It’s over. It’s finally over. This year, unlike previous years, Adam Machanic (blog|twitter) was very good about delegating the work. Which, is actually a mixed blessing. I did a lot more work this year than I have done in years past. Luckily, we had more help this year from, new MVP, Mike Walsh (blog|twitter) and Tom LaRock (blog|twitter). The team came together and pulled off the event with the help of a great set of volunteers. Of special note, Allen White’s (blog|twitter) wonderful wife, Cindi, stood at the front desk all day, and in other ways helped us organize and run the event. It would not have been the same without her. Thanks so much.
We couldn’t have pulled it off without our vendors. Here is the rather substantial list. Of special note, I want to single out one vendor. SQL Sentry is a great supporter of the SQL community. They supported our event, but I screwed up and did not get their logo onto the bag that we gave out to attendees. It’s completely my fault. I want to publicly apologize and let you know that SQL Sentry was there, they have great products, they are great people, and we appreciate their support. Sorry guys.
Our venue at the Babson College Executive Conference Center was magnificent and, assuming I could afford it, I’d love to host more events there. Lunch was a glory. If you missed it, I think you may have missed some of the best food ever at a SQL Saturday event.
Thank you to all the speakers. Unfortunately the Duck Tour was cancelled due to the threat of inclement weather (although, on the day, the sun was shining and it was quite nice) but we went up to the top of the Prudential Center (you can see us testing the weight limit in the elevator in the picture above) and had a couple of drinks before we went to dinner at Brasserie Jo. It was a great meal with great conversation with great people. What more can you ask for?
We had a special speaker that traveled all the way from New Zealand just to take part in our event, Paul White (blog|twitter). Paul was also celebrating his new status as an MVP. To my knowledge, that’s some of the longest travel done by a speaker for a SQL Saturday (and yeah, I know, Gail Shaw (blog|twitter) went to the SQL Saturday before the MVP Summit, but she was travelling for the MVP summit, she just added a day for SQL Saturday).
I had a blast putting on a filler session with Tom LaRock that we called “SQL Winning.†It was just a free-form Q&A session where the five people who attended just asked us questions and Tom and I tried our best to answer them. Thanks everyone for attending. I think it’d be fun to do the same thing with a bigger audience at another event (we didn’t get many people because Paul White sucked the oxygen out of the building, and rightly so).
That’s about it. It was a great event. Thanks to everyone who attended.
I think I may have misread, did you write “Paul White sucked” ?
It was a superb event and I had a great time (largely due to the efforts of Adam and company, and because you, Grant, encouraged people to my session!)
Rob, you’re just too funny – Amanda and I were both in giggles at your comment 🙂
My fault for making any attempt at wit with you guys around.
Congratulations on the success of SQLSat71 and thank you for the recognition of SQL Sentry’s community support. We are pleased to be able to sponsor great events like this. And don’t worry about missing the logo on the attendee bag. It’s not a big deal. See you at SQLRally.