Three Honors

Introduction

I was honored thrice in recent days and have sadly been too busy to blog about them until today. My apologies!

1. Presenting at SQLConnections

First, I was honored to be selected as a presenter for the Spring 2011 SQLConnections conference in sunny Orlando Florida. When Christy (Blog | @ChristyLeonard) and I left Richmond International Airport Sunday morning, it was snowy and icy out. We arrived in Orlando as the morning fog was burning off, and the temperature reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit later that afternoon.

The weather wasn’t the best part: The best part was the cool people at the many DevConnections conferences! I’m still processing my observations of, and thoughts from, the event. The two adjectives that best describe SQLConnections are different and mature. Different in pace and the stress-level for those in attendance. The sessions were scheduled with 30-minute (minimum) breaks between. No one said “go network now.” They designed the conference to facilitate networking, and folks networked. It was subtle and effective. The Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Conference Center was pituresque and very relaxing. I was a little shocked to see Microsoft people presenting and in attendance – I didn’t know Microsoft would send people to a conference held outside of Seattle… Mature is reflected some in the comments I attribute to “different”. I don’t mean “mature” in the sense that it wasn’t immature but more in the sense of established and serene. I’m sure there were glitches – there are always glitches – but no one seemed anxious. There was a dearth of politics. Presenters, attendees, and organizers appeared content. Happy, even.

I found it peaceful and, in a very real sense, restorative.

2. MVP Again

I find it difficult to express my gratitude to Microsoft for awarding me SQL Server MVP for the fifth time.

Thank you.

3. Presenting At SQL Saturday #71 – Boston

It was really cool to present at SQL Saturday #71 in Boston Saturday 2 Apr 2011. The attendees were awesome; asking very good questions in sessions I attended and presented. I got to see several friends again. I will not try to list everyone because I will surely leave out someone important.

Co-presenting and hanging out with Matt Masson (Blog | @mattmasson) was a lot of fun. Matt’s one of the smartest people I know and I always learn stuff from his presentations. I got to meet a couple Twitter personalities as well: Allan Hirt (Blog | @SQLHA) and Paul White (Blog | @SQL_Kiwi). Good people.

Kudos to the organizers and volunteers! It is always an honor to be selected to present.

Conclusion

Experiences, things I’ve read, and conversations over the past few weeks have been thought-provoking and challenging on many levels. They are combining to fuel a re-evaluation of personal and business thoughts. More later!

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