Next Up! Talk Time with PASS Program Director Adam Jorgensen
This week, we had the opportunity to have a quick chat with Adam Jorgensen, Director of PASS Programs, about the upcoming event in Charlotte, North Carolina. Adam first joined the PASS Board in 2012, and he is a SQL Server MVP as well as the President of Pragmatic Works consulting. He has been leading innovative SQL Server and Business Intelligence organizations for over a decade, and his passion is finding new and creative avenues for clients and the community to embrace innovation and lower barriers to implementation.
Adam holds MBAs in Finance and Strategy, and he has authored a variety of articles and books on SQL Server, SharePoint, and analytics. Adam’s previous PASS service includes serving as a PASS Regional Mentor, a member of the Regional Mentor Committee, and co-chair of the PASS BI Virtual Chapter. He blogs regularly at adamjorgensen.com, and you can follow him on Twitter at @AJBigData.
* * *
What is your involvement in PASS Summit?
I’m blessed to be a part of the amazing programs committee that oversees and executes the efforts to get our pool of speakers, plan the event sessions and schedules, and work with our partners to provide a program that our membership will look forward to at our Summit and BA Conference Events. I’m also excited to participate in our other events at Summit.
What sessions are you looking forward to the most?
I‘m especially excited that we have some great non-traditional summit speakers like Mark Russinovich and others coming to bring us deeper into the world of Azure, and how those technologies will continue to drive innovation and opportunity for our membership. I’m really excited about the growing improvements, and the announcements from Microsoft and other partners in the Big Data world. These topics continue to get more and more buzz with our membership, and I believe we’re delivering what they have been asking for in our program.
So…why Charlotte?
Charlotte offers us the opportunity to trial the East Coast model. There is a great MSFT presence there and while we still need our core folks from Redmond and other locales, CSS and other groups have a strong presence locally. We also have a great city with a number of amazing attractions, big IT shops that are bringing their teams for some great participation and interaction. We are back in Seattle for a few years after this, since we need to book those big convention centers really far in advance… I’m excited to see how this East Coast experience goes, how our international and East Coast membership feels about the change and if this move will drive more geographically aligned attendance. We are a data organization so I’ll judge the success not on the couple of blogs that folks will write but on whether it made an improvement for PASS.
What is new this year?
Well aside from an entirely new city, we have expanded the PASSTV due to great response from last year. We have also evolved our content approach and track system. We are exploring some additional big data camp options (not informed yet) as well as an increased focus on our volunteers and speakers!
Will there be parties?
Oh yes! Of course we have our awesome PASS events that are always a hit. I know some other vendors are scheduling events as well. Our firm, Pragmatic Works’ karaoke party at Hard Rock in Seattle was such a hit last year (with over 2000 through the door) that this year we have expanded and we have two adjoining bars just a short walk from the convention center to again have rock band backed karaoke! I can’t wait to see repeats of the performances from last year. Check out more details on the PASS events here: http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2013/connect/eveningevents.aspx and our Pragmatic Works event here: http://www.pragmaticworks.com/SQLKaraoke
Will you be wearing a #sqlkilt on Thursday?
Um…. No? I love the tradition and how many folks have come to embrace it. I can’t wait to see the variety this year! J
Can we look forward to hearing your voice at #sqlkaraoke?
Heck yeah! I will rock out with my #SQLFAMILY. I already mentioned our party above but I can’t wait for all the evening events that bring us together. It’s great to see our membership from all over the world getting to share these experiences together and these events becoming meeting places for groups getting together from all over the world.
How can the community still be involved if they cannot go to Charlotte?
We have PASSTV and of course social media, but my BEST piece of advice is get involved in virtual chapters (http://www.sqlpass.org/PASSChapters/VirtualChapters.aspx). Many of the speakers will be speaking at these virtual meetings to hone their presentations and get feedback so you can get a sneak preview of the content before your peers who are travelling to the big show!
I can’t wait for this year’s event and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you there!
