Notes on the 2020 PASS Virtual Summit – Part 4

Last night (Tuesday) was the main reception and then “networking bubbles”. The reception consisted of DJ Leanne playing assorted music (and seeming to have a good time doing so) with a chat window for attendees and a bartender/mixer (mixologist?) making a few variations of a SQL Sipper .Reading that, it probably feels underwhelming and I […]

Serious Thoughts About PASS

Back when Covid started I guessed that this might be yet another live-or-die challenge for PASS. PASS is heavily dependent on Summit revenue and uses it to fund all the other stuff. Looking at the most recent budget notes (see the PASS blog) there’s a forecasted shortfall of $1.5m and that’s if they hit their […]

Vote in the PASS Election

If you login to pass.org AND have previously met the criteria to vote this year, you’ll see this. Click the button and you’ll be off to the voting page where you can pick three candidates from the slate. I haven’t endorsed anyone this year and I’m not going to announce my choices either. Read the […]

Notes on the 2020 PASS Virtual Summit – Part 3

Tuesday notes! Today I’m in Execution Plans in Depth by Hugo Kornelis. Notes: Today the presenter is using the Cadmium/EventScribe platform instead of GotoWebinar Started off with a lot of people not being able to hear the presenter, that was fixed quickly Being able to see questions and comments is nice. Not much traffic there […]

Notes on the 2020 PASS Virtual Summit – Part 2

Writing most of this Monday afternoon while on lunch break. I’m attending the Advanced T-SQL Querying and Query Tuning pre-con by Itzik Ben-Gan. You access pre-cons via the Virtual Summit web site or app, but in this case (idk, may all pre-cons) it’s presented via GotoWebinar. Quick notes on the experience: All users muted due […]

Notes on the 2020 PASS Virtual Summit – Part 1

I’m in learning mode this week, scheduled for two full day pre-cons plus the Summit. I’ve been to a couple of virtual events already this year, but they were ones where I had never been to the in-person version so it was hard to compare things. For the Summit my goal is to try to […]

Getting Your Employer to Pay for the PASS Summit

It’s just over 30 days to the 2020 PASS Summit and that is plenty of time to get the boss to say yes, but you have to ask! I point that out because a lot of people don’t ask and if you don’t ask, it’s the rare manager who is going to remember (or care) […]

Thinking About the 2021 PASS Summit

I know that we don’t yet know how the 2020 Summit will turn out, but I’ll make some guesses: A lot of people like it for the lower cost, no travel, and lower stress A lot of people will still want the in-person option if it’s available next year (or whenever) I know, not exactly […]

Cancelling SQLSaturday Orlando 2020

I’m sure it’s no surprise, but we’ve decided to cancel SQLSaturday Orlando 2020. We decided a couple weeks ago but it’s been tough to summon the energy to write it down – we’ve had a continuous run since 2007 and we hated to break the chain. We considered a virtual event, but for me it […]

Thoughts on the PASS Virtual Summit

Some thoughts on the PASS Virtual Summit this year: Clearly the in-person option wasn’t doable. Just too hard to know infection rate, local rules, employer travel guidelines, attendee and speaker risk tolerance – all factors. Plus, social distancing is really the antithesis of what the in-person event is about. That leaves the option of going […]