Hello everyone!
I hope you’re all doing well during these stressful times. If you aren’t doing well, please reach out to either me or Katie, maybe we can help in some way – we are #sqlfamily!
Meetups
Thanks to all of you who attended our evening virtual meetups in May and June. We’ve just scheduled a virtual lunch meetup for August. I know, virtual lunch seems a little strange, but these are strange times. Use this link to register: https://www.meetup.com/SQLOrlando/events/272169210/. We’re evaluating each month if we can get back to in-person events, but right now between the health risks and the challenges of finding space it’s just too soon.
SQLSaturday
It’s been a really tough decision to make, but we’re going to cancel plans for SQLSaturday Orlando this year. A lot goes into that decision, but there are three big factors we considered:
- Finding a venue and being reasonably certain it will still be available when the event rolls around
- Finding speakers willing to travel (and taking some risk to do so) and worrying about if we have to cancel if they’ll end up losing money on committed travel costs
- Keeping us all safe. Learning is important, but for now we’re opting on the side of caution
We also thought about a virtual event. It’s a lot of work and a much different experience for everyone – attendees, speakers, and sponsors. We’ll keep that idea in reserve for 2021, but hopefully things will improve before then.
PASS Summit 2020
The 2020 PASS Summit will be a virtual event this year. Register here and be sure to select the option that shows you’re affiliated with SQLOrlando (we get a small incentive for each registration that we use for food at meetups, etc). Pricing is subject to change, but as of June 27 you have these options:
- Full day online class for $399. These are held Monday and Tuesday the week of Summit, so you could sign up for a class each day.
- 3 Day Online Summit for $599. After the event you get on-demand access to all sessions for 12 months.
- All in One Bundle. For $999 you get the 3 day Summit plus two full day classes.
I’ve attended two virtual events this year and both tried really hard to be more interactive than just one session after the next, but it’s definitely a different experience to try to sit and watch session after session. The good news is that because you can download it or stream it later you don’t have to consume it all at once. My suggestion would be to attend the ones you really want to see live (maybe 2 or 3 each day) and then put an hour on your calendar for the next year to watch one session per week. That’s a great way to not feel guillty about not stareing at the monitor for 3 (or 5) days straight and show your boss how you plan to make the most of the spend (and hey, no travel expense!).
Getting Started Event
Back in May we had planned a free one day Getting Started event for people interested in SQL Server, Reporting Services, SSIS, or PowerBI. We’re now thinking to do that as a one day virtual event (probably in the form of 5 or 6 separate Meetups so that attendees can pick and choose). This will also be a chance for us to try some stuff out as far as managing an all day event.
Ideas
If you’ve got ideas on things we can do until (or when) we can resume in-person meetings, please send them, the more ideas the better.
SQLOrlando 