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Recap - SQLSaturday Tampa 2019

Dave Mason - SQLSaturday - SQL Server

SQLSaturday #859 in Tampa was my first event for the year. It unofficially begins "SQLSaturday season" for me. There's a handful of events in Florida and the Southeast that are relatively close and at agreeable times of the year. But back to Tampa--this was just my second time at their event, and I'm sure I'll be back again.

I debated driving to Tampa on Friday vs driving on Saturday morning. Take my time and spend for a hotel or be in a rush, but save some money. I opted for the latter. I stayed up late Friday night watching basketball and I paid the price on Saturday--I was tired. Traffic on I-4 was surprisingly good Saturday morning, and I arrived with plenty of time to spare.

I like the venue in Tampa, which is on the campus of USF. There's plenty of parking outside, and plenty of space inside, including numerous tables & chairs. It's great to have a place to sit and relax, whether it's breakfast, lunch, or just networking. I won't speak for the vendors, but it looked like they had enough elbow room too.


Sessions

There was one session in particular I was most interested in: Introduction to SQL Server Big Data Clusters by Buck Woody. Buck's session hit on a lot of topics I don't know much about: Linux, PolyBase, Containers, Kubernetes, Spark, and HDFS. This was my second time seeing Buck speak. He's equally entertaining and informative.

Another notable session I attended was Storytelling for Machine Learning and Advanced Analytics by Jen Underwood. This session also covered some topics I have an interest in, but not much personal experience. Jen's session was a "replay" on the one she presented at PASS Summit in 2018, which was nice for me since I didn't make to to Seattle last year. It was my first time seeing her speak.


No-Show

There was one session I went to where the speaker didn't show up. This gets talked about from time to time in the SQL community, especially amongst SQLSaturday organizers. A volunteer arrived after about 15 minutes to let us know the speaker wasn't coming. I felt bad for the volunteer, who seemed sheepish to make the announcement, almost as if he felt he had let us down. Obviously, it's not an ideal situation. But it's not the end of the world. Sometimes life gets in the way. I hope the speaker is safe and sound.


An Opportunity?

There were less than 10 of us in the room. I wondered if any of the attendees would want to do something impromptu? The topic for the session is something I've had a few experiences with, including a recent one. So I asked the others if they wanted to tell a problem story about Topic X. Did they fix the problem? If so, how? If they didn't fix the problem, was there someone in the room that knew how to fix it or could offer some insight?

I tried to get a conversation going a couple of times, but no one seemed interested. So I let it go.


Lunch

SQLSaturday Tampa opted for a catered lunch. It works well in their venue with the buffet/serving line in the main building adjacent to all the tables & chairs. It's hard to please everyone with lunch options, but I was a happy camper. Pork, chicken, beans & rice, along with some side items (yum!). I got to hang out with Buck for a bit, along with Jeff Taylor and Ron Dameron.


Friends

I met John Wells for the first time. We just met online for the first time back in December and had mostly talked about college football. (His LSU Tigers were playing my UCF Knights in the Fiesta Bowl.) Like me, John's career with SQL Server and IT got started a bit later in life than many others. John attends and speaks at a lot of SQLSaturday events in a lot of different parts of the US. He's easy to talk to. Go say Hi to him if you get a chance.

Robert Preseau and I went to a couple of the same sessions and got to hang out a bit. And there were many others in the #SQLFamily I bumped into.

Staying up late and waking up early makes for a sleepy attendee. I'd gone through two energy drinks during the day. After the last session, I was drained. So I skipped the raffle and hit the road for the drive home to Seminole County. Despite some pockets of congestion on I-4, I made it home in time for a late dinner.

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