Getting Ready for PGConf.EU 2025

I hope everyone's looking forward to PostgreSQL Conference Europe 2025 in Riga next week!

I can't wait to see all of my favourite Postgres people, and meet some new ones.

Before I get completely lost in last-minute preparations, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share my plans for the week. That way, you'll know where to find me if you want to introduce yourself, catch up, grab a coffee, or just ask me a question.

I'd love to hear what everyone else has planned too. Please let me know!

Without further ado, here's my agenda for the week:

Tuesday

New this year, the conference kicks off with the Community Events Day. We invited the PostgreSQL Europe Community to propose mini community-focused, participative events. There's something for everyone - from AI to Patroni and from Extensions to volunteer training.

I plan to start the week off gently with a morning of Postgres-themed crafting at Crafty Slonik. I'm looking forward to chatting about databases whilst doing some crochet. If crochet's not your thing, there'll be plenty of other options, or bring your own! If you're new to PGConf.EU and/or to the Postgres community, this is the perfect opportunity to meet some new folks and maybe make a conference buddy or two in an informal setting.

In the afternoon, I'll be at the Community Organizers Conf, learning from other PostgreSQL event organisers, and Floor Drees and I will be sharing what the PostgreSQL Europe Diversity Committee has been working on, especially how and why we've made PGConf.EU a Sunflower friendly event.

Wednesday

I'm excited to hear the keynote from Karen Sandler, of the Software Freedom Conservancy. It's going to be a great start to 3 days of amazing talks. I have no idea how I'm going to choose which ones to see!

I'll spend some time today hanging around the Community Celebration board - a place where we can pin things that we've drawn, written or created to celebrate what we love about the Postgres community and showcase the rich variety of voices and backgrounds within it.

Here are some of the messages left last year:

After the day's talks, I'll be at the traditional PostgreSQL Europe Reception.

Thursday

No time for a lie-in, the second day of talks starts at 9am!

Just after the coffee break, I'll be talking about Managing Postgres at Scale in Omega 2. I'll share some of the insights I've gained from working with lots of different Postgres users who have had to learn the skills, tools and techniques needed to overcome the challenges of managing Postgres at scale - whether that's huge databases, hundreds or thousands of databases and/or databases with intensive, complex workloads.

Friday

At 11:25, in room Alfa, I'll join Floor Drees and Jimmy Angelakos on a Panel, moderated by Boriss Mejias, to talk about "How to Work with Other Postgres People". We'll talk about Mental Health and neurodivergence, and the importance of inclusivity and collaboration. The panel is inspired by Floor and Jimmy's brave and powerful talk How to work with other people at POSETTE last year.

As always, we'll end the conference with a series of Lightning Talks, which will be submitted and selected during the event.

There will be tough choices to be made for the final evening - a quiet meal with friends? Cocktails? Karaoke? All of the above? Let's wait and see!

Saturday

Finally, on Saturday, I'll be traveling home, looking back on the week, and resting for a while!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. Please come and say hello during the conference!

Note: Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and not those of the PGConf.EU organisers.