That's a wrap! Finishing up the PASS 2005 European Conference

This is an entry from a week ago in Munich. But I thought I'd go ahead and post it now.... I just delivered my last session of the day (and the conference) and also stuck around for Gert Draper’s excellent session on SQL Server 2005 features.

People sometimes ask me why I don’t tout myself as an expert very much.  Well, the simple reason is guys like Gert.  Just when I get to where I feel like I really know something about SQL Server, I coincidentally sit in on one of their sessions.  It’s at times like that when I’m reminded how little I really know!

Now it’s time to wind things down, get packed up, and prepare for the jet lag I will face tomorrow after a very long day of travel.

PASS, as an organization, has learned a whole lot from putting on this event in Germany.  We definitely want to do it again next year, although we’ll have to set a location and time.  (Feedback here is much appreciated!)  We didn’t make money on the event.  But an early peep at our books shows that we probably didn’t lose money either.  At this stage, that’s actually a victory for an organization that is still in its inception in Europe.

We also are working hard on ways to get the local community to higher levels of engagement.  We worked hard this year to establish a German SQL Server users group with many subchapters.  Thanks to Christoph Stotz, Helmut Knappe, Annette Norgaard, Joe Webb, and all the German subchapter leaders for working so hard on this!  We’re well on our way to building a vibrant body of users helping users.  The idea is that PASS is –not– a US operation trying to expand into Europe, but that PASS is an international grass-roots effort that benefits all SQL Server users everywhere.

I also had the opportunity this week to talk with other volunteers who are working hard to establish local user groups around the world in places like Benelux, Switzerland, throughout Asia, and as far away even Australia.  This is such an exciting and marvelous thing to me – especially because all of us working so hard in these endeavors are doing it not for personal gain but instead are doing it for the good of the community.

Now that it what me to be the President of this organization!  Thank you to all the volunteers who make this job so worthwhile.

Thanks,

-Kevin