Now that I have been home a day, I thought it would be good to review some of the lessons I learned this week from attending my first SQL PASS Summit.

1. This week is a marathon, pace yourself.  Enjoy all of the activities but get plenty of rest all week so you will be able to finish the week out.’
2. Carrying a laptop and a bunch of crap in your backpack all week was not necessary.  Unless you are on call, use an ipad for notes or even your phone.  This added weight will wear you down quickly.
3. Carrying a power strip was not as necessary as I thought it would be since I didn’t see very many power outlets and since I wasn’t using my laptop.  The only thing that needed charging was my phone.  The ipad holds a great charge all day long.
4. Buy an extended battery case for your cell phone as I saw many people with them, what a great idea.
5. Never pass up an opportunity to introduce yourself to someone who you want to meet, I did that a few times this week because they looked busy.  I did not get another chance to meet those people again.
6. Walk, walk and keep walking.  I had no idea the amount of walking involved this week.  I usually walk about a mile three times a week, but next year I will need to be in much better shape to handle the rigors of walking everywhere all of the time.  I endured it this year but it was not easy.
7. Be prepared to stand in hot rooms for long periods of time.  Being DBAs, we are usually sitting for most of the day.  Many of the activities here at Summit, were standing room only for hours at a time in rooms that apparently had the heat on even though it was only maybe 55 degrees outside making most of these rooms like saunas for me.
8. Never pass up an opportunity to hang out and network with someone when it presents itself.
9. Buy the session DVDs so that you can watch them after the conference.
10. Most importantly, if you want to do #SQLKaraoke, put your song in early!  I put my name in every night and did not get called once.  What a bummer.

Don’t let this detour you from coming, these are just things I now know and will be better prepared for next year in order to attend the greatest event of the they year, see you then.