Recap: GraphConnect SF 2013


The Driver Writers
Our fearless leader Emil Eifrem presents the new Neo4j web browser
Sessions packed with attendees
GraphClinicians assist attendees with their graphDB problems
GraphClinician Amanda Laucher helps with a proof of concept
BBQ lunch while enjoying SF’s Indian summer
(node_3) < – [:CONNECT] – (node_2) < – [:CONNECT] – (node_1)
Wow, GraphConnect SF 2013 was awesome! We had almost 400 people attending the conference and we would like to say a big thank you to all of the attendees, over 23 speakers, staff and other participants who made it such a fantastic success.

Before the conference, we brought in the authors of Neo4j language drivers from around the world for two days of intense development work at the inaugural Neo4j Driver Authors Hackathon. Many met for the first time and were able to dedicate time to bring the Neo4j drivers up to speed with the Neo4j 2.0 release and the developments in the data model (Labels, Indexes), Cypher HTTP endpoints, Neo4j-Browser and other interesting things.

During the day on Thursday, we held a full day of trainings with four completely sold out courses: Introduction to Neo4j, Neo4j in Production, Data Modeling and Import and Advanced Cypher Queries.  It was great meeting newbies to graph databases as well as enthusiasts taking more advanced Neo4j courses.

The conference sessions began on Friday with a keynote by Emil Eifrem titled “New Opportunities for Connected Data” (click here to watch the recorded video). The room was packed as Emil spoke about our new Neo4j browser interface, available in Neo4j Milestone 2.0.0-M06, and an upcoming online training.

The morning continued with presentations in three different tracks with talks on topics like Neo4j internals, graph visual analysis, graph databases in gaming and using graphs to manage and mitigate risk.

We also hosted our GraphClinic, where attendees could bring their graph questions and issues and get help from a Neo4j senior consultant. Our GraphClinicians Max, David and Amanda had a fantastic time providing diagnoses and prescriptions.

Next up was our BBQ lunch. Attendees received blankets at registration, so they could enjoy the picnic on the grass in the glorious sunshine!

Fred Trotter presented a keynote titled “Hacking Healthcare with Neo4j” which covers his work with DocGraph, a graph of how healthcare providers collaborate in the U.S. and probably the largest named graph publicly available. His talk (available here) demonstrates the power of graph databases to handle such complex and connected data.

The day continued with more talks on a variety of graph database topics like modeling graphs for healthcare, telecommunications, career paths and beer. Our Developer Evangelist team hosted an unconference that featured lightning talks from community members. During the afternoon, we also organized a GraphPub so that GraphConnect attendees could mingle with Neo4j developers over games and beer like in this picture.

The conference closed with Jim Webber delivering a final keynote titled “A Little Graph Theory for the Busy Developer” (available here). We moved upstairs for a cocktail reception and then right back downstairs for our 2nd Annual Graphie Awards Dinner. The Graphies recognize and celebrate individuals and teams that are developing innovative and impactful graph database applications. Click here for a list of this year’s winners.

To watch recorded videos from GraphConnect SF 2013, check out graphconnect.com/video

Wanna see pictures from the conference? Head over to our Flickr.

Be sure to join us at our upcoming conferences:

November 5-6, 2013

Below are some of our favorite tweets from GraphConnect SF, but check the
@GraphConnect and #GraphConnect pages to see what other people thought of the conference.
There are multiple concurrent tracks at #GraphConnect that I want to attend. This is an excellent first-world problem.
— Jim Webber (@jimwebber) October 4, 2013

Sometimes the data is like this. Sometimes the data is like that. #graphconnect #Neo4j #unconference https://t.co/UdFi7Ucuc3
— Pernilla Lindh (@p3rnilla) October 4, 2013

(@Neo4j)-[:CMS]->(@structr) (@Neo4j)-[:HOSTING]->(@GrapheneDB) (@Neo4j)-[:VISUALIZATION]->(@Linkurious) #GraphConnect
— Nigel Small (@technige) October 4, 2013

Data visualization can help banks cope with liquidity shocks – that’s something to pay attention to – listening Tom Sawyer at #GraphConnect
— dalilafernandes (@dalilafernandes) October 4, 2013

Best dessert ever at #GraphConnect ! pic.twitter.com/sqhlEM6Y1H
— versae (@versae) October 5, 2013



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