What do conference planning, hacking weddings, and cat-free coding sessions have to do with Postgres? In Episode 34 of Talking Postgres, Melanie Plageman—Postgres committer and major contributor from Microsoft—joins Claire for a lively deep dive into what developers can expect at PGConf.dev 2026 as Postgres turns 30. We explore new content formats, the role of travel grants, why Tuesday becomes a full conference day, and how the hallway track often shapes the next Postgres release. Plus: creating space for new contributors to get inspired and get involved. And yes—the CFP is open until Jan 16, 2026.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Podcast: Becoming a Postgres committer with Melanie Plageman
• Podcast: How I got started as a dev and in Postgres with Melanie Plageman & Thomas Munro
• Conference: PGConf.dev 2026
• CFP for PGConf.dev: CFP will close on Jan 16, 2026
• PGConf.dev 2026: About
• PGConf.dev 2026: Sponsorship levels
• PGConf.dev 2026: Travel grant program
• Social: LinkedIn account for PGConf.dev
• POSETTE: An Event for Postgres: POSETTE CFP is open until Feb 1, 2026
• Meetup: Post about inaugural PostgreSQL Nairobi Meetup in Dec 2025 
• PGDay Lowlands 2025: Debate on Kubernetes, session details
• PGDay Lowlands 2025: Debate about autotuning, session details
• Conference talk at PGCon 2019: Intro to Postgres Planner Hacking, by Melanie Plageman
• Blog post: The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences, by Eric Holsher
• Discord invite for PostgreSQL Hacking Mentoring server: https://discord.gg/bx2G9KWyrY
• Cal invite: LIVE recording of Ep35 of Talking Postgres to happen on Wed Jan 14, 2026