dbi Blog

( note: I am writing this as member of the pgconf.de organization team, and not as a dbi services employee )

After almost half a year of planning and preparation PostgreSQL Conference Germany 2025 finally took place last week in Berlin. It was in the same hotel as the 2022 edition of PostgreSQL Conference Europe and this was a good choice. With 347 attendees this was the largest ever PostgreSQL Conference Germany and the expectation is that we’ll reach around 350 for next year. For the very first time there were two days packed with talks because many people requested an additional day in the feedback of the last conferences. A lot of people already wrote about the conference from either a sponsor or attendee perspective so I thought it is a good idea to write something from the organization perspective to give you an idea what is going on behind the scenes.

Preparing such an event is a lot of work. There are weekly meetings starting around half a year before the date of the conference once the date and location are set. Setting a date and location starts even before and this is quite some work as well. First we need to find a venue which has enough capacity for the amount of people we expect. The larger we grow, the less venues are available. A second requirement is, that we want to move around in Germany and not stick to one place. This is not only to make it more interesting but also for being fair to the people. Some will have a larger distance to the conference this year, but a shorter for next year. Once we have the date and location the contract with the venue needs to be signed. This usually comes with several iterations and adjustments and finally needs to be signed off be the venue and PostgreSQL Europe. Before all of that can happen a budget needs to be created: How many sponsors do we want to have a which sponsor level? How many attendees do we expect and what is the price per attendee in the venue? Do we want to a have social event? And much more which affects the final budget and costs, e.g. speaker presents, giveaways…

For the weekly meetings this is mostly about giving tasks to the team and tracking the status. Someone needs to check what speaker presents we want to have, and usually they should somehow relate to the city the conference will be in. Someone needs to organize the helpers and speakers dinner. Someone else needs to take care of the website. Someone needs to take care of our social media accounts. At what date do we want to open the call for papers and the call for sponsors? A lot of tasks to do and to track.

Once we reach the day before the conference there is still plenty of stuff to do. This includes final discussions with the hotel, tracking all the sponsor shipments:

… sorting badges:

… inspecting the rooms for the talks:

The evening of that day usually is the evening for the speakers and organizers dinner (you can imagine, this will be a long day). The next day in the morning before attendees will show up the registration desk needs to be prepared:

This is were volunteers which are not part of the organization team come into the game. We always ask for volunteers to help with the registration desk, for room hosting and the final cleanup after the conference. This year we had so many requests for volunteering that we had to stop accepting more (Thanks to all of them).

… and then it finally starts with the registration and the opening session:

This is the point were most of the work is done and usually it is running smooth from there on. But still we need to be around for questions, for the sponsors, for the attendees.

Of course, food is important, and the venue did a great job:

After a first long day there was the social event. This is meant for networking and discussions, having fun:

The conference is not only about talks, networking and sharing, it is also about meeting the community, old and new friends, doing something beside the official program: