Tag: SQL Saturday

The hardest thing, I think, for most new organizers of a SQL Saturday is the fundraising. A few years ago I heard Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, give his 5 rules for being a good salesman.

Number one is ask for the money. He couldn’t remember the other four 🙂

I think that’s a fine set of rules, but for many people, it’s really hard to ask for money. Surprisingly they are scared to do it. Maybe not surprisingly since I find it hard as well. It’s not though, as I’ve learned over the year, but I still feel trepidation that I’m asking for more than I’m giving at times.

I caught a great blog from one half of the Midnight DBA, Jen McCown (Blog|Twitter) on SQL Saturday sponsorships. It’s a great read, and there’s another good one from Ryan Adams. Sponsorship is important to a degree because there are some costs with a SQL Saturday. You might get free space, but often have to pay insurance. There’s lunch, though you can charge people. There’s signage, badges, other incidentals, but they still cost money and your significant other might not be thrilled with you paying out of pocket.

I don’t think it’s hard to get some sponsors, and I know that my company, Red Gate, is usually happy to help out some, PASS gives a little, a few other vendors will likely chip in. There are two keys that I’ve seen from talking with people.

1. Communicate often and clearly
2. Negotiate and be willing to take less (and give less).

You might think if you don’t get a response that your email was clear and that someone just doesn’t want to sponsor you. I will tell you that if you send 10, I bet that 7 of them aren’t clear to the receiver, or they aren’t read. 2 or 3 people might need to think about it and then will forget it. That means maybe one positive response from your email.

What do you do?

Send more emails. Send them repeatedly. Not botheringly-often like every day, but every week to ten days repeat them. Try new sponsors, try making a call or setting up a 10 minute meeting to talk about it. Use clear materials like Jen lists, and then be willing to work with them. Someone might not want to sponsor you for $1000, but they might be willing to do $200. If that’s the case, offer less. Be willing to shift slightly on your rate card, and negotiate with them. Ryan has good advice for being sure you deliver on your promises, keep them happy, and have them sponsor you again.

And have fun with it. It’s not the end of the world if someone walks away, and there are usually lots of sponsors to choose from. You don’t need a huge budget, and I’d plan for a small one. You can add things in easier than taking them away.

I think this is a good idea, and I’ll give you some reasons, but every SQL Saturday ought to consider having a few sessions an hour before the main event starts.
When the Rocky Mountain TechTrifecta v2 came to Denver this past February, I was one of 7 or 8 people that was asked to run an early morning session. From 7:30-8:30, before the 9:00am kickoff, we had a number of sessions in various rooms that were essentially discussions. I actually picked up someone else’s session since they couldn’t make it, and had about 10 slides, but it was really me leading a discussion with 6 or 7 people in the room.
I wondered what was the point, but as I talked with Julie Yack, the organizer, she said that the previous year they’d had lots of people show up early to register and then stood around, not knowing what to do. I’ve seen that in other events, including many SQL Saturday’s as well. It takes time to register 200+ people, even if you are just giving out a name badge, and so the first person to come in has a lot of time to waste.
There’s also a lot of people that come to SQL Saturday that are very new beginners. They don’t understand a lot about SQL Server, and they’ll get lost during other sessions. Or they are experienced in one area, but not another.
This is the time for a basic foundation for SQL Server. Honestly I would suggest that every SQL Saturday recruit 4 or 5 speakers, and offer these basic sessions, a very, very junior level session, before the main event.

1. Introduction to SQL Server
2. Introduction to Reporting Services
3. Introduction to Querying in T-SQL
4. Introduction to Integration Services
5. Introduction to Analysis Services (if you have speakers in this area)

Set up a few rooms, start them at 7:30 if you start the event at 9:00 and publicize them for beginners. You will have some very, very happy attendees.

I was having a long call with Andy Warren (blog | Twitter), fellow founder of SQLServerCentral and SQL Saturday. We were talking about a few things that could be done differently with SQL Saturday and getting a little passionate about it. I stopped in the middle and thought for a minute, why am I so worried about this?
I think the answer lives in Motivation 3.0, an idea put forth by a few people, but something I heard about from Dan Pink in his book Drive.
We have things that we believe in, that we see as worth doing, and regardless of the compensation, we drift towards them and become much more focused when working on them.
SQL Saturday, PASS, the entire SQL Server Community has somewhat become that for me. I’m driven to spend time trying to make it better, not because it makes me money, but because I believe in it.
I want SQL Saturdays to be successful. I want them to train people to better use SQL Server. I want speakers to be proud of their efforts to help people. I want PASS to mean something to people’s careers, and help them. I want people to enjoy working with SQL Server, and use it to solve problems.
It’s a bit of a strange feeling for someone that has typically been a capitalist, and looked to be more profitable in my endeavors each year. One of my concerns over SQL Saturday initially was the lack of a way to monetize the time spent on it by Andy.
Now I find myself, happily, in the same boat.

Andy Warren (blog| Twitter) sent me a link recently to a piece written by Kalen Delaney on the recent SQL Saturday in Redmond. She gives us the reasons why she wasn’t sure they would be successful, but is pleasantly surprised by how well they are attended.
I’m not sure why there is a huge desire for these events. I think we have a lot of people in the community that just enjoy speaking and presenting. Some want exposure, some want to get an MVP award, some are looking to grow their career and and some enjoy a little bit of fame. I think most of them are like me, that they just get a deep sense of satisfaction from helping others in person.
It’s not the same as answering questions online, or presenting via LiveMeeting. Instead it’s much more rewarding to see people in person, shake their hands, and put a name to the face asking you a question.
I’ve been to 2 SQL Saturdays this year (Charlotte, Pensacola) and am slated to attend Baton Rouge #28, where I’ll give the keynote. I am likely going to the Colorado SQL Saturday #52, and am leaning towards attending Kansas City #53 and Utah (if they get announced). I’m also going to aim for Louisville and Phoenix in 2011.
These events are great, and while they’re not a substitute for full training, as Kalen noted, I do think they get you thinking, inspired, and help you to bootstrap or get moving on a particular technology.