Another in the PASS ‘First Timers’ series…

I recently received an email with the following comment and question regarding the PASS Community Summit. It went something like this:

I have relatives in the Seattle area, and I am wondering if there are any compelling reasons to stay at a hotel close to the Convention Center. I enjoy my relatives, and yet I want to make the best decision for my first adventure to the PASS Summit.

For my first couple of PASS Summits, I stayed with friends -it was great, we spent some time catching up, and we talked laughed a lot. And there was just a little bit of transportation hassle each day as I made my way down to the Convention Center. Each evening, I had to make the decision to decline offers to go out to dinner or drinks with some of the folks that I met during the day. I needed to get back to my friends -they were expecting to see me and spend some time togther. It felt really odd and uncomfortable to consider staying late -would my friends think that I was inconsiderate and just using them for a cheap place to stay? So I really didn’t allow myself to consider just hanging out with other attendees.

Later I realized that I had missed out on a lot of networking opportunities. I had missed out on chances to make new friends. Actually, I missed out on quite a bit of the PASS exerience.

Now I stay at at a hotel which is right next to the Convention Center. For me, it is the best decision. When staying with friends, I felt obligated to spend at least a little time visiting. At the hotel, I come and go as I wish. I can even run over in the middle of the day if I need a quiet place to work, or even a short nap. Sometimes I have had to deal with a work emergency and needed the privacy and quiet offered by my room. And I can go a day or two early (or stay after the Summit) and give my friends my undivided attention -and then move down to the hotel. Once at the hotel, I am completely free from traffic and transportation concerns, I don’t have to think about parking. I am free to really be completely and totally at the Summit. (If there are financial concerns, check with the PASS Registration Office about sharing a room.)

I no longer feel that I miss out. And yes, there are activities almost every evening, as well as many folks just hooking up and going out to dinner and then perhaps to drinks, or, ahem, SQL Karaoke. Monday evening offers a no-host informal networking dinner, Tuesday has a ‘First Timers’ orientation just prior to the Opening Reception, Wednesday is the Exhibitors Reception, and on Thursday, groups of folks will get together for dinner -and some vendors may be hosting receptions at various locales. And of course, just about every evening, there will be vendor ‘happenings’ after the scheduled events.

Attending the sessions is great -don’t get me wrong about that. You can ask questions, actually see the presenters as they weave their topic through the gauntlet of the audiences’ interests. But you can listen to the session on-line -albeit some weeks later. What you can’t do on-line is meet this great group of fellow attendees. You should be attending the PASS Summit to network, ask others what they are doing, and join up with folks that seem interesting. Remember, you can catch up on sleep on the flight home… You won’t have an opportunity to meet and chat with these folks when you get back home. Who knows, you just might meet up with your next employer, or co-worker, or even your employee.

My advice? Stay right in the middle of it all. Be totally AT the PASS Summit.

Don’t you owe that to yourself?