I flew to the beautiful city of Paris on Wednesday to attend PGDay Paris 2025 — not just as a participant, but as a speaker for the first time. It was a short trip, but packed with great experiences, and I’d love to share some of my highlights.
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The conference started on a high note with the Speaker Dinner the evening before PGDay Paris. It was held at a cozy restaurant near the venue, creating the perfect setting to relax and connect before the main event. It was a great way to break the ice and calm the pre-talk nerves.
After a good night’s sleep, I started the day with a quick breakfast and a refreshing morning walk through the streets of Paris. The weather was a bit chilly, but the sun was out, which made the walk to the venue pretty enjoyable.
The venue was already buzzing with energy when I arrived. I learned that around 120 participants had registered — not the biggest conference, but definitely a knowledgeable and engaged crowd. There were lots of familiar faces from other PostgreSQL events and plenty of new ones, which made it easy to start conversations.
The first talk I attended was “Professional PostgreSQL Monitoring Made Easy” by Pavlo Golub from CYBERTEC. He shared practical tips on setting up efficient monitoring systems and how to avoid common pitfalls. The examples were clear and directly applicable — I could already think of ways to improve my own PostgreSQL setups.
Next, I went to “Full-Text Search Explained from A to Z with French Food” by Matt Cornillon from Google. He walked us through how full-text search works in PostgreSQL, using creative examples involving French cuisine. The connection between technical details and real-world use cases made the session both fun and informative.
After lunch, I headed to the Lightning Talks session at 13:30. These fast, 5-minute presentations covered a range of topics — from creative PostgreSQL use cases to interesting database challenges.
It was impressive how much insight the speakers managed to pack into such short slots. One talk focused on optimizing complex JOINs, while another explored creative ways to monitor database performance using native PostgreSQL features. The quick pace kept it engaging, and it was refreshing to get so many different perspectives in under an hour.
Finally, it was time for my session. I’ll admit — I was a bit nervous since it was my first time speaking at a conference. But once I got started, the nerves faded, and it felt surprisingly natural.
I talked about how PostgreSQL can work with Next.js and NestJS to handle server-side rendering (SSR) and real-time updates. The goal was to show how combining PostgreSQL with Node.js can make backend systems fast, efficient, and scalable.
The audience was engaged — I got some solid questions at the end about connection pooling, handling JOINs in real-time queries, and structuring Prisma models for SSR and ISR. It was rewarding to see people interested in how they could apply these strategies to their own projects.
After the final talk, the venue was still buzzing with energy. People were hanging around, exchanging ideas, and discussing what they had learned.
The evening wrapped up with a relaxed reception — drinks, snacks, and plenty of PostgreSQL talk. A group of us even headed to a nearby pub afterward to continue the conversation over some local food. It was the perfect way to end the day — sharing ideas, meeting new people, and making connections that will hopefully last beyond the conference.
PGDay Paris was a great experience. The PostgreSQL community was super friendly, and it was easy to connect with everyone.
It was cool to see so much interest in using PostgreSQL with Node.js. The positive feedback from my talk was really motivating.
I left inspired and can’t wait for the next PGDay!
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