I’m writing this on Tuesday morning, Monday was a blur. I awoke at 4 am, finally decided that sleep wasn’t going to return so went for a brisk 5 am walk, brisk in both pace and temperature. To be fair the weather so far has been pretty moderate. Back to the hotel and get dressed, walk the long walk to Top Pot for coffee. About 7 am Steve Jones arrived, and then Don Gabor, Tom LaRock, and quite a few more (which will teach me to write the names down then). Long lines for coffee, popular place!.

Next stop was the Convention Center to register, then find room 4C1 for the SQLSaturday RoundTable meeting. We had about 30 people attend and I think it was a productive meeting, covered most of the topics I had on my agenda and I think/hope everyone walked away with both good ideas and a good feeling about the PASS involvement in SQLSaturday. I’ll be posting more on this post-conference.

I had a lunch get together with the Board to review our calendar, finalized plans for the Thursday evening Meet the Board event, then started back to the hotel for an hour break but ran into Michelle Ufford and Jessica Moss finishing lunch, stopped to talk to them more about SQLSaturday.

At 2:30 I introduced Don Gabor at his one our presentation to our volunteers about networking skills, and then I met with Nancy Nusso from HQ to review the comments and action items from the RoundTable meeting. If you’re at the Summit I’ll hope you’ll find time to meet Nancy, look for her at the PASS Booth on the fourth floor. She handles all things community, including Chapters and SQLSaturday.

At 4:30 I introduced Don again, this time to the 2 hour pre-con on networking attendees, good crowd for that one. Then catching up on some notes, calling home, and heading over to the main ballroom for the 6 pm special introduction for first time attendees. We’re trying a few things this year to make sure first timers have a really good experience and I’ve pleased with the effort, looking forward to some post Summit analysis of what worked and didn’t. Long term building this into our ‘pattern’ is something that’s a big win for everyone.

The opening night reception was at 6:30 pm, Tim Ford and Louis Davidson did the Quiz Bowl, and the music was at a decent level, could still have conversations, though they are standing conversations! About 7:45 I left with Don and Malathi (from Louisville Chapter) to go to the annual volunteer party, just far enough away to merit a taxi. I didn’t stay long, not enough sleep catching up to me, so back to the room for dinner and prep for today.

Long day, but good day. Funny that I always think I haven’t scheduled enough, but it’s no problem at all to fill the gaps and I find myself wishing I had a few more gaps.