Submissions
Rootconf
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Rows, columns, and consequences

Speak at Rootconf’s Special Edition on Databases

Accepting submissions till 30 Apr 2026, 11:59 PM

Not accepting submissions

Theme Modern applications are pushing databases in new directions: distributed architectures, AI-driven workloads, global-scale deployments, and increasingly strict reliability and security requirements. expand

Theme

Modern applications are pushing databases in new directions: distributed architectures, AI-driven workloads, global-scale deployments, and increasingly strict reliability and security requirements.

At this special Rootconf edition, we invite talks that explore how databases are designed, operated, optimized, and sometimes broken. We are particularly interested in submissions that bridge research insights and production experience.

Example topics include:

Database architectures

  • Object-store–backed databases
  • Disaggregated databases (compute–storage separation)
  • Lakehouse and hybrid architectures
  • HTAP systems (hybrid transactional/analytical processing)
  • Serverless or multi-tenant database systems

Performance and scalability

  • Query optimization and indexing strategies
  • Operating databases at extreme scale
  • Observability and performance debugging
  • Cost-aware query planning and workload optimization

AI and vector workloads

  • Vector databases and hybrid search architectures
  • Retrieval systems and embedding pipelines
  • AI-assisted query optimization
  • Integrating LLM applications with databases

Reliability and operations

  • Replication, failover, and disaster recovery
  • Incident postmortems and failure analysis
  • Schema evolution and safe migrations
  • Multi-region database operations

Security and governance

  • Fine-grained access control and row-level security
  • Data lineage, auditability, and compliance
  • Privacy-preserving database systems

War stories and lessons learned

  • Production incidents that reshaped your architecture
  • Unexpected performance regressions
  • Lessons from large-scale database migrations
  • When theory met reality

If your talk fits the broader theme of building or operating modern databases, we encourage you to submit even if it doesn’t fall neatly into the categories above.

Formats

We welcome submissions in multiple formats:

  • 30-minute talk – technical deep dive
  • 15-minute talk – focused engineering experience
  • Lightning talk (5 minutes) – new ideas, experiments, or early work
  • Birds of Feather (BOF) proposals – discussion on focussed topics
  • Hands-on workshops - where participants follow instructors on their laptops

If you are presenting research at SIGMOD, consider submitting a practitioner-focused version of your work for the Rootconf audience.

What makes a strong submission

We look for submissions that clearly explain:

  • The problem you encountered
  • The system design or approach you adopted
  • Trade-offs and alternatives you evaluated
  • Lessons learned that others can apply

Real-world engineering stories and detailed technical insights are especially welcome.

Make a submission

Accepting submissions till 30 Apr 2026, 11:59 PM

(No sessions have been submitted)

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