Hello Dear Reader! In
June this year I was recognized by PASS as with an Outstanding Volunteer
Award. In an unusual move I found myself
speechless. This is a very quick post to
give the true credit where it is due. June
was a very busy month for me and I had a blog post scheduled to post it in
July, but… let’s just say a couple things happened on the way to the
theater. The timing felt a bit wrong.
“So Balls”, you
say, “Why blog about it now?”
Great question Dear Reader.
The original blog was a big Thank You, and I want to say that in
earnest. The reason I received my award
was for a lot of the work and presentations I’ve done this year. 32
presentations so far in 2014 with 9 more planned out and hopefully a couple
more to come.
These presentations don’t happen in a vacuum. I’ve been very blessed as a presenter and
community member. I’ve written recently
about how SQL Saturday’s impacted my life.
This year friends in the community invited me to new and wonderful
locations. Mike Walsh (@Mike_Walsh| Blog) and 1/2 of my future law firm of Biguns & Balls Jack Corbett (@UncleBiguns | Blog) started out my January in New Hampshire from there I've presented physically
and remotely in Florida, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Missouri,
Texas, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Oregon, Colorado, Georgia, with
more before the end of the year. That
doesn’t include Webinars where people from all over the world signed up to
attend.
If you attended, were forced to attend, dragged, cajoled, or
otherwise persuaded to attend I Thank You.
Dear Reader without you it doesn’t happen.
For the organizers, who put in their time, put on events,
get sponsors, volunteers, and manage the process Thank You. My time to present is a pittance compared to
the effort it takes to lead a group and the hours that you put in. Many Thanks for letting me be part of your
group.
To PASS, the volunteers (the literally HUNDREDS of
volunteers from SQL Saturday’s, program committees, Leadership Staff, down to
the volunteer picking up coffee a noble and thankless job), Chapter Leaders,
the employees whom I see and send emails to for the Summit or SQL Saturday’s,
and all of those who I do not see Thank You.
Your hard work helps create an environment that allows our community
to thrive. There have been lots of
fantastic winners already this year. I
encourage you to check out the PASS page of Outstanding
volunteers here. Chances are if you’ve
been to an event this year one has touched your life.
A Quick late-CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Shawn McGehee (@SQLShawn | OPASS) who is the August Outstanding
volunteer. Shawn is the Chapter Leader
for OPASS and has done an incredible job.
He is leading the charge for our Pre-Cons for SQL Saturday Orlando amongst many, many
other things! Way to GO Shawn!!
To my friend who nominated me, the beers on me. To anyone who wants me to present and I haven’t
presented for you. If I’m in your area or you need a virtual presenter, shoot
me a message on twitter or an email at bball@pragmaticworks.com I’m always happy to help.
ONE MORE THING
“So Balls”, you say, “You’ve
said Thank You, anything else?”
Why Yes Dear Reader! Yes there is one more thing, actually 4 more
things. I got something big that I
cannot share quite yet. In celebration
of the community and the influence you’ve had on my life I want to give
something back.
So in October I’m going to blog a community script a
week. These will be scripts that people
have asked for, as I’ve presented that I never found the time to get out there,
plus a couple new ones. One a week
leading up to the PASS Summit in November.
As Always Dear Reader, Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks,
Brad
