Tag: PASS

I read Stuart Ainsworth’s blog post this morning, and I thank Stuart for posting something. However, there’s an implication in there that I know more than I’ve posted and am withholding information. So, in the interest of transparency:

I give PASS, the organization, and the PASS Board of Directors Nominating Committee, full permission to release anything about my application to run for the board of directors, with the exception of my home address, phone numbers, social security number, and birthdate.

I’m sure most comments aren’t flattering, or maybe not even nice. I’ll stand on who I am.

Also, a clarification: since my interview on August 6th, I have received one email as the sum total of my communication from PASS, excepting the Connector newsletter. That email was this morning, as shown below:

I am including the full text of that letter, which is all I know about the reason I was rejected. I can speculate on exact reasons, but this is all I know. The full text is:

Dear Steve,
Thank you for your application to the PASS Board of Directors. After interviews with the candidates, the nominating committee spent an extensive amount of time deliberating before a slate consisting of 5 candidates was proposed to the board. After discussions, a majority board voted to accept the slate. I regret to inform you that your name was not among the 5 candidates proposed by the nomination committee for the 2010 Elections to the PASS Board of Directors.
The nominating committee considered two important factors in their decision for placing candidates on the slate – volunteer efforts with PASS and the ability to be an effective leader and team player in a predominantly volunteer based organization.
PASS is a volunteer organization.  Volunteers who do much of the work for the community do so because they feel valued and appreciated. An effective board member must be able to work with volunteers from all levels of expertise and commitment.  It is the board members responsibility to lead and encourage volunteers. While the NomCom continues to be impressed by your passion and support for the SQL Server Community, questions were raised during the interview regarding your ability to effectively work with volunteers in an executive capacity. The limited work you had on PASS committees was a factor in the NomCom’s decision. This can be easily addressed with your continued participation in PASS committees.  Therefore we ask that you continue to volunteer with PASS, at the international level, so that you gain valuable experience in working with all levels of volunteers.  I look forward to your interest on serving on the Board of Directors for the next election cycle.
On behalf of the PASS Board and the nominations committee, I thank you for your service to the organization. We truly appreciate your volunteer spirit, and look forward to your continued involvement with the PASS organization.
If you have any questions or need further feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at wsnyder@sqlpass.org.
Sincerely,
Wayne Snyder
Distinguished Architect
Mariner

Steve Jones: I have removed Wayne’s contact information
SQL Server MVP
Microsoft Certified  IT Professional – Database Administrator
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist – SQL Server
Microsoft Certified Trainer
Business Intelligence Specialist

Well I have to say I’m surprised. It’s always hard to get a rejection, and I’m not quite sure what to think of it.

I was rejected from the slate for the 2011 PASS Board of Directors, so I won’t be running this fall in the election.

I guess I’ll have more free time than I thought in 2011.

My rejection letter (relevant parts):

PASS is a volunteer organization.  Volunteers who do much of the work for the community do so because they feel valued and appreciated. An effective board member must be able to work with volunteers from all levels of expertise and commitment.  It is the board members responsibility to lead and encourage volunteers. While the NomCom continues to be impressed by your passion and support for the SQL Server Community, questions were raised during the interview regarding your ability to effectively work with volunteers in an executive capacity. The limited work you had on PASS committees was a factor in the NomCom’s decision.

According to the timeline (PDF), the PASS Nominating Committee is supposed to contact the applicants today or tomorrow and let us know if we’re on the slate. The slate should be announced on Wednesday.

I’m nervous.

I’d like to say I’m not worried, or that I think it will be fine, but I can’t. I’ve been a vocal critic of PASS at times, and I think a strong supporter. So it’s possible that the vote to include me on the ballot could go either way.

I should know soon, so in the meantime I’ll try to busy myself with other work and not think about it.

Last week I attended the PASS Performance Virtual Chapter’s presentation by Adam Machanic on Parallelism and Performance. It looked interesting, so I logged on and listened to Adam while doing a little busy work. I had gotten an announcement over at SQLServerCentral for it, and had run it, but hadn’t thought much of it.
In doing so, I missed this short sentence at the end of the description: “This session is a small preview of some of the material that will be covered in Adam Machanic’s full-day PASS Summit post-con, “A Day of Doing Many Things at Once.”
I don’t know if this has been done in the past, but this is a great way to market the pre and post conference seminars. Prior to sitting in for part of one a couple years ago, I had questioned whether these seminars were really with the cost, and the time, of attending an extra day at the PASS seminar. I have to say that I think they are definitely worth it, at least this one is.
This is also a great marketing technique. I checked Adam’s post con seminar page, and there’s no mention of this presentation. To me, this ought to be linked on the page, on the page with all pre/post cons, and in marketing messages, including the ROI page.
In fact, I’d suggest that every pre/post con speaker actually do a 30 minute preview of their session in an online presentation. It’s great practice, good exposure, and a nice marketing message for the Summit. It helps out the VCs as well, as they are always looking for good speakers.
If I get elected to the board this year, I might even make this a requirement for the pre/post con speakers for 2011.