MariaDB Server Fest Online Conference 14-20 Sep 2020

The MariaDB Server Fest is now over. Thanks to everyone that participated for making it such a success! Videos and slides for each session are being made available – see the List of Sessions.

Our past MariaDB Unconferences were aimed at developers of MariaDB Server itself. The MariaDB Server Fest is for developers of applications that use MariaDB Server, in alignment with the MariaDB Foundation mission to increase adoption and collaboration between developers and users.

The purpose of MariaDB Foundation, as defined in the Certificate of Incorporation

Through a novel format, MariaDB Server Fest strives to outshine physical conferences on interactivity and discussions. We create more interactions with the presenter, with other experts, and with participants, than at face-to-face conferences.

In our Call for Papers (now closed), we provided detailed input on what type of submissions we were looking for. For the accepted presenters, we provide coaching on how to build a successful virtual presentation.

In a separate Call for Attendance (now closed), we asked you as a potential attendee for your preferences on timing, tools, content, format, and usability of conference materials.

Target audience

This conference is directed at users of MariaDB Server. And users of other databases, that are considering migrating to MariaDB Server.

We focus on users of MariaDB. This includes developers and DBAs, decision makers and devops.

We focus on all skill levels. This includes beginners and advanced users, experimenters and power users.

Schedule

See the current list of sessions as well as the conference schedule.

Timing adapted to your region

Our scope is global, your work rhythm is local. We want to take the burden of the odd hours, so that you don’t have to. This means we give your region our full attention, at a time convenient to your region. Not past midnight, but for most of you, during working hours.

The schedules are adapted to the time zones of New York (for the Americas), Paris (for Europe, Middle East and Africa), and Beijing (for Asia-Pacific).

Content: best practices, features, functionality

We focus on best practices. This includes migration, security, upgrade paths, cloud deployment and sustaining a multi-database shop.

We focus on features such as Windows functions, and CTEs.

We focus on functionality such as Oracle compatibility and JSON interoperability.

We mostly look at the newest releases (MariaDB 10.4 and 10.5), but occasionally focus on important but underused functionality of earlier releases.

A new virtual conference format

We change the rules of how virtual conferences are done.

Every presentation is pre-recorded, and broadcast in a canned format during the presentation.

This opens up for plenty of advantages.

Better sound quality. And better video. Less risk. No dependence on the upload bandwidth of the presenter!
More interactivity. We clone the presenter! The presenter can answer questions in text form, as they come up – even during the presentation itself. And prepare for the live voice Q&A session at the end, curating and bringing up the most interesting ones in real time.
Easier to understand. The canned videos can get supplementary texting, making the mumbled parts legible. And alleviating accents (natives with colloquialisms, non-natives with mispronunciations).

Those are the primary advantages. The format also provides secondary advantages.

Less stress for the presenter. Will the network work? What if my live presentation goes worse than my mandatory canned backup?
China bandwidth. For participants in China, we move the pre-recorded presentation to local servers – to provide adequate connectivity for Chinese attendees.
Time to translate. For the Chinese edition, we plan to get support in Mandarin. The translators can do a better job from the canned presentations! We are also looking into options for supporting other global languages.

Competition

Did you know that My Widenius not only put the My into MySQL, but is also an aspiring young artist? She shares her love of the ocean through her works and donates the majority of the proceedings from selling her artworks to various sea-preservation funds. Register for the MariaDB Server Fest and be one of five lucky winners of My’s unique artwork.

In My’s own words – ‘Like dolphins, seals have a special place in my heart. Scuba diving with seals in South Africa a few years ago was a dream come true. Watching them moving so freely and playing around in the water while curiously checking us out was a moment I will never forget. These beautiful and funny creatures represent freedom to me’