We believe that when you’re at a community event, the most valuable thing isn’t what’s up on the screen. Instead, it’s building relationships with the people around you.
With that in mind, over the last five years, we’ve run a series of FreeCons – totally free networking events for the SQL Server community.
This year’s FreeCon at the PASS Summit in Seattle was our most ambitious yet. We rented out a movie theater for 50 folks and shared:
- Identifying what you’re proud of now, and sharing that with those around you
- Setting goals for yourself over your next year
- Learning about personal branding
- Understanding the difference between outbound and inbound marketing
- Planning which inbound marketing tasks to do, in which order, and how long they’ll take
- And of course, throughout the event, sharing all of that with those around you, and building meaningful lifelong relationships
We’re really proud of the results and the reactions:
Ed Leighton-Dick wrote: “For many years, I focused primarily on the technical aspects of my profession. That focus served me well, but I realized several years ago now that I needed to start developing some soft skills, also. Skills such as marketing have continued to elude me, but yet, they have become critical as I build my consulting practice. Thanks to Brent and Kendra for all their work in putting on the FreeCon, and thanks to all the rest of the attendees for a fantastic day – I learned a lot from all of you!”
Chris Yates wrote: “One thing that stuck out to me was the authenticity shown by both Brent, Kendra, and Doug along with the 50 or so of us who were asking questions.”
Woohoo..what an awesome #FreeCon by @BrentO & @Kendra_Little today..enjoyed and learned a lot !!Thank you! #summit15 pic.twitter.com/JXnPbf5d6A
— Anup Sivadas Warrier ?? (@AnupWarrier) October 27, 2015
One of the best Free(pre)-con ever in SQLPASS summit. Thank you @BrentO @Kendra_Little @thedouglane #freecon #Sqlfamily #summit15
— Dev Bethanasamy (@dev_b) October 27, 2015
Thank you @BrentO and @Kendra_Little for #FreeCon today. Great experience and a fantastic way to meet a bunch of the #SQLFamily.
— Kevin Feasel (@feaselkl) October 26, 2015
"Don't look down at obstacles, look ahead into the turn" – motorcycle advice turned into life advice from @Kendra_Little #FreeCon
— Cathrine Wilhelmsen (@cathrinew) October 26, 2015
Thanks to @BrentO @Kendra_Little & @thedouglane for a great #Freecon today. Lots of things to think about over the next few weeks.
— Lord Richard Douglas (@SQLRich) October 27, 2015
Thanks to @BrentO and @Kendra_Little for putting on an awesome event today – learned a lot! #freecon
— Craig Purnell (@CraigPurnell) October 27, 2015
And Richie Rump tried to follow along:
Thanks to everyone who joined us – you were really the secret to making this event a lasting success.
4 Comments. Leave new
Is there any way of recording these sessions? This kind of training/discussion doesn’t happen very often and I’d love to be able to take advantage of this, especially since I can’t get to the major events.
Matt – no, we’re pretty anal-retentive about the quality of our recordings these days, and it’s really expensive to produce recordings.
Makes sense. All the more reason to prioritize making it to a major event in my planning!
That’s a shame for those of us in the UK (or anywhere non-US). I’ll have to start looking at more UK-centric stuff!