It’s Monday. I’ve been home since Fri night, but with a busy weekend, I’m still recovering from the PASS Data Community Summit. There’s a nice wrap from the crew, which you can watch. You might spot yourself in there if you attended.
This is a short post of some memories and photos from the event. As usual, I wish I had more. One sad thing was Chris Yates not coming due to other commitments, but I loved seeing him on a sign in the convention center. I sent him this shot.
Every year I find myself either over-committed or under-committed. The latter is great, because I can see more people. The former is overwhelming and tiring. This year was the “over” year, where I had enough things scheduled that I didn’t have enough time to get to sessions or hang out and see people.
That being said, it was great to see Ryan Booz at the event. We’ve had a few years of traveling around together while working a Redgate. He left this year to find a job that better fit his life, and I miss seeing him regularly. It was good to take a little time and catchup with him.
My wife came up for Mon/Tue/Wed to get a break from work and see a friend in Seattle. Monday was keynote rehearsal for me, and spending some time with my wife that afternoon and evening. I also managed my one workout for the week on the hotel Pelaton. I had aimed for 3-4, but got too busy, and was too tired. I did run into a few friends wandering around the convention center.
Tuesday was breakfast with my wife and then heading over for a long keynote rehearsal. We had a few last minute changes last month and I was asked to help with the keynote. I’ve been busy prepping and working with our marketing and artist teams to get things ready. We had a lot of fun, but it’s been a lot of work and we had last minute updates to review on Tuesday.
Redgate brought in a number of sales engineers and support staffers for training and to meet customers at the conference. We’ve re-dedicated ourselves to working closely with customers, getting feedback, listening to their concerns, challenges, and critiques of our products. David runs our support org in the US and I rarely see him. We used to travel to all sorts of events, so it was great to see him last week.
My wife came briefly, but it was a late night leaving. This was my view leaving, with almost the same view coming back the next morning.
Wednesday was an early start. At the convention center just before 7 for the Redgate Keynote. Well, for makeup, mics, and waiting. The event has used the same crews for makeup and sound for a number of years. I’ve gotten to know the staff and enjoy catching up with them. I got to watch Grant and Laura get made up before my turn.
This was a weird experience for me the first time, but I’m used to it now. Fortunately, I cover my balding head with a hat, so I’m only in the chair for a few minutes. The one thing I have to remember is to finish my coffee first, so I don’t smear my lipstick (gloss).
It’s a lot of waiting for the event to begin, but once the keynote started, it seems to go fast. I was glad that there were 3 of us, and I didn’t have a huge part. I am used to being on stage, so standing to the side while Kellyn and Laura presented their parts was east. I did take a moment to snap a short of the Redgate Product and Engineering leaders on the front row.
Wednesday was a little time at the booth, where I saw more friends, but I had a session in the afternoon and I had a rehearsal scheduled with the Microsoft presenters for their keynote.
It’s not all work, as I got to chat with Bob Ward and Conor Cunningham. I’ve known those gentlemen a number of years and relish the opportunity to catch up with them. Again, a lot of waiting and standing before I did my part and left them to rehearse.
There are some beautiful views from the Summit building and I grabbed one here on the way to the talk. Last year ago I was very busy and lay down here on Friday afternoon for a break before the closing. Someone snapped a picture, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t end up here again. (I didn’t).
After my presentation, I ran into Thomas LeBlanc, a longtime friend from Baton Rouge. I’m not a big college football fan, but I usually check to see how Thomas’ LSU Tigers do every week and sometimes send a note.
Wednesday night was the expo reception, which was nice. I had lots of chats with different people, got a few pictures with them, and enjoyed the event. Afterwards, I finally got back to see my wife and got to spend a bit of time with her and a friend. It was a later night than I wanted, but it’s hard to cut things too short when I’m having a good time.
Thursday was the Microsoft keynote, and again, an early call. 7am for more makeup, mics, and misc time with Microsoft staff. I opened the day with a short summary and reminders, and also a memory of Andrew Clarke. I added this slide to my deck, and I choked up a bit when I got to it.
I knew Andrew for many years, and lunch (with a beer) was a part of many of my trips to the Redgate office in Cambridge. I miss his wit, thoughts, and company. I referenced a great article from our founder in the keynote, which I recommend reading.
I chatted backstage a bit, which always seems weird to me. I am often in public, and having a green room backstage is always a little odd. Still, it’s nice they have coffee, and not nice there as pasties. Fortunately, I avoided the latter.
Once again, I was on the move for a livestream that Redgate wanted to do for our Test Data Manager product. We had a spare room where we setup and got ready to record. A lot of waiting, though at least I got to sit down a bit.
I also had to fit in a recording for the Simple Talks podcast. I have been trying to schedule these when I see people, so I’m working around their schedules.
This was fun, though packing up and getting the equipment secured was a lot. I had planned on getting back to the hotel for a workout before our Thursday night party, but got hung up chatting with a few Redgate co-workers and only had time to sit down in my room (alone 
) for about 20 minutes before heading out to the Redgate party.
It was great to catch up with various Redgate people and customers at this event. I was busy and didn’t take many pix, but I enjoyed this.
Friday morning I lightly slept in. I didn’t get to the convention center until 830a. I missed the morning keynote, though I will watch later. I had more recordings scheduled, so I setup my room and got ready to knock out 4 more sessions.
I ate lunch with Tim Mitchell and had a fun chat with a few attendees that sat with us. That’s one of the things I missed this year, being a little busy and skipping lunch or just grabbing something on my way to something else.
I did take a few minutes to check on Ike Ellis, who is a friend and had to cancel his trip and session at the Summit. Ike has had a few health issues, and had a minor accident this week. He called me, so I could help coordinate and inform whoever needed to know. If you know Ike, send him some well wishes.
After lunch, the expo hall closed and I had time to hit one session. I went to see Atte, one of the New Stars of Data speakers. I love that the Summit reserves some spaces for new speakers, and with 50% first timers, this is a even better. We have speakers and attendees coming for a new experience they’ll remember forever.
I had a 7pm flight and we have a 330p wrap for the event with staff and Redgaters. It was a quiet, but fun time seeing a number of people I work with and don’t see often. There are also some others that I do see throughout the year. I had a drink, a few conversations, and then grabbed a ride to the airport with a few coworkers for my (late) flight home.
An amazing time, though never enough time. Even when waking up at 615a to get to volleyball practice, I still was thinking about all the people I’d seen during the week and remembering how much I enjoy spending time with the community.
Looking forward to next year, and hopefully, a few less commitments so I can spend more time talking with the community.