Believe it or not, it's already time to start planning for Orlando's next SQLSaturday. Andy Warren and I had our first planning call yesterday, he had spoken with Kendal Van Dyke at the Orlando Code Camp, and this year we have divided the labor differently than last year, mainly so I can get my feet wet in new areas and Andy gets to do something a little different. Last year I handled speakers and schedule while this year I'm going to be handling sponsors and messaging. So, if you are interested in sponsoring let me know with comment on the blog.
Andy is very good at logistics so we let him handle setting up the location, traffic flow, and incidentals (coffee, snacks, cups, etc...) so we look for other areas to spread the load out.
We normally hold the event in mid to late October, but are looking at moving it up to late September or early October to give us some more time between it and the PASS Summit.
We've averaged about 250 attendees in 3 events thus far, but are really hoping to break the 300 mark this year. Some of the ways we are hoping to do this are:
- Getting started with marketing earlier. For example, this blog post. As soon as we have a venue and date fixed we will be working on getting the word out via blogs, social networking, user groups, and any other way we can think of.
- Trying a SQL for Developers track where the topics are geared more for the application developer than the SQL Server Developer or DBA in order to bring in more of the .NET crowd.
If you have any ideas for getting the word out or the event please feel free to let me know.
