti-community and do not find this clause equitable for any project.
Talk selection
The talk selection committee must be fully disclosed on the event website.
The talk selection committee must NOT consist of 50% or more members from a single company or group of companies under the same ultimate ownership or management.
- Our talk selection committees vary based on event but are always diverse. Our National conference has a selection committee comprising of several companies and individuals.
All members of the talk committee must have an equal vote (except in case of a tie-breaker).
- We use a two tier content selection committee. The first tier is the selection committee and they make decisions based on simple majority vote. The second tier is final approval by the Chairs. This two tier selection committee allows for greater overall content diversification, ensures positive relationship building for all participants and is far more productive for the organizers.
The Call For Papers must be open for anyone to submit.
- Our CFP is open to everyone and we actively encourage any and all Postgres lovers or haters to submit papers for consideration.
Solicited or sponsor keynote presentations may bypass the normal talk selection process, but their topics must be approved by a majority of the talk committee.
- Our conference is about People, Postgres and Data, in that order. We take this mantra seriously. When building relationships there are times when the Chairs may make a leadership decision that is in the best interest of the conference overall goals. This decision may not be in line with the majority of the talk selection committee. These relationships extend to our sponsors and we do not dictate nor censor their keynotes.
The full talk selection process and voting system must be fully disclosed to all members of the talk committee.
- We provide full documentation of our talk selection guidelines to the committee.
Details of the talk selection process and how results were obtained must be provided to the PostgreSQL Core Team on request.
- As we are an open project, the PostgreSQL Core team may review our talk selection guidelines at their leisure.
Sponsorship
The sponsorship terms and/or prospectus must be published on the event website for public review.
- The sponsorship prospectus is always available online at the conference website. For example: https://www.pgconf.org/conferences/2018/sponsors
All sponsors of the same level or type must be treated equally; they must be offered the same benefits at the same cost as all others.
- PGConf is different than many other conferences when it comes to sponsorship. We actively recruit and build relationships with our sponsors. This is why we are one of the most well sponsored conferences. We understand that not every sponsor is going to have the same needs. We encourage our sponsors to work with us to create sponsorship benefits that are valuable to the entire conference. This relationship allows sponsors to be a part of building the conference and creates a better experience for all attendees.
Changes to the benefits offered should not be made following publication, and must not be made following the first executed sponsor agreement.
- This would hinder our ability to respond nimbly to conference, sponsor and attendee needs for the conference. There are times when you have to show positive leadership and work with the sponsors to create a productive experience for everyone.
There should not be an exclusive top sponsorship level.
- There are times when a sponsor provides a level of benefit to the conference that warrants exclusivity.
Sponsor benefits for all levels or types should include a listing on the event website. Ordering of the sponsor listing must be in randomised or predictable order with text stating how they are ordered, grouped by level or type of sponsorship.
- We find it strange that the PostgreSQL -Core team feels the need to dictate how a conference that they do not organize displays a sponsor listing. PGConf Sponsors that have a website display benefit are listed by the level of that sponsorship benefit.
Sponsorship opportunities should be open to all, offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Limits on the number of any given level or type of sponsorship may be set.
- We invite any and all sponsors to apply for any and all sponsorship levels. However, in the best interest of the conference and the relationships we are building with sponsors the Chairs may invite certain sponsors at different levels.
Only recognised sponsors may exhibit at the event, or be listed on the event website or other materials.
- We find this guideline to be anti-community. We actively reach out to local user groups and other adjacent communities (such as Django or Docker) and offer them exhibit space, workshop time slots and sometimes tracks. We are about People, Postgres, Data. We want to help build community and relationships with other communities who may not be sponsors of the conference.
Financial
The event organisers must provide copies of financial records to the PostgreSQL Core Team or their nominated representative for review if requested.
- We find it strange that the PostgreSQL -Core team feels the need to review the financial records of a conference that they do not organize. As a US based non-profit we have strict financial requirements and we happily adhere to those requirements. Anyone is welcome to review the published financials.
A statement on the event website must indicate where any profits from the event will go.
- Our conference series is non-profit. Any net proceeds from a conference are used to operate and grow the conference series.
