PASS Summit/ Syndicated

I’ll Take SQL Quizbowl for 600

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 I’ll be in Seattle in a week.  Hope I see each and every one of you there.  Even more so, I’d like to see you all have a chance to win a Zune, or an Xbox 360 at the Summit’s opening reception on Monday night.  Yes, it is that time of year again.  For the sixth year in a row Louis Davidson (twitter, blog, bio) and I are hosting the PASS SIG Quizbowl, now rebranded as the PASS Virtual Chapters Quizbowl.  Just like the rebranding on the name of the event, we’re also shaking up the format a bit and in doing so each and every attendee at the reception will have an equal chance at winning one of the prizes without ever stepping foot up on stage or answering a single question!  This is because we have some noteable SQL Server Community Celebrities that will be doing all that for you.  Yes, for the first time ever, we’re hosting a Celebrity SQL Quizbowl and our celebs are playing for you.

How is this going to work?

These two wouldn't stand a chance!

These two would not stand a chance!

There will be three teams of players; two players per team.  Each team will also have associated with them a color that corresponds to tickets issued at the doors of the reception.  You take your pick of colored ticket, grab a beverage and some food and wait for the show to begin.  The first item of business will be to assign teams to a color.  To be fair, no one will know what color corresponds to which team until the game starts.  Then it’s a matter of cheering on your team and reaping the benefits of their success.    The winning team will draw a ticket from the hopper.  If your number is called you’ll win the fabulous prizes we have to offer.  Because we want everyone to win, there will be prizes awarded for each place; first, second, and third.

So just who are the contestants?  What are the categories?  Well, we don’t want our contestants spending time studying before the Summit.  We’d rather have them working on their presentations!  So I won’t divulge that here.  I will, however, give you the listing of the SQL Notables that will be participating in this year’s Quizbowl. 

The first team is a duo I’ve wanted to get on stage for this event for a few years now.  Their dynamic presentations and great personalities make their sessions a top draw each year at PASS.  I’m speaking of the team of Kimberly Tripp (twitter, blog, bio) and Paul Randall (twitter, blog, bio), both of SQLSkills.com, both noted SQL Server MVPs, and both with such long resumes that I’m simply going to let their tweets, blogs, and bios do the talking! 

Team two is not going to be a pushover either!  You’ve seen these contestants standing in front of you as a President of PASS and as presenters at PASS, local user groups, and webcasts.  I’ve had the pleasure of hosting a couple sessions with one of these individuals and it was a great learning experience.  I am speaking of Kevin Kline (twitter, blog, bio) and Brent Ozar (twitter, blog, bio), both of Quest Software, both SQL Server MVPs.  I admire Kevin for his dedication to his profession, his community, and to his family.  Brent and I have become fast friends in the 14 months or so that we’ve known each other.

Our final team is the dark horse.  One member, Buck Woody (twitter, blog, bio), is a true Jack-of-All-Trades: Fellow at Pragmatic Works, Instructor at The University of Washington, and Technical Specialist at Microsoft, meanwhile, his team mate has turned into Mr. Execution Plans since the release of his highly-reputable book on the topic in 2008.  I am speaking of Grant Fritchey (twitter, blog, bio).  Grant’s sessions always rank high at each PASS Summit.  He knows his craft, and has great skill in sharing that knowledge.

There you have it.  Six amazing SQL Professionals.  Five of which who are SQL MVPs (Buck surely would be if it were not for the position he holds at Microsoft!)  Authors all.  Presenters All.  They truly made the job of crafting questions that would be challenging to them a challenge in and of itself.

I want to thank them for donating their time to this event.  I also want to thank Louis for his continued dedication to this project along with everyone at PASS HQ in getting this event set up.

See you next week in Seattle!