Voice of the DBA

Tag: summit

  • Early Bird Pricing for the Data Community Summit Ends Jul 26

    The early bird pricing for the PASS Data Community Summit ends this week, on Jul 26. After that, there is a bump, so let you boss know this is the time to register. If you’re considering attending, then you essentially get one night in a hotel for free if you register this week.

    This the the largest and best conference for data professionals. You’ll have experts from all over the world and quite a few Microsoft developers attending. This is a great chance to network with them, learn, and ask questions that might save a support case or help you solve a problem.

    Talk to your boss about the event and explain how this benefits your career and helps the company. Many people have found this invaluable over the years as they bring knowledge and contacts back to their organization.

    Make a case, get approval, and get registered today and I’ll see you in Seattle this November.

  • Creating a Speaking Failures Support Group

    Earlier this week the emails went out to speakers who submitted to the PASS Data Community Summit 2023 conference. These were acceptances and rejections, letting people know the results of the volunteer review.

    I got this one:

    2023-07-13 10_39_20-PASS Data Community Summit 2023 – Call for Speakers Results - Message (HTML)

    I had only submitted one session after being buried last year, and I assumed (we know what assume means) that this one would get picked. It wasn’t, and that’s OK.

    A Speaking Failures Support Group

    I know I’m not alone. I’ve had many speaking submissions rejected. From big conferences and little ones. It is disappointing, but I’ve learned not to take it personally.

    I know this is a hard message to get, especially for less experienced speakers. So I decided to a) publicly disclose my rejection, and b) create a place to get support.

    Since I am the editor of SQL Server Central, that’s a natural place for me to do this. I set up a forum for a Speaking Support Group, which you can use to post questions, ask for feedback on your submissions or ideas, get spell/grammar/phrasing help from others, commiserate with fellow speakers, and give them support/encouragement to try again.

    Feel free to join me there, and comment on my first post, hopefully telling me to not take this too personally.

  • Summit Launch Pricing Ends June 7

    The PASS Data Community Summit is back in Seattle this November, the 14-17, 2023. It’s in person only, and if you can come, you should register today. Launch pricing is discounted and ends next week, June 7.

    Complete pricing is on the site, but next week the prices rise, not only for the event, but the pre-cons as well. $500 for a pre-con is a great price, and it’s not something you see from many of the experts when they run private training. The conference is also 30% off now, so let your boss know now is the time to register.

    You can see the pre-cons listed, and a number of sessions on the schedule as well. There is a lot of learning and more to come. This isn’t a complete list of sessions as the volunteers on the program committee are still making their final decisions.

    If you need to make a case for your employer, there is some great information on the site about what you can learn and why it’s worth attending. The networking alone, which let’s you meet and talk with experts, can be worth a lot later. One support call and the time spent could be avoided with a new colleague that you can query.

    I hope to see many of you there. I don’t know if I’m speaking, but I am going and helping run the event. Come to Seattle this fall (and SQL Saturday Oregon the weekend before) and grow your career and get excited about being a data professional.

  • An Amazing Summit

    It’s been a couple of weeks since the PASS Data Community Summit 2022. I was lucky enough to attend the event, and I had the chance to experience things firsthand for the in-person part of the event. I also had many people come up to tell me that they loved the event as well. It truly felt like a homecoming with so many people that I’ve seen at past Summits in the same place at the same time. I know I’m biased here, but it was a wonderful way to reboot the Summit after not having an in-person event since 2019.

    Before the event, I was a bit nervous. While we have a number of people who have been a part of the Summit previously, and a lot of Redgaters coming who had been to events, the effort to execute on an event of this scale is high. There was a lot of stress and worry, and a lot of last-minute tasks. I was watching the various Slack channels in the background while being available to offer help where needed.

    To be clear, I really had nothing to do with organizing, planning, or executing this event. I spoke at a few sessions, but it was a lot of other Redgate employees and various contractors that made everything run fairly smoothly. Despite a few hiccups with getting started and some streaming issues, almost everyone I talked to thought that the event was very similar to previous Summits and the highlight of their year.

    For me, this was fun for many reasons. First, because of the people. Far too many to name, and far too many that I didn’t get a chance to speak with, but it was wonderful to meet new people and see so many friends from the past. The event was 5 days for me, but I never had enough time to stop and talk with others.

    Second, it was fun to be a part of the Lego Steve promotion. Every time I saw a picture posted or talked with someone about it, I had to laugh a little. It was a fun part of the event for me, and I have some fun memories of the experience. Starting the week off with a photoshoot was very enjoyable.

    Lastly, I loved seeing plenty of people taking advantage of networking and also seeing very quiet hallways during the presentations. People were learning from speakers and taking time between sessions to talk to each other. I had more than a few people tell me they networked and met some great new friends. Something that I have done many times over the years.

    I’ve had a strange relationship with the Summit over the years. Sometimes I’ve loved the event, other times I’ve been angry with the organizers. I’ve skipped a few as well. Over time I’ve come to realize that this is a magical event for the data community, bringing many of the best and brightest together with a happy, eager, hopeful, and wonderful #sqlfamily. I look forward to next year, and hopefully, finding more time to chat with people during the week.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.