{"id":107992,"date":"2025-12-10T16:02:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/?p=107992"},"modified":"2025-12-10T16:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:06:07","slug":"evolving-sql-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/opinion\/editorials\/evolving-sql-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolving SQL Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a guest editorial by Steve Jones (President of the SQL Saturday Corporation).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last four years have seen a successful reboot of the SQL Saturday<\/a> franchise. After Redgate Software<\/a> donated the brand to a new independent nonprofit corporation in late 2020, we have run 107 events<\/a> in many locations around the world, with hundreds of speakers inspiring tens of thousands of attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The modern data professional industry has grown and expanded in the last decade. More and more people are being asked to work with data using multiple technologies, clouds, and platforms. This has resulted in a scattering of interests from these individuals as they try to upskill themselves and solve the challenges they face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many SQL Saturday events cover topics that expand all across the Microsoft Data Platform, from SQL Server<\/a> to Azure Data Services<\/a>, Power BI<\/a>, Fabric<\/a>, PowerShell<\/a>, and more. In addition, there are often topics on Data Bricks, Python<\/a>, Snowflake<\/a>, and other technologies that are not strictly part of the Microsoft Data Platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SQL Saturday grew out of the SQL Server community and has been an extremely strong brand for the last 18 years. However, we have had more and more attendees and organizers express that they are less focused on SQL Server and more focused on other technologies, of which there are many. Microsoft recognized this years ago when they started to promote the Microsoft Data Platform, of which SQL Server is one part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also recognize that Saturday is not necessarily the day on which some attendees can or want to attend events. Across the last 18 years, we have had SQL Saturday events on every day of the week, except for Monday (if memory serves me correctly). However, a SQL Saturday Friday, or other moniker has always seemed a little strange to everyone involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the last year, we have been working with a small set of organizers to research potential changes. Many of the organizing partners who run local user groups or local events have moved to a neutral \u201cdata platform\u201d name for their organization. A few have added a brand, using \u201cData\u201d in their name instead of SQL, with over a 10% growth in attendees from just changing the name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recognize that marketing is always a challenge and one of the hardest things about running any event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At SQL Saturday, we have a strategy that might help us grow in the future and also eliminate the tight tie to a single day of the week. We have created a sample site at https:\/\/dayofdata.org\/<\/a> to begin testing this change with various people. We copied over the current site in Oct 2025 to show how the site would look with a different brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our current plan is to follow this timeline:<\/p>\n\n\n

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