Notes From the PASS Summit Keynote

Well, here we are, another PASS Summit behind us. Each Summit is special to me, in different ways. It’s like having children; you love each of them but for different reasons and in different ways.

This year marked my second, and final, year as PASS President. Along with the usual part of the Day 1 keynote rhetoric for the President (i.e., what’s on tap for the week, introduce the Board, etc.), I wanted to find a way to make certain that everyone understood the following:

1. Joining PASS is the single best thing I ever did for my career as a data professional
2. Joining PASS isn’t enough, you must actively find ways to help others before you help yourself, usually through volunteering
3. How grateful I am to have been fortunate to serve PASS all these years

I wanted to take a moment today to share with you some notes from my PASS Summit keynote slides, along with some additional thoughts.

As you look around the room today, you see our incredible community, our SQL Family. For many of us the PASS Summit is not just a conference, it’s a family reunion. And we are attending what I am certain will be the best Summit ever. – If you watch the video you will see me holding up a placard during this moment. I was handed the #SQLFamily/Hug Me placard about an hour before I went on stage that morning, so I tried my best to work it into the keynote without rehearsing and this was the best spot. I love my #SQLFamily. Sometimes we are like the Waltons, other times it feels like the Mansons, but at the end of the day I understand that we are all in the same boat together.

So, how did we get here? I don’t just mean planes, trains and automobiles. I’m referring to our journey, the path we walk in life, the path we walked together today that led us to gather in this room here today. As this is my last Summit as President, I have spent time reflecting on my own journey within the PASS community, and as a Board member. – I have spent time thinking about my career path since my first Summit 12 years ago. More importantly, I’ve thought about the path we have walked together through these years. As with any family, there have been ups and downs, highs and lows, additions and subtractions. We’ve shared tears of joys and of sorrow. We’ve yelled, we’ve laughed, and we have wept. And I would do it all over again.

I invite each of you to reach out to any of us with your questions, comments, and concerns throughout the week. We want to hear what you have to say. We need you to help us understand how PASS can better serve everyone. – When I started on the Board my first task I assigned myself was to make certain that (1) the members knew the Board was listening to what they were saying and (2) making certain the Board members were hearing what was said. This was not an overnight process. I’d like to think that after seven years of reminding everyone that communication is a two-way street we have finally turned a corner with regards to communications. My message of “we’re listening” is not going to end when my service is done, I will keep helping to facilitate communications when and where I am able.

Many of you in the audience today are attending your first Summit, like I did many years ago. Many of you are at the beginning of your data careers, like I was many years ago as well. You are here because, like me many years ago, you have a desire to grow, to develop new skills and improve your existing ones, and to build your professional network. You are here because you know that Summit will be a key part of your career journey. – When I took on the role of the DBA at my company my manager told me to find a conference to attend. I found PASS and knew immediately I wanted to be at Summit for two reasons: I wanted to improve my technical skills with SQL Server and I wanted to join an association of geek-minded individuals. I knew the value in joining such a group and did not hesitate, and I suspect there were one or two people in the audience that day that were just like I was, all those years ago.

Your fellow Summit attendees will become your go-to resource not just during Summit, but every day, all year round. Through this community, you will grow your skills, your connections, and yes, your friendships. In short, the people seated next to you right now will help you shape your career, and you theirs. And they are only a handshake away. – I’m a naturally shy person, I don’t enjoy meeting new people as a rule. It’s difficult for me to meet new people, it really is. Those of you that know me best don’t describe this as my being shy as much as it is me just being a jerk (most of the time). Anyway, had it not been for Pat Wright (@SQLAsylum) sitting down with me one morning in Orlando then I would not be sitting here today writing a post that recaps my keynote. And all because of a handshake.

We all start our careers in the same place, with zero knowledge and infinite questions. Maybe we joined a company and learned we loved data, possibly a little too much. At some point we discovered that data professionals are the life force of every company and decided to become one. Over time we add more skills, make new connections, and share what we learn with others as we progress through our career. – I actually *did* want to be a DBA, but that’s only because I had heard about how Oracle DBAs made so much money that they would make it rain inside of nightclubs. I didn’t even know what that meant, I just knew it was better to be a DBA than a programmer because programmers had to keep learning new things all the time. Yes, I see the irony now, thanks.

I know that I can draw on my own experiences, and say that being part of PASS has greatly supported my own career growth and development. Our future, and the future of data, is exciting. Imagine where we will be 15 years from now. Think about how our careers will change. Here at PASS, we want to make certain we all have the necessary resources we will need to be successful in our careers now and in the future. – One of the key points I have been making for the past five years now is that the world of data is changing at an accelerated rate. In order to keep pace PASS needs to adapt to the changing landscape or find ourselves extinct like other professional groups have in the past few years. I helped lead the updated mission statement a few years back in order to give PASS the chance to remain relevant for another 15 years or more, and making certain we are helping more and more people along the way. And, yes, we’re going to need a bigger boat.

To…everybody who has volunteered their time over the years to help PASS thrive, I want to give thanks. It is through your efforts we have grown our community, one member at a time, working together to achieve something great. As our community grows, as we extend our reach to other data professionals, we build a better journey for everyone. – While our growth has not be exponential these past 12 years, it has been steady. And the people we attract, and retain, are the best of the best data professionals. The secret is simple: we grow one member at a time. While this method is slow, it works. Grow too fast and you have something unmanageable. Grow too slow and you die. But if everyone that attends a PASS event comes back and brings a friend, then we continue our growth. We extend to other groups of data professionals, we connect, share, and learn, and everyone benefits.

Make no mistake about it, PASS is the gold standard for community organizations in the world. Our members consistently look to help others before they help themselves. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time, supported PASS, and worked to ensure that there is a future for others. – This. The gold standard. It’s true. Everyone I meet that is a member of some other association always asks me “what magic did you use to create this”? Executive from other companies that land in Microsoft are always amazed when they attend the PASS Summit and meet our members. We’ve got something special here folks, and it’s about time we recognize the lightning in the bottle we’ve captured.

Throughout this week, I encourage everyone to get involved. There is no better time than now. Make the time this week to meet new people, sign up to be a volunteer, talk to your Board of Directors, join a chapter, and learn from someone who has a different job than you. Connect. Share. Learn. That’s what we do here. – Joining PASS isn’t enough, you’ve got to roll up your sleeves. You get what you give. If you just want to consume content from PASS, fine, but don’t expect that by sitting in a room someone is going to just hand you a dream job. You need to get up out of your chair, meet people, and volunteer your time to work alongside others. It’s through these extra efforts that people get to know what it is like working with you and that’s when you will see your career flourish.

Lastly, in the brief moments I have remaining on stage, I want to tell everyone how proud I am to be a member of such a wonderful Community, my SQL family. PASS has been the cornerstone of my career since 2004 and I hope that it is, or will become, the same for you. What a long, strange trip it’s been, and I consider myself lucky to have walked alongside each and every one of you through these many years. – It took me six rehearsals to get through this final statement without choking up a bit. My #SQLFamily means a lot to me, and I don’t think I’ve ever tried to hide my PASSion for our community. I’ve put a lot of myself into these past 12 years. I’ve gained and lost friends along the way, learned a lot about myself and others, and would not change a thing. And now it’s getting dusty in here.

Thanks for another amazing Summit, and I’m looking forward to what 2016 will bring.