Voice of the DBA

Tag: travel

  • SQL in the City Summits coming this spring

    The SQL in the City Summits are back for 2019, and we’ve got more scheduled than every before. You can see the complete list on our event page, and I’m lucky to be invited to all of them. Here’s the schedule.

    London

    We kick off the year in London on April 30. Having been busy with volleyball all this year, my first weekend free is going to be heading back to London and helping kick off our 2019 tour.

    Tickets are on sale now, and if you use “SteveJones” as a code, you should get 50% off. Register today and I’ll see you at Canary Wharf.

    The US Tour

    It’s a short tour, but we’ll be back in the fall again, so if you’re not near one of these cities, you’ll still have a chance to attend. Use “SteveJones” as the code when you register for a ticket.

    We start on May 15 with SQL in the City Summit Los Angeles. I enjoy the city of Angels for a few day and I’m looking forward to coming back for an hour at Venice Beach. I’ll also be speaking, along with Kendra, our top engineer, Arneh, and the amazing Ike Ellis. It will be a great time, so brave the traffic and come see us at the Microsoft office in LA.

    Next we head to Austin, TX on May 22 for the next Summit. Austin is a great town, and full of SQL Server professionals. We came through here a few years ago and I’m looking forward to coming back. A quick trip for me as my daughter graduates this week, so I’m jetting back to Colorado after the event.

    SQL in the City Down Under

    Redgate recently opened an office in Australia and as part of our expansion, we’re doing a SQL in the City Tour in June. I’m very excited as I’ve never been to this part of the world, though this will be a long trip with some vacation taken to enjoy the trip.

    We start in Brisbane, on May 31 as the first stop. We coincide with SQL Saturday #838 – Brisbane on June 1, so be sure you register for both. Warwick Rudd, of SQL Masters Consulting, will be joining me to talk about Redgate and database DevOps. We also have Hamish Watson, Michael Noonan, and Dr. Greg Low joining us. A special thanks to Warwick for moving the SQL Saturday date to align here and help me out.

    Next I’m taking a few days off and making my way to Christchurch, NZ for our second event on June 7, with SQL Saturday #831 on June 8. Hamish Watson is an exciting speaker and he’ll be hosting us. Looking forward to a fun NZ winter, perhaps with some skiing before or after.

    We round out the tour in Melbourne on June 14, with SQL Saturday #865 on June 15. I’ve heard wonderful things about the city and I’m hoping I get to enjoy a little time there. If you say hi, let me know what you like to do around town.

    It’s going to be a hectic few months, but I’m looking forward to delivering some sessions and meeting some wonderful people to talk databases.

  • My SQL Server Travels in 2018

    It’s the end of the year, and I’m looking back at the events and travels I’ve had this year. I keep a list of travels on my blog for speaking as a kind of Speaking CV, and United (my primary airline) provides me with a summary of travel each year.

    Since I’m planning and looking forward to 2019, I thought I’d recap a few of my travels.

    New Events and Places

    Every year I try to visit some new places and events, getting the chance to meet new people and learn about events and places. There are so many to see and attend that this is a never ending goal, but that’s part of the fun.

    New places I visited this year: Cork, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Jacksonville (personal), and Hong Kong (personal).

    New Events for me: ISACA Ireland, Music City Tech, Microsoft Inspire, SQL Sat Pittsburgh, Certified InfoSec.

    I did a few new virtual talks, even though I don’t really enjoy these. I like feedback from in person talks but the Milwaukee and Queensland user groups got me to speak.

    Revisiting Fond Memories

    I was lucky enough to get to revisit a number of places this year. Of those, I enjoyed getting to do some live SQL in the City events, in addition to the streamed ones. I did 4 of each, so a good SQL in the City year.

    It was also great to get back to Baton Rouge, Louisville, Los Angeles, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Oslo, and Cambridge for events. Those are some of my favorite places for SQL events and I’ve been at all of them 3 or more times.

    I was also luck to spend a few days in Washington DC and New York City, two amazing places in the US.

    Of course, as usual, London was the most visited destination. 6 times in 2018, and probably close to 40 trips there in my life.

    Missed Out

    I missed out on SQL Bits in 2018, the first time in quite a few years. Unfortunately this conflicted with other commitments at home, and will again in 2019. Hopefully that will change in 2020.

    I also skipped the VS Live, Dev Connections, Ignite, Build, and SQL Intersection events. I’ve enjoyed those over the years, but this wasn’t the time to go, and next year might not be either. We’ll see what happens.

    All in all it was a great year speaking, and with travel that was manageable. Hopefully that continues in 2019.

  • Off for a Holiday

    This has been a crazy month, and it’s getting crazier. So far I’ve been to these places this month:

    • Washington, D.C.
    • New York City
    • London

    Today I’m in Chicago for the SQL in the City Summit. I flew in yesterday, prepped, and today is the event. It’s exciting, and I’m glad this is the end of the Summits because I fly home late tonight, arriving around 10.

    That gives me 12 hours to get home, unpack, repack, get back to the airport before a 10am flight to Hong Kong. I probably need to sleep in there as well.

    I’ve never been, but my wife and I booked a short trip, so I’ll be gone for the next week, taking a break from my travels with a more travel, but it should be exciting.

    Enjoy Halloween without me.

  • Off to #SQLSat Pittsburgh

    I’ve never been to Pittsburgh. Actually, in all of my speaking and traveling, I don’t think I’ve even flown through the airport. I’ve been wanting to rectify this, and quite a few friends, like Bill and Konstantine, have been asking me to come for years. The timing hasn’t worked out with other events in the past, but this year I kept the weekend free and was accepted to speak.

    If you’re in the area on Saturday, register and come to SQL Saturday #770. It’s at the Pittsburgh Technical College and there’s a great schedule of speakers and sessions to see.  The event is free, though there is a lunch charge.

    I’ll be delivering my popular branding session along with a Database DevOps talk. Hope to see you there.