Getting Started

Want to have a SQLSaturday in your area? We'll be glad to help! It's a lot of work, but we'll do what we can to steer you in the right direction. Here is an overview of what is involved, if you're up for the challenge drop us an email and we'll see about the next steps.

Defining Success

We define a successful SQLSaturday as any event that meets the expectations of the attendees. In general, we want to have a minimum of two tracks so that attendees have a choice of sessions. Some events will be 10 presentations, some will be 40, some will provide a free lunch, and others will charge for lunch. As much as we will focus on logistics and other details, attendees are coming to the event to get a day of free training - meet that expectation and we'll call it a win!

What We Offer

We provide the SQLSaturday.com web site which includes the ability to register attendees, accept sessions from speakers, and sign up sponsors. We also provide a set of administrative tools to let you manage and tweak your site. We'll provide the event logo, a SQLSaturday.com email address, and lots of documentation on 'how-to' run your event. We'll introduce you to sponsors, do coaching calls with you as requested, and in general do everything we can to help you make your event a success.

Can We Host a SQLSaturday?

The best candidate for hosting a SQLSaturday is any city that has a reasonably active SQL user group, but it's not a requirement. To make this event work you'll have to find ways to reach potential attendees, sponsors, and speakers - that means you need a mailing list and other contacts to have a good chance of success. You also need one person that will take ownership and commit to making the event happen even if it means they do all the work!

What's Next?

  • See our documentation page to get a better understanding of how the event works and the resources we provide
  • Complete our online event request - note that getting all this information together takes some effort, but gets you off to a good start.
  • We review the request and will follow up with you if we have questions or concerns. Once that is resolved, we will create the logos for your event, set up an email address, create the event site, and send you credentials to access the site tools.
  • Make it happen! It's up to you to find speakers, sponsors, and in general do the work, but we're here to answer questions and help you solve problems that come up!