Recommendations, Endorsements, and More on the 2015 PASS Election

We have four good candidates this year, of which two are incumbents. I was asked by Argenis and Tim to provide references for their applications and I was glad to do so – both meet the requirements in my view to be candidates based on their contributions to PASS. I’m finding it hard to decide […]

Improving Networking at PASS Events–Part 1

This week I’m spending some drive time thinking about how we might improve networking at SQLSaturday and that led to me thinking about the general state of networking within PASS. Some early thoughts on networking in general: It’s not enough to put people in a room and say “network” It’s not enough to put like […]

Does SQLSaturday Increase Chapter Attendance?

One of the big goals for SQLSaturday was for it to be a membership drive. It’s worked hugely well in some ways; we’ve added tremendously to the number of PASS members, grown the size of the Chapter mailing lists (for those that held a SQLSat), and introduced a lot of people to PASS/Chapters. But has […]

Next oPASS Meeting is July 23, 2015 with David Crook

The next OPASS meeting is July 23, 2015, featuring David Crook from Microsoft doing a presentation on predicting home value using Azure. Should be interesting!

The End of SQLRally

PASS announced yesterday the end of the SQLRally brand. It was disappointing news for an idea that started with such promise. It’s a minimal impact decision as Rally had long been dead here in the US and I imagine the international users will be able to proceed using the SQLSaturday brand (and it’s tool set) […]

Thoughts on the PASS BAC

I recently read PASS and Business Analytics: A Winning Combination on the PASS blog and it reminded me that I’ve been wanting to write some thoughts and concerns related to the BAC. I start this acknowledging I’m looking at things from a DBA perspective and that I haven’t attended a BAC. I don’t think those preclude […]

Changes to the 2015 PASS Board Elections

PASS just posted Changes to the 2015 PASS Board Elections based on feedback from the 2014 NomCom. I was part of that team, so now that the process is complete I want to add some comments on the process and the results. They are, of course, my opinion only – I don’t speak for PASS or other […]

oPASS June 2015: Using BI Power tools to visualize your SQL Infrastructure with Rodney Landrum

The next oPASS meeting is tomorrow night (June 25, 2015): DBAs do not always have time to work with some of the amazing visual data tools that are becoming common place now for analysts. In this presentation I will show how in just a few very easy steps you can learn more than the basics […]

Seeking Full Day Seminars For The Friday Before SQLSaturday Orlando 2015

We’re planning to run one or two (or maybe even three) seminars (aka pre-cons) in conjunction with SQLSaturday Orlando 2015. What are we looking for? An interesting topic. I know that’s vague, so let’s say we want a topic that will be of interest to 15+ people willing to pay to attend. A good abstract. […]

Notes from the June 17, 2015 MagicPASS Meeting

Notes: Kendal has been doing an exam push focused on 70-461. A couple passed so far, a couple more tried and not quite, planning to do a retake. Last night they were running through practice questions as a group. Interesting way to make the group feel like a group, but also a little distracting. I […]