John,

I like the logistics savings that comes from combining groups/events. Here in Orlando the last couple years we've had a SQL track, and in Tampa this year Brian & I put together our own SQL track plus a few other sessions. The downside is that most of the people who attended were .Net types (not that they are so bad you know) and very few DBA's. Now that could be lack of advertising to that market, but I suspect it was also a case of diminishing returns for them. I think best case is a separate event, but I think the combined event is a great way to get started. The other point that I continue to stress is not all events have to be mega events. I think you could easily have a SQLSaturday with 6 speakers doing 1 hour sessions and it could be a great event, and much simpler to coordinate.