The Insider's Guide to MongoDB World 2022

Join us from June 7 to June 9 at MongoDB World 2022, which will be held at New York City’s Javits Center. Enjoy three packed days of keynotes, workshops, talks, technical panels, networking, community building, and more.

Whether you’re eager to reconnect with your peers in person or are slightly overwhelmed by the choice of sessions and activities, you’ll find everything you need to know in this post. We will highlight special events at MongoDB World, preview what to expect and how to prepare, and provide tips on getting the most out of the conference.

Plan your itinerary

Space for workshops, talks, and other sessions are limited, so make sure to check out the World 2022 agenda and sign up for the activities that interest you.

“Take time to create a list — and budget time between sessions,” advises Ben Flast, a MongoDB product management lead and featured World speaker. “There’s a lot going on, so have a plan to make sure to see the sessions that are most important to you.”

Pick your learning path

Whether they’re conference tracks, Chalk Talks, or keynotes, each event has a different audience, purpose, and skill level.

The must-see keynotes from MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria, CTO Mark Porter, and chief product officer Sahir Azam will showcase announcements and new releases — and explain how they fit into the MongoDB ecosystem. Additionally, we are excited to announce that renowned technologist Ray Kurzweil has been confirmed as a keynote speaker. A distinguished thinker, inventor, and leader, Kurzweil has transformed multiple areas of technology, pioneering industry-leading products such as flatbed scanners, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, and much more. Don’t miss this exciting speech from a legend of the tech industry.

Talks and workshops are divided into eight tracks, each of which includes a variety of sessions. The tracks include: Partner talks; the MongoDB Developer Data Platform; Community Cafe; Governance, Compliance, and Security; Industry and Solutions Data Architecture; Modern Application Development; Make It Matter; Schema Design and Modeling; and the keynote speeches. Make It Matter, a track on inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA), will be held in our dedicated IDEA Lounge.

“People learn in all sorts of ways,” explains Karen Huaulme, a principal developer advocate at MongoDB. “That’s why we have hour-long sessions, 15-minute lightning talks, and everything in between. Feel free to mix and match so that you can learn in a way that works for you.”

For instance, Jumpstarts are high-level tutorials that introduce newcomers to basic (but important) MongoDB skills and best practices. This year, we’re running Jumpstarts on data and schema modeling, MongoDB Atlas, and Atlas Search, all of which will be moderated by seasoned MongoDB product managers and users.

In contrast, Chalk Talks are highly interactive, small-group sessions for everyone from beginners to experts. Chalk Talks tend to be short (around 30 minutes), with plenty of audience participation, whiteboarding, and free-flowing discussion.

For something more immersive, try a workshop — the long meal to the Chalk Talk’s snack break. Held only on Day 3, workshops are deep dives into highly technical topics. The first two hours will set the tone with onboarding, configuration, and lectures, and the second half will center on relevant real-world scenarios and attendee needs. If you want to practice using a specific technology and figure out how to make it work in your environment, sign up for a workshop.

If you’re curious about the big picture, attend a Product Announcement or a Product Vision talk. Announcements will cover individual releases, how to use them, and how they fit into the MongoDB product family. Vision talks will marry new and existing products in order to explore different themes and workflows. Examples include "Serverless: The Future of Application Development" and "Going Real-Time With MongoDB Atlas."

More information can be found on the MongoDB World Agenda, which is updated regularly.

Come prepared

Speakers and facilitators will be in touch in advance to share all the necessary prerequisites, whether it’s downloadable modules, syllabi, or any other required materials.

“Preparation will depend on the specific event,” says Jesse Hall, a senior developer advocate at MongoDB and workshop presenter. “For example, my workshop takes a serverless approach — setting up MongoDB in JAMstack — so be sure to bring a laptop with a basic development environment (like Node.js or VSCode).”

Don't miss the hallway track

Let serendipity take the wheel as you mix and mingle with other attendees, speakers, customers, partners, and other industry leaders between sessions, at the Community Cafe, and elsewhere.

“Don’t be afraid to explore different events or exchange ideas with new people,” Huaulme suggests. “That’s where the magic happens. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of chatting with speakers or presenters. They’re very approachable, down-to-earth, and happy to hear from you.”

“Keep an open mind and an open ear, and definitely reach out to anyone wearing MongoDB swag,” says Flast. “They’re working on something interesting.”

Meet MongoDB partners

Get to know our partners and learn how they build the future with MongoDB. Many of our top partners will be presenting talks at MongoDB World on topics from building operational data stores to working with edge devices, and they’ll also be running booths at the Partner Promenade. These organizations include major cloud companies, along with leaders in streaming data, real-time analytics, and much more.

Matt Asay, MongoDB’s vice president of Partner Marketing, encourages visitors to see how these partners help enterprises of all sizes build the future. For his part, Asay looks forward to moderating a panel with leaders from Vercel, Prisma, and Apollo GraphQL, and to learning more about how these cutting-edge companies build for — and with — developers.

Try something new

Check out events that are off the beaten track, like the Builders’ Fest and the Community Cafe. At both venues, you’ll be able to unleash your creativity and pick up new skills.

Check out the unique workshops at the Builders’ Pods, relaxed areas with lots of comfortable chairs, tables, and monitors. In the past, participants have learned to pick locks, create ice sculptures, construct machine learning algorithms, and develop games, among other things.

For Huaulme, the Builders’ Fest sessions are a personal favorite. “The last time around, I learned to pick locks, while others learned to jump rope,” she recalls. “Builders’ Fest is a great place to learn new, fun skills — not all of which are related to tech.”

Builders’ Fest will also include competition alongside discovery and exploration. Head to the nearby stages, where you can choose from coding challenges (like Code Golf) and play popular video games such as MarioKart, Donkey Kong, and more. Test your skills — whether it’s your mastery of code or your fast reflexes — against your peers.

Stop by the Community Cafe to recharge. Lounge with coffee, thumb through the products at the swag store, and take a break from the action. Don’t forget to check out the silk-screen booth, where you can customize T-shirt designs and watch as they’re printed before your eyes.