PostgreSQL Content at the 2023 PASS Data Community Summit

TL;DR;

The 2023 PASS Data Community Summit will be held from November 14-17 at the Seattle Convention Center. For 2023 it is a fully in-person event. This year we are actively encouraging PostgreSQL experts to submit sessions during the CFP to help us build an inclusive event that spans multiple data platforms.

CFP is open and closes on April 13, 2023 at 11:59PM PST.

But come on… I know you want just a little more detail, right? 😉

The Importance of PASS and Summit To Me

If you’re around me much at a conference or happen to catch a blog post or two of mine, there’s a high likelihood that I’ll talk about community and how valuable it’s been to me professionally and personally. Much of my baseline and expectation for what a technical community feels like was born out of my experience with PASS. From numerous world-wide SQL Saturday events to the yearly PASS Summit, the people and content were always encouraging and inspiring. I honestly walked away from every encounter feeling more empowered to be better at my craft.

As I’ve grown more within the PostgreSQL community and continue to learn how things work, I’m just as inspired and encouraged at the wealth of knowledge and expertise that exists.

When Redgate purchased the PASS Summit in 2021, I had no idea I’d eventually work here as a PostgreSQL Advocate with an opportunity to share my love for the platform and help others be successful with The World’s Most Advanced Open-source Relational Database! 🐘

Even more exciting, I couldn’t have foreseen the continual shift that our industry is experiencing. Many database developers and administrators are no longer tied to a single database platform in all parts of their job. Furthermore, when there are multiple databases being used within a team, there’s a good chance PostgreSQL is one of those databases.

PostgreSQL at Summit

And so, as part of the2023 PASS Data Community Summit, we are actively seeking PostgreSQL content. We are working to provide a “getting started” learning path as well as content for intermediate and advanced users.

“But isn’t Summit mostly about the Microsoft Data Platform?” Historically that has been true, and the majority of the content this year will still focus on those platforms. However, in my time at Timescale and Redgate, you’d probably be shocked how often I have conversations with customers that have started to incorporate PostgreSQL with new projects. If I had asked these same customers if PostgreSQL would be a part of their architecture two years ago, most of them would have laughed at the question.

The CFP is now open and closes on April 23 (11:59PM PST) – just over two weeks from now!! I would be thrilled to have folks in the PostgreSQL community submit talks for consideration.

Content Ideas

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that even the most basic topics are new to someone. Just think about the customers and users I speak with every dya that didn’t know PostgreSQL was right around the corner for them.

Likewise, topics that might seem commonplace often have edge cases which impact users at all experience levels. In these cases, providing tips and tricks to overcome issues are tremendously valuable.

By no means exhaustive, a few general themes of content could include things such as:

• MVCC – what it is, how it works, and why it matters
• Indexes (PostgreSQL has so many types!)
• Query tuning
• How to use EXPLAIN
• Tooling
• Using psql
• Unique data types and how to use them (array, range, geo, JSON/JSONB, etc.)
• Dealing with bloat or VACUUM issues
• Etc.

There are so many possibilities I wish I could hear talks on all of these topics!

Session Details and Speaker Benefits

If you’ve spoken at a typical PostgreSQL conference previously, the PASS Data Community Summit has a few differences in  session length and speaker benefits.

• Talks are 75 minutes total: ~60 minutes of content with ~15 minutes for questions
• Talks are recorded, but not made public for the first year (generally)
• Selected speakers get a 3-day pass to the main conference (Wed-Fri)
• Selected speakers receive one night lodging for the day of your session

Submit Your PostgreSQL Sessions Today!

This is a great opportunity to present to a diverse audience of data professionals. What you have to offer will benefit many people in the data community, especially data professionals that might not normally attend a PostgreSQL-only conference.

Feel free to reach out on Twitter (including a DM) or through email. Ryan @ the domain of this blog. (😉 tricky, eh?)