July 29, 2016 at 9:22 am
As an attendee, the furthest I've travelled is 285 miles / 459km (from Madison to Minnesota). Minnesota is the furthest I regularly go to as an attendee, but that's because I have friends in the same city.
I did go to Addison as an attendee one year (135 miles / 217km) - but it made for a very long day. Staying overnight is quite an additional expense too, so I mostly stick to Madison & Minnesota (unless I'm speaking).
Leonard
Madison, WI
July 29, 2016 at 9:32 am
1: 100 miles. It's the closest one. This is not a densely populated state.
2: Iowa City, Iowa.
3: Not a speaker.
July 29, 2016 at 9:35 am
I have been fortunate that I only have to travel about 20 miles to attend both Sql Saturday and Code Camp events here in San Diego California. Unless I could combine it with other necessary travel I wouldn't travel further than Los Angeles (about 100 miles) for an event.
Speaker = Nay
July 29, 2016 at 9:41 am
I went to a SQL Saturday in Philadelphia back in 2013. It was combined with a work commitment in Washington DC. However google tells me the distance between Philly and Newport South Wales, UK is about 3420 miles. I did sendup speaking at the event too as a last minute replacement. I was travelling to Washington DC anyway for work. So if we only take the that trip between DC and Phily into account I think its about 140 Miles
Gethyn Elliswww.gethynellis.com
July 29, 2016 at 9:45 am
Last year (2015) I made it to 2 SQL Saturday events. Both were ~ 5 hours driving in one direction.
Albany, NY - 260 miles
Pittsburgh, PA - 300 miles
Although I felt sleep deprived after doing all that driving after work on Friday night (my work is another hour and a half from home), most of the sessions were awesome.
I also got to see Jeff Moden and Brent Ozar in person, and attend their talks/sessions, which was super cool.
This year I am not planning on attending any, unless something changes.
Not a speaker.
July 29, 2016 at 10:03 am
Steve I live 60 or so miles out of Kansas city. I have been to a few SQL Saturdays there most recently last year 2015 #444 Oct 3, 2015. I have to travel anywhere from 70 to 80 miles depending on where it is. The distance is a limitation due to time and other commitments but I really appreciate the opportunity and try to support it.
July 29, 2016 at 10:31 am
Japie Botma (7/29/2016)
We (3 of us) traveled 160 km twice. Two of our colleagues, from our remote site, traveled 300 km once. It is just too much, so we stopped attending.
Thanks, and I can understand. I assume these were in S Africa?
July 29, 2016 at 10:32 am
GilaMonster (7/29/2016)
I'm going to be an outlyer, but most of these were paired with a second event in the same region (eg MVP Summit, SQLBits, etc), and I was speaking at the SQL SaturdayVancouver:16 500km (paired with MVP Summit)
Iceland: 11 000km (paired with InsideSQL)
Dublin: 9 500km (paired with SQLSkills training)
Vienna: 8 400km (paired with SQLBits)
Cape Town: 1300km
Durban: 600km
Johannesburg: 14km
If I was attending, not speaking, I doubt I'd go to any event other than Johannesburg.
You are an outlier, and a speaker. But quite an effort, and thanks for taking the time to speak. I have enjoyed a few of your sessions.
July 29, 2016 at 10:33 am
TheFault (7/29/2016)
I travelled 88 miles for SQL Saturday #411 in Cambridge, just attending not speaking.Also travelled 109 miles for SQLBits XIV in London, and 99 miles for SQLBits XV in Liverpool, again just attending not speaking. For the SQL Bits trips where they were further afield my partner came too and we stayed over one or two nights to make it a short city break. She goes shopping on the Saturday so we're both happy.
To get 8 or 9 hours training for free which would otherwise cost hundreds of pounds if run by a training company is brilliant and very much appreciated.
Glad you found the events worthwhile, and thanks for coming.
July 29, 2016 at 10:35 am
Hugo Kornelis (7/29/2016)
Disclaimer: When I go to a SQL Saturday event, it is usually as a speaker, not as an attendee. I am aware that speakers have a different view of the conference world, and different requirements and needs, then the actual target audience of the events (the attendees).Starting with a generic comment: I do believe that it is good to have a rule that prevents multiple events close to each other on the same day. A month or two back there were two SQL Saturday events on the same day, one in Dublin and the other one in Iceland. I was accepted to speak at both so I had to cancel one of the two, which meant extra work for the organizers to find a replacement session. (I later had to cacnel the other as well but that's personal for reasons not related to this issue). I am pretty sure that there are more speakers who either chose just one to submit to or who submitted to both and then had to cancel one - in general having two sessions so close together and at the same time waters down the speaker pool for each. This means that speakers miss out on chances to connect to their audience, attendees will probably get an overall slightly lower level of content on both events, and the organizations have additional challenges. All this could have been avoided by not having these two events on the same date.
(I am not sure if 600 miles is the correct threshold value, just endorsing the idea of preventing two sessions at the same time in relatively close locations)
On the other hand, I do not like the additional provision of the one week time difference. Earlier this year I spoke in Vienna and in Tel Aviv. Normally Tel Aviv is outside the radius I am willing to travel for a SQL Saturday. But in this case the Vienna event was on Friday and the Tel Avvi event was on the Monday after that. This allowed me to justify going there because I already was halfway there and only needed to travel "a bit" further. This would not have been possible if the two events had not been almost back to back.
Also, in the past I remember the Australian community organizaing a series of "SQL Saturday" events that were spread out over the country and all just a few days apart. This enabled several speakers from other continents to justify flying over and speak at several events. For a single event, the cost would not have been justifiable,
I have more thoughts on this, but I don't like limiting events, even in close proximity, to enable speakers to go to both. Make a choice. I always contact one or both events if there are two on the same day.
My opinion is these events are for people that struggle to otherwise get training, not for organizers or speakers. I greatly appreciate the efforts of organizers and speakers, and thank you, thank you very much for spending time on the events. But, I feel that I place a higher priority on more events, reaching more people, than on large events or speakers getting to the places they want to go.
Plus, if we can keep these going, you can always get to another city in the future.
July 29, 2016 at 10:37 am
Aaron N. Cutshall (7/29/2016)
First off Steve, I completely agree with you about the new ruling for the 600 mile radius. Having SQL Saturdays in close proximity back-to-back allows many to attend who otherwise would not be able to. It would tend to force out some of the smaller, lower budget events which I think are fabulous such as Columbus, OH where I spoke recently.You're also correct about the perspective of a speaker and the range that you're willing to travel. As a speaker, I've traveled from Indianapolis as far as Salt Lake City, Denver, Las Vegas, Houston, Atlanta, and Cleveland while other locations such as Columbus and Louisville are relatively close (2-4 hour drives). As an attendee, I attended Las Vegas and Denver but I also had other reasons for being there as I'd probably not travel that far just to attend only.
In the past I flew to the farther locations, but now that my wife and I purchased a motorhome last year we make round trips for multiple events. As I work remotely, as long as I have internet I can do my day job, travel in the evening, and spend time with my wife who's happy to have the pets with us. If we have friends or family in a location, we'll plan a trip around a SQL Saturday to make the trip even more worth while (such as Tampa, Minneapolis or Dallas). This allows us to attend SQL Saturday events or visit places we ordinarily may not travel to or to stop at interesting locations on the way there or back. This new ruling could put the kibosh on these types of trips and prevent us from getting the most value from them.
Ha, we have a living quarters as well. Maybe we can roll together to an event? Or you can swing by the ranch when you come through Denver.
July 29, 2016 at 10:38 am
epfingsten (7/29/2016)
Unfortunately I have never been to a SQLSaturday. I live in Cincinnati and it looks like the closest ones to me have been in Columbus, which is about a 90 minute drive. I have driven that for before for a one day conference, but that is about the limit of what I would travel. 400 miles? 600 miles? Seriously? I would never even consider either one for a single day conference.
Please send this feedback to PASS
July 29, 2016 at 10:41 am
DelaDebbie (7/29/2016)
I haven't been to any (didn't know there was such a thing until I saw it mentioned in today's email), but I have been to a couple of SharePoint Saturdays. I live in Delaware, so I don't have much choice except to travel to one. I've traveled 90 miles (each way) for events in Baltimore and DC. It would be about the same distance if I chose to go to one in Philadelphia, as well.
Glad you learned about them. Hope to see you at an event somewhere.
July 29, 2016 at 10:45 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/29/2016)
Ha, we have a living quarters as well. Maybe we can roll together to an event? Or you can swing by the ranch when you come through Denver.
I'd love to come out and see you when I'm passing through the area again. I'll certainly give you a head's up when I know.
One of my challenges is managing driving time between locations and the timing of the events. It often causes me to make hard choices that I don't like to make! :crazy:
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