PASS Summit 2010 – near end of day 2

Another day od PASS Summit close to being complete.  All that is left is the fun stuff – Gameworks and SQL Karaoke. 

I actually made it to the key-note this morning.  Lots of interesting stuff coming down the pipe.  The BIG surprise was the actual release of the CTP1 disk that were waiting for us as we left.  We need to make sure we get involved to help avoid any issues going in the final version.

I then attended the PASS Chapter leader meeting.  I was disappointed that there was any time for us to share lessons learned with our peers.  It is the one time a year that we actually get to be in the same room together.  It looks like PASS is trying hard to do the right things.  It would have been nice to have a little more interaction.

I then attended the Women In Technology lunch.  As usual, I was not disappointed by the level of women presenting.  The Q&A portion of the session was great.  I was particularly impressed with the lady that discussed doing her “Boyfriend” project with a group of girls to teach them SQL.  I am strongly considering a half track for teenagers at our upcoming SQL Saturday.  It would fit nicely as we are working with the Hillsborough Children’s Board for session rooms.  I will follow-up with more info as it is available.

I then was able to snag swag for the User Group back home.  With help from Mike Wells and Patrick LeBlanc, I was able to get most of it shipped home from the Fed Ex downstairs.

We (Jose Chinchilla and I) were able to decide on doing a pre-SQL Saturday day of training.  We were even able to get people lined up.  Drum roll please…. On the DBA side we will have Denny Cherry doing his Storage and Virtualization for the DBA pre-con session for us.  On the BI side we will have Stacia Misner doing a full day of BI for us.  Now to make sure we have somewhere to hold the sessions.  That will be next week.

Now off to the fun stuff – as if this hasn’t been enough fun.  Gameworks and SQL Karaoke but best of all – time with some really great people.  Did I mention kilt day?  The guys look great!

PASS Summit 2010 end of day 1

I am at PASS Summit this week.  As always the experience is rich in networking and the joy of reacquainting with people I’ve met here in the past.  It is amazing how smoothly we pick up where we left off a year ago.  It also brings to mind how much has changed in the last year.

Yesterday was the SQL Saturday round table.  It is wonderful to see how well the brand is being embraced.  Andy Warren told us of his goal to have a SQL Saturday in every state / province.  He admits it is very ambitious – but without goals that stretch us, we seldom reach as high as we can. 

Today was my day to reach out for sponsors for SQL Saturday #62 in Tampa on 1/15/2011.  I was excited to see so many vendors that were already planning to participate.  Life is good.

I look forward to 2 more full days of content and networking.