First, I want to thank all of the applicants for volunteering to participate in this process.  The process this year has been more public than ever before.  It gets better with each iteration.  It has been refined each year and participation in the voting hit an all-time high last year.  I joined PASS in 2001. Back then, nobody really knew who even threw their hat in the ring, and the election was held only in-person (there may have been a fax it in option, but it was very involved and under-utilized).  The summit that year was postponed until January 2002, but the election still had to occur; I was one of the few who bothered to vote.  I'm not sure if we still have records of that election that are easily accessible, but I'll bet you that fewer than 40 people actually voted.  I base this primarily on the stats and old-fashioned voting techniques used  in 2004 when only about 120 votes were cast (if memory serves me as I counted these by hand) at the summit.  The only real information available about candidates were a short bio and statement.  Ballots back then were a sheet of paper with check boxes beside candidate names.  Most attendees did not know anything about any candidates and decided to not vote.This explains the low turnout.  Campaigning was "mild" with mainly just a mention to attendees to "Vote for Me" from candidates during casual gatherings, sesssions, etc.

This year, the Nominations Committee (NomCom) consisted of a subset of BoD Members and two Community Representatives.  I also want to thank each of them (especially Stu and Denise) for the extraordinary amount of time, thought, and professionalism in considering the candidates to be put forth on the slate which was approved by the Board of Directors.

Last year, I was not on the NomCom and wanted to be part of it this year.  I know it was not fun last year for the NomCom.  This year wasn't all fun & games either.  :-)   Stuart Ainsworth was the first member of the NomCom to post his thoughts to the community reaction; it was a very good summary of what happened.  Tom LaRock (also a NomCom Member) posted about many of the activities / discussions occurring here at the BoD meeting in Nashville.  Denise McInerney also posted on her blog about the process.  These blogs are very well written and accurate.

Today (in contrast with the past), the election process is totally divorced from the summit.  Blog posts by folks like Andy Leonard are out there conducting interviews on blogs to get to know the candidates, and there are forums specifically setup on sqlpass.org to discuss the candidates and their points of view.  Other blog posts by Steve Jones, Andy Warren, Brent Ozar, Tim Mitchell, Andy Leonard, Lori Edwards, Kendal Van Dyke, Wes Brown, Pat Wright, Jack Corbett, etc. along with numeroous comments on each blog post really reflect the caring within the community.  Many of these blog posts / comments are critical of the process; this will help the process improve.  The vote occurs online now so that not just attendees are able to cast a vote.  The process is not perfect.  It gets better with each iteration.  I'm sure that it will once again go through another iteration. I hope that you will be part of it.

Last year, we had about 500 votes cast (again if memory serves me); this is more than double (perhaps even triple) than any previous election.  I hope that we (the community) blow this out of the water this year.  We have a slate consisting of 5 excellent candidates.  I encourage everyone to vote and fully participate in this election and continue to show just how vibrant this community can be.

I've been working on my presentation for SQL Saturday in Charlotte - http://www.sqlsaturday.com/33/eventhome.aspx.  I will be presenting a session on using the basics of Perfmon to monitor your environment.  There is a great line-up of speakers.  If you are in the area (or you can find a cheap flight to CLT), don't miss this event.

My mother-in-law had a camera that still uses film.  She isn't really technical, but her camera was acting up over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Her birthday is coming up in a couple of days, so we decided to get her a digital camera (one of the Black Friday Bargains).  I started to think back to how technology has really changed things like photography.  Before Digitial Cameras, there was a lot of planning and preparation of taking pictures because film was expensive and you did not really know what you got until the film was developed.  With today's cameras, take a bunch of pictures, view them instantly, and delete the ones that you don't want, post them to a picture sharing site onthe internet, and you just solved a lot of problems that took a lot of time.

One other example is of course Word Processing.  Who would go back and use a typewriter now?  What about Presentation software like PowerPoint - before programs like these, you had to actually create slides that you put in a slide projector.  There are many more....

Is Kindle and other "readers" a fad or is it a paradigm shift? Are online on-demand streaming of TV Shows and Movies replacing the "appointment TV" that we have grown up with? 

What Technology hasn't replaced (at least yet)....

Pencil / Paper - it is still the quickest and most inuitive way to jot a quick short note.  It is also considered appropriate almost anywhere as it will not interefere with the navigational systems of airplanes and people don't look at you funny if you jot down a note in church.  Try that with any electronic device and you will either be accused of jeopardizing flight safety or being rude (or not taking the message seriously).

Junk Mail - Yes SPAM still abounds in our inboxes, but that is fairly well handled or at least ignored by us.Yesterday, I got a bunch of junk mail (coupons, flyers, speciall offers just for me).  I threw most of it out - MOST of it.  But since it got in my hands and I looked at it for a few seconds, I found a coupon that I could use.  The ability to get an ad into your hands still has value to the advertiser.

What else has Technolgy not yet taken over?  What is the next thing to be taken over by technology

Sep 15 is the last day to be a part of history for 24 Hours of PASS.  Louis and Paul will be doing a 2nd take of their session for 24 Hours of PASS.  Register at the following link :

 https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=qh37c3hrckwswsj5

This event takes place on Sep 15 at 8pm EDT.  At this event, a special code will be revealed to save an additional $100 off of the registration price for the 2009 PASS Community Summit. BTW, Sep 15, 2009 is also the last day to register for the summit and save $400 off of the registration price.  That's $500 off with the code that you will receive by watching Louis and Paul on their second take.  If you missed the original, you missed a great show.  Plan to attend with a friend.  If you attended this session for the event on Sep 1 at 8pm EDT, be a part of the electricity that drove the excitement of this event for the second time around.

I am honored to be the guest speaker at the Richmond SQL Server User Group on Monday, Sep 15.  They usually have their meetings on the 2nd Thursday of the month, but they made a special exception.  I will be speaking about SQL Server 2008 and Consolidation.  If you are in the area, drop by and socialize with other SQL Server Professionals.  You can find out more information here:  http://richmondsql.org/cs2007/

Recently, PASS has opened it call for nominations for the seats for the Board of Directors.  The deadline to get your nomination in is Sep 3, 2009.  I have been a member of PASS and involved since 2001.  I started out volunteering for a committee.  I then led the committee.  And I ran for the Board of Dirctors in Nov 2002.  I did not win, but I was appointed (starting in Jan 2003) to fill the vacancy created as a board member decided to resign.  That is how I made my journey to the Board of Directors. 

The organization has changed significantly over the years as has the role of a director.  When I first started, the position was more tactical than strategic.  Lately, the position demands more strategic thinking; there is still plenty of tactical work to do, but we are encouraging more of that work to be done by our dedicated committee leaders and volunteers.  While the organization is best known for the annual PASS Community Summit, there are other ways which the organization serves the community.  There are lots of great ideas and limited resources in which to execute.  Part of the responsibilities of being on the Board is to help to determine which of these ideas make sense to allocate resources to.  We have budget meetings to help sort this out, but you get to spend the time with some great folks. 

Kevin Kline has produced several articles that may be found at www.sqlpass.org which outline some of the traits of a good director.  You do not need to have all of the traits listed to be successful.  You do need to be motivated to improve yourself and to work cooperatively with others.  Perhaps the one item which has been common with the other successful directors over the years is the goal to keep the community in the forefront when making decisions and setting direction.  Maybe you are that next person to join the Board and help set the direction.

I have volunteered to be a part of the THRIVE campaign for several months now.  In June, Chuck Heinzelman and I did a webcast based on SQL Server Express and how it could be used to enhance your skills for SQL Server.  I have been on vacation for a couple of weeks and found out during that time that I was named Thrive's IT Pro of the Month!  It is an honor to be awarded as I believe that many folks in the community strive to help others in their quest to enhance their SQL Server skills.  I urge everyone to visit www.microsoft.com/thrive to see the resources available and what MSFT is doing to help those who really want to succed to get ahead.

Chuck Heinzelman and I are on the Advisory Board for the THRIVE Campaign by Microsoft.   The THRIVE campaign is about getting people to use tools that they already own or are FREE to download in order to learn/enhance new skills.  I thought right away about SQL Server Express and how this could help people learn more about SQL Server.  Chuck and I will discuss and demo several features in Express.  I invite youto join us.

·         Title: TechNet Webcast: Enhance Your SQL Skills with SQL Server Express 2008 (Level 200)

·         Presenter: Rick Heiges & Chuck Heinzelman

·         Webcast Length: 60

·         Date/Time: 6/24/2009 10:00:00 AM Pacific

Attendee Registration URL:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032417593&Culture=en-US