Randolph (Originally posted on my SQL Server blog.)
Next week, while blog posts are scheduled as expected, I will be attending my third PASS Summit.
Summit 2014
In my first year, I attended every single event I could.
The Monday night started with Steve Jones’ regular Networking Dinner. When I arrived, there were already over a hundred people there, all of whom I didn’t recognise. Until I saw Ed. Ed Watson and I had met in Tampa, FL, at a SQLskills Immersion Event in 2012 and stayed in touch on Twitter. I met new people that night through Ed and reconnected with the folks I’d met at the five Immersion Events I’d attended in 2012 and 2013. The Summit hadn’t even started, and I was already seeing its benefits.
On Tuesday was the First-Timers’ Orientation Meeting & Speed Networking event, where I met some folks with whom I reconnected repeatedly during the week. There may be thousands of attendees every year, but humans recognise familiar faces in a crowd, and we didn’t need to feel overwhelmed.
Later on Tuesday night was Denny Cherry’s long-running SQL Karaoke evening, where I met Argenis Fernandez for the first time in the flesh, and sang a duet with Ed Watson (Sonny & Cher’s I Got You Babe).
There were many vendor-sponsored networking events as well, where we received free food and beverages. I attended several of those.
I also attended both keynotes (hint: the first keynote on the Wednesday is marketing, so you can sleep in – but take note, Brent Ozar thinks it might be worthwhile attending this in 2016. The second one, on the Thursday, is worth attending), and I can say that Rimma Nehme is amazing.
I attended a lot of sessions. Many of them were incredible. I had my brain melted by Bob Ward’s talk, “Inside SQL Server I/O”. If you get a chance to view this online, do so.
I hung out a lot with another friend, Larry Toothman, whom I’d met in Tampa at the same SQLskills Immersion Event where I’d met Ed. Sadly, Larry died in 2015, but the SQL Server community was incredible with showing support to his husband, and keeping Larry’s memory alive by sharing stories and handing out ribbons.
https://twitter.com/rabryst/status/586261676359553026
Here’s a picture of Larry and me, with Paul and Kimberly.
The main takeaway I had was that I had to return in 2015. The networking aspect alone made it worthwhile. The learning was the cherry on top.
Summit 2015
In 2015, I took a calmer approach. While I still attended a lot of technical sessions, I went to two pre-cons (pre-conference events, which are run separately and cost extra). One was PASS-sponsored, and I got to learn a lot from Aaron Bertrand in his “50 Things All SQL Server Developers Need to Know” full day session.
My other pre-con was unpaid, and unsanctioned by PASS. I attended the Brent Ozar Unlimited “FreeCon” event, with 49 of my closest friends, to learn the things you need to know to market yourself better. That’s the reason I now write at least one blog post a week and have made a bigger effort to sell my skills as a consultant.
I sang another duet with Ed, at the new SQL Karaoke venue (Summer Nights from Grease) and had an impromptu group of ladies helping me sing Sandy’s part.
While I did attend both keynotes again, I decided I would skip the next year’s Day 1 Keynote, because it’s pure marketing. In the second keynote, Rimma Nehme was back again, incredible as ever, with David DeWitt to assist her.
I also did not attend every session I’d planned, because the rumours were true: I was gaining more knowledge by networking with people. I met some new people, including Ewald Cress, a guy I went to school with in a rural town in the middle of nowhere.
Bob Ward melted my brain again, but this time his talk was easier for me to understand. I sat next to Gail Shaw, a fellow South African I know from the old country, and we agreed later that the 2014 talk was a lot meltier.
I met Steve Stedman in the flesh, after taking part in a Database Corruption Challenge he had run earlier in the year. As it turned out, Steve and I did some business together in 2016 as a direct result of this networking. It works, folks.
On Friday evening, David Klee invited a group of us to try again at karting. In 2014, due to bad planning with taxis, we missed out, but ended up crashing a birthday party of my favourite Australian, Rob Farley. Rob and I got to know each other during Steve Stedman’s corruption challenge too.
2015 was more successful at karting too, because I won the final race with David coming in a very close second place.
Summit 2016?
More networking. More karaoke. Because I’ll only be arriving on Tuesday this year, I will miss some of the unsanctioned festivities, but rest assured I’ll catch up with everyone again. I also plan to have my brain melted by Bob Ward. Alas, his talk is the same time as Gail Shaw’s, so I won’t be able to heckle her.
Advice for newcomers
If this is your first year, definitely do the orientation first, and check out the sessions that interest you.
On the other hand, don’t forget to introduce yourself to new people and talk to them about SQL Server. If you are on Twitter, and follow any of us in the SQL family on Twitter, come and say hi. (Heck, even Grant Fritchey, Executive Vice President of PASS, agrees.)
I’ll be wearing my trademark black EAT SLEEP RAVE REPEAT CREATE READ UPDATE DELETE sweater (don’t worry: I have three of them, and they get washed). Since I have terrible concentration, eyesight, hearing, etc., I’m usually sitting right at the front of each session I attend, so you can’t miss me.
Speaking of Twitter, come find me on @bornsql or @rabryst and let me know if you’ll be at Summit 2016. Come to Denny’s karaoke evening.
The golden rule applies to Summit, as it does in life. If you’re respectful to fellow attendees, the favour is returned, and you’ll become lifelong friends with lots of folks, who will be happy to help you out in a bind.