Ohio LinuxFest Wrap-up

Back at home after returning from Ohio Linuxfest, where I gave my talk on What’s New in PostgreSQL 8.3. The trip was pretty good for the most part, except for the traffic around Fredrick which is dreadful, and some issues at the hotel. Actually, I liked the hotel (The Drury) a lot; it wasn’t perfect, but you can tell that they are trying to provide you with a nice time and quality service (plus they had waffles at the breakfast buffet, always a bonus!). Anyway, I didn’t see much of the other talks, instead I spent most of my time at the PostgreSQL booth meeting with folks, answering questions, and generally spreading the good word about PostgreSQL. Serving time with me were Bill Moran and Josh #3; both we’re nice guys and certainly cool to share booth duties with. The booth itself was very busy; we ran out of the nice PostgreSQL within the first couple hours and then scrimped by on some spare fliers for a bit while Josh ran home and printed up a bunch more. We also managed to give away all of the live CD’s we had, and sold enough pins and shirts to raise $150 to go back to SPI. Way to go Ohio. As far as my talk itself, I think it went OK. I tried to keep people involved, and got some good followup questions afterward, which I look at as good signs. I think if I had to do it over though, I’d probably cut the slides on GSSAPI support and Visual C++ builds; While I think these are important for PostgreSQL, I don’t think I managed to stir much excitement from the Linuxfest crowd :-) After the conference I went to dinner at Max & Erma’s, a popular burger joint in Ohio and PA that serves fresh baked cookies at the end of your meal. We then headed back for the Google after party, where amidst the sounds of the local nerd core group I got to chat with a bunch of folks, including Elizabeth Naramore and a bunch of the OINK-PUG folks. Final thoughts? This needs to become a more prominent stop on the PostgreSQL advocacy radar. The turn-out is good and the interest in PostgreSQL is high, so a more permanent presence (with more cd’s and fliers next time!) certainly feels warranted.