SQLPASS Summit Wednesday Keynote – Part 1

I know I mostly skipped a day, but I'll have to post it later…falling behind.  This morning we were up at 7, eating at 7:30, and interviewing Brian Knight at 8.  I'm mostly listening to the keynote and following along in Twitter, so today's blog will be Twitter driven.

I missed the recognition portion of the morning keynote…but I did get to see Grant Fritchey (@GFritchey) in a kilt.

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Announcements: Women in Technology lunch – inspiring women to pick a career in technology. We bought my daughter a computer at age 5, so I think we're aligned in purpose.

Another announcement: MVP Deep Dives book, a compliation of something like 50 full chapters by MVPs, on sale today. They'll also have a book signing. Book sales benefit WarChild.org.

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And now, introducing Tom Casey, General Manager, Microsoft.

@sqlfool: Tom says that only 20% of business users have the data they need to do their job effectively. Call to arms to improve that number #sqlpass


Talking about customers, product, stressing a new class of experiences tht we need to bring to the users.  What? (Hey, these are my notes, and it's what I thought.)

– How foundations can enable you to emerge stronger
– Bring experiences and agility
– Be more effective and efficient
– And how you can continue to do those things using SQL Server, SharePoint, and Office.

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Intro: Ron Van Zant, company is Premiere Bank Card. THey issue MasterCards.  20% growth thsi year.

@mrdenny: Doing a quick customer testimonial from Ron VanZanten from First premier bank.

@pinaldave: At #sqlpass I just learned that in recession credit card usage is increased and credit company did very well – I wonder why ? 🙂

By the way, that's TOTALLY what I thought. They played the song "What I like about you" as the customer testimonial guy walked offstage. Life is in the details…

@AdamMachanic: #sqlpass Where is David DeWitt when you need him? Come on, give us something interesting, not a bunch of marketing.

AGREED.

@BrentO: Yesterday's #sqlpass keynote theme: ponytails. Today: blue shirts.

@AdamMachanic: #sqlpass Last five minutes in short: "New technology is cool" <– And air is good! (Me.)

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Tom Casey spent some time talking about THAT guy. Lots of comments on that.
@KeKlein  Tom Casey "Let's find a way to work with THAT GUY" #sqlpass
GFritchey: That guy! I hate that guy! #sqlpass
SQLDBA: Ooooo, I hate "that guy" #sqlpass

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There's a box on the right side of the stage, under a blanket. Commentary:

Me: You following at home: What's in the box? (Right side of stage.) #sqlpass http://twitpic.com/o9950

@BenchmarkIT  so what do YOU think is under the black blanket??? 😀 #sqlpass (keynote)

@SQLChicken: remember it IS an Microsoft event so it could be malaria-carrying mosquitoes #sqlpass


@tjaybelt: its a flat screen covered up and camouflaged. if i look directly at it, it seems to disapear

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Moving right along…


BrentO: New sexy #sqlpass phrase – "spreadmarts."

BillInKC: Spreadmarts, never heard that before but I'm going to use it religiously #sqlpass
 @mrdenny: New phrase "spreadmarts". Spreadsheets which are data marts. I love the word. #sqlpass

SQL Pass Summit pre conference – Networking and Karaoke

It's Tuesday, day 3 of MY SQLPASS, and day 1 of the actuall PASS Summit.  I'm sitting at the bloggers table with some famous internet bloggy folks, listening to the president of MS Server and Tools, and I'm feeling good.

That takes me back to last night, where 20 of my closest summit friends and I walked a mile downhill and to the left, through what is most definitively Seattle's little Asia, to a fabulous little karaoke bar.  The locals put on a great show, and then the PASS crew – say REPRESENT! – raised the roof with all your favorite hits.  If you want to see a few grainy pix, check out Denny Cherry's TwitPic:

One of the hits of the night was an old Chinese guy who got up and sang a beautiful, soulful and (most importantly) in tune "And I'm Feeling Good".  Sean and I cut out early (around midnight) for some soup at Ho Ho Seafood Kitchen, and got some sleep.

Backing up again…Sunday and Monday were all about meeting people.  Being here is great, being here with an insider like Sean as my guide is supergreat.  But the best possible thing I could've done for myself is to get involved in the community beforehand, and I did.  When I got here, I already knew more than 30 people. We're past the days where you have no choice but to show up at a conference knowing only the 2 guys from your user group that're also attending.  We have forums and blogs and Twitter.  We have great magazines and websites and wiki sites.  Coming to a conference with preexisting penpals is a very different experience from coming to a conference and knowing no one. 

It also opens you up to approach and talk to the people you admire, the officers and authors and other various bigwigs, because you talk to them online, you're familiar with their blogs, you've emaild them questions about their latest book.  You guys who didn't get to come to the summit, yeah, it sucks…but you still get to be a part of the community and talk to people, get names, ask questions, and pass notes in class like the rest of us.  Hell, I think Jorge Segarra (SQLChicken on Twitter) is the most famous Twitterer, and he's a non-attendee…no, let's call him a "virtual attendee".

Greg Low hosted the chapter leader meeting yesterday, and that was interesting.  Everything has been affected by the bad economy, and the PASS board were afraid they were looking at up to a 40% drop in attendance this year…no small worry when you're resource and amenity planning for a few thousand people.  Something that I also hasn't thought about is the summit location. The PASS Summit was held in Seattle this year and last to take advantage of all the local Microsoft folks that wouldn't be available if the conference were hosted in, say, Chicago.  It's a big consideration, and PASS leadership are very interested in our, and your, opinions on the matter. Should the summit be in Seattle every year to get that?  Should it move around to make it available to potential attendees who can't travel?

There was an interesting side note from Gail Shaw, the SSUG lead from South Africa, and Pinal Dave of India. When asked whether one side of the country was better for attendees from the other side of the world, Gail said "It's a 22 hour trip here, or 18 hours to the east coast. It doesn't really matter."  You know that's one killer trip when a 4 hour flight doesn't really factor in.

Quick notes: Paul Randal and Kim Tripp's preconference session got amazingly high marks.  I didn't go, but it sure was fun following Paul on Twitter as he fed Kim fake questions through Twitter: "So how many indexes do I need?"

The Quiz Bowl last night was simply killer.  It was done in the style of Jeopardy, with categories of increasingly difficult questions.  The teams were Paul and Kim, Brent Ozar and Kevin Klein, Grant Fritchey and Joe Webb.  It was hilarious, and Paul and Kim cleaned up (thanks in large part to about 6 DBCC questions…Paul WROTE DBCC!)  I sure hope there's going to be a vid of that available…there's nothing like 20 SQL puns in a row…

Some other wonderful Summit blogs:

I'm done for today, gotta get on sessions and meetings and interviews. We're also doing two or three giveaways today, so remember to follow us on Twitter!

-Jen McCown, http://www.MidnightDBA.com
Blogging for http://www.SQLServerPedia.com

We’re at the PASS conference!!

It's been one hell of a great day.

Quick images:

  • Having a beer called "moose drool" at the Taphouse with Sean, Alan and Cindy White 
  • Bumping into Pinal Dave in the Sheraton elevator
  • Playing the business card shuffle with several guys in the lobby
  • Passing Andy Leonard on the way to register
  • SQLFool (what is your name, woman!) asking for a MidnightDBA button. (And you can have one!)
  • Seeing Denny Cherry's blue hair. Nice effect…
  • Sean talking Kenpo to Grant Fritchey

But let's back up a bit first.  Timeline of random thoughts:

Nov 1 2009, 11:15am
So I'm about a zillion feet in the air, in seat 11E – the middle seat.  Sean is sitting in the aisle behind me, and the people in my row and I are steadfastly ignoring each other. The man to my left is reading a book and eating a deli sandwich with packet mustard, and it smells good. I have to surpress the urge to say, Hey, can I have a bite of that?  Just to see the reaction.  I might under other circumstances, but over the years I've found that not everybody gets me, and we're stuck in here for another three hours.

11:51pm 
Just glanced out the window. I love the circles in squares look of the landscape below. Some are even done in pie chart form, where only a third is dark. It's clearly due to farming plots that have circular irrigation systems, but I prefer to think they've done this to please me.

12:07
From Twitter Wit: "I absolutely live for small dried fruits. They're my raisin d'etre."  And,
"A haiku is like
A poem with OCD
Now go check the stove". 
And, "Sometimes I worry I'm  one of those people from the black & white parts of infomercials whose lives are held hostage by things like pockets."

12:19
Flying over the Rockies.  I think.  Maybe they put in a new mountain range while I wasn't paying attention.  Beautiful though.

12:32
Cool, the webcam on the netbook works. I love this little machine.  Battery says it has 2.5 hours left, and that doesn't suck.

1:17pm
Post visit-the-loo-and-hang-around-stretching trip, one more from Twitter Wit: "Overheard: If you torture data long enough, you can get it to confess to anything."

1:21pm
Rediscovered: "Take 5"s are AWESOME.

1:30
*sigh* and another, because I actually do this: "When I fake-type on my desk and feel like I've made a fake-type, I fake-backspace to correct it. This is my life."

Note: An hour after my netbook said 2.5 hours left, it now says 2:20 hours left. I don't know how much of the time I've had it open though, so that's hardly news.

Ooh, gotta start following @PirateParenting.

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Got in on time, got out, got a cab.  We're going to meet Alan White, SQL Server MVP & friend of Sean's, at Sheraton, & get something to eat that isn't candy. (We picked up a bag of 50% off halloween candy before we left. That may not have been a good choice.)  Really glad to be here.

I've never been to the PASS Summit, and I've never even been to Seattle. I was born and raised in Anchorage, though, and this place has a very familiar feel, with the cool air & personable landscape.

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7:19 pm This is amazing. Simply amazing.  In 2 hours, I have met something like 15 Tweeps and 20 SQL MVPs and muckety-mucks (all 3 groups overlapping).  We're standing in the conference center right in front of the registration desk, groups of people forming and moving and reforming. It's definitely summer camp…the only thing lacking is someone squirting someone else with a water bottle.

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9:05 pm. We've done little but meet one person after another after another, and it's been – to coin a phrase – totally cool.  A quick and incomplete list (sorry, no links):

  • statistics io – jason massie
  • arcane code – robert c cain
  • aspiringgeek – Jimmy May
  • sqlfool –
  • sqlstrate – Jason Strate
  • benchmarkit – calin stasiuk
  • billinkc – Bill Fellows
  • Adam Machanic
  • Pinal Dave
  • Brad McGehee
  • sqlandy – andy warren
  • Brad McGehee

We hung out with Alan White and his wife Cindy (I SO hope I got that right) most of the evening, and got a great DBAs @ Midnight interview with him filmed!  Great GREAT folks, by the way, though I feel quite sorry for her, hanging around a bunch of IT nerds like us 🙂  Probably used to it…

We hit the hotel hot tub and now we're chilling in the room, doing blogs and tweets and work. I know…we should be at one of the half dozen hangouts going on right now.  But it's gonna be a loooong week, and mama needs some sleep.

Night all!

-Jen McCown, http://www.midnightdba.com/
Blogging for http://www.sqlserverpedia.com/