Attending PASS Summit 2012? Want a chance to win a Microsoft Surface? Make sure you come by the Community Zone Wednesday and pick up your official “SQL Around the World” game card. If you’re wondering what the Community Zone is, you can read a couple of blog posts: one here by PASS Community Evangelist Niko Neugebauer and the other here by Jason Brimhall.

In a nutshell, the Community Zone is a place for Summit attendees who want to stay involved in the SQL Server community year-round. Come talk with PASS Community Evangelists, user group leaders, SQLSaturday organizers, and other SQL Server community groups about how you can participate.

During Summit, a variety of daily activities will be going on at the Community Zone, but the one you won’t want to miss is the “SQL Around the World” networking game. We hear about a first-time attendee to Summit who didn’t talk with anyone, or that those who know each other all just hang out in the same groups, making it tough for someone new to feel like they can join in. To help break through some of those barriers, we’ve come up with “SQL Around the World.”

Here’s how to play: 

1. First, come by the Community Zone and get your official game card. You’ll want to do this early Wednesday so that you have as much time as possible to get your card filled out before the drawing on Friday. 
2. Then, start finding other attendees who do not live in your home country. You must meet with at least 10 to fill in the 10 spots available on the card. Each person you list must be from a different country than the others on your card, so no two attendees from the same country can be listed on your card. There are 57 countries and over 4,000 attendees represented at Summit this year, so finding people from 10 different countries should be easy. 
3. But not so fast. Because this is about networking, we want to be sure you are engaging in a conversation with the people you meet. So you must also list on your card an interesting fact about that person or their country. 
4. By Friday at 11:00am, drop off your “SQL Around the World” game card at the Community Zone. Everyone who meets 10 individuals and fills up their game card will be in the drawing for a chance to win either a Microsoft Surface tablet or a $250 American Express gift card. The drawing will be held in the Exhibitor’s Hall at approximately 11:15am, and you must be present to win.
5. As part of a spin-off of the above, we have another contest that involves pictures. Those who snap the most photos of themselves with the 10 attendees they’ve met will be entered in a second drawing, and will win whatever the first winner doesn’t select (the Surface or the Amex Gift Card). 

Sound hard? Or feel you can’t possibly randomly walk up to someone you don’t know and talk to them? We can help with that, too. On the back of the game card, we’ve provided some talking points and tips on what you can say to start a conversation with a fellow attendee. No matter where we’re from, everyone here at Summit shares a common language: SQL Server! That alone should make it easier for you to start chatting with someone. So be sure to stop by the Community Zone, get your card, and start networking. Even if you don’t win a grand prize, you’ll be a winner because of the connections you make this week!