Why I am running for the PASS Board in 2020

This blog post is about why I am running for a 2 year term on the PASS Board. The PASS Community is one that I care deeply about, it is one that has helped me grow as a person and allowed me to contribute and help other people grow.

I served for one year on the board – it has been an insightful year in terms of how content and services are delivered, how decisions are made and what level of influence Directors have.

I am running to serve a 2 year term as we need to continue the great things that PASS does for the community but how it operates needs to change.

Speaking of change – 2020 has certainly been a year about change….

The past 8 months have upended so many things in society and this is evident with PASS as well. We’re about to go into our first ever Virtual Summit – and we’re currently running at a $1.6 million deficit in this fiscal financial year.

In the past the annual Summit has been the sole source of revenue for running the community – it was a flawed business model and this year has accentuated the flaws in that model.

Now is the time to have a positive change in terms of how PASS delivers content and services to the Community. We simply cannot continue on the path we have. This does not mean I want PASS to not exist, it does not mean I want to throw out the current management company.

What I want to do is introduce ways that we can work smarter – not harder…

The size and scale of what PASS is – requires management and operational oversight in how services and content is delivered. PASS requires professional interactions and liaisons with sponsors/vendors as well as our main partner Microsoft.

In terms of how we operate some of the IT systems – that definitely needs to change. We have a community of data professionals who know how to run events – can we build on that knowledge and perhaps use utilities like Sessionize and other platforms to perform some of the current costly operations more efficiently?

Over my career I have worked with companies to move towards more efficient operations, to remain sustainable and it has meant that some difficult but transparent/open conversations occur around reducing overheads. 

We need to have those same discussions around the future of PASS.

I do not want PASS to die – I want it to continue to serve the community, to be a vehicle that will help people grow. Therefore we need to engage more with that community around what change may look like. Collaboration is vital for the future of PASS.

The PASS Board and management company alike need to engage with the community, to listen to the community’s needs and collaborate on those needs in a positive constructive manner.

PASS needs openness and transparency in how it operates and needs to rebuild the connection with the community.

PASS has to change or it will not survive.

I want to serve our community by leading that change.
That is why I am running for the board.

You can find out about all the candidates in this years election here:

https://www.pass.org/Governance/Elections

We are all passionate people, I’m really glad that we have people who will put themselves forward for the future of the community.  There is a scoring mechanism that can help you the voter decide who are the best candidates to help bring about positive change to ensure the future of PASS.

If you have any questions at all for me please reach out to me @theHybridDBA on twitter.

Update – I have written a follow post here:
https://hybriddbablog.com/2020/11/16/what-the-future-of-pass-needs-and-how-i-can-help/

We need change – but we need positive change for survival & growth.

Vote here: