I wanted to bring you a quote from #SQLSaturday channel in the SQL Community Slack that I found amazing:
“They [the PASS board] are already signaling they don’t want to spend $$ on SQL Sat and a few of the board members would just as soon SQL Sats die.”
Having missed the Q/A at the Summit, this blew my mind.
Everyone I know who joined PASS had a requisite SQL Saturday or local user group to get them interested and welcomed into the community.
Even after my second SQL Saturday I didn’t really recognize what PASS was (beyond my local UG) and if someone had asked about the international org, I would have responded with (at best) “uh, sure, I guess?”
In my opinion, the local user groups are the primary thing that matters, the national/international components of the org may put out a few high quality webinars on a weekly basis, but 99% of that content is not related to my problems at hand. The local UG/SQL Saturday gives me valuable time with experts which I don’t have to pay thousands of dollars for to get on a plane or buy a ticket to the Summit.
If you ask the question “Would the SQL PASS Summit exist without SQL Saturday?” I think the answer is no, or if yes, then a much smaller less welcoming affair.
Agree or disagree?
I would love to hear more from the community whether they cherish and think SQL Saturday should be funded, or if it seems like a dead end activity for PASS.