This year’s blog post on the PASS DATA COMMUNITY SUMMIT is a little late. A hurricane in October destroyed my home office, so it’s been a challenge to work and write from the dining table. PASS SUMMIT is the perfect time to network, learn, meet new people — and most of all — get some of my questions answered. This year’s event was a combined convention for SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
This year (my 8th) I was looking forward to the new space. That’s right, they moved the convention across the street into Seattle’s new SUMMIT Convention Center. I’ll have to admit that the space looks VERY PRETTY and VERY NEW! And while the halls and corridors seemed wider and bigger, the space as a whole seemed smaller. But I guess that doesn’t matter since the numbers attending the conference have shrunk considerably since its peak in 2015 at around 5000 attendees. Less than half that number attended this year, making it just about the right size and in a suitable space.
Given the number of conventions that have bit the dust after Covid, guess we’re lucky that we have one. Which brings me to gratitude. I count myself fortunate that my company sends me to this valuable conference each year. While everyone is at a different level, I can say without a doubt the conference has more than paid for itself for my employer each and every year. And I am thankful for RedGate who picked up the pieces and restarted PASS. And of course, all the sponsors who help pay for it.
I always try to carve out an hour to visit ALL the sponsors. And I typically try to go late Thursday of Friday morning when things are starting to wind down. I find that gives me more time to EASE through the area and stop and have meaningful conversations with the vendors. I enjoy learning new things and seeing demos of their products — even when I think it’s something I’d never use in my job. You never know what the future holds.
The 75 minutes KEYNOTE session WEDNESDAY MORNING was kicked off by Microsoft. Given we’re already 3 years into SQL 2022, I was expecting/hoping there would be word of when the next version of SQL was coming out. Perhaps Microsoft has decided that IGNITE is now the “favorite” for SQL Server, as they held off announcing SQL SERVER 2025 until the IGNITE conference two weeks later. They did toss a bread crumb to PASS with the announcement of SSMS 21. (Sql Server Management Studio – SSMS.)
A side note to this slight, is the interesting increase of AWS Presence at the convention. They were everywhere this year, added numerous workshops, and even a breakfast. Seems like Microsoft was scrambling to catch up with them, when they announced their own Microsoft breakfast late in the game. In years past, attendees could be seen roaming around with the FREE T-Shirt Microsoft handed out (See my photo on this site for the PASS SUMMIT 2022 post) — This year we were all wearing the FREE AWS T-shirt. With their new slogan: “AWS – The right choice for SQL Server. The right choice for your data.”
NOTE: Bob Ward (Microsoft) did mention that Microsoft had printed up hundreds of T-shirts with the new SSMS-21 logo on them, but then they CHANGED that logo just 24 hours before the convention started.
Both the new SQL Server 2025 and SSMS 21 will integrate Copilot. However, from comments made in a couple workshops (by Microsoft employees) I get the feeling they are having a lot of technical and bug issues with this new integration, as well as security concerns. Many bloggers are presuming SQL 2025 will have an official release date of November 2025, but from all the chit chat I’ve been listening too, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the actual public release of this delayed to mid 2026.
I distinctly remember this AI feature being demo’d at the PASS SUMMIT 2022, two years ago. I even wrote about it in a blog post back then. Right after that, AI got all this bad press and seems like maybe they quietly paused the development of this, only now, scrambling to meet demand. Not to mention expectations from a fickle IT community that endorses technology based on blogger and YouTuber reviews, many who are quickly becoming dinosaurs while still attracting upcoming developers.
SESSIONS
There were a lot of sessions that focused on AI and I attended many of them. It was interesting to see the diverse use of AI within the SQL community. One speaker went on for hours about how to develop his AI solution in Python that would then write code for you in SQL. Seemed like overkill and a lot of work. And later in the day at a session by Microsoft, all the new features coming in SSMS-21 seemed to do the same thing (and more) than this other guy’s python solution. Neat thing was that he had his solution ready now — and he had obviously been using it for a couple years. Almost suggests how far behind Microsoft could be lagging in the AI department.
Most Disappointing Session
I try not to dwell on the negative. But almost certainly, PASS got scammed by a speaker who’s possible only intention was to get a FREE TICKET to the event. (Which all speakers get.) I was really looking forward to a deep dive into using POWERSHELL to shore up SQL SECURITY. As a matter of fact this was the session I was most interested in. It was titled: “AUTOMATING DATA SECURITY CHECKS AND BALANCES WITH POWERSHELL.” Jad, the speaker, got up gave his spiel about being a User Group speaker and attending SQL Saturday, even had pictures. Then he mentioned he might need to end slightly early to catch a flight. Next, he proceeded to READ his entire presentation. Most of it was on the HISTORY of PowerShell and then on the HISTORY of databases. It seemed like he was reading something off Wikipedia or perhaps generated by ChatGPT. He NEVER looked up once, from his typed notes and NEVER interacted with the audience. More than 25 people got up and walked out within the first 10 minutes. He gave ONLY ONE PowerShell script example. It was a very commonly used snippet of about eight (8) lines of code that any 100-level user would already have. This lecture was rated for level 300. Then right at the 25-minute mark his script came to an end. He packed up his bag, said he had to catch his flight and rushed out. Yeah – those of us still remaining in the room kinda looked at each other and shrugged.
Best Session
It’s hard to select from sessions presented by energetic Brent Ozar, Bob Ward, Steve Jones, or Ola Hallengren. But my prize goes to Microsoft and the presentation by Anna Hoffman, Erin Stellato, and Bob Ward. They titled it “AI-Assisted SQL Server: Transforming Database Mangement.” The session began with a confession that it was purposely mistitled and instead they were going to demo the new SSMS-21, but couldn’t title the session that, since SSMS-21 was under warps and not even announced until earlier that day. No one seemed to mind.
I’d have to say that Microsoft definitely knows how to present things and REATIN the audience. Many of us have been brainwashed by YouTube videos and we expect presentations to fit in to this new model of a QUICK intro outlining all the points, then someone diving into those points with QUICK and ACCURATE and NEW information for 9 to 14 minutes, then a recap and we’re ready to click on. Microsoft seems to have bought into this “presentation model.” In the session where they took a deep dive into the new SSMS-21 (which not even a preview had yet been released), they organized the presentation just like that. They had three speakers, and each one gave a 9 to 14 minute presentation, followed with time for questions at the end of each segment. It was engaging, kept my FULL attention, and kept all of us engaged the whole time.
Other speakers and presenters could probably learn a lot about how to present FOR THE FUTURE GENERATION, from this session alone.
If you are interested in trying out SSMS-21, it is now in preview. Here is a great article all about it, including how to install. It is now part of Visual Studio and you will need to install it via the installer file download link, below the article link, I’ve included here.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/install/install?view=sql-server-ver16
CHANGES
This year we were told to REGISTER for individual sessions ahead of time. And there was someone at the door scanning your badge before each session to verify. I think that was a good idea, as it helped them schedule sessions into rooms that were more appropriate for the expected attendance. Only the Microsoft session on SSMS-21 had people standing.
I made sure to fill out session evaluation forms and include mush of the information I mentioned above, so hopefully my ideas and comments get to the right people.
NEXT YEAR – 2025
Looking forward to next year’s SUMMIT which almost most certainly will focus on the new SQL SERVER 2025.
PASS DATA COMMUNITY SUMMIT INFO
2025 SUMMIT: November 17-21
https://passdatacommunitysummit.com/
