I saw it in the Connector, but just had time to read the minutes to see what was behind the decision to end the SQLRally franchise in the US. The minutes had precious little to say:

The Board evaluated the revenue, resources, and sustainability of the SQLRally NA model and decided that there will not be a SQLRally NA in the near term. The Board discussed the need to communicate this message to the community. Any feedback from the community should be directed to Bill.

Near term means not in 2013, and not in 2014 because no one will be budgeting for it. That to me just confirms what I said when no 2013 event was scheduled – it’s dead in the US.

We had two successful Rally’s, why stop?

The funny thing is the upcoming BA Conference feels a lot like SQLRally BI Edition. Hopefully with more attendees. Definitely more expensive.

I’m biased of course, I sweated the details on the first one. I knew then we wouldn’t get it all right and that it would need tweaking, but it was worth doing and I think still is. I look back and while I still love the idea of giving our members a more affordable option and filling the space between SQLSaturday and the Summit, the part I most mourn for is we won’t be doing as much to grow the next generation of leaders. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a missed opportunity.

It might be a good decision, it’s hard to tell. I think it’s a shame the Board didn’t challenge themselves and us by saying “we need to change this to keep going” or “we can keep going if you can do with x dollars and y hours, and no more”. That’s where it started,with the Board saying we could do the first one with a guarantee of $25,000 in working capital.