I really don't think that you can get the full flavor of the Summit unless you delve into Social Networking.  There are multiple vehicles for social networking.  Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, and Yelp are all tools in the Social Networking Toolbox.  At the Summit, the best one of these is Twitter.  With twitter, yo ...

Now that I have covered just about all of the ''official'' Summit activities, it is time for a blog post about ''After Hours'' activities. There is a webpage that lists some of the activities that we are currently aware of.  You can find that page here. Monday Night Networking Dinner - Last year, Andy Warren and Steve Jones started a ...

One of the most valuable parts of the entire Summit experience is the networking that goes on. In this post, I will go over some of the opportunities for you to network with others.  Once again, this post will not focus on ''after hours'' activities which will come later. Badge and Ribbons - Once you get to the Summit and pick up your ...

The Summit is much more than just geat content from excellent speakers.  There is a great deal of other stuff going on at the Summit to really enhance your experience.  In this post, I will not focus on the ''after hours'' events. Do you want to get your hands dirty with Denali?  Perhaps you downloaded the latest Denali bits, but ...

Another question that you may have is ''What about food?  What meals are included?  Should I budget for meals?'' Breakfast:  A Continental Breakfast will be served from 7-8am in the Meal Hall on the 4th floor across from Registration Wed - Fri Lunch: This meal is usually more substantial.  It is often quite good.  Your ...

One of the things that you should do is map out your ''Learning Itinerary'' before coming to the summit. It probably will change once you get onsite, but having a plan will save you time and perhaps some frustration.  You can go to the Summit website and start to build your schedule. When you arrive at registration to get your badge and ...

This is the first in series of blog posts about getting ready for the PASS Summit 2011.  Why am I doing this?  I am preparing for my webcast on Sep 20 @ 1pm ET (Details to come) about this subject.  I thought that I'd get this information out in a blog format as well. Even before the Conference Begins, there are some great ...

I am in the process of finalizing a date (week of Sep 19) for a LiveMeeting event that will focus on the upcoming PASS Community Summit. It will be primarily targeted at the first-timers to the Summit, but everyone will be welcome to join.  There will be event information forthcoming on the PASS website - www.sqlpass.org. Here is a ...

When discussing ''How did you become a DBA'' with almost anyone, it was an accident.  Nobody seems to go to school to become a DBA.  Most DBAs that I know either were developers for a while and they took over the admin duties of the database server, or they were a system administrator and were tasked with taking charge of a database ...

I recently got back from a little vacation.  While I was driving, I'd say to my wife ''Hey, I have a friend who lives near here.  They are known as @SomeTwitterHandle.'' as we were driving through the area.  I thought how great it was to be able to think of my many friends on twitter as I was passing by.  I live in High Point, ...