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) […]

The End of SQLRally in the US

I saw it in the Connector, but just had time to read the minutes to see what was behind the decision to end the SQLRally franchise in the US. The minutes had precious little to say: The Board evaluated the revenue, resources, and sustainability of the SQLRally NA model and decided that there will not […]

Wrapping Up 2012

Looking back at 2012 I feel like I’ve written less than I planned to, and in some ways done less than I had planned, yet it was a year of tremendous growth for me and not a lost year by any measure. Less travel has been good, if hard to pass up so many great […]

SQLRally 2012 Eval Scores

I was just browsing the results of the presentations at SQLRally 2012. I ended up with a evaluation average of 1.13 (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being good) for the one I did on professional development. To put that in perspective the highest rating for a session was 1.02 and the […]

No More SQLRally In the US

I was disappointed to see the mention in the Connector today that there would be no SQLRally 2013 in the US. Reading the minutes from the May 2012 Board meeting (and you should read it to do your own interpretation) it feels like the decision was made largely on two points – Rally was not […]

SQLRally 2012-Closing Thoughts

It was interesting to watch an event that started 17 months ago with Dallas, Nashville, and Denver submitting applications to the be host city, a long selection process, a long site selection process, and then all the rest that lead up to a successful event this week. I know that a lot of work went […]

SQLRally 2012-Friday

Started the day early, heading to the Convention Center to be at Starbucks at 6:45 for the networking event I was hosting with Craig Purnell (and with coffee paid for by the Dallas SQL Group!). Craig brought some ‘coffee tickets’ so we had some control over the budget and we waited to see how many […]

SQLRally 2012–Thursday

Arrived at the convention center about 7:30, managed to arrive at the right end of the convention center and walked right into the end that had the room for the welcoming session. No coffee available yet. Welcoming remarks were ok, covered PASS, other event formats, chapters, schedule changes, delivered by Sri and Ryan. Sri asked […]

SQLRally 2012–Wednesday

Had a nice lunch at On The Border at Orlando International before my flight, used that time to finish some writing Checked in at the self service kiosk at OIA for my America Airlines flight, was interesting that when I clicked ‘change seat’ I could move from window to aisle on the same row for […]

SQLRally at Starbucks Networking Event

Craig Purnell and I are hosting an informal networking event at SQLRally this year on Friday May 11th from 7-8:30 am. I’ve done this for the past couple years at the Summit with good results, networking over coffee seems natural and approachable. If you’re attending SQLRally this year I hope you’ll join us! Please RSVP […]