The event itself was lightly attended, but I went for one primary purpose–to meet Steve Jones, Grant Fritchey, and Adam Machanic, one of the guest speakers.  In that respect, it was a neat to be able to have some time to talk with them and introduce myself.  I asked them about SQL Saturday as I am involved in planning on here in Richmond (and hoping Red-gate will sponsor).  Everyone agreed that I was a little crazy for going to Boston, so we agreed and now I get to be remembered as the crazy guy from Richmond.  I guess stranger things have happened.  Another person I was actually super impressed with was Buck Woody.  I have only seen a few videos with him so I didn’t know much about him, but I found him to be one of the most down to earth people.  He was very polite and I found myself wanting to talk more with him.  I am now envious of the folks on the SQL Cruise Alaska as they will have him for  a whole week!

Of course, I can’t forget that I also got to see many of the cool red-gate products.  As a contractor, I can only recommend tools; however, I have used SQL Compare.  I was interested in SQL Prompt, which is not new, but I had not used it and could buy for myself.  The red-gate employees were great and they had a great setup where they could demo products in between sessions.  Lunch was provided and I was able to talk to several employees about their roles in the company and their experiences.

In the end, I thought the event was very good and I enjoyed meeting the good people of Red-gate.  I am evaluating the SQL Prompt tool now and I will purchase after the trial expires.  Hopefully next time, they will have an event in DC–just saying.