Voice of the DBA

Tag: speaking

  • A Learning Experiment at SQL Saturday #187– Richmond

    dbateamlogoIn a little over a week, SQL Saturday #187 takes place in Richmond, VA. I’m looking forward to going back as I attended school not too far from there (Charlottesville), and even worked on the West side of Richmond for a time. My brother lives in MD and my mother in Virginia Beach, so it’s a good time for an extended weekend visiting family.

    However I’m also extending my trip before the weekend. Red Gate Software is experimenting with a short learning seminar on Friday. After last year’s SQL in the City, large events with hundreds of people, we’re trying something new again this year. We have a free half day set of talks scheduled on Friday, from 1-5, given by Grant Fritchey and myself. We’ll each give two talks, with networking time in between. We are planning on covering four topics:

    • Core Monitoring
    • SQL Server Backup
    • Database Corruption
    • Indexing

    It will be an interesting day as Grant and I have been working on our talks, trying to make them interesting to the attendees. We are linking the content to Red Gate tools, but don’t worry, these aren’t infomercials. We are delivering valuable information to help you in your job, whether you use Red Gate tools or not.

    Afterwards we’ll have a short happy hour as well before we start prepping for the Saturday event.

    You can register today, and there are still a few slots left, but this will be a small event, so my apologies if you can’t get in.

    Saturday is the SQL Saturday event at the University of Richmond campus. There’s a great lineup of speakers from the Virginia area and beyond for you. If you can come, it’s a free day of SQL Server information and training with tons of networking opportunities.

    Come join me if you can.

  • The Dark Side

    I went to the Dark Side recently and enjoyed it.
    I went to the Dark Side recently and enjoyed it.

    Recently I was invited to speak at the Rocky Mountain Oracle Training Days. It was part of some cross platform talks that have happened in Denver, with some Oracle professionals coming to our last SQL Saturday in Denver. I was happy to oblige, and ended up spending part of two days at the small conference. I was a little nervous beforehand, unsure of how SQL Server talks might be received at an Oracle event. There’s a fair amount of animosity between the companies and that seems to bleed over to the professionals working on these platforms. I’ve made my share of Oracle jokes in the past, though all in fun.

    It was interesting to sit and talk with some of the Oracle DBAs attending. For the most part, they have the same problems as SQL Server DBAs, and seem to approach things in a similar manner in terms of indexing, tuning SQL and more. They have the same types of problems, with similar solutions, though the details are different. And, of course, the Oracle solutions tend to be more expensive. I did hear about one thing that I wish was a part of SQL Server: mirroring of log files. I haven’t had many issues with log files, but as databases get more critical, this seems like an enhancement to SQL Server that would make sense.

    One of the interesting things I did hear about was from a cross platform DBA who didn’t have a unified directory services structure and struggled with the SQL Server authentication when clients came from non-Windows systems. This person loved the integration of the Microsoft stack, but moving outside of their technology resulted in lots of challenges. This is one of the areas where I think Microsoft has fallen down in the past, in not supporting a variety of clients well. Even today there are issues when you leave the IE browser in some applications.

    It was a good conference, with so many people facing the same types of concerns over limited resources, technology changes, and job security. Most of the attendees just want to learn more, get better at their jobs, and stay employed. I’m glad I had the chance to attend, and hope I get to go back next year.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Speaking – Slide Design

    I’m not sure I love this advice on slide design, but some of it makes sense. Much too often I see people putting lots of information on slide decks, as though readers will be studying the slides. I am working to reduce the amount of letters or “data” on each slide, and increase the information by making things simpler and hoping people will pay attention to me.

    I’m not sure what I would do differently, but I am moving towards more pictures, and less words. The presentation is to hear me speak, not a talking textbook.

    I should write a little about what I am doing differently, and showcase how I’ve reduced the data on some slides. However I’m curious. Do you think the slides matter? Do you refer to them later for information? Or do you want them to highlight things I talk about to keep you on track and give you an idea of what I am teaching?

  • I’m Speaking at ….

    Last week I noted that I was speaking at the new SQL Intersection event. Hopefully I’ll see some of you there and get the chance to shake some hands.

    As I was writing that post, I included a “I’ll be there” graphic, which I’ve included here as well. It was the first time I’d been sent a graphic from an event that specifically mentioned my as a speaker. It’s a neat idea, not only for promotions, but also as a way for me to include a small memory of my blog of the event. Somehow it seems slightly more personal than the event logo.

    A few days after I received that graphic, I got another email, this one from Karla Landrum of PASS. She noted that she was sending out “I’m speaking at” graphics for the SQL Saturday events. I got mine yesterday for the Albuqerque event this weekend.

    sqlsat183_speaking

    I think this is a great idea, and I’ve updated my speaking schedule with the graphic. I think it brightens up the page, and I’m looking forward to the other logos that will come from future events.

    Promoting events is hard, and every interesting thing you can do will help. Banner ads are often blocked or ignored by many people, but I do think the logos and pictures embedded into posts like this one can help raise awareness.

    And they’re a nice keepsake for your online blog, whether you’re a speaker or a trainer.

    Thanks to Jonathan Allen for suggesting this enhancement. If you’ve got an idea to help grow the SQL Saturdays or other events, please let the organizers know. Growing the SQL Server community and exciting others to join is something we all can do.