Last month, I travelled to Seattle for one
of my favourite events of the year - PASS Summit!
This year's summit trip had an extra benefit,
another SQL Server event called Red Gate SQL in the City.
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| Seattle |
SQL In the City - 5th November
As stated on the website, 'SQL in the City
brings together Red Gate and the SQL community for an awesome day of free SQL
Server training the Red Gate way.'
The event had very interesting and
informative sessions as well as some well-known SQL Server speakers. I went to three of the sessions and spent the
rest of the day meeting Red Gate staff and attendees. At the end of the day was
a networking session as well as free swag. I had an awesome first experience at
this the event. Thanks Red Gate!
PASS Summit 2012 - 6th - 9th November
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Starting my own PASS Summit tradition -
Super Hero T-Shirts Day! |
I was looking forward to this event since
the last day of PASS Summit 2011. This year some things were different but
adjusting to the changes was not difficult. The fact that the next summit isn’t
going to be in Seattle means I should be prepared for more changes next year.
I tried to balance the time that I spent participating
in the various activities at the event. I went to some sessions based on
recommendations that I received during my PASS Summit Interviews. I visited the
exhibition booths to see what products/services were offered and also to talk to
them about sponsor SQLSaturday #185. Of course I also had to make time to visit
the Community Zone, the SQL Clinic and all my PASS friends in the HQ booth and
room.
One of the best things about the summit is
the fact that I get to see my friends and also make new friends. This was my
first summit as an MVP and being on the MVP mailing list made me create a new
list of people that I had to meet. The list is very long but I wanted to
highlight a few persons because of the things they have done for me before
meeting me in person:
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| Me and Katrina Munsell (aka @SQLServer) |
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Suzanna Litwin (Moran)
Felipe Ferreira
Antonio Soto
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Due to my limited trips to events in the US,
I try to do something for the community at the PASS Summit every year. I
participated at the bloggers table again this year but due to some wireless
issues my posts weren't what I wanted them to be. I also hosted a 'Birds of the
feather' table and even though it was the only 'Cloud table' I am glad to say
that we had people present to talk about the topic. Jeremiah Peschka can confirm that the picture
below wasn't photo shopped.
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| Birds of the feather - The Cloud table |
Some events that occurred during the trip that
stood out in my mind (in no particular order) are:
1. Hanging out with my
friends Para Doshi and Adam Machanic.
2. My interactions
with Katrina Munsell. She is funny and very cool. Thanks for the SQL Server swag!
3. Meeting my SolidQ boss,
Antonio Soto and the rest of the SolidQ family at the 10th
Anniversary event!
4. Getting saved from Jennifer
McCown at the bloggers' table when I was starving. Thanks Jen!
5. Wendy Pastrick supplying
us with internet at the bloggers' table. Thanks
Wendy!
6. Going for coffee
with Jeremiah Peschka which resulted with us running down the street to FedEx
with a Red Gate box.
7. Hanging out with
Rob Farley and the LobsterPot team.
8. Cindy Gross
impersonation of Mark Souza.
9. Watching a long
line of people waiting for an autograph from Pinal Dave.
10. Meeting Paul White.
As I stated, this list has some events and not
all the events but I can’t end this post without highlight the best memory for
this trip – Winning an Xbox from the SQL Server booth. Thanks Microsoft for my
Christmas gift!
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| My Gift arrives safely- Xbox with Kinect and two games |
Overall the summit was great and I can't
wait for PASS Summit 2013!
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