Author: lahitha

We’re excited to invite you to the next Prairie Postgres meetup on February 18, continuing our 2026 series of PostgreSQL learning and community engagement for the Illinois Prairie PostgreSQL User Group.

This meetup will feature Shaun Thomas, Principal Software Engineer at pgEdge, presenting a talk on what comes next after pgvector in the evolving Postgres AI ecosystem. Shaun will explore how technologies such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers help connect large language models to real data, reduce hallucinations, and enable more practical and reliable AI applications built on PostgreSQL.

This session is ideal for Postgres developers, data engineers, and DBAs who are curious about AI on Postgres and want to understand how PostgreSQL fits into modern AI application stacks beyond embeddings alone. We look forward to another engaging discussion and hope you’ll join us for this exciting February meetup. Registration and more details here.

We look forward to seeing you there — let’s keep the momentum going with great conversations and learning!

We’re back after the holidays and excited to announce the first Prairie Postgres meetup of 2026, taking place on January 13. This event kicks off a new year of PostgreSQL learning and community engagement for the Illinois Prairie PostgreSQL User Group.

The meetup will feature Ryan Booze, Solutions Engineer at pganalyze, presenting a practical session on PostgreSQL logging and query optimization. Attendees will learn how to configure and use built-in PostgreSQL tools such as pg_stat_statements and auto_explain to analyze query performance, identify bottlenecks, and improve database reliability.

This meetup is ideal for Postgres developers, database engineers, and DBAs who want to start 2026 with actionable insights into PostgreSQL performance monitoring and optimization. We look forward to welcoming the community back and beginning the year with a strong technical session. Registration & more details here.

We look forward to seeing you at the meetup – Let’s start the year strong with great conversations and learning!

On November 18, the Illinois Prairie PostgreSQL User Group will host its final meetup of the year featuring Jay Miller, Staff Developer Advocate at Aiven and founder of Black Python Devs.

Jay will discuss why many application developers hesitate to work with databases and how embracing PostgreSQL can improve AI-driven features, reliability, and developer confidence. Drawing from his work building a vibe-coded application, he will share practical insights to help “application-first” developers feel empowered not intimidated by the database layer.

This session is an excellent opportunity for developers of all backgrounds to learn how PostgreSQL can enhance modern software development. Register here.

Prairie Postgres, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the PostgreSQL community across the Midwest, is proud to celebrate its first anniversary on October 15th!

Over the past year, Prairie Postgres has brought together developers, database administrators, researchers, and organizations that rely on PostgreSQL — through meetups, educational events, and open collaboration. Our mission is to foster innovation, knowledge sharing, and community growth within the Postgres ecosystem.

As we look ahead to another exciting year — including the upcoming PG DATA 2026 Conference in Chicago — we invite companies and Postgres-driven organizations to support our mission. Your donations and sponsorships directly help us organize community events, promote Postgres education, and create more opportunities for connection and learning.

💙 Join us in strengthening the future of PostgreSQL.
👉 Make a donation or become a sponsor

Our next Prairie Postgres meetup will take place on October 15 at the DRW Training Center in Chicago. We are excited to welcome Henrietta “Hettie” Dombrovskaya, Database Architect at DRW, researcher, and co-author of PostgreSQL Query Optimization (Apress, 2024).

Hettie will deliver “Long Queries and the Art of Full Scan”, a talk that explores why some analytical queries inevitably take time, why neglecting report performance is a dangerous practice, and how to build reports the right way before they turn into performance bottlenecks. This session is also a test run of her upcoming presentation at PG Conf EU in Riga later this month.

With more than four decades of academic and industry experience, Hettie brings deep expertise in PostgreSQL and a passion for sharing knowledge with the community. This is a valuable opportunity to learn practical techniques to keep queries efficient as your data grows.

 We look forward to seeing you there—please RSVP in advance if you plan to attend! See More details about the meetup here.