Four years ago, we put on the FreeCon: a free invitation-only pre-conference event before the PASS Summit here in Seattle. The FreeCon was like a pre-conference session focused on your career and the SQL Server community. The goal was to spark fires, encourage people to reach for new levels of community contribution, and build connections to help people succeed.
Looking back at the pictures, it’s amazing to see the progress everybody made in their careers since that event. Part of the magic of the FreeCon was identifying the right mix of community leaders and up-and-coming contributors, new bloggers and experienced authors, outstanding presenters and people who’d never gotten up on stage before. The original FreeCon attendees have since gone on to become vendor evangelists, PASS Board of Directors members, published authors, MVPs, and MCMs.

We ran a couple more Free-Cons since, and it’s always been one of the most fulfilling events. It’s so fun to help people achieve new levels of success in their careers and the community.
In 2015, we’re taking it up a notch.
We’re gathering 50 people together for FreeCon 2015 on the Monday before the PASS Summit in Seattle, WA. It’s your chance to share ideas about blogging, presenting, careers, and technology with some of the most interesting people in the database community – and we don’t mean us, we mean the rest of you.
Wanna take part? Apply before November 30th. All closed! The winners and … uh, runners-up – will be emailed.
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Likely I wouldn’t be able to attend, but I’ll say that I very much enjoyed the one in Seattle and would recommend this to people, but only if you want to participate and engage. This is not a sit and watch event.
Come to think of it, I will be in Seattle the Monday before the PASS Summit. 😉
I attended one of these in Chicago. Best money I ever spent on airfare and hotel. Learned a great deal and made some really AWESOME friends.