As I write this, I’m airborne and on my way to Seattle for the summit week (the Microsoft MVP Summit, followed by the PASS Summit). I was struck with the notion – and not for the first time – that I’m not really looking forward to these events for the technical content as much as I’m looking forward to networking…
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” No, not the end-of-year festival of repetitive music, overeating, and trampling on other people to find that perfect gift. No, it’s time again for the PASS Summit, the annual gathering of SQL Server and data professionals from around the world. The event, which is run by the organization formerly known as the…
Today is the second day of the 2013 SQL PASS Summit, and I’m again live blogging the event. 8:15: Here we go. Looks like a thinner crowd today. Everyone sleeping in from #sqlkaraoke last night? 8:19: The morning is kicked off with a video montage about networking. It’s good to see emphasis on getting to know your peers. 8:21: Douglas…
Today is the first full day of the PASS Summit 2013 conference. This year I’m again joining the blogger table and will be live blogging throughout the opening ceremonies and the keynote. This year I’m sitting between Colin Stasiuk and Andy Warren. I’ll be updating this post periodically through the keynote. 7:59 am: Found my seat and got wired up. …
It’s been a busy couple of weeks for SQL Server community and PASS related news. First and probably most importantly is that the location for SQL Rally 2012 has been chosen, and we are happy to announce that it’ll be right here in Dallas! After several months of research and evaluation, PASS awarded next year’s event to this area based…
This weekend I flew out to Pensacola, Florida to present a session at SQL Saturday 22. This was the second SQL Saturday that Pensacola has hosted, and I’ve been fortunate to have attended and spoken at both of them. I got in around 5pm, travelling with my friend and fellow Dallas area speaker Tim Costello on what might be the…
At the MVP Summit last week, I was talking with fellow Dallas-area tweep Sean McCown about our local SQL Server user group membership. I think our group is unique because of its sheer size; we typically have between 70 and 90 people at our monthly meetings, with a mailing list that goes out to between 600 and 800 people. So…
One of the highlights of my weekday mornings is reading the editorial by Steve Jones of SQLServerCentral.com. However, this past Tuesday’s newsletter was particularly newsworthy: Steve announced the sale of the SQLServerCentral.com site to Red Gate software, a UK-based manufacturer of SQL Server tools. Though the timing came as a surprise, I have to say that the sale did not. …