Voice of the DBA

Tag: conferences

  • The Conferences of the Future

    I’ve been fortunate enough to attend many technical conferences during my career. I’ve gotten to many Microsoft shows, most of the PASS Summits, and been lucky enough to go to my favorite, SQL Bits, quite a few times. I look forward to SQL Saturdays every year in locations all around the world, and I get to help plan and present at Redgate’s SQL in the City shows.

    Microsoft has rebooted their conference strategy in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, with no plans to have a live event before July 2021. That’s amazing for a company that hosts the large Ignite, Build, and Inspire events, as well as many other events. I saw recently that Agile+DevOps event has gone virtual as well, with reduced costs. I imagine Microsoft will follow suit as well. SQL Bits moved their event to September, and PASS has announced the Summit will go on, but I wonder if either of these will be live events.

    I recently got a note from a SQL Saturday that had initially cancelled, informing me that the event had gone virtual and I could still present. While I’m happy to do so, what’s the difference between SQL Saturday Denver and SQL Saturday Oslo if they go virtual this fall? Not much, in my opinion, though I do hope anyone holding a “local” event gives priority to local speakers. I’m happy to present, but I shouldn’t get more engagements at events when there are others that would like opportunities.

    More virtual events are good in one sense: more people get access to presentations that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend. We also dramatically increase the equality of access to learning, inspiration, and the other value that speakers deliver to audiences. At the same time, there are plenty of downsides. Organizers may struggle to fund their events because nothing is free and the value of a virtual event is less, sponsors and vendors will see less value.

    Many speakers may struggle to get exposure and speaking slots. If you can choose Paul Randal, Denny Cherry, Andy Leonard, and Brent Ozar to present at your event, would you pick me? Or many of the other speakers that submit to SQL Saturdays? Maybe, maybe not, but there is a tendency to stick with the best if you can get them.

    Maybe the biggest losses in my mind are the lack of networking and the inability to focus. I went through the Microsoft MVP Summit from home, with 3.5 days of sessions all day. I struggled to stay focused, I was distracted by not being in a room with less of my life around, and I still had other things on my mind. It was hard, and I got less from it than an in person event. How many people will get a ticket to a virtual event from their boss and not have to come into the office? How many are willing to sit in front of a screen for hours at a time? It’s hard, and I don’t know if it’s the most sustainable model.

    Maybe in-person conferences are an anachronistic way of gathering together a group of people for an event. Maybe the virtual event is better, and I do think it is for some. It’s also worse for some. Personally I hope live events make a comeback in the future, but I’m curious what the rest of you think. Let me know today.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Rate a Session for GroupBy

    One of the things that I struggle with is understanding whether a session at a conference like a SQL Saturday is worth watching. I also struggle writing abstracts and attracting people to my own sessions, so I think the idea of GroupBy allowing rating and reviewing of abstracts in advance is fantastic.

    Group_By_Conference_Logo

    First, let me encourage many of you to go take a minute today and rate an abstract. If you see something that you like, leave a note. If you aren’t sure of something, or don’t like something, or even have a question about the content, leave that note as well.

    I’ve been fortunate to attend lots of events. I speak at many, but I try to view a session or two at each as well. I’ve seen some great ones, and some poor ones. I do try to provide constructive criticism, and I do so privately. If you’d like feedback from me at any event, please ask.

    One of the things I’ve seen is that the abstract often doesn’t quite match the talk, or the abstract doesn’t really help me understand what will be covered. It doesn’t matter if someone has tried to write a cute description or a plain boring one, the writing doesn’t always match the talk well.

    I know I make mistakes in my abstracts. I know sometimes I write something that I realize later isn’t quite what I think will work in the talk. I’d like the chance to edit and correct small items. More importantly, I’d like to be sure that if my abstract topic (and talk) could slightly be tweaked in a way that more people like, I want to do it.

    Take a minute and give some feedback. Be honest, rate what you want, don’t take up too much of your day, and help improve the conference schedule.

    I’d love to see PASS implement this as well for the Summit. I realize this can be hard, but I would prefer to see some give and take in advance to help build the best set of sessions that people want to attend.

  • Debuting Talks at the Summit

    This is a series of posts on the PASS Summit and SQL Saturdays. I’m outlining some thoughts here, sometimes for the first time, but on topics that I think make better events. These are opinions and thoughts, not mandates or demands. I’ve written previously on choosing speakers.

    One of the interesting items at the recent Speaker Selection Town Hall from PASS was a question about wanting sessions submitted to the Summit. The question was about whether the sessions could be given at a SQL Saturday (or other event), or if the Summit should be the first place the talk is given.

    I’m torn on this.

    One one hand, the Summit needs to attract people. This is a business and original content goes a long way to exciting people. I submit and speak at conferences that want this, and I’ve also given sessions at the Summit, which was the first time that I’d ever presented the content in front of an audience.

    On the other hand, we want good sessions. If I had one complaint from many Microsoft sessions, it’s that there are many speakers that struggle to give a good talk because they’ve never practiced it. I appreciate they’re busy, but I would love if they had to present a couple times internally and practice.

    The same thing occurs for us. The two times I’ve presented new content at the Summit (or other events), it’s very stressful. I’ve also struggled with timing and flow. Even having one talk at a local user group to 3 people will help make a better session.

    This isn’t perfect. I’ve seen speakers give the same talk 5 times and not improve or adjust their pace. My preference is to give the benefit of the doubt that speakers will work to improve over time. Note, if they don’t, give them the feedback.

    I also see value in having great sessions repeated. I’ll pick on a couple people here. Aaron Bertrand has given T-SQL: Bad Habits & Best Practices at many events. I think I’ve seen it twice. It’s great, and worth seeing. DBA Mythbusters from Paul Randal is great. I know Paul adjusts and grows content over time, and this is one I could see being on the schedule every year. I’ll also say that almost anything Itzik Ben-Gan presents is worth having at every conference.

    I don’t know what percentage of repeat sessions should be allowed, but I wouldn’t rule this out. I also think it’s fine to pick sessions presented at other events, if they make a good event. One thing to keep in mind is that if you take advantage of every slot at the Summit, you’ll see 13 or 14 talks.

    14/112 (or so)

    You won’t see everything. I doubt you’ll watch everything, even if you a super motivated and buy the content on USB.

    The same thing occurs at SQL Saturdays. At one of the smaller events, Sioux Falls, there were 3 tracks, but only 4 time slots, so you could see 4 of 11 talks at best.

    No one sees all content.

    While you might want Grant to have something new at the Summit that you haven’t seen at SQL Saturday Boston, there are lots and lots of other people that would like to see Grant present, even if it’s the same talk from SQL Saturday Boston.

    If I could wave the magic wand, what I’d want PASS to do is this:

    • Have 80% new content (content not given at a previous Summit), but content that has been practiced somewhere. In fact, I’d ask that many speakers schedule a user group talk (or a SQL Saturday) prior to the Summit to work out any bugs. This might mean some crunches for user groups in the Aug-Oct range, but that’s fine.
    • That means there would be 20% content that’s being repeated. I think that’s OK, if there are great sessions worth repeating. Certainly I think some of the talks that speakers have given could be updated a bit, but many are worth giving again.
    • Of course, that’s just an idea, and one that doesn’t mean we have hard numbers. Maybe the 20% is a hard ceiling, but the percentages can vary, just discuss why. As the committee makes decisions, keep notes and comments and then drop them in a post.
    • More I’d like to have PASS continue to disclose data, discuss this more, and adjust over time.

  • Selecting Speakers for the Summit

    This is a series of posts on the PASS Summit and SQL Saturdays. I’m outlining some thoughts here, sometimes for the first time, but on topics that I think make better events. These are opinions and thoughts, not mandates or demands.

    I attended, well, listened to, the PASS Speaker Selection Q&A this week. In the spirit of being constructive, I want to thank the board members and committee members for attending. I thought the event was well run and informative. I appreciate the disclosure.

    Tldr: I think the volunteers did a good job, with minor room for improvement. Disclose more numbers and guidelines, and involve the community more.

    Hearing about the process is always good as this affects the community that attends the event. Both speakers and attendees. I’ve been involved before, and should do so again, to see how things might be different. I appreciate the amount of work involved, and would like to thank Allen White, Lance Harra and Mindy Curnutt for their work. I know many others are involved, and thanks for your time as well.

    • 840 abstracts.
    • 255 speakers (3+/speaker)
    • 112 session slots (+10 pre-cons, 4 lightning talks)
    • 5000+ comments from reviewers.

    That last number is quite interesting. That’s an average of 5.9 comments per submissions, much higher than when I was involved. What’s more, Lance and Mindy reviewed all comments, ensuring none were inappropriate to return to speakers. While I abhor censorship, this is something that needs to be done. Some (very few) volunteers will poorly communicate their thoughts, or have a bad day. Reviewing and redacting (or asking for rewording) makes sense.

    There also was a note that Lancy/Mindy tracked the timing of comments to ensure volunteers spent time actually thinking about the sessions/speakers and not racing through with a quick CTRL+C, CTRL+V. That is impressive.

    I asked a question on first time speakers. Not to beat up the committee, but because I think the health of the community depends on regularly getting new speakers, both first timers at the Summit and new pre-con presenters. Note that I don’t want someone to give their first talk or their first pre-con at the Summit. They need to practice elsewhere, but we need a rotation of new speakers.

    Allen mentioned that he looked for 20-25% new speakers, though that guideline isn’t published or listed. I know that the number depends on the submissions, but having guidelines and then giving reasons for deviating is what I’d expect. Give numbers and then react. Adjust and explain why. That’s what many of us do with data and our jobs.

    For the record, I think 25% is high. Maybe 20%, especially as we have more and more speakers. I would like to see a goal of at least 10% each year. If you do more, fine, but explain a bit. Not a lot. A bit.

    Allen has a nice post with some numbers and the process explanation. Thanks, Allen.

    However.

    More Data

    I want to see more numbers. That’s our job. If PASS doesn’t have time, recruit a few volunteers. I’d bet there are a few people in the community that would love to play with data. Let us see the pre-cons broken out. Topics, resutls of surveys. There’s even this cool tool that lets you build some visualizations with data.

    Or better yet, put out a feed, or if that’s too hard, some numbers in an Excel sheet. A flat file. Let people do some analysis and learn. You might learn something as well.

    Honestly, while I think comments deserve some privacy protection, I’m not sure ratings do. I’d like to see those released. The committee is always going to upset people, and there will always be complaints. However, the more information you provide, the more we can comment, yes, also complain, but also you might learn something about how the community thinks about your choices.

    After all, you’re supposed to consider the community.

    I’m not asking you to only listen to the community. After all, the Summit is a business, and it’s fair to say that the 12th PowerBI session rated a 4.2 got bumped to get in a 3rd Extended Events talk rated 3.5.

    Disclose more and analyze more. React and adapt. If you don’t want complaints, resign. That’s part of the job.

    Enough on that.

    Community Vote

    I do think that it’s impossible to build a perfect schedule. Looking at last year’s numbers is inherently flawed. After all, how highly were the AlwaysEncrypted sessions rated last year? Or the first time speakers? It’s a guideline, and I’d like you to publish those numbers to show what you’re considering, but I also think the community deserves a vote.

    I asked the question and Allen responded that not a lot of people voted and there were issues. I dislike terms like “issues” without specifics.

    However, I’m not asking for sessions to bypass the program committee. I think there is good work done here. What I’m saying is that of the 112 sessions, when you get 100, put the last 10 or 12 up for a vote. Take the sessions rated 100-124 and drop them in a survey. Let community people, those that wish to, vote. After all, of your entire membership, how many vote for the Board? Probably a similar number to what you’d get here.

    You take popularity votes from last year’s numbers already. Take a few more.
    If it’s a lot of work, explain that. Maybe we can help you slim things down.

    Break the Bubble

    Mostly what I see from organizations, and what I’ve done, is that groups start to take on responsibility, feel the weight of that responsibility, and work in a bubble. Over time, they become more disconnected from the people they make decisions over.

    This is a hard process, and a lot of work. I know you try and mostly succeed. You may be overthinking this, and over-controlling it. Let go a little, take more feedback, and look to improve the process.

    Continually.

    That’s what we do in this business, or at least, what we should do.