Giuseppe Maxia has long been a leader of the MySQL Community and is going to be a presenter at MySQL Connect. It is hard to list everything he has done for MySQL (and harder to try to find something he has not done).

What are your speaking about at your session?
a) MySQL in a laptop, or how to test and run database servers in a single box
b) juggling your data with Tungsten replicator, or the joys of complex topologies at your fingertips.

Who would benefit most from attending your session?
DBAs, testers, database designers, application designers

What other sessions would you recommend or are planning to attend?
MySQL Replication Roadmap [CON2615]
MySQL Replication: Deep Dive into GTIDs for Scaling and High Availability [CON2610]
Big Data with MySQL and Hadoop [CON2342]
MySQL 5.6 at Facebook [CON7798]
Managing Hundreds of MySQL Servers Efficiently [CON2595]

What did you learn last year at MySQL Connect that really benefited you?
I got most of the benefits from networking with other MySQL experts. Most interesting were the sessions about latest progress in MySQL development by Oracle engineers.

Why should ‘Joe Average’ DBA or Developer attend MySQL Connect?
It’s a good opportunity to mingle with a bunch of MySQL gurus, including the creators and maintainer of MySQL. The sessions are of great quality (being in the review committee gives me a good insight into it).