This is my 14th PASS Summit. I started going in 2003 and missed just 2012 in all those years. Once again, it was held in Seattle. I think that it’s a great location since it’s so close to Microsoft headquarters. Microsoft has a big presence at the event with sessions, a big vendor booth area, and the Microsoft Data Clinic.

This year was a very special one for me. It’s my first Summit as a Redgate employee. I didn’t spend a ton of time at the Redgate booth, but I felt proud to talk to our customers as they came to the booth when I was there. Redgate hosted a great party Thursday night and the traditional Friends of Redgate Dinner. The Friends of Redgate Dinner has always been my favorite meal of Summit, but this year I was not there as a Friend which made it even more special for me.

As part of my new job, I met up with current Simple Talk authors and potential authors. For the past several years, Summit has been more about networking for me than attending sessions, so it didn’t feel much different.

I’m also co-leader of the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group which meant I had quite a few obligations related to WIT throughout the week. We launched the first book of the Let Her Finish Series, Voices from the Data Platform. Six other successful data platform women and I wrote this book, each in our own voice. I have been involved with quite a few book projects, but this was the first book for most of the other women on the team. I am really hoping that the book inspires many other women to start writing.

I made it to about half of one session all week except for my own, of course. I gave a half-day session on Indexing for Beginners. It went well, but I would like to have had more people in the room.

I started the week at SQL Saturday in Portland and went out for Karaoke that night. In Seattle, I continued the Karaoke tradition at Bush Garden for five nights out of six. We had thought that last year would be the end of Bush Garden, but the developers have not taken over the building yet. We can only hope that it will still be there next year.

Overall, it was a fantastic week. Next year, it doesn’t happen during or near Halloween, so I think that will get more people coming back. I’m looking forward to 2018 and hope to see you there!