PGConf.dev 2026 Meetup Planning and Efforts

Meetup Planning and Efforts

Workshop run by Cornelia Biacsics and Andreas Scherbaum

Session on conference website

Who is in the audience?

Who of you is:

• Attending PG Meetups
  • No meetups nearby
• Attending other (non-PG) Meetups
  • There is a PG Meetup, but it rarely happens
• Online / in person
  • In Person: everyone
  • Online: Almost everyone
  • In person:
    • We need more in person for the connection, and the community
    • Many places are not ready for in person
  • Hybrid is a choice (combine both, stream the Meetup)
  • Online is not always considered as a Meetup, but a presentation
  • In person allows in-deep discussions
  • In person is better for meeting
  • In person is less toxic, less macho
  • Online does not take advantage of async (pretend we are all in a room)
    • Build a forum around the Meetup, maybe propose a topic for a week
      • Record videos
      • Which is valuable to speakers
  • Most valuable thing is not the talks, is the hallway track
  • Motives:
    • Meet people in my industry create connections and a network
    • Open the Meetup with: “What’s the problem you are facing”
    • Talk about Lessons Learned
    • For Hiring
    • Path of Least Resistance
    • Temperature check on problems
• Organizing PG Meetups
  • 5
• Organizing other Meetups
  • 2
• Want to host a PG Meetup
  • 2
  • Community Kit
  • https://andreas.scherbaum.la/post/2025-05-05_attending-organizing-or-speaking-at-a-meetup/
  • https://sqlasylum.wordpress.com/event-planning-resources/)
  • Speaker: https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Speaker_Bureau

Platform

Which Meetup platform/website are you using?

• Meetup.com: almost everyone
• Luma.com: ~6
• Other: Eventbrite, Guildhost

What features are missing:

• Integration into PG (discovery)
• Funneling
• One-off events

What do you don’t like:

• Meetup charges
• Dark pattern: guilts attendees in charging
• Fragmentation (everyone is on their own)
• Forums/discussions are dead
• Luma: no discovery, but hashtags, 500 invitations for free
• No engagement on LinkedIn

How do you find meetups? PG and others?

Where do you (actively) look:

• PG Meetups:
  • Meetup.com
  • Community Calendar
  • Google Search
  • Luma Search
  • Attended conference, found out there is a Meetup
    • -> promote local Meetups
  • Discord
  • Telegram
  • Mastodon
  • Side fact: we are asking not the right people here
• Other events/Meetups
  • Reddit

Are you looking actively for new Meetups:

Timing? Start of Meetups, Duration, Structure / Architecture

Length of sessions

Is 45 min (40-50) min the right format?

• 35 min
• Lightning Talks: 5 / 10 min
• Leave it open to the speaker
• Ask other intro questions at the beginning (~15 min)

Would you consider 20-25 min?

What about Lightning Talks?

Meetup start time

Which time of day works for you, and why?

• Depends on the area
  • 15:00 - 17:00 (avoids traffic, no food needed)
• 18:00 - 21:00, center of the city, right after work, no Friday, pub afterwards
• Tuesdays, Wednesdays intentionally
• Poll your attendees

How many talks

How many talks in one Meetup?

• In person: 1-2
• Online: only 1

Meetup structure

How much time before talks start?

When to have food?

Badges with names?

Pins/clips/stickers with topics?

Other engagement ideas?

Content of the Meetup

What kind of talks are preferred?

• Whatever someone presents
• Start with pizza, then announcements, then talk
• Start with pizza, then talks, then announcements
• Start with announcements, then one talk, then pizza, then another talk
• Lightning Talks: 5 - 10 minutes
  • Use the LT to build regular sessions for future Meetups

After the Meetup

Attendee survey (which platform)

• None

Logistics

How to attract speakers?

How to find venue/food sponsors?

How to grow attendees?

Other notes

• Opening slide with links to other Meetups (QR-Code)
• Ask audience where they are from
• People are motivated to come with real problems
• Invite local experts