Comments on: SQL Saturday 35 Recap

By: Jen McCown

Jen McCown — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:54:57 +0000

Cookout, eh? Maybe we’ll have the next after party at chez McCown

By: Sri Sridharan

Sri Sridharan — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:50:16 +0000

I fully expected this to happen. It is very exhausting after a day long event to go to an after party unless you are staying over in the area and stuck away from families. The important aspect is Networking and not really attend a party. So we set aside Collin Room as a Networking area during lunch hours but somehow Jen convinced me on the day to have the midnight dba filming happen there and we lost that large room. Trust me, we really did think through all these scenarios.

By: Jack Corbett

Jack Corbett — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:05:52 +0000

I think that this amount of attendance is pretty typical for after party’s at least at the SQLSaturday’s where I’ve attended the after party (5). As Chris has shared I think a lot of the “normal” attendees are pretty tired and ready to see family after 6-8 hours of training. I also think a lot have the intention of attending, but once they get in the car they decide they are ready to go home. Once thing we’ve discussed for Orlando it trying to have the after party on site, but that adds extra cost (bringing in food) and extends the work that organizers and volunteers have to do (clean-up, etc…). For the food part the sites we have used would require us to cater hot food, we’d love to do a cook out, but we aren’t allowed grills on site.

By: timcost

timcost — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:54:56 +0000

maybe hold back some door prizes to pass out at the after party?

By: Sri Sridharan

Sri Sridharan — Wed, 26 May 2010 21:34:40 +0000

Thanks for the positive feedback. Thanks so much.

By: Chris Nelson

Chris Nelson — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:46:02 +0000

Allen,

SQL Saturday #35 was a great experience. As for your observation about the after party: Many of the attendees were taking a chunk of their weekend to attend the conference. The ones I talk to were like myself, we had already worked a full week and were eager to get back to our families and or other non-SQL activities. Had I thought I could spare a few hours for the party, I would have gone, but I would have been sleeping on the couch!

By: Tweets that mention SQL Saturday 35 recap | Allen Kinsel - SQL DBA -- Topsy.com

Wed, 26 May 2010 17:08:18 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Allen Kinsel, Ryan J. Adams and Jen & Sean McCown, N TX SQL User Group. N TX SQL User Group said: RT @sqlinsaneo: [Blog]: SQL Saturday 35 Recap http://bit.ly/aJ3pkB #SQLPASS #SQLSAT35 [...]

By: Jen McCown

Jen McCown — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:45:58 +0000

Yeah, we were a little bit bummed out about the after party, too. I suspect part of it will be emphasis – “COME TO THE PARTY” emails and Tweets and adverts the week before and day of. And maybe attendees need better incentive than free food and booze…next time we’ll put Paciugo in the after party

Thanks for your thoughts. We’re pretty proud of what we’ve done, too, and absolutely delightted that so many people had a great experience!
-Jen