There’s a lot of talk going around about what’s good for PASS Summit attendees. I don’t like to guess what they like – instead, I like looking at attendee feedback to see which sessions were voted highest.
As an example, let’s look at the Best of Summit 2014 list.
Should Speakers Be Able to Talk About Their Company’s Free Apps?
David Klee of Heraflux ran a great session on how to right-size your SQL Server VM. After talking for an hour about how much work you have to do to get this right, he finishes up by talking about a new option:
David said:
“I’m working on something with my company to automate the VM right-sizing estimation of a production’s SQL server, both physical or virtual. I hope to have a beta out hopefully by Christmas and Merry Christmas. Because life’s too short to do all these when you have fires to put out. The scripts will be available here by the end of the day. Keep an eye on my blog. I’ve got cards up here, if you’re interested in becoming part of the beta test crew come on up. Grab a card, I’ll put you on the list and as soon as we’re ready we’ll send out an announcement.”
Ooo – that’s actually against the rules. The PASS speaker contract stated:
You may not refer to your company’s products or services or products and/or services provided by any companies with which you have a business relationship.
And yet, attendees rated this session in the top 10, indicating that they’re okay with what David did. (And I am too – free tools make our lives easier.) In fact, I wish it would have been ready to show during the session!
Should Speakers Be Able to Show Another Company’s Paid App?
Erin Stellato did an excellent session on Five Execution Plan Patterns to Watch For. At 17 minutes in, she gave a demo of Sentry One Plan Explorer, a commercial tool with both free and paid versions.
I highly recommend Plan Explorer, and I use it in my own demos too. There is a real value in seeing how pros like Erin use the tools they use on a daily basis.
Here’s where it gets tricky: Erin works for SQLskills, a consulting company with a financial and promotional relationship with Sentry One, the makers of Plan Explorer. Technically, what Erin did was against the 2014 PASS speaker contract too:
You may not refer to your company’s products or services or products and/or services provided by any companies with which you have a business relationship.
I don’t think what Erin did is wrong – I think the rules are wrong. Attendees voted, and PASS honored that vote by keeping Erin’s session in the top 10 – despite the violation of the speaker contract.
Should Speakers Be Able to Show Their Own Free Tools?
Ola Hallengren’s session revolves just around his backup scripts:
Attendees loved it so much that they voted it in the top 10 of sessions overall. This question seems pretty open-and-shut. If you’re going to learn about someone’s free scripts, you can’t do much better than learning directly from them.
When attendees picked their 10 favorite sessions, at least 3 had product placement.
And heck, maybe more do – these are just the only three in the list I checked out of curiosity.
Either enforce the rules, or change them.
But don’t call me a bad guy when I’m the one who’s trying to honor them.