July 31, 2016 at 3:47 pm
I was an attendee at the first SQL Saturday in 2007 :-). I live in Tampa and the event was on the other side of Orlando (Lake Mary) from here - about 120 miles. I have an incredible husband who not only drove with me to the event and back that day, but also sat in on a few of the sessions with me. He is not in IT so it was all Greek to him.
Since then, I have attended a couple of the SQL Saturdays here in Tampa. It's a great event and I am thankful to have them available close to home.
July 31, 2016 at 5:07 pm
780 km.
One hour 25 minutes flight 2.5 hours back ( 2 hops) New Plymouth- Christchurch NZ ( First time this year)
There are not a lot of SQL events to attend in my area so this is a good opportunity to meet fellow SQLers .
August 1, 2016 at 5:00 am
Last year I made it to SQL Saturday in Manchester (the only SQL Saturday I've been to) - about 30 miles. This year I didnt make it (last minute family issues).
But I don't see distance as much of a limit, except when it will entail overnight stay or international flights, with each of which one gets the choice between expensive and uncomfortable.
To give an idea of what my limit would be, when I worked at Nelson Research Labs I regularly travelled to Cambridge for Mathlab seminars - it's so long ago that I can't remember exactly how many, but it was somewhere between a dozen and 30 during the 18 months I worked there: in those days (1960s) before there was much in the way of useful motorway in the UK, that was about 150 miles if one wanted roads allowing reasonably fast driving (it's about 125 mile now, with the M6 and the upgraded A14 providing fast roads just about all the way) - something like 3 hours drive; or a 5 hour journey by train (had to go either via London, with a long wait between trains, or via Oxford which was a lot longer, or other routes with more changes of train and yet longer journey time).
Tom
August 1, 2016 at 5:45 am
25.8 miles one-way.
Detroit (well, Southfield,) Michigan, don't recall the year.
Nope, I wasn't a speaker.
I might consider going further afield to attend a SQL Saturday, but I'd have to look at making a weekend of it (bring the wife along, which means someplace with things for her to do while I'm at the event, plus house / dog sitting arranged, plus budgeting for it,) and even then I'd really likely only go so far as Chicago, IL / Toronto, ON, CA / Dayton, OH. And there'd have to be several sessions that really caught my attention (and ideally with speakers I'd really like to hear, such as Grant, Brent O, Steve Jones, Gail, etc.)
I'm wondering if the new 600 mile limit might be part of the reason that the Detroit SQL Saturday (I think it was next year,) isn't on the list of SQL Saturdays now...
August 1, 2016 at 6:14 am
OK, now that I've read through the responses, some comments on the whole situation...
I do think the 600 mile *radius* is far too big. Possibly stepping it down to a 300 mile radius might help, or dividing areas up into "zones." What happens in a zone, does not affect another zone, the "SQL Saturday exclusion zone" stops at a zone border.
Using the US and Canada as an example, perhaps the US gets broken up into 6 zones (Easy coast, West coast, Southern, Northern, Alaska, and Hawaii zones,) Canada could possibly be zoned by province. A zone would always include entire States (so, for example, New York wouldn't get cut in two.) Something similar could be set up for Europe, Australia, Africa, etc. Yes, I suspect this would complicate things as far as the paperwork to keep track of which events will affect which, but I think it would open up some breathing room for the smaller events.
August 1, 2016 at 6:50 am
I haven't been to a SQL Saturday. I would go if they had one in my local area.
August 1, 2016 at 9:15 am
Maybe local user SQL Server groups should organize van pools for out-of-town SQL Saturday events. Not only would it help mitigate the expense of travel, but it would event even more social and fun. They could meetup at the usual location early saturday morning, and then arrive back later that eventing.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
August 1, 2016 at 1:14 pm
Hi Steve,
I attended my first SQL Saturday in 2013 at the Huntington Beach location, which is about 10 miles from my home. Since then I've also attended SQL Saturdays in San Diego (90 miles), Phoenix (380 miles), Silicon Valley twice (also 380 miles) and Sacramento (410 miles). I probably wouldn't attend an event any farther than Sacramento because I prefer to drive rather than fly (less hassle, and cheaper since I'm footing the bill).
Mike
EDIT: I was not a speaker at any of these events.
August 1, 2016 at 2:15 pm
I haven't been to one of these conferences, but can assure you that there is no way I would travel even half the 600 miles for a single day event.
As for the data, I would think someone already has the data that is needed to either support, or refute the rule. Every conference I have been to asks for attendee's address. Even if not, it would be a simple thing to at least ask for a zip code which gives enough resolution.
August 1, 2016 at 2:21 pm
Iwas Bornready (8/1/2016)
I haven't been to a SQL Saturday. I would go if they had one in my local area.
Define "local"?
Michael L John
If you assassinate a DBA, would you pull a trigger?
To properly post on a forum:
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/61537/
August 1, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Think the furthest I actually went may have been 30-40 miles. I'm not really willing to go much further than that. Just attending as an attendee, not a speaker. (And even for the local events, I can rarely make them due to other commitments. I'm grateful for the opportunities, but family will win pretty much all the time for me.) I don't really get the whole "600 mile" radius rule, even with the latest update to say that it's just following roads. Even with roads, it's not 600 miles from DFW to Nashville and I'm not going to make that drive to attend a SQL Saturday. I am totally in favor of scaled back events with maybe a charge for lunch, though. As an attendee, I'm coming to something like this to learn and maybe to chat with others. I'm not there for swag.
August 1, 2016 at 3:25 pm
1. about 100 miles
2. 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 all in Portland, OR
3. No, but I am a chapter leader in my area, and I have coordinated a carpool 2 of those times.
August 1, 2016 at 3:39 pm
Hi Steve,
I live in Phoenix, AZ and have traveled to SQL Saturdays in:
Phoenix (of course 🙂 )
Las Vegas, NV
Silicon Valley (Mtn View), CA
I've also considered traveling to the SQL Saturdays in San Diego and Albuquerque, but each time I those two venues came around the sessions good enough to warrant the travel.
I personally think that SQL Saturdays are well worth a few hours travel by car and an overnight stay. Generally, my travel & lodging costs are around $400. I'm hoping that the new rules do not diminish the speak pool (as Hugo mentioned) or reduce the session quality.
I think SQL Saturday's are great especially since many of the speakers present the same sessions that they present at PASS (albeit a shorter version).
Thanks,
Peter
August 2, 2016 at 9:04 am
Eric M Russell (8/1/2016)
Maybe local user SQL Server groups should organize van pools for out-of-town SQL Saturday events. Not only would it help mitigate the expense of travel, but it would event even more social and fun. They could meetup at the usual location early saturday morning, and then arrive back later that eventing.
Eric, I like this idea. I also don't think many people will do it. I find a lot of people don't really like to socialize.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
August 2, 2016 at 9:43 am
Rod at work (8/2/2016)
Eric M Russell (8/1/2016)
Maybe local user SQL Server groups should organize van pools for out-of-town SQL Saturday events. Not only would it help mitigate the expense of travel, but it would event even more social and fun. They could meetup at the usual location early saturday morning, and then arrive back later that eventing.Eric, I like this idea. I also don't think many people will do it. I find a lot of people don't really like to socialize.
We like to socialize, we just don't like to interact with people. 😀
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