Thursday. Slept a little better but still waking up on east coast time. Not a lot to do in Seattle at 3:00 am!

Keynote was horrible. Well intentioned, not a matter of failed demos or anything, it was just…long. I try not to be hyper-critical, but they were selling us on integration and we all get that, we all want to do that stuff, but we – to generalize – are the ones that get to decide that. It was a very good idea to help us understand how it might work, it just somehow seemed ineffective.

PASS Board, I’ll say it again, for the nth year. Keynotes are incredibly valuable time, for the attendees and the presenter. Use that time well! The PASS portion was ok to good, deliver a message, move on to the show. I could suggest tweaks,but it as fine. Day 1 keynote was good,even better than good in places. Day 2, just not there. Keynotes are hard. It’s not enough to understand your topic, to be a good speaker, you have to understand your audience and their expectations. Don’t let anyone up there that won’t wow the audience, and there are many paths to doing that. I watched a LOT of people reading email on their phones because they were bored but polite.

Lunch was not as good as day 1. Green beans two days in a row? Someone got a good deal on the green beans?!

I did some more networking of the refresh kind. Looking at this trip so far its been more about reconnecting than making new connections. In part maybe because I’m just in low key mode, in part because I just needed time with people I trust to talk through where I’m at and thinking about going.

Dinner was at Farestarter with the Friends of Red Gate (thank you for inviting me!) and a very very nice dinner and good conversation. These events vary by vendor, this one has always been pleasant and comfortable. No sales pitch. Perhaps the most interesting was hearing that they’ve found it far – easier?- to build tools in the SQL Server space compared to Oracle because of the large community. They can get feedback, understand the various use cases. Isn’t that interesting how the ecology shapes and reshapes itself?

Then I joined the crowd walking down to the official after hours event by the Space Needle, then left there to hit one more late party before heading for the hotel sometime after 11pm. Long day, but good!