Last week my partner in crime, Bobby Dimmick (blog | twitter) and I sat down for lunch and caught up and asked the question, "What's next?" Bobby and I discussed plans and goals for next year and what became pretty apparent very quickly is that neither of us are geared up to do another SQL Saturday next year. If you don't recognize Bobby's name, he has been the co-organizer of the two SQL Saturdays in Columbia, SC, and was co-organizer of the last Columbia Code Camp. He's more of a behind-the-scenes guy being a middleware-centric developer, and likes just making things work and flow well.

There were a couple of reasons that entered into our decision:

• We've heard other locales around us are considering doing a SQL Saturday for next year. We don't want to stand in their way because it's a great experience and you learn a lot. Also, we don't want to dilute the SQL Saturdays with too many events nearby drawing speakers and attendees. There is such a thing as too much.
• We want to do something architecture-wise (IT-related, not buildings) instead. Whether this would be a one day event or a mini-conference, we're not sure. This was an idea Bobby came up with and we reached out to a few folks and they thought it might work, so we're going to explore this further. This is an area Bobby and I both work in, me more on the security & infrastructure side and Bobby on the application side, and it's an area that hasn't been done a lot. We like trying new things in the community, so look for more on this, probably on Bobby's blog.

If you're doing a SQL Saturday anywhere near us, especially if you're tackling one for the first time, we'll be more than glad to offer advice and help out as we can. We'd love to see others succeed and get a foot in the community at large.