The Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) is getting a great, early, start on preparations for the 2009 community summit to be held in Seattle November 2nd - 5th.  I have worked on the Program Committee for several of the past Summit events (and again this year) and I am impressed and excited by what has been accomplished already.

First, the event site is up and running with a lot of information about the event and also some tips to help you emphasize the return on investment to your boss (or yourself).  On the site you will also find testimonials from past attendees and links to several blog posts about last year's Summit, a preview of the agenda and tracks, and all the latest news.  I am also happy to see the Speaker Resources Page (actually part of the main PASS and PASS Chapters site).  This was an area of particular interest to me last year, and I like what they have put together already.

There are options to register for a single-day or for the full conference.  While a single day is better than nothing, I will tell you that the one year that I did that, I was sorely disappointed that I had not found a way to make it to the whole thing, as it was abundantly clear how much I was missing.  Of course there are huge learning opportunities, but also the networking opportunities (and in this economy who couldn't use a little boost to their professional network?)  There are vendor exhibits (been thinking about an auditing and compliance solution?  Come see some of the competitors almost side-by-side!)  Oh, and of course, you get access to all the recorded content online after the Summit is over, so for those sessions that you couldn't get to, you can still see them at no additional cost (available to full-conference attendees only).  And I haven't even mentioned all of the free stuff you can get just for being there.  It's pretty awesome.

Simply put, if you make your living somehow related to SQL Server, you need to be at the PASS Community Summit!  It will be here before you know it, so start planning, and saving, NOW.