The PostgresConf team wanted to provide some information on the
performance of PostgresConf US 2018 and events over the past year, as
well as potentially answer some pending questions. Ultimately our goals are about people, which is why our motto is,
"People, Postgres, Data." With each event we hold, each talk we accept,
and how we train our volunteers, we make sure people (the benefit for
and to), postgres, and data are considered and included. If there is no
benefit or consideration to the growth of people, it is not an option.
With that in mind, please read on to see how our focus on people,
Postgres, and data had an impact on the community over the last year.
Since PostgresConf US 2017 we have had events in:
- Philadelphia
- Ohio (in combination with Ohio Linux Fest)
- South Africa
- Seattle
- Austin
- Jersey City (PostgresConf US 2018)
- Nepal
All of these events are
non-profit and
volunteer organized.
PostgresConf US 2018
Logistics
- Days: 5, 2 for training, 3 for Breakout sessions and summits
- Official Attendance #: 601
- Content: Over 207 sessions submitted
- Sessions: Over 108 sessions provided
Partner Support (Sponsors): 28
We had a record level of support from partners this year and due to this
support we are going to be forced to find a new venue for next year. Our
Jersey city location no longer has the capacity to hold us. This will
increase costs but initial indications are that our partners understand
this and are willing to support us financially to help continue the
success of our efforts and keep costs reasonable for attendees.
Diversity
This year we were able to work with Women Who Code NYC. They provided
many volunteers and we provided them with the ability to experience some
of the best Postgres based content available, at no charge. We expect
great things from this budding relationship in the future.
Professional Growth
We held a Career and Talent Fair. A dozen companies were present to
connect with potential employees.
We also held a surprisingly well attended speed mentoring session for
potential employees (Especially helpful for many of the WWC) on resumes
and interview practices.
Leadership
This year saw the continued elevation of our primary leadership: Viral
Shah, Lloyd Albin, Amanda Nystrom, and Debra Cerda. They continued to
increase their presence and responsibility within the conference and
dedicated hundreds of hours voluntarily to the growth of people. Our
international members have also increased their leadership roles with
our on-the-ground teams in South Africa and China.
Summits
We had our standard Regulated Industry Summit but also a Greenplum
Summit. As I am sure you are aware Greenplum is an Open Source, Postgres
based MPP database. They were by far the most popular booth in the
entire conference and their summit was very well attended. The
relationship with Pivotal and the success of the Greenplum Summit
allowed us to learn new ways to bring together the entire Postgres
Ecosystem. We expect to run a minimum of 3 more summits at PostgresConf
US 2019.
Contribution
We were able to have several excellent (and long) meetings with leaders
of Pivotal, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon on how they can begin
contributing more back to Postgresql.org. All of them expressed a deep
drive to contribute and a desire to learn more about the core community.
Of particular note is Google, who would like to contribute the following
back to the community:
https://github.com/google/pg_page_verification
We discussed with them the process and various changes they would need
to make (license and code style, etc.). We also educated them on the PostgreSQL.Org rigorous review process.
Microsoft is reviewing how they can contribute but they showed an
interest in build farm nodes, professional technical writers to help
with docs, and potentially code contribution to our Windows port.
International Collaboration
The Chinese Open Source Promotion Union launched the Chinese Postgres Association. We invited them to PostgresConf US and introduced them to the United States Community. We expect great things from the Chinese community in the future.
Future
As we continue to build up our on-the-ground teams, we will likely hold
less events in the U.S. this year. We will instead be focused on a
smaller number of events in the U.S. and adding events in China and
Europe. We have had an amazing amount of support from the Chinese
community and the current goal is 1000 attendees for that conference.
Our current plan of events for the U.S. are
- San Jose (October 2018)
- Philadelphia
- PostgresConf US (Manhattan)
Future International Events
- South Africa, October 2018.
- China, Spring of 2019.
- Europe, Spring of 2019.
This may change as we are actively recruiting on-the-ground teams to
help us grow the community.
Collaboration
Our goal is collaboration and growth with other PostgreSQL community and Ecosystem efforts. We
want to allow each potential community member to find a home. A place
that they feel positive about contributing to the community as a whole.
As we continue to grow as a community, it is vital to recognize that
each member has their own needs, desires, and return on investment
requirement (professional or personal) that they are seeking.
Tidbits of note
On
DBEngines PostgreSQL is the 4th most popular database but the significance is that of the other 3, we are the only ones that are growing
in popularity.
