April 18, 2008
MySQL Conference - Day 2 and 3
What is there to say… Day 2 was another hectic day filled with “womaning” the PHPWomen’s booth and attending a number of sessions (INFORMATION_SCHEMA tour, Performance under a Microscope - the Tobias and Jay show, Benchmark and Monitoring Tools (P1), and Deadlocks). Again met a number of wonderful attendees (both male and female) who were interested in what we do and how we try to do it. I hope I left everyone with good impressions about our activities.
The conversation that most sticks in my mind was one that asked how we can be so specific (one programming language) and still have a relatively large group. I explained that - to me - being highly specific is a strength. Because we are so specific we are better able to target those we hope to help. Because of our smaller base - we can do more for our members, not just in help - but also in finding them and letting them know we are here TO help.
Anyway - All the sessions I attended were very informational and some had me laughing out loud. The night ended with a woman’s BoF (Birds of a Feather) that I threw up on the listing the day before. And though there was only a few of us that showed up, I was very happy to meet them and get a chance to sit and talk. We had a good time just chit chatting about ourselves and our lives. I love you men out there - but sometimes it is just nice to talk to another woman.
Unfortunately I had to leave rather early the last day. I did though get the opportunity to sit in on the morning keynotes and particularly enjoyed “Who is the Dick on my site”.
As for swag - got 2 t-shirts (though many more were being handed out), 2 fuzzy MySQL/Sun dolphins, 1 “stress reliever” dolphin, and I ate much too much Ghirardelli chocolate. Chocolate - Mmm
