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 ...

Are you using your benefits to further your SQL Server skills? The other day, the company I work for (Scalability Experts) had a benefits meeting where open enrollment for insurance and other similar things were discussed.  Since we are a small company, we outsource HR/Payroll/Benefits and I discovered a new benefit that I was unaware of ...

Recently, there have been a number of blog posts about having the 2013 PASS Summit in Seattle or elsewhere.  I had a post in November about the process and some of the major factors that were on my mind.  You can read it here.  There is value in moving the Summit to another venue.  There is value in having the Summit in the ...

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 ...

I have been attending Teched every year since 2005. Last year, I really did not like the separation that was ''forced'' between IT Pro and Dev.  I like to attend sessions from both areas - SQL covers both areas.  I am glad they combined it this year (as it should be IMHO).  Once again, I will be in the TLC area where I LOVE to ...

While working on several other items earlier tonight, I remembered that the PASS Keynotes were on the PASS website from this past Summit.  Perhaps one of the best keynotes that I had heard in sometime was by Dr. David DeWitt.  This keynote was more like a classroom lecture than a marketing keynote.  If you had slept in on Friday ...

I posted earlier that we are holding an organizational meeting in a virtual world called ''Second Life''.  Second Life is a Virtual World where you interact with others by voice or typing or gestures.  Here are the details: Where:  Microsoft User Group Island (Classroom 1) - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Microsoft%20Island/190/73/22 ...