Category Archives: Conferences

Tuesday at the PASS Community Summit

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Today was the first official day of the full (3-day) conference, with about 2,200 full conference attendees. Officially, PASS claims there are 2,998 registrations from 46 countries, but that number includes pre- and post-con attendees (who are also attending the full conference), plus Microsoft employees.

As you might expect, the Seattle Convention Center was packed with DBAs all wearing their orange and brown lanyards with their attendee badge, many carrying bags of swag they picked up from the various vendors attending the conference.

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Monday at the 2009 PASS Community Summit

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Monday at the 2009 PASS Community Summit, for the most part, was reserved for pre-conference sessions, Microsoft Customer Insider sessions, and lots of meetings for the many people who put the Summit together. Monday evening, on the other hand, was devoted to networking and relaxing, with the PASS Welcome Reception and Quiz Bowl, the insider party sponsored by SQLServerCentral.com, and many other informal parties and get-togethers.

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2009 PASS Community Summit Registration Starts Out Strong

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Registration for the 2009 PASS Community Summit started out strong with many attendees registering early the Sunday evening before the Summit’s commencement. What really surprised me was seeing so many familiar faces so soon. Lots of attendees were already catching up with each other and networking, even before the event officially starts. In fact, I had to turn down several dinner invitations because I couldn’t be at the same place at the same time. I have a feeling that this entire week will be more of the same: too much to do, and too little time. Below are a few snapshots of some of the attendees I saw when I registered.

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Attendees are greeted with colorful signs as they enter the 4th floor of the Seattle Convention Center.

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Blogging From the 2009 PASS Community Summit

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Seattle-Street Like a lot of other SQL Server bloggers, this week I will attempt to write regular blog entries each day, and hopefully include some photographs of the activities I attend. I am not an “official” PASS blogger, but I will try and offer my perspective of the event, with my own particular slant.

And next week, at SQL Server Connections in Las Vegas, I’ll try to do the same.

To prepare for this, I recently purchased a new netbook computer and digital camera, and hopefully I won’t be too loaded down with technology and wear myself out carrying it around. It will be an interesting experiment that I hope to learn from, and I hope you will find some of it interesting as well.

I flew from Hawaii Friday night, and arrived in Seattle Saturday at noon. The photo is the view of my hotel room at the Sheraton Hotel.

If you are attending PASS, be sure to track me down and say hello.

120 DBAs and Developers Attend SQL Down Under

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The fourth annual SQL Down Under Code Camp was held at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia this past October 10th and 11th.

Over 120 DBAs and developers throughout Australia converged to attend Australia’s largest free SQL Server event. The two-day code camp included 14 sessions presented by 12 different speakers, including many SQL Server MVPs, such as Greg Low (see photo), Rob Farley, Grant Paisley,  Darren Gosbell, Adam Cogan, Peter Ward, among others. I presented two sessions at the event.

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