Well, as many of you in this space may already know that SQLSaturday#59 in @MS HQ in NYC, on November 20th, 2010 has been scheduled, and planning is underway.  Registration is already open, and we expect to have a packed crowd on that day, so, if you are planning to attend, do register as soon as possible!

Register here: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/59/register.aspx

Since I have volunteered to help scout out speakers and sponsors for the event, we just completed our first "kick-off" conference call last night, with Melissa Demcsak (aka SQLDiva), and other esteemed volunteers to discuss strategy and logistics,as well as to assign volunteers to various roles.  We also discussed the schedule, speaker slots and sponsorship packages, which, are at the moment, still available!

We are still calling for Speakers to submit their sessions, as well as filling our Sponsorship packages fast!

Speakers: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/59/callforspeakers.aspx

Sponsors: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/59/sponsors.aspx

The call went very smoothly, and I was impressed with everyone's professionalism, knowledge, and dedication to make this event the best SQLSaturday in NYC ever!  Every aspect of the day was discussed, and I was amazed by the level of details.  From sponsors to speakers, registration and security, breakfast and lunch, room setup, to who's gonna take out the trash and clean up (us DBA's are a messy bunch :-).  WOW!   Of course, it helped that Melissa and company have already been through this drill before in April, 2010, and with many lessons learned, it is sure to be a fantastic day of learning, lunching, prizes and networking with your colleagues, favorite vendors and MVP/SQL speakers.

We are expecting 300+ folks (DBAs and BI professionals), who are sure to be in a great mood, as it kicks off around the beginning of the holiday season.  Since it does fall out a week before Thanksgiving, and around the same time of PASS and SQLConnections, our SQLSaturday event in NYC, is a great alternative for East Coasters, who want to stick around close to home, and/or cannot make the PASS or SQLConnections conference.  What better way to spend the day in NYC at SQLSaturday to get FREE SQL Server training and do a little pre-holiday shopping? 🙂

As we are still accepting speaker sessions and no official announcements yet on who's going to be speaking, I think it's safe to say (since they've been publicly blogging about it), we are honored to have SQLServerCentral's own Steve Jones coming out to the Big Apple, and the return of the ScaryDBA, Grant Fritchey! 

Everyone's doing a great job, and look forward to making this day happen, as well as seeing my old friends and colleagues, and making new ones!

Please continue to watch this space for continuing announcements and updates, as well as visit our event home page: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/59/eventhome.aspx for all pertinent details.  Be sure to bookmark the page!

SQLSaturday is a training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. This event will be held on November, 20 2010 at Microsoft Offices in Midtown Manhattan.  This event is being organized by the NJ SQL Server User Group (www.njsql.org) along with other local MVPs and other volunteers from the NY/NJ area

See you soon!