Date: 2026-05-19
Time: 14:30–15:20
Room: Fletcher
Level: Beginner
The PostgreSQL event landscape has never been richer — ranging from small local meetups with just a handful of participants to large international conferences with hundreds of attendees from across the globe. While human connection can form in different settings, Postgres events serve as a pressure cooker for PostgreSQL’s technical evolution, community growth, and individual development.
Large PostgreSQL conferences, in particular, are complex systems with multiple stakeholders: individual attendees, companies, organisers and volunteers, sponsors, and speakers — each with their own interests and goals.
In this talk, marking 30 years of the project, I’ll zoom in on PostgreSQL events — why people attend, why companies sponsor, and why being a speaker matters. I’ll explore what makes community conference organising teams work, what motivates organisers to keep “getting together for a gig,” and where they struggle.
I’ll highlight how connections that emerge around events contribute to personal and business growth and overall ecosystem resilience, before taking you on a visual journey through key PostgreSQL milestones.
Here’s to 30 more years of changing the course of open source — and to Postgres events that are fun, welcoming, and full of connections that last a lifetime!