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SQL PASS – Your Brain Can’t Afford For You To Not Attend

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It’s hard to believe we’re rapidly approaching the next Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Summit in November.  I was sitting in a planning meeting eating a bowl of ice cream, in shorts (telecommuting ROCKS) when the server jockey mentioned they would not have hardware for a new SQL node for another 4-8 weeks.  I found myself already having to schedule my workload against a (THE) November Summit. 

Therefore it is time for me to start blogging in sprint mode on the sheer wealth of knowledge and experience you’ll gain by not only associating yourself with PASS, but in also attending the Summit.  In 2002 I had been working with SQL Server for a couple years.  I showed up, did my job, went home.  WHILE Day <> ‘Friday’ LOOP.  Once I attended my first conference I was hooked.  I started to see that I could get involved and make a difference, that the stars of the community were not only accessible, but were decent folk that liked to answer questions, offer suggestions, and just plain socialize. 

A few little known facts about some of the PASS Summit’s MOS (Most Valuable Speakers):

You stand within 5 feet of Itzik Ben Gan and your I.Q. jumps 4 points. 

You sit in the front row of a Kim Tripp/Paul Randal 2-for-1 session and your indexes automatically defragment themselves when you return home and touch your keyboard’s Windows’ button with your left thumb (if you’re right-handed.) 

If you find yourself within earshot of current PASS President Wayne Snyder and you’re volunteering for anything within 35 minutes. (It should be noted that they use a recording of Wayne to alert communities along the Eastern seaboard of severe weather when the civil defense sirens don’t do the trick)

So stand up, march into your Manager’s office and tell him/her that you not only want to go to the PASS Summit in November, but that you need to go because you just heard a faint sound of a gentle giant of a man talking about SQL coming out of the South East on a warm breeze and you’re feeling compelled to attend the Summit no matter what.  Plus these indexes ain’t going to fix themselves unless you go to Seattle and get your Index Mojo from a certain pre/post-con or two.  Details are available here.

Next post in the series:  How I Found Myself on the Wrong Side of the Law (more than once) at Previous PASS Summits – and LOVED It.