Participating in 3 SQL events in 8 days

AaronBertrand — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:08:00 GMT

Well, 8 days not including lead and lag travel time. A quick summary of the three events, and the flights it took to get me to each:

SQL Saturday #105 - Dublin, Ireland

Flights on March 21st:

Providence -> Philadelphia (236 miles)
Philadelphia -> Dublin (3,260 miles)

Time zone change: +4 when we got there, plus Daylight Saving Time kicked in, so +5 after the event.

I spoke at this event, and manned the SQL Sentry booth with cohort Scott Fallen. This event was a fantastic SQL Saturday - very well organized, a quite unique speaker dinner (on a boat that went up and down a canal, through several old-fashioned locks), and I had my speaker feedback before I even returned home:

We also had the Sunday free, where we rented a car, drove on the wrong side of the road (and the wrong side of the car), and visited the western coast - most importantly, the Cliffs of Moher:

I hope we get an opportunity to sponsor and attend future events in Ireland.

SQL Connections - Las Vegas, Nevada

Flights on March 26th:

Dublin -> Philadelphia (3,260 miles)
Philadelphia -> Las Vegas (2,170 miles)

Time zone change: -8

I presented two sessions in the SQL Server track: "T-SQL : Bad Habits to Kick" and "What's New in SQL Server 2012." These two sessions are getting a little old, but both seem to continue to be well-attended and appreciated. As a company we really enjoy this conference because we get a lot of different folks at the booth - developers, general admin folks, even some SharePoint people. We also really like hanging out after hours with the SQLSkills folks and other friends in the industry.

SQL Bits - London, England

Flights on March 29th:

Las Vegas -> Charlotte (1,910 miles)
Charlotte -> London Gatwick (4,000 miles)

Time zone change: +8

Bits is always fun - those guys do a bang-up job organizing this conference and we always find it very valuable as a company. I didn't speak at this event because I was a last-minute addition to the company roster - I had already committed to Connections, which overlapped with part of this conference. I did make it there for both the Friday pub event and the entire Saturday day session. This was the only leg on this entire journey where I felt any sort of jet lag whatsoever - I took a 2-hour nap on Friday afternoon. Greg (@sqlsensei) ran a half at Reading to benefit children with cancer, and set a personal record by finishing in about 1:49.

On this leg of my journey I also did the unthinkable - I forgot my iPhone in the seat back pocket when I deplaned at Gatwick. And the US Airways staff there was far less than helpful. They told me they had checked my seat multiple times (during the five hours it sat at the gate) and found no trace of my phone, however the passenger in my seat on the return flight to Charlotte later that day e-mailed me from my phone and told me he would drop it in the mail. So this in a way restored my faith in humanity, in spite of being completely frustrated with the ground crew at the airport.

And then...

...I had to get back home. Flights on April 3rd:

London Heathrow -> Philadelphia (3,530 miles)
Philadelphia -> Providence (236 miles)

Time zone change: +5

All in all it was a great trip. A little stress on Friday with my phone, but US Airways made up for it yesterday, and I hope to see the phone in my mailbox today. Total mileage (not including preferred bonuses and Nicole's miles): 18,602. Net time zone changes: 26. Value: priceless. Thanks to all the organizers of these great events.

My Fall Speaking Schedule

AaronBertrand — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:58:00 GMT

SQL Saturday #84 : Kalamazoo, MI : September 17th

I will be giving two sessions at SQL Saturday #84 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. One is on "What's New in SQL Server Denali" and the other, "T-SQL : Bad Habits to Kick," is basically a summary of my "Bad Habits to Kick" blog series.

SQL Bits 9 : Liverpool, England : September 29th - October 1st

At the end of September, I will be presenting the same two sessions, What's New in Denali (engine and tools) and T-SQL: Bad Habits to Kick, at SQL Bits 9 ("Query Across the Mersey") in Liverpool.

In addition to these sessions, I will also be presenting a vendor session along with Steve Wright (@SQL_Steve) entitled, "Real Time and Historical Performance Troubleshooting with SQL Sentry."

PASS Community Summit : Seattle, WA : October 11th - 14th

In October, I will be presenting these same sessions (What's New in Denali and Bad Habits to Kick) in Seattle, WA at the annual PASS Community Summit.

SQL Sentry is proud to be sponsoring the Quiz Bowl this year - this can't-miss event runs Tuesday, October 11th, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. See our Facebook page for prize details!

Also, all SQL Server MVPs on site should be ready to sign SQL Server MVP Deep Dives volume 2, which will be hot off the press and ready for sale. I'll have a separate post about that when more details are available.

SQL Rally Nordic : Stockholm, Sweden : November 8th - 9th

I will be presenting my Bad Habits to Kick session at SQL Rally Nordic in Stockholm, Sweden.

Search results matching tags 'SQL Saturday' and 'SQL Bits'

Participating in 3 SQL events in 8 days

My Fall Speaking Schedule