>http://sqlsaturday.com/268/eventhome.aspx
>
>Location: North Haven, CT
>
>Why don't you do a SQL Saturday in NE Ohio?
>
>Andy and I are signed up for he one in Cleveland on Feb 8th...

I just looked at the schedule for the Cleveland event - definitely some big names.

To answer the question, two words, travel options :)

I generally do community events in the Mid-Atlantic and lower New England areas because the Amtrak schedules are usually favorable. Most of the time I can leave for a place early in the morning and get back late that night, and in a few cases I'm gone for about 24 hours.

Anything west of Harrisburg PA can be a different story - fewer train runs/options. For Cleveland, it's 12 total hours just to get there because of a long delay in Pittsburgh, and it's just one train a day that leaves at 2 in the afternoon and gets in at 3 in the morning. :(

Furthest west I've done is Pittsburgh and even there, fewer train runs in a day.

So anything beyond that, I'd have to fly, and flight options out of Harrisburg to Cleveland aren't much better (no direct flights).

I'm hoping that some day these Saturday events start handling remote speakers. I've done user group sessions remotely for user groups across the U.S. But I tend to doubt SQL Saturday will do that any time soon - the people who run the events try to get as many local speakers as they can, so they're probably (my guess) going to limit remote speaker options.