SQLAuthority News – MVP Summit 2009 – Day 2 – Most Contributing MVP of Year

Day 2 of MVP Summit 2009 was my best day. Fellow MVPs chose me as a Most Contributing MVP of the year. The story is below.

The day was filled with back-to-back technical sessions. Because of the NDA, I can’t share the details. I even checked that I can’t post the titles of the sessions I attended. I can only share general details, and in one line: it’s one GREAT event!

We didn’t miss a chance to have fun while attending these excellent sessions. In the morning I met four cool people I can’t resist blogging about. I met many experts yesterday and will meet more tomorrow, and I plan to write about all of them. Since I can’t write much about sessions today, I’m writing about the SQL Server heroes I met.

Steve Jones is one of the friendliest MVPs you’ll ever meet. I’m impressed by the down-to-earth personality and the superman-like SQL skills. A true leader and a person worth meeting. I wish I could be as successful as Steve one day.

Ross Mistry never stops surprising me. Ross loves to write easy but interesting SQL Server books, and I love to read them. I reviewed an earlier book, SQL Server 2005 Management and Administration, on this blog.

Ross brought a copy of the new book and promised to give it to me tomorrow, with an autograph too. Let’s see if I get the book or a surprise (by not getting the book!).

Glenn Berry is the lead author and SQL expert at Glenn Berry’s SQL Server Performance blog. Glenn works at NewsGator, a leading feed aggregation company. Glenn is a people’s person who enjoys discussing complex problems with fellow developers. Glenn introduced me to many SQL Gods here.

One thing I’m going to learn from Glenn is how to manage a truly gigantic database with zero downtime. Glenn can show you how to make the most of limited resources. I assume people like Glenn will always have a safe job, because they’re most needed when recession hits a company. We can hire one Glenn and save the money of 7 other developers.

Michael Coles is an XML expert. From the writing, I assumed Michael was much older, but in person Michael is vibrant and young. The writing is mature and excellent. I’m not a big fan of XML, yet Michael has made XML and SQL a piece of cake.

Michael’s attitude is simple. Nobody is forced to use XML. Michael only suggests why you need XML, where you need it and how to use it. I follow the same approach myself.

I reviewed Michael’s book Pro T-SQL 2005 Programmer’s Guide on this blog earlier. I’ve asked for the latest book, and it will come once I’m back in India. Besides being a SQLXMLer, Michael is a jolly person.

I’ve met many experts in these two days, and there are more to meet. I’ll write about all of them as I have time. Tomorrow I’m going to meet Satya to learn about public speaking, because Satya is a regular speaker at TechNet. I hope to post about it tomorrow.

Arnie Rowland is another interesting person. Today Arnie advised me on how to participate in the MSDN forums. Arnie, thank you for your encouragement.

In the evening, we had a wonderful dinner at Maggiano’s.

Each MVP got a paper to write five names of fellow MVPs who influenced the tech world last year. I was happy when nearly 100 MVPs voted me as one of the five. I humbly accepted my gift, and I’d like to thank all my fellow MVPs for suggesting my name. I promise I won’t let any of you down, and I’ll always be a community person.

Here’s my travel itinerary so far:

• Feb 27, 2009: Departing Ahmedabad to Mumbai
• Feb 28, 2009: Departing Mumbai to Seattle Sheraton Hotel
• March 1, 2009: Day 1 at MVP Summit
• March 2, 2009: Day 2 at MVP Summit
• March 3, 2009: Day 3 at MVP Summit
• March 4, 2009: Day 4 at MVP Summit
• March 5, 2009: Departing Seattle to Toronto
• March 6, 2009: Tech User Group Meeting, Markham, Canada
• March 7, 2009: Departing Toronto to Mumbai
• March 8, 2009: Missing day due to crossing the International Date Line
• March 9, 2009: Arriving in Ahmedabad

More from MVP Summit 2009

• Announcement: MVP Global Summit 2009 in Seattle and Redmond
• The journey begins
• Database industry discussion from London Airport to Sheraton Seattle
• Day 0: About Pinal Dave
• Day 1: Summit welcome and keynotes
• Day 2: Most contributing MVP of the year (this post)
• Day 3: Party day and SQL celebrity photos
• Day 4: Keynote of Steve Ballmer
• South Asian MVPs at Global MVP Summit 2009
• Complete wrapup of the Microsoft MVP Summit 2009 trip
• Video interview published online

Published by Pinal Dave on SQLAuthority. More of my work at pinaldave.com.