West wrap up and some videos
Posted Thursday Oct 22nd, 2009 12:51pm
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
I am back home and done recovering from Pg West 2009. I can now provide some closing thoughts. I think the conference as a whole went very well. This is the first time we did a zero swag conference and the majority of people didn't seem to mind. SWAG is probably the single largest contributor to time spent organizing a conference (in a single block). By not having swag has allowed the team is able to organize the conference from a single Rubbermaid. We had some scheduling snafus, mostly based around two different versions of the schedule being printed (my bad) and a certain speaker (yeah you Robert Hodges;)) not following the speakers list. In all though these were minor and the attendees took it all in stride. It was great. The Keynote was fun. I wrote the talk late, just finishing right before walking into the room. While writing the talk I was chatting with Big Jim (Jimbo from EDB). He made it a point to request special treatment for the EDB boss from Red Hat. You can get his name from the slides. When the video is up, you will see the particular ribbing that was provided. It was all in good fun of course and EDB was a great partner in the festivities. This time around I purchased SDHC based cameras which has enabled me to already start getting videos up. In fact the only thing stopping me from having them all up is that I have a quota on the account. You can check here for videos and slides that we currently have up. One thing that didn't happen was a closing session and I did hear some grumbling about that. I want to apologize to the attendees that wanted one. It is a good idea to have that and we didn't. In closing, I am glad it is over. I am glad I muscled through it (I strongly considered not having West this year). I am most glad that I focused on family during the after hours versus going to the various parties. No offense to the speakers or attendees. It is just what I needed this time around. We are already starting to talk about East as well as a Denver or Austin. Stay tuned!
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Posted Thursday Oct 22nd, 2009 12:51pm
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
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I am back home and done recovering from Pg West 2009. I can now provide some closing thoughts. I think the conference as a whole went very well. This is the first time we did a zero swag conference and the majority of people didn't seem to mind. SWAG is probably the single largest contributor to time spent organizing a conference (in a single block). By not having swag has allowed the team is able to organize the conference from a single Rubbermaid. We had some scheduling snafus, mostly based around two different versions of the schedule being printed (my bad) and a certain speaker (yeah you Robert Hodges;)) not following the speakers list. In all though these were minor and the attendees took it all in stride. It was great. The Keynote was fun. I wrote the talk late, just finishing right before walking into the room. While writing the talk I was chatting with Big Jim (Jimbo from EDB). He made it a point to request special treatment for the EDB boss from Red Hat. You can get his name from the slides. When the video is up, you will see the particular ribbing that was provided. It was all in good fun of course and EDB was a great partner in the festivities. This time around I purchased SDHC based cameras which has enabled me to already start getting videos up. In fact the only thing stopping me from having them all up is that I have a quota on the account. You can check here for videos and slides that we currently have up. One thing that didn't happen was a closing session and I did hear some grumbling about that. I want to apologize to the attendees that wanted one. It is a good idea to have that and we didn't. In closing, I am glad it is over. I am glad I muscled through it (I strongly considered not having West this year). I am most glad that I focused on family during the after hours versus going to the various parties. No offense to the speakers or attendees. It is just what I needed this time around. We are already starting to talk about East as well as a Denver or Austin. Stay tuned!
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87 people on a Friday
Posted Friday Oct 16th, 2009 03:53pm
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
What an amazing Friday. Normally on Fridays, PgWest and East are sparsely populated. Usually running in the mid 50s. Today was a great day with 87 people attending and many more slated to attend on Saturday. Even some unexpected contributors showed up such as Robert Bernier. If you are reasonably close, and if you are thinking about coming; now is the time to make the commitment. If you are here by Saturday, there is a great party planned by EnterpriseDB, Saturday night. If there are too many commas in this blog, it is the fault of my daughter. She said it was comma happy day. Conference details here.
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Posted Friday Oct 16th, 2009 03:53pm
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
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What an amazing Friday. Normally on Fridays, PgWest and East are sparsely populated. Usually running in the mid 50s. Today was a great day with 87 people attending and many more slated to attend on Saturday. Even some unexpected contributors showed up such as Robert Bernier. If you are reasonably close, and if you are thinking about coming; now is the time to make the commitment. If you are here by Saturday, there is a great party planned by EnterpriseDB, Saturday night. If there are too many commas in this blog, it is the fault of my daughter. She said it was comma happy day. Conference details here.
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In Seattle for PostgreSQL Conference West
Posted Thursday Oct 15th, 2009 01:10pm
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
Well I made it to Seattle. It was a bit of disaster to get here with my Wife flatly stating she was suing a well known Mexican restaurant for hot beans and bad signing from a well known pop star. I have a meeting today with the college to verify facilities. I then pick up the programs. Of course the "suites" at Spring Hill Suites are not really suites but hey, the room is clean. Tomorrow I think I will be sitting in on the Howdah talk. It seems odd, but I have been so busy with PostgreSQL that outside of minor high level architecture discussions I am not aware of the supposed coolness that leaks from the pipes of Pylons + Howdah and PostgreSQL. Look forward to seeing everyone!
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Posted Thursday Oct 15th, 2009 01:10pm
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
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Well I made it to Seattle. It was a bit of disaster to get here with my Wife flatly stating she was suing a well known Mexican restaurant for hot beans and bad signing from a well known pop star. I have a meeting today with the college to verify facilities. I then pick up the programs. Of course the "suites" at Spring Hill Suites are not really suites but hey, the room is clean. Tomorrow I think I will be sitting in on the Howdah talk. It seems odd, but I have been so busy with PostgreSQL that outside of minor high level architecture discussions I am not aware of the supposed coolness that leaks from the pipes of Pylons + Howdah and PostgreSQL. Look forward to seeing everyone!
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Loving community, PostgreSQL Conference West gets help
Posted Monday Oct 12th, 2009 10:47am
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
I was very happy about the progress of PostgreSQL Conference West this year. We secured facilities earlier than we ever had before thanks to heroic efforts by Lisa Sandoval of Seattle Central Community College. Communication about the conference has been flowing well. We have a great talk line up. Registrations are on par with last year, even with the economic downturn. And then I got hit with a heavy six month contract that specifically requires my expertise. I am not complaining. The contract is a good one but it did cause me to be unable to do a lot of things all of a sudden. This is why I am loving community. A vacuum presented itself and the community automatically stepped up to fill the void. I am not organizing an after-party. Gabrielle stepped in. For good measure, Selena backed her up. Then, EnterpriseDB being the great community member they are asked if they could help. I would also like to thank Kevin Kempter and Brent Friedman for their continued persistence in helping me get things done. Of course let's not forget all the speakers who have stepped up to give us such a great round of content.
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Posted Monday Oct 12th, 2009 10:47am
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
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I was very happy about the progress of PostgreSQL Conference West this year. We secured facilities earlier than we ever had before thanks to heroic efforts by Lisa Sandoval of Seattle Central Community College. Communication about the conference has been flowing well. We have a great talk line up. Registrations are on par with last year, even with the economic downturn. And then I got hit with a heavy six month contract that specifically requires my expertise. I am not complaining. The contract is a good one but it did cause me to be unable to do a lot of things all of a sudden. This is why I am loving community. A vacuum presented itself and the community automatically stepped up to fill the void. I am not organizing an after-party. Gabrielle stepped in. For good measure, Selena backed her up. Then, EnterpriseDB being the great community member they are asked if they could help. I would also like to thank Kevin Kempter and Brent Friedman for their continued persistence in helping me get things done. Of course let's not forget all the speakers who have stepped up to give us such a great round of content.
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Everybody loves parties! (Pg Conference West in Seattle next week)
Posted Wednesday Oct 7th, 2009 10:24am
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
If there is one thing the Open Source community knows how to do, it is party. Well, and drink but those do not necessarily go together at all times. Luckily, the Open Source community is also good at re-inventing the wheel, improvisation and general hackery. With that in mind, it is time to announce the after party info for PostgreSQL Conference West. Read more...
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Posted Wednesday Oct 7th, 2009 10:24am
by Joshua Drake | Permalink
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If there is one thing the Open Source community knows how to do, it is party. Well, and drink but those do not necessarily go together at all times. Luckily, the Open Source community is also good at re-inventing the wheel, improvisation and general hackery. With that in mind, it is time to announce the after party info for PostgreSQL Conference West. Read more...
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