Voice of the DBA

Tag: speaking

  • Get Inspired – SQL Inspire 2011 New York

    Coming up next week is the SQL Inspire 2011 event in New York City. It’s an event with a number of SQL Server community speakers that are here to inspire you in your career, your life, and with SQL Server. The talks cover a variety of topics, and they look interesting. I am very excited to attend the event, and give my talk as well.

    The event is from SQL People, the brainchild of Andy Leonard and Brian Moran, designed to build a stronger community by having us inspire each other. This event is based on the TED events, which are inspirational and informative talks that look to explore new ideas in a variety of topic areas. I have loved watching many of the talks, and while I’m not sure I’m up to the same level of presenting as many of these people, I’m going to try.

    Please come if you are in New York on the 12th of November. It will be a lot of fun, and hopefully a very motivational event.

  • SQL in the City – LA

    I had a fantastic time at SQL in the City in London, and it was quite an honor for me to speak there, at the Royal Society of Medicine. Tomorrow I’m taking off for LA, for SQL in the City – LA, the second part of our experiment. This time I’m joined by Kalen Delaney, Denny Cherry, Aaron Nelson, and Rob Sullivan in addition to Grant, Brad, and a number of Red Gate’ers.

    We’ll be at the Skirball Cultural Center, which is just off the 405 in LA. If you’re in the area, the map is below, and you can still register if you can come on Friday.

    The last time we did this, we had a great mix of sessions, having panels of breaks taking place in one room when someone was speaking in another. There was plenty of refreshments, including a closing thank you with Red Gate beer.

    This should be another fun event, and I’m hoping that it goes over well. If you enjoy it, please let Red Gate know so we can schedule more of these next year.

    Location

  • It’s Your Career

    It’s your career. It’s something you have to take ownership of and work on. I know that life is busy, and training budgets are tight. That’s one reason we started SQL Saturday; it’s a way to bring a training event and a conference experience to many people.

    fun2

    I posted this tweet almost a year ago, seeing Brent in a class somewhere, learning and taking notes during some session. It was in humor, but I’m a little serious here. We all have more to learn, and while you don’t need to cram it all in this year, you should be taking advantage of your user group, local events, conferences, classes, even reading something in a newsletter on a regular basis.

    Many of us are out here to help. I’ve spoken at 12 events this year, 10 of them free, and will be at another free event this week (SQL in the City – LA). However, you’ve got to make the effort to improve yourself. I , and many others, will try to help you, teach you, but you’ve got to do some work yourself.

    Pace yourself, learn at a reasonable rate given the other responsibilities in your life, but don’t ignore this aspect of your career.

    PS – If you’re in the LA area, there’s still time to register for SQL in the City and get a free day of training. I’ll also be at DevConnections next week and SQLInspire the week after that.

  • Penance

    Buck Woody wrote a fantastic post this morning for speakers to think about. All too often I have seen some speakers at technical events adopt the prima donna stance, expecting gifts, special treatment, free food and drinks, and more. I do think that events should try to recognize speakers when they can, but for smaller events, gifts and dinner can be hard. Ultimately I want events to be sustainable, with 100 SQL Saturdays a year and there isn’t enough money to make them all lavish smorgasborghs of delight for those that present.

    speakersThere was a bit of a discussion recently about cancellations and penalties for speakers at events. Cancellations happen, and sometimes are unavoidable, however they have a huge impact on organizers. There are any number of reasons for cancellation, some legitimate, some suspect, and since Andy Leonard likes elegant solutions, I have one:

    If you cancel speaking at an event, the event bans you from speaking the next time they have the event. You get an appeal to the program committee to state your case, but their decision is final.

    But Steve, my wife broke her arm and I had to leave early. Why can’t I speak next year?

    I completely understand. If you have a family emergency, or you’re sick, cancel. Take care of you and yours. That’s understandable, no one can blame you, and you can appeal to the committee and state your care.

    However do your penance. There’s no entitlement here for speaking. I believe in making the decisions that are ethically and morally just for each person, but then be man or woman enough to stand up for your decision, regardless of the consequences.

    I cancelled on SQL Connections a couple years ago because my wife broke her arm as I was landing in Denver between events. I wasn’t speaking, but had committed to help cover the event for my company. They would have been justified in telling me they wouldn’t pay for me to attend anymore. And I would have accepted that as a result of my decision.

    I cancelled on the Louisville SQL Saturday this past January, after I had submitted a session and been accepted. I gave them as much notice as I could, in this case I told them in Nov and they had two months. My reason: my middle son’s black belt test was the same day.

    I am still apologizing to Malathi for my decision, and if she decides not to allow me to speak anymore, or any other SQL Saturdays cite that as a reason to not choose me, I accept the consequences.

    We are adults, we are professionals, and if our other obligations intrude and override our commitment to speak, accept the consequences. It might suck, but it’s the adult thing to do.