Postgres Happy Hour with Xata at Open Source Summit Europe

On September 16-18th, we'll be at the Open Source Summit Europe in Vienna, Austria.

We will have a booth in the showcase area on the ground floor where we'd love to chat with you about Postgres and Xata. Personally, this event is extra special for me, as it will be my first time doing booth duty as a new Xata employee. If you're attending the Open Source Summit, please stop by our booth and say hello!

We are open source enthusiasts here at Xata, and here's some of our more popular open source Postgres tools and extensions:

• pgroll: An open source PostgreSQL tool for zero-downtime, reversible schema migrations.
• pgstream: An open source change data capture (CDC) command-line tool and library for Postgres.
• pgzx: An open source framework to easily build PostgreSQL extensions in Zig, a systems programming language for maintainable and fast code.

If you'd like to set up a time to chat about anything related to Postgres, Xata, or open source in general, feel free to email me at gulcin@xata.io.

It is not only booth duty, but I am happy to announce that we'll also be hosting a Postgres Happy Hour at the Open Source Summit on September 18th!

At Xata, we are passionate about PostgreSQL and its role in powering modern applications. We believe that PostgreSQL is more than just a database; it is a fundamental technology that enables innovation and growth in the tech industry. And we are excited to celebrate this awesome project with the Postgres community at the Open Source Summit Europe!

The event is free and open to everyone, even if you are not attending the Open Source Summit. However, space is limited to 50 attendees, so please fill out this form if you'd like to attend.

If you're a Postgres fan and in the area, you're very welcome to join us!

• Engaging conversations: Whether you’re a Postgres expert or curious about how Xata can elevate your next project, connect with like-minded individuals and explore new possibilities.
• Exclusive swag: Attendees will receive some cool Xata swag as a token of appreciation.
• Relaxed atmosphere: We believe the best ideas flow in a casual setting. Whether you’re diving deep into database architecture or just starting out, expect lively discussions, knowledge sharing, and maybe even a friendly debate or two.

Because talking databases is always better with a drink in hand—come network, learn, and enjoy the Postgres Happy Hour!

In the spirit of celebrating Postgres, we will be adhering to the community's code of conduct.

When we were planning the Postgres Happy Hour in Vienna, I realized that it was almost 9 years ago, around the same time of year, that I gave my first PGConf.EU talk in Vienna. I was overwhelmed by the size of the room and how crowded it felt, despite its spaciousness. It was my first Postgres talk in English, and delivering it at the biggest Postgres conference was terrifying. The talk was about Managing Postgres with Ansible, which was a cool topic at the time. I remember making so many slides and forgetting to breathe. No other talk seemed so hard after that—it was a big learning experience.

Now, almost a decade later, I am so happy to have the chance to celebrate Postgres and the community that made me feel welcome and supported, even with my 70-page-long slides! 😊

The event is huge with so many sessions and events. Unfortunately, I will not be able to see everything, but I made a rough plan. Let me know if you are giving a talk and want me to cheer for you! I'm always happy to support a fellow speaker!

Besides the talk sessions I plan to attend, I will also visit the booths and talk to the community. One booth I'm particularly excited to visit is the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) booth. They were kind enough to send an introductory email, and I plan to visit them in person.

I am arriving on the 15th so first, I will go pick up my badge and you can also do so from 14:00. Then I will try to attend Meet Project Margo: Networking Happy Hour. It is open to all OSS attendees.

There is a Continental Breakfast between 07:30 and 09:00, I will try to make it there. Before breakfast there is a bus tour but it is for brave souls who do not mind waking up before 06:00 to make it to the tour on 06:45.

If you did not pick up on Sunday, you can register and pick up your badge between 07:30 - 17:00.

Then opening ceremony and keynotes start. I like the topic of Keynote: Securing the Software Commons: Standards, Automation, and AI for a Resilient Open Source Future from Abhishek Arya. At the same time there is a keynote from Linus Torvalds, so I expect that the attendance of that one will be huge.

I then want to catch the session at 11:20 from Arun Gupta, VP and General Manager for Open Ecosystem at Intel, about Introducing Open Platform for Enterprise AI. I am personally curious about developments in the AI space and would be interested in hearing about the Open Platform for Enterprise AI (OPEA) project. There are actually two cool panel sessions colliding with this talk and if you are not so interested in the AI topic, you can search their names in the schedule:

A fun thing I discovered looking at the schedule: There is a project called Basil and the talk is delivered by what I assumed by two Italians. So the cutest project name award goes to Basil and if you are curious what is it about search this: "Traceability and Automation Examples With Basil an Open Source Software for Quality Management - Luigi Pellecchia & Gabriele Paoloni, Red Hat"

Then there is a killer slot (12:15) with five talks I could attend, and I know it is not really helpful but here is the list:

And then 14:15 session comes, with super interesting topics, schedule is too good.

Now 15:25 session:

16:20 session:

If I could make it to some (hopefully the most) of these, I would surely be done and probably happy to end the day.

Remember the folks who woke up at 06:00 to make it to the bus tour? Now, there is another opportunity to wake up early to join a 5k Fun Run! I admire folks who can wake up early, and also can run or join bus tours. I just wish to friend them, a little motivation would be nice to be more active.

Considering I am on the booth duty, I thought I can spend the early morning at the booth. Then I see this session at 11:00: Green Tech, Lean Budgets: A Journey to Saving Money (and the Planet) with Kubernetes - Timo Derstappen, Giant Swarm I think, carbon footprint is something we should all think about and it is a hot topic in tech these days and I am all for greener tech!

And here goes the AI sessions at 11:00:

Here is my selection for 11:55:

For lunch, I am really looking forward to attend the Better Together Diversity Luncheon. It takes place between 12:35 and 14:00. The lunch is at Wolke21, a 5-minute walk from the venue. It's on the 21st level of the Saturn Tower. There is a map on the event page.

I've came across the sessions below for 14:00 and hopefully will catch one after lunch:

Here comes sessions at 16:00:

I assume by this time I would be getting a little tired so these are my last sessions at 16:55:

Then I plan to attend the Attendee Reception. Here is the description:

Join us for a memorable evening at Prater Alm in Vienna, where tradition meets modern charm. Nestled in the heart of the Prater park, this rustic alpine lodge offers a warm and inviting atmosphere. Enjoy authentic Austrian cuisine, lively music, and the opportunity to network with fellow conference attendees. This event promises a delightful blend of culture, cuisine, and camaraderie, making it a highlight of your Vienna experience.

Hello, early birds, you probably did the bus tour, and ran 5k yesterday, and now you can do morning yoga at 06:45. Nameste! Jokes aside, this is suuuper-early activity I can perhaps convince myself to attend. I will depend how much I enjoyed the reception the previous day.

My agenda for Wednesday is not so tight, I can afford to be flexible and go with the flow, or be a nicer colleague and do more booth duty!

But a few sessions have caught my eye:

For lunch this time, I would be joining the Women and Non-Binary Lunch at 12:35 and then I plan to do some more booth duty and try to control my excitement until the Postgres Happy Hour!

And finally, the event I look forward to the most: 🥁 (drumroll) Postgres Happy Hour with Xata at 17:00! I don't need to say more, right? What makes a community is the people in it, I hope we can make some new friends and see some old ones!

Just by looking at the schedule at Open Source Summit Europe, I felt like a kid in a candy store. Super excited! If you like to see all the sessions and events, you can check out the full schedule.

Don't forget to register for the Postgres Happy Hour here. I’m looking forward to seeing you there! If you'd like to connect, feel free to email me at gulcin@xata.io.