On Saturday, March 18, 2017, I spoke at my very first SQL Saturday.  I have been an attendee, involved in organizing and volunteered at many over the years, but this was the very first time I was a speaker.  My session, What is Power BI?

I have presented this session twice before, once to my local user group and once at the Triad Developers Conference, so I was fairly comfortable with my content.  Richmond had 245 attendees registered with 5 different session tracks.  I had about 25 people in my session.  Of those 25, I only saw one nod off, but it was the first session of the day (8:30am), so I’m going to chalk that one up to not enough caffeine prior to the session.  There were some great questions and I had several people approach after the session with more detailed questions and to tell me how much they enjoyed my session.  Some were so excited they would be able to take action when they got back to work on Monday based on my session.  It really doesn’t get any better than that.

With my session in the rear view, I was excited to attend other sessions.  I was able to make it into two other sessions, both of which were fabulous.  The organizing team for SQL Saturday Richmond did a fabulous job.  The event appeared to run like clockwork, I think maybe they’ve done this before

One thing I really liked about this event is that they did not have a typical speaker dinner and gift, they did a speaker event.  It was at G-Force Karts which was so exciting for me because I’d never driven a go kart before.  I’ve always fancied myself a race car driver in another life (much to Martin’s dismay) so this was my opportunity to see if it was true.  All I can say is, “Yes, it’s true.”  I had so much fun.  I wish more SQL Saturday organizers would consider doing something like this.  A nice dinner is always appreciated and a gift is a thoughtful gesture, but the memories I made with my #SQLFamily at G-Force Karts are something I will NEVER forget.

I just want to thank the organizers of SQL Saturday Richmond, all the volunteers, sponsors and spouses who made this event happen.  It was truly amazing and something I will remember my entire life.  Well done.

Photo courtesy of Doug Purnell (Blog |Twitter)