I currently write the editorial for the PASS Connector which is published every two weeks as part of my role on the Board of Directors. I'm cross posting those editorials here as well as to the main PASS blog. (A bit late posting this one)

There’s 2  big pieces of news at PASS this week: the launch of the PASS Summit web site, and the call for speakers for PASS Summit 2009, which is open through midnight, April 10, 2009. We’re looking for speakers to bring value and diversity to what we believe is the best SQL Server event in the country! Do you have some hard won experience you want to share? Or maybe you have a colleague that is really good and ready to take the next step? Submitting an abstract only takes a few minutes and if it’s accepted, the speaker earns free admittance to the main conference and the opportunity to add ‘national speaker’ to their resume – not a small thing.

Last year we had about 400 abstracts selected and room for just over a 100 presentations, fair warning that the competition is fierce! I don’t participate in the selection process, but based on my previous experience if you want to maximize your chances of success you should:

· Submit  abstracts on topics you’re absolutely passionate about

· Put a lot of effort into the title and description of the abstract – make it sound interesting to attendees

It takes some time after the call for speakers closes to build the final schedule and let everyone know the results. Imagine having 400 presentations and being tasked with building a schedule that has content for beginner to expert level attendees, a mix of topics from SSIS to Performance Tuning to CLR to Spatial Indexes, a mix of experienced speakers with some new ones – and while doing that look at the PASSPort of every person that submits an abstract to determine if they have enough experience to justify selecting them. I don’t envy Director Lynda Rab and her team of volunteers that task!

Speaking of the 2009 Summit, it’s a good time to start working on your plans to attend. Registration is open and if you register by May 1 it’s only $1395. I know I said only, but if you wait to register you’ll spend $1795 – by doing it now you save $400 and you could use that $400 to cover a good chunk of the travel expenses. It may sound like a sales pitch – and I suppose it is to a degree – but I’ve been to the PASS Summit every year since 2000 and I’ve always found it to be worth the investment of time and money.

Have a question about the call for speakers?  Email marcella.santoso@sqlpass.org. Any other questions on the Summit or PASS in general? Post a question to the PASS blog or just email me at andy.warren@sqlpass.org.