This was my second year going to SQL Saturday in Pensacola and once again I enjoyed it. I stayed again at the Hampton Inn, and bandwidth sucked again. I remembered this from last year, and it was a struggle to get things done. I might need to pick a new place next year, just for that reason. I couldn’t even answer email most of the time I was here.

I arrived Friday afternoon, went for a run, and then spent some time adding a few notes to my PPTs. They were done, but I find that I always tweak some things as I review the presentations. One of them was being presented for the first time, and so I wanted to be sure that I had notes on all the slides. I had both computers linked to the Internet, hoping that Live Mesh works since most sites, including Google News, didn’t. I ended up leaving both computers running while I headed to the speaker dinner.

As a speaker, I find the Friday night event invaluable. I get to talk with other speakers, find out what they’re doing, what they think of other events, chat about SQL Server, and more. That’s one of the highlights for me, and I get to meet new people as well. This year the event was a a Tiki bar, which was nice, a good outdoor venue until the rain started. We got driven inside, but I still spent some time with the organizers, Rodney and Karla. I met Tim Costello, who I chatted with more Saturday night, and I spent time time catching up with Tim Mitchell and Trevor Barkhouse from Dallas. We mixed talking shop with some games, including Rodney and Karla’s favorite, the alphabet game.

Saturday was the main event day. It’s been held at the local community college both years, and it’s a short walk down from the hotel for me. Even in the Pensacola heat, at 7:00am it wasn’t bad. I had a pre-event session, for people that were early on basic SQL Server. I set up in the auditorium, but the projector was locked and we couldn’t use it. So we parade across the hall to the other building and I set up in a classroom up there.

The session went well, and I’d recommend this to all SQL Saturday organizers. Have a few sessions early that give people something to do. I’d suggest intro sections that can help some beginners get some foundations for the day.

I wandered around during the day until I had my 3pm session. I liked that most all the sessions were close together on the second floor of one building, with one other large auditorium across the breezeway in another building. It made it easy to find things, and also allowed traffic to pass through the entry foyer where a number of vendors had set up. Putting this event close to TechEd (both in timing and distance) meant that Karla had a number of sponsors, Red Gate, Quest, Confio, Telerik, and a few local companies. A good variety, and I was happy to see people talking to vendors.

One note to other organizers, vendors provide you with support, make sure you support them with good placement to meet people.

My presentation went fine, with another 30-40 people that seemed to get some benefits from it. I got some good comments later, and I make it a point to ask people after the session, and in the party, if they found it useful. I got a couple good suggestions and I’ll incorporate them in future talks.

Lunch went smoothly, there were plenty of drinks around in the breezeway all day, though they ran out of water. I’d actually purchase more water since it’s healthier, but there were still drinks available later. Breakfast was only coffee and donuts, and it would have been nice to see some juice or milk available in limited quantities. I know budgets are tight, but there are people that don’t do coffee.

I did take a few minutes after lunch and I wandered down to a room where Beatles Rock Band was set up. I believe this was a giveaway, and it was fun to spend a few minutes in there with some volunteers. I had the guitar and there were a few guys with me. It was fun, but the room was so far away that I’m not sure if many people made the long walk over there.

I left early to run, get changed and check some email before the after party, so I missed the giveaway. I should have stayed since email didn’t work, and just gotten a quick run in. The after party was at Rosies again and I had a good time sitting and chatting with people. I made it a point to spend an hour walking around and  meeting with different groups, and then ended up hanging with the Dallas boys until our bus came later.

Two notes on the event after party. One, Karla had a bus scheduled to take and pick up  a bunch of us from the main hotel. That was a great touch, and it made it so I didn’t need a car. The hotel had an airport shuttle, which is rare, but for those of us from out of town it was great. Two, I know some people love to party, and enjoy the music after the party, but I go to network and it’s hard to do that when there’s really loud music. I’d like it if we could find more casual places for the after event. We did have a couple hours before the band started, so maybe that’s just me. I suppose we could have walked next door somewhere to chat if we wanted to.

Overall it was a great event, and I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure if I’ll go next year since I need to spread around my travel and would like to get to some new cities, but this is one of my favorite SQL Saturday locations.