Not too long ago, Andy Leonard (blog|twitter) dreamed up the idea to create the SQLPeople community. The community is forming around the stories and ideas of its members. The SQLPeople website shares stories.

I spoke at the first SQLPeople event!

And now SQLPeople events are starting: the first was held on Saturday, April 9 in Richmond, VA.

I am proud to have been among the speakers– it was a thoughtful and inspiring event. Other speakers included:

• Jeremiah Peschka (Blog | @peschkaj | SQLPeople)
• Scott Currie (Varigence)
• Gray Proulx (@GrayProulx)
• Michael Coles (@Sergeant_SQL | SQLPeople)
• Brian Moran (@briancmoran)

SQLPeople events are unique

Andy simply posed a question to speakers: What inspires you? What is your vision?

What a refreshing question! I love speaking about technical, practical topics, but being asked to step back and take a look at the larger view was a great reminder to also look at the long view. It was a challenge to think even bigger.

The format for the event included talks, interviews, videos, and lots of conversation with the audience.  It was great to have a single track and be able to hear everyone’s talk with the same group– and it was fantastic to see the different things that inspire us, and also the common threads that run through it all.

If there’s one way to describe what made this day different, it’s that it was not directly focused on training, it was focused on thinking.

It was an energizing day.

Learn more

If you like to think about data, check out SQLPeople.net, and attend a future event.