As I write this, it is the Sunday after the DataTune Conference in Nashville, TN, led by Ed Pearson and a host of other folks who were all donning yellow shirts yesterday. It is a bleak day, and I am sitting in Einstein Bagels in Franklin, sipping my latte, finishing a first draft to put out tomorrow (which, as I edit this, is still barely today!).

The first thing you notice at any conference is the signs telling you the way to go. Unlike major conferences that have big budgets for huge banners, flashing lights, etc, a sign like this is the first thing you see:

It is a wonderful site because you know you are in the right place, even if you are terrible at following directions like I am!)

My wife and I stayed an extra night in the Nashville area for some additional time away from home in the city we love, just south of Nashville, Franklin, TN. Of course, after a day like yesterday, we are both super tired from a rather long day of learning, and then a soccer match (only watching, of course, but even that is tiring after a long day!)

Friday Night – Speaker Dinner

To start things off, we had a gathering at the Puttshack in the Gulch. Great night of hanging out with friends in the SQL Community, and especially with former coworker Louise Domeison from Redgate, whom I hadn’t seen for over a year. I still miss working with a lot of the people there (because I have known them for many years!), but at least a good number of them are at events where I can keep in touch.

Saturday Day – DataTune 2026

Saturday was a blast. The event was held at Belmont University, and the facilities could not have been more perfect for a conference. An attached (and free) parking garage (great on a rainy day!).

The main conference locations were on the 2nd-5th floor, which was great because it felt nicely contained and there was a balcony where you could see and feel outside if you wanted (and it wasn’t raining!).

It all started at 7;30 AM with some breakfast, and then 6 time slots for sessions throughout the day. I spoke at 10:30 on writing.

As is the usual when you are at a conference about programming, the people there to learn to write is not going to be huge, but it was my favorite group to do a session like this for.

All the sessions were great, and covered a lot of different topics. I am in a mode of learning about Microsoft Fabric, so most of what I attended was around that technology.

It was a wonderful day with a great lunch, a nice assortment of snacks and drinks available all day (funny but true: this is not all that common, so when a venue can provide that at a doable price, it really helps!), great people, and a lot of interesting people I met.

In the end, big thanks to Ed Pearson and the whole Datatune organizer team!

Very much looking forward to next year!

Oh yeah, thank a sponsor. If they never get any leads, they will stop sponsoring. And there are some great vendors represented here!

Saturday night – Soccer

While there were awesome-looking dinners going on over at Assembly Hall in downtown Nashville (which the organizer provided transportation to from Belmont and the conference hotel!), I already had plans for Saturday Night to head over to Geodis Park to see Nashville SC play Minnesota in person. It was my third match ever, and my wife’s second. (I happened to catch them one historic night on my way back from a conference in Chicago. Historic because they tied the most goals scored in an MLS match.

Geodis is a lovely place, and I am undefeated in attending! (Maybe they can invite me in next time we play Miami?)

Only complaint of the day? Larkin Poe was at the match and played for a few minutes. Just a few minutes. C’mon man. I need to catch them in concert someday; they moved to Nashville about the same time we left for Southeast TN. I have seen them open for/play with Elvis Costello several times, and they are so great.

In Conclusion

A great day of learning, playing, eating, and most of all, time spent with great people.

Oh yeah, a bit of a food review

On our way up, we tried In-N-Out in Antioch!

Would we go back, yes! It ranks up there in the burger category, and the crunchy bun (which I knew nothing about prior), was very interesting but good. I probably still hit Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack most of the time I am in Nashville, but this was really good.