Voice of the DBA

Tag: networking

  • A Week Before Networking at the PASS Summit

    It’s a week before the Networking Dinner at the PASS Summit. Andy Warren and I are hosting the event next Monday, October 26th, at the Yard House in Seattle. The address is at 4th and Pike, just a few blocks from the convention center.

    Register here if you can come.

    There’s no cost, other than you covering your own food and drink expenses. We would like registration just to try and ensure we have enough staff at the restaurant.

    This is a great chance to network with fellow data professionals. If this is your first or second time at the PASS Summit, please come and meet some people.

  • Share Your Passion at Summit ‘15

    Every Monday night on the week of the PASS Summit. Andy Warren and I host a networking dinner. This year we’re at the Yard House, and we’d love for you to come by if you don’t have plans Monday night. The event is from 6-9, but come early, come late, whatever works.

    You are responsible for paying your own way. You don’t have to eat dinner, but Andy and I will greet you and then introduce you to a few others that we hope you can enjoy an our or so with. All we ask is that you register so we know how many people are coming.

    We Can’t Do It All

    We set up the dinner as an event that people might enjoy if they didn’t have other plans. While there are a number of parties going on all week, most of the attendees don’t get invitations.

    We want to help everyone have a good time.

    With that in mind, we have asked a few people to think about hosting their own events after ours on Monday. The event could be anything from going to taste beers at the Tap House to having a cup of coffee at Barnes and Nobles (Andy’s choice) to listening to a local band at a bar somewhere near downtown. Pick anything you like to do and host a small event. It doesn’t have to cost anything, and who knows who you’ll meet.

    We have a few suggestions if you’d like to do something.

    • Choose an event you enjoy.
    • Pick something within walking distance from the Convention Center. The Space Needle is about as far as I might go from downtown.
    • Setup an event on EventBrite, Meetup, or somewhere else. Set a small limit to your tickets.
    • Let people know if there’s a theme or what you are looking to do. For example, chatting about good books at Barnes and Noble is a great choice.
    • Let people know if there is a cost. I’d highly recommend someone try to get people to do the Underground Tour. However you probably need to let them know to buy tickets in advance.
    • Enjoy

    This is a great way to meet some of your fellow data professionals. I’d love to see a few dozen events pop up every night during the week.

    If you’ve got questions, ask. If you have events, let me know, and I’ll try to publish them. We already have one, from the Midnight DBAs. Register for their Top Po Donuts get together on Monday night, or feel free to come to our networking dinner.

    Register for the Networking Dinner Monday, Oct 26

  • Growing Pains for the Networking Dinner

    A few years ago Andy Warren had this idea for a networking dinner. We had been chatting about all the parties and events at PASS, with many of them limited to select individuals. We talked about trying to get more people involved in the community and giving them something to do, so they wouldn’t get stuck in a hotel, as Tim Mitchell did years ago.

    This has been a success, but we have growing pains, and we’re looking for some ideas from people in the community, especially those of you going to the PASS Summit for the first or second time.

    Skip the history part and drop down if you want to know the issues.

    History

    We decided we’d host this as a meet-up, just publishing a location and seeing who showed up. We choose a small restaurant in the Pike Place Market that wasn’t busy on Monday night and put the word out. Evidently we know a lot of people because the place was packed. The staff struggled, service was slow, it was hard to move around, but it was fun.

    We moved the location to the small mall and the Gordon Biersch in downtown Seattle the next year and sent a notice out earlier. Once again, Andy and I met people at the door, tried to pair them up in groups of four, and let them eat. Once again, it was a bit of a madhouse.

    Last year we had a reservation at Buffalo Wild Wings, but apparently some wires got crossed and they lost our reservation. Andy couldn’t make the Summit, but fortunately some friends helped me out, finding a good spot at The Yard House. A couple of us greeted people at BWW and sent them down to the Yard House. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.

    Issues

    This year we’re having some trouble nailing down a location. The invitation is up, as is the EventBrite, but we don’t have a location. Here are a few of the issues.

    Busy Places – A few places we’ve checked are busy on Monday nights with Monday Night Football promotions. Many don’t take reservations. We could just go, and we’ve asked them if they might bring in extra staff, but we worry that the waits will be ridiculous there.

    Reserving a Bar – We did find a couple places that take reservations, but they’ve asked for $600+ for the space, before food and drinks. Andy and I don’t mind spending some money on this, but we weren’t really looking to rent space at $300 apiece.

    Possible Solutions

    This is where you come in. We’ve talked about a few different ideas, but we don’t like any of them. Let us know what you think.

    Using the Convention Center

    We could probably get space from PASS. However, food and drink is expensive in the convention center, it’s not great, and it’s a pain. Plus we’re spending all week there, so we wanted to get out.

    Finding a Sponsor

    I work for Redgate Software, and both Andy and I have good relationships with lots of vendors. We could try to get a sponsor for the event and cover the cost.

    However.

    If Redgate sponsors, someone will be upset. If someone else sponsors, my boss might be upset. However I’m OK with most of that. What neither Andy or I want is someone using a casual networking event to promote something. We don’t really want to be in the stadium name game and sell the name of the event. We don’t want to push emails out to attendees from a vendor.

    In short, we don’t love this plan.

    Charging Attendees

    We’ve gotten around 200 people each year, and I bet we’ll get the same. Certainly we could charge $3-5 for tickets, and I think people would pay. We’d rather not, but it’s an idea.

    Raffles

    We could raffle off something. Prizes cost money, however, and they could easily turn us more upside down than we are already for the space. We did think about raffling off easy things, like:

    • a private dinner with Andy or I (or some well known volunteers) – We’d fund part of the dinner, or ask our hosts to donate this. However then we’re asking others to spend their own money.
    • some old swag, like some of my Friday shirts. Not sure how much money this raises
    • Some mentoring time – Perhaps some dedicated,private time for mentoring from Andy, myself, or others. Personally I don’t like this as I think mentoring is a gift, and gifts should be given, nor purchased.
    • ??

    Staggering Times

    We’re already getting tickets reserved (no charge), so we hesitate to change things, but one idea is to limit the number of tickets to a set number every half hour. Say 30-40 people, with multiple sets of tickets. We’d probably do

    • 5:30 – 30 tickets
    • 6:00 – 30 tickets
    • 6:30 – 30 tickets
    • 7:00 – 30 tickets
    • 7:30 – 30 tickets
    • 8:00 – 100 tickets

    This might make it easier to just pick a restaurant, but it doesn’t mean that there won’t be waits or that any additional staff will be on hand.

    Multiple Locations

    We’ve thought about picking 3-4 places in a small area, having attendees meet us somewhere, and we’d pair them up and send them out to restaurants, round robin style. This could work, but I dislike splitting up the crowd.

    Thoughts?

    A Good Solution

    We haven’t come up with  a good solution, but we’re still looking. If you’ve got ideas, especially if you’ve been to one of the other dinners, let us know.

    Ultimately this is about getting people to meet each other and interact, so we’d like to keep it low key, low cost, and casual.

  • Networking at the PASS Summit

    The 2014 PASS Summit is coming up in a few weeks and thousands of SQL Server professionals will be coming to Seattle for the event. Many will arrive early, and many will be there for the first or second time in their careers.

    Many of them will be that guy (or girl).

    Don’t start the week off by yourself, or with a few friends. Come network a bit and meet your fellow SQL Server professionals and #sqlfamily. If you live in Seattle, you’re welcome as well, whether you’re attending the Summit or not. It’s free and everyone is welcome.

    The last few years have had Andy Warren and I holding a Networking Dinner on Monday night. It’s been a large success, which by our standards, means that lots of people come and meet each other. We meet new people, and they have a good time. That’s it.

    Anyone can come, just register so we have some idea of how many people to expect. Andy has written a short post, but I wanted to add a bit more detail and spread the word.

    This is a self-funded event, meaning everyone buys their own food and drinks. Or buy something for a friend. We really built this event with the idea that we wanted to organize something for people to come to and meet each other. No pressure, and no expectation of costs or expenses. The first few years we packed a restaurant on the Seattle waterfront and heard from many people that they really enjoyed it.

    Since then, we’ve tried to look for more open environments where people can talk and enjoy some SQL Server talk in a casual atmosphere. We try for a venue that’s not more than 3-4 blocks from the convention center, and we should have a venue soon.

    Our goal is to get people to meet each other. Whether its your first Summit or 14th, whether you started working with SQL Server in the last decade or yesterday, this is just a chance and an organized event to meet others.

    Come join us, tell friends, and be prepared to introduce yourself and have a conversation with someone else. That’s networking, and it’s the most valuable thing you can do for your career.

    We’ve organized a time (and place to be disclosed soon). You can do the same thing. Lots is happening in Seattle, and if you know 20 people, think about creating your own event, dinner, or just casual get together. Pick a time and place, and let PASS know so others can attend.

    Register today and I’ll see you in a couple Mondays.