The PASS Data Community Summit Call for Speakers has been open for a few weeks now (the deadline is April 10). Usually, I’d be all over it on the first day that submissions are accepted. However, I will admit that I’m on the fence this year.
I’ve spoken at PASS Summit for four years. I’ve written before that being selected to speak at PASS Summit four times is nothing short of amazing. Just getting selected to speak at one is a great honor! I applied to speak last year, but I wasn’t selected, so my four year streak is broken.
I absolutely love attending PASS Summit. I get to see #SQLFamily friends whom I don’t often get to see (sometimes, the only time I see them in a single year is at Summit). Seattle is one of my favorite cities to visit. And I like to travel.
However, as I get older, I’m also finding that I cherish my free time more and more. My current job involves a lot of travel around the state, including the fact that I’m in New York City roughly about once a month. I am speaking at two events next month on back-to-back weekends which, out of necessity, requires a very short turnaround on one of those trips (from the time I depart until when I return, my trip to STC Summit will only be about twenty-four hours). The weekend before PASS Summit is scheduled, I will be taking a weekend trip for personal reasons, and the short turnaround is, admittedly, making me hesitate. There’s also the matter of my work-related travel; as much as I enjoy these trips, it does wear on you.
So we’ll see how this goes. I could decide that I miss my friends whom I very much want to see and hang out with, not to mention experience the satisfaction of delivering another presentation at a nationwide conference. Or, I could decide to take this year off. There’s always next year.
I have until April 10 to figure this out.
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