First SQL Saturday in Pittsburgh

It was an honor to speak at the first SQL Saturday in Pittsburgh. The company I

We even got some professional development done while I was in the office.

currently work for is based out of Pittsburgh so I flew in a week early and traded my work from home lifestyle this week for working in the office.  It was fun to do some training and mentoring in person this week.  One of my coworkers went all out and hosted a great BBQ dinner while my boss picked me up at 1:30am on a Monday morning and let me crash with him all week.  I am very lucky to work with some great people.

For this event I had two goals. One, help Gina anyway possible with finding speakers and sponsors. Second, I wanted to encourage and help some great local DBA’s in Pittsburgh give their first #sqlpass presentation. So, months before this event I gave myself a personal challenge to target three great DBA’s in Pittsburgh and I tried to get them to deliver their first presentation locally at the SQL Saturday.  I was very happy to help and see two of the three potential speakers give great presentations.  They even filled all the seats and had standing room only.  One of them has even caught the speaking bug and submitted abstracts to SQL Saturday in DC.

Speakers Dinner…

The SQL Saturday committee did a great job on picking a venue for the speakers dinner. We meetup at the Rivers Casino across the river from downtown. We had a great view Mt. Washington and the Point. I wish I could have stayed longer but I had a work item that needed to be completed.

Day of the Event..

I started the morning by giving my Performance for Pirates (code, tools and

Kon did a great job for his first presentation with the room being packed!

videos provided with link) presentation.  Next, I got the opportunity to catch Eric Keeps dive into ORM that make DBA’s happy.  I was surprised when Eric showed one that allowed developers and DBA’s to build the SQL statements.  Finally, I caught Konstantin Melamud who presented an ”Introduction to Execution Plans” session.  He did a fantastic job, most of the people in the room wouldn’t know it was his first #sqlpass presentation.

One of the most important parts of attending SQL Saturday’s is to catchup and extend your network.  I love catching up with my #SQLFamily and extending it too.  I had a great time catching up with Karla Landrum,  Joey Dantoni, Rick Heiges, Craig Purnell, Eric Kepes and more (too many to list all!).  After some networking I had to cut out early to catch my flight. I was able to hitch a ride to the airport with Joey and get a sneak peek into traveling like a rockstar as he got me through priority checkin and the US Airways club. Thanks Joey!

The After Event Buzz…

Finally, its now close to a week after the event and I am still hearing good news about the event. We were able to round up about ten co-workers to join in and attend the event.  They are still talking about the event and cannot wait for the next one.  Many of them mentioned that they are going to start attending the Pittsburgh SQL Server User Group meetings, a few are considering going to the SQL Saturday in DC in December.  If this isn’t #SQLWinning I don’t know what is!