PostgreSQL Conference Europe 2026

The PostgreSQL event landscape has never been richer, ranging from small local meetups with just a handful of participants to large international conferences with hundreds of attendees from across the globe.

While human connection can form in different settings, PostgreSQL events serve as a pressure cooker for the project's technical evolution, community growth, and individual development. Large conferences, in particular, bring together a diverse mix of people: attendees, companies, organisers and volunteers, sponsors, and speakers, each with their own interests and goals.

In this talk, marking 30 years of the project, I'll zoom in on PostgreSQL events: why people attend, why companies sponsor, and why being a speaker matters. I'll explore what makes community conference organising teams work, what motivates organisers to keep "getting together for the gig," and where they struggle.

Along the way, we'll look at how the connections and collaborations that emerge from events ripple outward, shaping features, careers, and companies alike.

I'll take you on a visual journey through 30 years of PostgreSQL history and community milestones, showing how the collaborations and interactions that emerge from PostgreSQL events shape the project's development in ways that the mailing list alone never could.

Here's to 30 more years of changing the course of open source, and to PostgreSQL events that are fun, welcoming, and full of meaningful connections that last a lifetime!