Last year, I helped organized SQL Saturday in Chicago with two other people. On many occasions I have received feedback from speakers and attendees saying that SQL Saturday ranked in the top three out of all the SQL Saturday events they had attended. Feedback like that is truly inspiring.
This year we’re bringing another SQL Saturday to the Chicago area. The organizer group this year includes a few more people and we’ve spread the duties out a bit to get things done better and more efficiently but everyone helps each other and it is making it much easier. One of my tasks, like last year, was the scheduling of the event. Last year I thought scheduling was difficult. I had no idea that it could get even more difficult until this year. In total, SQL Saturday in Chicago had 135 session submissions and just under half of those were from unique speakers.
To say the least, deciding which speakers and sessions to put on the schedule was a task, and a lengthy one at that. I apologize to all the people that asked when the schedule would be completed. I know from experience as a speaker that travel arrangements are time sensitive and knowing if you need to make them is critical to being able to attend. I’m sure most of you understand that 135 sessions is not easy to schedule and I thank you for your patience.
I’m happy to say the schedule is completed and up on the SQL Saturday site. As with any SQL event, we want to schedule everything that was submitted but simply have to work with the rooms and time slots we have. With that, some do not make it in. I know some people will be upset and I can’t do much to help ease that other than say; when scheduling a SQL Saturday, I take into account the key aspects that SQL Saturday was created for.
- Local speakers
- First (or even second) time speakers
- Solid content for attendees to take away
In the schedule we have an awesome combination of both. I am very excited, knowing many of the speakers, and cannot wait to see them rise in the community. For a long time I’ve known they had much to offer in this role and it brings great joy to know I was able to help them in that path with this schedule.
A lot of thought and work goes into creating a schedule. I hope at some point everyone gets the opportunity to write a schedule and have the resources such as the submissions that were made to this SQL Saturday at their disposal. I honestly don’t think this schedule could have been written wrong. Any combination of the speakers and topics would have been remarkable.
I look forward to seeing everyone March 26th and hope this event also ranks high on the list of the SQL events you will attend.
