Well, it’s Friday. Today is my third — and last — day of PASS Summit 2020.
I’ll start right off the bat with why this day is important for me, personally: today is my day to present. The funny thing is, I’m not really presenting. PASS is using my prerecorded session that I put together before PASS Summit 2020 even kicked off. So during my session, I get to kick back and watch myself present. However, I do still need to be online to answer any questions that come up during the session.
I’m actually not looking forward to the experience. One of the predominant comments I’ve seen on my Twitter feed has been that coming from other speakers about how uncomfortable they are seeing themselves speak. I am no exception; I hate listening to my own presentation; it is very awkward and surreal. Honestly, I would feel much more comfortable doing my presentation live. But, this is how PASS chose to do it (and I understand their reasons for doing so), so I’ll just have to deal.
Otherwise, looking at the schedule, it looks like it will be a quiet day. I don’t see a lot of networking sessions on the schedule; although I will try to drop in on any that catch my interest. My networking room moderation commitments are all finished, so I’m not obligated to sit in on any more rooms. I do see a session on the schedule by Peter Shore that interests me, so I might try to attend that. I did see a few others that interest me as well, but unfortunately, they either conflict with or run too close to my own, so I’ll likely skip those today and catch the recordings of them some other time.
I will likely try to catch today’s keynote, which is about diversity and inclusion. That is an important topic these days, so I’ll make it a point to tune in at noon.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about anything that happened since my last article from yesterday. I sat in on Christine Assaf’s presentation. Christine and I met earlier this year at a SQL Saturday, and we struck up a good rapport, so I made where that I attended he presentation. I was also assigned a Birds of a Feather networking room last night, so I made sure that I monitored it. Only one person showed up, but we struck up a good conversation. One thing that came out of it was that he hooked me up with his employer’s HR person, to whom I sent a message (I received a response from her, but haven’t yet read it). I’ll admit that I’m not expecting a lot from it, because they are located in Iowa, and looking at the website, it doesn’t look like there are a lot of remote opportunities, but I figure, you never know. It’s worth a shot.
So, we’ll see how the final day goes. It’s been a fun experience, but I still vastly prefer attending in-person. I miss being able to share a handshake or a hug with my #SQLFamily friends. I’ll likely wind this series up with a final debrief article, once PASS Summit 2020 is over. Stay tuned.
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