Why you should speak or volunteer at SQL Saturday Columbus.

“Hi. My name is David, and I’m a SQL Saturday addict.”

“Hi, David…”

If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll no doubt have noticed I’ve spent a good bit of time on talking about SQL Saturdays on here recently. SQL Saturday is a big deal for me. No – scratch that – it’s an all caps BIG DEAL. Why? If for no other reason then it’s the number one thing that has contributed to my career over the last five years.

Let’s break that down, shall we?

1. People. This is the number one reason to attend a SQL Saturday, period. The people you will find at these events are amazing. Not only have I made many valuable professional contacts, I have made some life-long friends as well. At how many professional events can you say that? Also, consider this: How many times in your life can you remember being in a room with a couple dozen people, and being able to explain what you do in five words or less… and everyone *gets it*.  Rare, right? Not at SQL Saturday. Here, you are one of us.

2. Knowledge. Tons of it. Everywhere. Not just in the session rooms, either. Conversations in the hall, during breakfast or lunch, even after the event… There’s a ton of knowledge being shared on just about any aspect of SQL Server that you can think of. The learning opportunities are limitless. I’ve learned more than I thought I would just by talking to people outside of the sessions. That issue you’ve been dealing with at work and can’t seem to find a good solution to? There’s a good chance the person sitting next to you has seen that as well. Maybe you should ask them about it?

3. Community. This could easily have fallen under ‘people’ but I wanted to give it its own separate space. A community is much, much more than just a collection of people. Remember that the people who put on this event are volunteers. This includes the speakers. They don’t get paid for putting on these events, they simply do it because they love it. And when I say they love ‘it’ I don’t mean SQL Server, but the community of professionals that make it better, faster, more powerful, and more valuable to the businesses and organizations that use it. Giving back to that community is kind of like a feedback loop. The more we put into it, the more we get out of it, and the better it gets.

That brings me to the point of this post. I want you – yes YOU – to consider submitting a session for SQL Saturday Columbus. Speaker selection is open until May 15. Have you given talks at work, or maybe for a local user group? Perfect – you’d be an excellent candidate. Need help with the submission process or coming up with your abstract? No problem – contact me via my contact page and I’ll help you out!

And if you’re not interested in speaking, then maybe volunteering is for you. We’ve got all kinds of things that need to be set up, taken down, monitored, moved, and generally managed the day of the event. We need all kinds of people to do it, as well. Volunteers are what make these events run, and make the community great. If you would like to volunteer, you can sign up on the SQL Saturday site, or simply contact me.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks for reading.

-David.