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SQL PASS Summit: This is Community

6

October 15, 2011 by Mike Hillwig

I’m writing this post on my flight from Seattle to Boston. (via Atlanta) The 2011 PASS Summit is a fond memory. And I made an observation this week. There are people who go to the summit to learn, and then there are people who go for the entire experience. I learned a ton sitting in some fantastic sessions this week. And I learned even more in conversations with experts than I did in any particular sessions.

This really hit me on Wednesday night when I was talking to Kimberly Tripp about virtual log files. Here I was, talking to one of the most knowledgable people on the subject, and she was answering my questions, seeming to enjoy the conversation. This is a community of people passionate about SQL Server, and we love to talk about it. I got so much out of some of these conversations, and I’m already questioning some of the “best practices” my company suggests with our product. It’s time to challenge the product people and rock the boat a little bit.

Before heading to the conference, Denny Cherry and Tom LaRock gave a webinar about the Summit, and one of the things they said was to take advantage of the networking opportunities. This is not a conference to just attend and then go back to your hotel room at night. Every night has some opportunity to network and connect with other SQL Server professionals. A lot of people don’t take advantage of those opportunities, and that’s sad.

I joked to a friend last night that I got to see my new boss at the Summit. I’m just not sure who that was.

There are people who attend the Summit and those who experience the summit. I’m so glad I was able to experience it.


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