Category: Uncategorized

Barnes and Noble recently announced their new e-book reader, the Nook. It looks pretty cool, and in some ways I think it really blows past the Kindle. There is another reviews from Technology Review.

There are two big features that make me think this is a great new product that blows past the Kindle.

The first one is the lend feature. If you haven’t heard, with this you can “lend” your book to a friend to use not only on their Nook reader, but on their smartphone or PC/Mac. Any device that has a B&N reader can see the book for 14 days. That’s cool as I can give others an idea of what I recommend.

I know Amazon has the share among Kindles, but they devices have to be on the same account. I don’t necessarily want my wife on my account, or vice versa as I don’t want to see her books, or even manage a budget between us.

I don’t think this is a big deal, and I can’t see it costing lots of revenue. It’s more a way to create community and interest people. It also sounds good, which is important to ensuring people are happy with the device.

The second thing that I like is that it has wi-fi built in. I did find it interesting that Amazon is no longer using Sprint, but moving to ATT, which is the carrier for the nook as well. However ATT has horrible coverage where I am, and I constantly hear people complaining about coverage from them. So if that’s the case, and I can’t buy a book when I want, like from bed or in an airport, then wi-fi is a great second solution.

I like the idea of e-reading. I’m mostly using my iPhone to read for now. I would like to get a dedicated reader again at some point, mostly for the ease of reading in bright environments, and the tremendous battery life. However until I get some insurance or other coverage, and I have an easy way to get books from multiple sources, I’m not sure I want to invest in one.

I’ve never attended this in the past, but I’ve wanted to. As the father of young girl I want to be sure that my daughter has the same opportunities as my sons in the career world. Supporting other women in technology just feels like something I should do.

The luncheon was a panel of 4 women, moderated by Wendy Patrick. Kathi Kellenburger, Jessica Moss, Cathi Rodgveller, and Lynn Langit participated, sharing their stories and backgrounds. From Kathi’s inspiration from her own daughter to get started with Active Server Pages to Jessica providing a roll model for a friend’s young girls, it’s inspiring to hear them talk with a passion on how to interest young women in technology.

Cathy Rodgveller has started IGNITE, a group looking to inspire young women in the Seattle school districts. I think that exposing children to options, and getting them to just consider alternative careers is something we need to do more of.  Cathy has also created other groups that help other minorities, empowering them to open their minds to other

We already have less math, science, and engineering students in the US than in the past, but the percentage of women is declining. That’s disconcerting to me. I’ve enjoyed seeing more and more women coming to the PASS Summit every year, and becoming a larger proportion of the data professional population. I hope that it continues in the future.

Lynn Langit, author and BI professional, gave us ideas about how to grow our efforts. She asked everyone to tweet or text someone and show support for women in technology. Brian Kelley was my tweet since he’s not here, he has a daughter, and I think he’d like this. Lynn donates a portion of her royalties from her BI book to DigiGirlz. If you need a BI book, that’s a good reason to pick Lynn’s among the others. Put your money where you mouth is.

Use your voice, engage with girls, is Lynn’s message.

If there’s one thing I’d learned in my life, it’s the power of words. I write on a regular basis, and he feedback I get from so many of you is how I make you think. I hear how I inspire others to reconsider their viewpoint, to stop for a moment and think about things in a new way.  Take the time to talk to a women, a girl, a minority and show them that they can do succeed in technology if they want to.

There is tremendous power in just talking about possibilities.

Breaking Stereotypes

How do you break the image? Cathy sees young women stuck with myths about working in technology. You have to work alone, be super smart, long hours, etc. They are misconceptions. Young women don’t know what is involved, and we should get involved. Share your story.

Q&A

A few notes from the question and answer time.

Men constantly ask for things from Lynn, women don’t (time, money, freebies, etc). Why? Women need to speak up and ask for help, support, etc.

Why women’s participation in technology has fallen? Girls are not inspired by technology. They are not encouraged or supported in schools to get interested in technology. Is that true? I wonder. My children have had a number of "technology" teachers, though it was not programming or technical work. Cathy says IGNITE is very inexpensive to run, so it’s worth bringing up to local schools. I’ll pass it along to the technology teachers in my school district.

How does a man inspire a girl in technology? The panel talked about the importance of men participating, but it’s sad that they didn’t give any ideas for men.

That’s true, and different groups need to help other groups. Women should focus on women. Minorities on minorities. Technologists focus on technology. It takes a small effort from many people, each of us focusing in our own area, the effect changes. If we say that everyone should focus on everyone, there is no focus.

Education is the key. Teach young people about many ideas, a variety of thoughts, teach them to think for themselves.

Each year I host an opening night party at the PASS Summit. I set up a deal years ago with the PASS organization to refer people to the event. In exchange for referring people, and having them use my code, my company got $50 per person as a fee. We decided early on to spend the money on a party for the people that used the code, and our famous opening night party was born.

And it’s the best day of my year at SQLServerCentral.

I get to give away a polo shirt and a book to everyone that comes. We print up the Best of SQLServerCentral each year, a collection of the best articles from as many authors as we can and give it away. I’ve also had polo shirts embroidered every year with the SQLServerCentral logo, choosing new colors each year. Every person using our code, or buying a ticket, gets those gifts.

I also budget out the event based on the number of attendees. After removing the costs for the books, shirts, and catering, I go out and blow the rest. I go to Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and look to just blow over $1,000 on whatever I can think of. My goal is to get something for every 2 or 3 people and randomly give most of the gifts away.

It’s a fun event, and a great time. I think the great gifts that we let go make it for one of the best parties that you can attend at PASS. We have fun, games, and the chance to take home a prize. Some of the things that we’ve given away in the past are:

• iPod Nanos
• Nintendo DS’s
• Digital photo frames
• digital cameras
• XBOX 360s

and much, much more.

I have a good time at Best Buy, thinking of gifts that people might enjoy. However it pales in comparison to the fun I have giving away the gifts on opening night at the PASS Summit.

The History

When we started the agreement, it was through my partner, and he wanted to promote us a little, so he had some oxford shirts embroidered and we gave them away to the people that used our code.

The first year we did it, we gave away shirts, and it was a zoo. We were a part of the opening reception and a line went across the room. People got in line, not knowing why. It was crazy, and a mess, but great fun.

So the second year we made better plans. We talked with the PASS board and managed to organize our event to follow the opening reception in our own room. We budgeted things out, and found about $4,000 worth of money left. After brainstorming, we thought about an XBOX event. The Summit was in Florida that year, so we arrived a day early and went shopping. We’d inquired about renting TVs from the AV vendors, but they wanted $300 for a 2 hour event for 32" TVs. That seemed silly to us, so Brian, Andy, and I drove to Circuit City and bought 6 32" TVs and 6 XBOX consoles. We set up the consoles with the TVs in a room, and had people come in and play. We also gave people stickers with numbers. Our thought was that we’d have people find their matching number, and we’d have 3 pairs of winners.

When Brian asked people to find their matches, we had people running around yelling their numbers. Not exactly networking. When Brian said the first pair to come to him, we had people falling over chairs and running. It was a mess, so we gave that first pair away and then randomly gave away the other consoles. At the end of the night, we gave 3 TVs to local people we knew from Florida, and 3 more to hotel employees. People loved the TVs, and we decided to try something new.

Our third year, I was in charge and searched around for various party themes. I decided on a casino party, and contacted Aaron’s in Dallas. The event was in Grapevine, and Aaron had a great price for catering. So I booked them, arrived a day early with 40 DVDs, and then went shopping with Andy and Brian. We loaded up a cart full of stuff from Circuit City, spending about $1500 on all kinds of gifts and then randomly gave them away at the party.

That was such a huge hit that I’ve repeated that formula for the last 4 years. I’ve booked a casino company, West Coast Entertainment in Seattle, and then spent every penny left over on prizes. A couple years ago I actually went over budget slightly, I was having so much fun buying stuff.

This year things are down. We have less people attending the conference and less referrals. However I started selling tickets last year for speakers and other people that can’t use the code. To handle that, I’ve purchased only a few dozen shirts and am taking leftover stock from previous years. So instead of a new color, we have colors from previous years.

• gray
• black
• green
• burgundy

We’ve printed less books, and if we run out, I’ll have to ship some out.

The casino company cost more this year, but I’ve managed to scrape 65 presents out of my budget. We have a lot of DVDs and books (40 of them) and then lots of other things. Since I won’t have time to shop in Seattle, I’ve had to limit what I buy so I can pack it in my luggage. So no Wii, no XBOX, but  I have added in some gift cards of various amounts ($25, $25, $100) that we gave away.

However the party is great, and I’m sure everyone had a great time.

I’m heading to Seattle in a couple hours. Bags packed, I’ve completed my run for the day, and getting ready to drive away. I’ve got my things packed in two bags, along with a number of prizes for the SQLServerCentral party tonight.

A few years ago I was in the same situation, heading out on Monday with bags packed. I had a bag of clothes and prizes, and a carry on with my laptop. I arrived in Seattle, and walked to get my bags. It was slow, so I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually I realized that I was one of a couple people on my flight from Denver. It’s a direct flight, two hours, so what could have gone wrong. Apparently my bag didn’t get on the flight.

I’m not sure why, but that’s stressful. At the time SQLServerCentral was independent, and I had about $2000 worth of prizes that year. Andy met me and said not to worry, especially as we had another day (the party was Tues that year). Worse case, we’d lose $2000 for the party and absorb it as a business loss.

I sweated a little as we checked in and wandered around the convention center. I checked my phone every 10 minutes for a missed call from the airline. Eventually I headed back to the hotel and had a few beers. I finally got a call at 8 or 9 that my bag was being brought to the hotel.

I still couldn’t relax until I got the bag and checked everything inside. I had visions of the TSA of baggage handlers absconding with DVDs and other prizes. They didn’t, and things went well.

Since then I’ve typically purchased all prizes in the city that PASS is being held. I go a day early and spend $2000 at Best Buy. This year that won’t work as I’m stuck in Seattle until Saturday, and have SQL Connections the following week, so an extra day on the road isn’t something I’m willing to do.

So I’m heading to the airport, fingers crossed, with two bags to check that have prizes split up. That way I hope I’ll have at least half the things I need when I get there.