Last November, PASSMN (the Twin Cities, Minnesota local group of the global Microsoft Data Platform community PASS) held its annual board member elections. Or rather, that was the plan.
No Election
It turns out that only 3 people were interested in the 3 seats, so there was no election after all. While I’m dismayed there weren’t more volunteers to help organize the group’s activities, I’m pleased that I will continue to serve.
Here is the full announcement (sent via PASS site email to the full member list on 2016-11-27) by Paul Timmerman, the outgoing board chair:
Hello PASSMN members!
With 3 open seats for the 2017 PASSMN Board and only 3 candidates, there was no need for an election.
I am proud to announce that in 2017, the following members will be starting new terms on the PASSMN Board of Directors:
- Jim Dorame
- Christopher Kramer
- Riley Major
Congratulations to all!
Jim D., Christopher, and Riley will be serving alongside the following Board members who are entering the second year of their two-year term.
- Jim Horn
- Cecil Spivey
- Eric Zierdt
Positions held by the Board members will be decided soon and will be communicated at either the December or January meeting.
2017 Board
We divvied up the positions as follows:
| Chair | Jim Dorame |
| Director of Program Development | Jim Horn |
| Director of Membership / Treasurer | Cecil Spivey |
| Director of Corporate Development | Chris Kramer |
| Director of Technology | Eric Zierdt |
| Director of SQL Saturday | Riley Major |
We’ve already begun working on several initiatives in our new posts.
SQL Saturday Survey
Previously, as Director of Technology, I helped coordinate our monthly meetings. My new role involves organizing our flagship annual event SQL Saturday. We plan to hold it again in early October and we’ve already begun reviewing venues.
In our February meeting, we learned that several of our members didn’t know anything about SQL Saturdays. And so far, a quarter of our survey respondents say they’ve never been to a SQL Saturday. I can’t think of a better value technology event for data professionals– a *free*, full day of networking and training in your local area. So either we need more publicity or we need to put on a better event. Help us figure this out. Complete our 5-10 minute, 10 question survey so we can craft the type of event everyone would want to attend. And if we didn’t ask the right questions, or there’s anything else you want to tell us, please use the comment section. I promise you I am eagerly reading them all. After we close the survey, I’ll post answer summaries and address comments in a follow-up post.
Take the SQL Saturday Survey
User Group Survey
Of course we’re not all about a single day. We hold meetings on the third Tuesday of every month (except for the month of SQL Saturday). There are over 2000 people signed up to our user group through the PASS site, but only 40 or so join us for our in-person meetings. You can help us understand how to be more valuable to more people if you take our 5-10 minute, 10 question survey. We especially want to hear your feedback if you don’t frequent our events. Again, we’ll post the overall results and address comments in a follow-up post.
Take the User Group Survey
Community
We’re a community of data professionals. We work best when we communicate. So please let us know your thoughts and let’s continue to improve our events and meetings.