Several bloggers have posted what their plans are for the PASS Summit and I’m following suit for 2 reasons:
- So people who may want to meet me, hopefully there are some, will know where I’ll be.
- To hopefully give the members of my O.C. group an idea on where to find me.
Sunday
My flight is scheduled to arrive at 3:15pm. I’ll be traveling with Kendal Van Dyke (@sqldba) on this flight.
Once I get checked into the hotel, staying at the Sheraton with Mike Walsh (@mike_walsh), Mike and I are planning on attending a service at Mars Hill Church. If my flight is on time we may be able to make the 5pm service. After church I’d like to try to connect with anyone from my O.C. group who is arriving on Sunday and head to the dinner Andy Warren (@sqlandy) is planning (details). One of the goals of the O.C. is to get people introduced and starting with a dinner with Andy and Don will be a good start.
Since I don’t have anything early on Monday morning I’ll probably use Twitter to find out where people are hanging out and stay out a bit later.
Monday
While I’m not attending a pre-con, I’ll have plenty to do on Monday.
Each morning there will be an opportunity to meet up with other Christians to pray (see Mike Walsh’s post) that I’ll be involved in.
I’ll likely meet up with Andy Warren at Top Pot Donuts (his favorite morning hangout in Seattle) and anyone else who wanders in before anything else happens. Being on Eastern Time still means I’ll probably be awake by 5am.
At 10:00am I’ll be in the SQLSaturday Round Table and then I’ll be trying to meet-up with my any of my O.C. crew and others for lunch.
I believe that there is a volunteer networking session with Don Gabor during the afternoon that I will likely attend.
At 4:30pm there is a 2 hour networking session with Don Gabor that I may attend if any of my O.C. crew registers. I need to get this ironed out this week so I can get that paid for and scheduled.
At 6:00pm I’ll be at the Welcome and Orientation session for new attendees along with my O.C. crew.
From 6:30-8:00 is the Official Welcome Reception and Quiz Bowl and I’ll be at that.
Then I’ll be heading to the SQLServerCentral Party. There is also a Volunteer and Speaker party, but I committed to the SSC party prior to the volunteer party invite coming. I’m frustrated that I can only attend one, but that’s life and there are plenty of people to see at either.
I’m not a big SQLKaroke guy, so I’ll probably turn in early (by midnight).
Tuesday
I’ll probably head to Top Pot Donuts in the morning and then to the convention center before the keynote to try to meet up with my O.C. crew.
Because there is so much I need to learn about it is hard to decide which sessions I’ll be attending throughout the week. I’m also going to try to focus on areas that I have little to no experience like SSAS. There are definitely times I’ll be just hanging out in the convention center talking with people, but here are sessions I may attend:
10:15 – Virtualization and SAN Basics for DBAs – Brent Ozar
I’ve seen Brent speak so I know this will be a good session and I need to better understand Virtualization and SANs. My alternate in this block would be Getting SQL Service Broker Up and Running – Denny Cherry. I know Denny, but have never heard him speak and Service Broker is a technology I think I need to know because I’ll be using it at my office soon.
Lunch is the Birds of a Feather lunch where each table will be hosted by an MVP who will moderate/lead a discussion around a specific topic. Last year I sat at Paul Randal’s table on HA/DR. This was my favorite part of the official Summit. I don’t know what table I’ll be at this year, but whichever one it is will be good I’m sure. I’ll likely pick one where I don’t know the MVP, at least not well, and on a subject I know little about.
1:30 – Entity Framework for the DB Administrator - Faisal Mohamood
Entity Framework is going to be around so I want to know how to use it and deal with it. I probably do more development in my current position than DBA work, so I’m definitely interested. My alternate for this session is Best Practices for Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 with Eric Hanson
3:00 – Demystifying MDX in Reporting Services – Stacia Misner
I follow Stacia on Twitter and would like to meet her. This is also staying with my theme of subjects I’m not familiar with and would like to know more about. My alternate is An MDM Methodololgy with SQL Server 2008 Master Data Services – Paul Bertucci
4:30 - SQLCAT: SQL Server Consolidation - Enabling Tools and Lessons Learned (90 mins) - Guy Bowerman; Prem Mehra; Sylvia Vargas
My alternate is Building FILESTREAM solutions with SQL Server 2008 – Klaus Aschenbrenner
For the evening I’m planning on attending the SQLSentry Party and then who knows? This is what Twitter is for, knowing where to head next.
Wednesday
From 7:00am – 10:15am I will be serving as an Ambassador, helping get people where they need to be, which should be the key note.
10:15 – I’ll be at the Chapter Leader & Regional Mentor meeting
This is the time when the Chapter Leaders meet to help each other and help PASS help us. This is when you find out that you aren’t alone in facing issues with sponsors, speakers, venues, etc…
Today is the Women in Technology luncheon which I missed last year, and I’ll try to attend this year. This is not a female-only event, but an opportunity to discuss the role of women in technology. With a daughter I definitely have an interest in what is happening with women in the work force. I’m also friends with several of the organizers of the luncheon so I want to support them as well.
1:30 - 50 surprising features of SQL Server Business Intelligence - Amir Netz; Donald Farmer
I think BI is an area I need to know to be marketable and you can’t get better than Donald Farmer, right? My alternate for this slot is Making SQL Server Extended Events Work for You – Charles Hawkins
3:00 - Conducting Effective Meetings – Joe Webb
I complain constantly about meetings, so I want to be able to schedule and lead productive meetings if and when I ‘m ever in a position to do that. My alternate is Data Warehouse Design and Architecture Best Practices – Eric Veerman
4:30 - Inside Latching (90 min) – Bob Ward
I didn’t attend Bob Ward’s session last year and found out that I missed one of the best sessions of the Summit. I’m not going to make that mistake this year. This will go beyond locking and help me to better understand some internals. My alternate is Business Intelligence – end-to-end - Donald Farmer; Pej Javaheri; Russell Humphries
Wednesday night is the Microsoft party at Gameworks which I’ll spend some time at and then see where other people end up. As usual, Twitter is the tool I’ll use to find people.
Thursday
This morning’s keynote is by Dr. David DeWitt who had a highly lauded keynote last year. So if you are going to make one keynote this is the one to make. This is where I’ll be.
10:15 - Upgrade and Migrate your SQL Server with Just Minutes of Down Time – Chris Shaw
I’m looking at upgrading from 2005 to 2008 R2 in the next few months, probably January, so this is a session on a subject I can use in the office almost immediately. My alternate is DBA Mythbusters – Paul Randal.
Lunch is the chapter leader lunch and I’ll be at the Orlando table so if you are from the Orlando area be sure to find my table.
1:00 - Starting with More than a Blank Page: Using an Industry Standard Data Model – Karen Lopez
I’ve met Karen and have wanted to hear her speak and this is a great opportunity and good topic to understand. My alternate Know thy Report Server! - James Luetkehoelter
2:30 - Automating SQL Buildouts with Hyper-V and SQL Server 2008 R2 – Robert Davis
Virtualization is an area I want to understand better. My alternate is N-Tier Applications Designed for Optimal Performance – Areas to focus from a connectivity perspective. - Lars Giusti; Luiz Santos
4:00 - SQL Server and Hyper-V - getting the most out of new features – Guy Bowerman
Alternate is ETL from the Trenches: Using SSIS in the Real World – Dave Fackler.
I’ll be having dinner with the Friends of RedGate and then likely heading back to the hotel to get packed up.
Friday
I fly out at 10:30 so I’ll be heading to the airport pretty much first thing in the morning. I’ll be ready to get home to my family by this time.
I know I won’t be in every session. I’ll probably miss the after lunch sessions every day because of lunch discussions. I also want to make sure I make it through the exhibition hall to talk with the vendors. There is definitely something you can learn from the vendors and many of the products are worth taking a look at.
I hope to see you there. Be sure to come say, “Hello” to me during the week.
