We’re always looking for ways we can improve the PASS Summit experience and ensure that this remains the best event for global data professionals to attend. 

We value receiving your feedback and we’re grateful to everyone who took part in our 2024 Community Insights Survey or our Attendee Survey last year. While we can’t take action on every suggestion we receive, our aim is to make positive changes that benefit the majority of attendees and add real value to the conference experience.   

Here are some of the changes we’ve implemented for PASS Summit 2024 as a direct result of your feedback: 

Networking:

• We’re adding a brand-new attendee networking feature on the 2024 PASS Summit event app and Attendee Portal – this feature will launch shortly before the event, enabling attendees to connect with each other and exchange messages before, during and after the conference. To be the first to know when this new feature is released, sign up to our mailing list.
  
• We’ve added additional networking and social opportunities on-site, including a Casino night (this is a ticketed event taking place November 5, 8:00 – 10:00 PM), a Networking Event prior to the Welcome Reception (November 5, 4:05 PM – 6:05 PM), and a Games Night (November 6, 8:15 PM – 11:00 PM). We’re grateful to the community for hosting a range of other events for attendees to enjoy.
• We started our call for community events earlier this year to try and encourage more submissions, and ensure we could add these to the website as soon as possible for greater visibility. Check out the range of events taking place at PASS Summit here.
• We’ve carefully reviewed last year’s feedback for the Welcome Reception, and as a result, we’ve revisited the quiet area and removed the band so the space is more conducive to networking.
• We’re thrilled to announce that this year’s event will feature a brand-new Community Experts Clinic! This clinic offers attendees a unique chance to connect one-on-one with industry experts for personalized support and advice on real-world challenges you’re facing in your work. The Clinic will be open during the main conference days (November 6-8). You’ll soon be able to use the Attendee Portal and Event app to schedule time with an expert who best matches your needs. 

Pricing:

• We’re conscious that there are many options for spending Learning and Development budgets and we don’t want price to be a barrier to entry. We kept this year’s launch price the same as in 2023 and continued with the price bumps throughout the year, which have been listed on our website since launch.
• We also launched two brand-new scholarships (PASS Summit Futures Scholarship and PASS Summit Charitable Scholarship) this year to offer dedicated support to individuals who may not have access to Learning and Development budgets. We’re delighted to be welcoming the winning applicants on-site next month.

Breakfast:

• While we recognize breakfast is an important meal for all, we also appreciate that there are many choices at this time of day. Sitting down for breakfast doesn’t suit everyone, so we’ve not added this into the schedule for 2024. There will be several sponsored breakfasts available for attendees:
  • Sponsored Breakfast with Google on November 6, from 6:45 AM – 8:00 AM
  • Sponsored Breakfast with AWS on November 7, from 6:45 AM – 8:00 AM
  • Sponsored Breakfast with Microsoft on November 8, from 7:00 AM – 8:15 AM
  • Sponsored Breakfast with Simple Talk on November 8, from 7:00 AM – 8:15 AM
• Within this year’s venue we’ve added an early morning concession stand serving coffees and breakfast items for attendees to purchase. The stand will be available every day (November 4-8) prior to sessions beginning. There’s also a Monorail coffee shop in the building.
• For other local breakfast recommendations, attendees are encouraged to read Mala Mahadevan’s fantastic blog post.

Community Zone:

• The Community Zone is always a very popular space for attendees to connect, share and learn in a friendly and relaxed space. This year, we’re making the space more engaging by introducing additional games and structured sessions (including Community Conversation sessions, Q&As, Community Hobby Huddles and a Community Mingle).
• We’ve extended the Community Zone’s opening hours on Friday, November 8, in line with your feedback.
• The bean bags will be back, by popular demand, and there will be interactive displays and a few additional surprises along the way. Read this blog post to find out more.

Facilities:

• As in previous years, we’ll be retaining facilities on-site for a quiet room (there will actually be two quiet spaces available this year), a prayer room, and a nursing room. We’ve made a conscious effort to ensure the signage is clear and visible to ensure attendees are aware of these facilities and know where to find them.  

Non-alcoholic bars:

• We’ve made custom counters for non-alcoholic bar(s) on-site to aid discoverability.

Sessions:

• We’ve introduced two new session lengths to the PASS Summit program: 45-minutes and 60-minutes (inclusive of Q&A) as a direct result of your feedback in this year’s Community Insights Survey.
• Whilst the majority of educational content at PASS Summit is geared towards SQL-Server, we’re introducing more cross-database sessions, including PostgreSQL sessions, to this year’s lineup. This comes as a direct of your feedback from the Community Insights Survey, where participants cited PostgreSQL as the second most popular platform of interest.
• We’re introducing a shorter day on Friday, November 8, to enable attendees, sponsors and speakers to wrap up slightly earlier and help with onward travel plans – as a result, we’ve discounted the 1-day Friday ticket in recognition of there being fewer sessions.  

As PASS Summit evolves to reflect the data community’s changing needs, we hope these updates will have a positive impact and ensure that the event is a rewarding and rich experience for all.  

Haven’t yet registered for PASS Summit 2024 and like what you see? There’s still time to buy a ticket before the final price bump comes into effect on October 23! Click here to buy your ticket. 

We look forward to seeing you in November!