Voice of the DBA

Tag: speaking

  • One a Week

    When Andy Warren and I first talked about SQL Saturday after the initial event in Orlando, we joked about whether we could have twelve events in a year, one a month. It seemed like a stretch goal, after all, how many events can you actually put on where the attendees don’t have to pay?

    The latest PASS Connector newsletter had the headline of “SQL Saturday: Setting Records” in which there were 86 events in the last year, 34 around the world and 52 in the US.

    52.

    That’s one a week, though there wasn’t actually an event every week. We had some busy weeks, mostly in April and September, including 6 events on Sept 14, 2013. That’s an amazing number of events where SQL Server professionals around the world are getting a day of training for free. The cost of some events is a nominal fee to cover lunch expenses, but all the speakers give their time, often delivering the same sessions they’d give at a paid conference.

    The success of SQL Saturday is due to all the efforts of the hundreds of organizers, volunteers, and speakers who work to give you a great event. If you attend an event, be sure to thank someone for their efforts. However much of the credit for the growth of SQL Saturday really belongs to Karla Landrum (b | t). The addition of Karla to the PASS staff, with her focus and support of event organizers, has made SQL Saturday grow far beyond what any of us might have thought possible at SQL Saturday #1, Orlando, 2007. If you get the chance, thank Karla when you see her.

    If you get the chance, I’d encourage you to attend an event in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. If there’s not one near you, organize one. You can put on a small event, with a single track, a few speakers, and support from your community. Lots of us would love to help support an event in a new city, even a small one. You might be surprised to see a nationally known speaker at a small event, but you shouldn’t be. We love helping the community.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.7MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • SQL Bits XII

    Last week was SQL Bits in the UK, and it was a blast. I think this might be my favorite conference, despite the long trip for me to get there. This is my third SQL Bits, and each has been more fun than the last.

    This one was in Telford, which is NW of London, W of Cambridge, and a two hour drive from Red Gate. There’s not a lot around there, though Grant did want to stop at the Ironbridge Gorge, which we did.

    Photo Jul 17, 8 33 00 AM

    The event is a lot of fun, with three different days and different feels. Thursday has pre-cons, and there were a lot of people walking out as I arrived Thur afternoon. Everyone I talked to that presented a pre-conference session was happy with the day, and as I queried people on Friday and Saturday that had paid for one, all felt it was worth the time and money.

    Photo Jul 19, 7 53 23 AM

    Thur night was quiet for me, hanging out with friend and chatting while a pub quiz (trivial pursuit type, bingo event) took place in the conference center. It’s a nice mix of professional and casual that seems to excite me at SQL Bits. We learn a lot, and there are great sessions, but it’s not as strict and big a deal with badges being constantly checked as happens at some other conferences.

    Friday was a day I didn’t have to present, so I walked around learning. I saw sessions on SSDT, Unit Testing, security, and more. It was interesting, and Andreas Wolter is a scary security presenter. His talk made me want to build an alert for anyone querying @@version on my systems. That seems to be the start of ways in which hackers can learn about what to attack inside your instance. Simon Sabin presented a great security session on encryption in which he also deployed changes to a live system without interrupting things. That was really cool.

    Photo Jul 18, 5 53 25 AM

    Friday night was the main party, which always has a theme, and is a lot of fun. Last year Red Gate gave me a costume, and I ended up looking like this:

    SQLBitsXI_a

    This year the theme was Steampunk, with an older carnival type flyer. I wondered what that would mean, and I have to say that I was surprised when I walked into the party.

    Photo Jul 18, 2 18 23 PM

    Yes, there was a carousel, along with a two story slide, various entertainers, and carnival booth games. Lots of people dressed the steampunk way, including Grant. Here’s one that was taken, showing the types of outfits.

    sqlbits2014

    It was a little loud, but a lot of fun, and I stayed much longer and later than I planned. Saturday morning was hard to wake to, especially as I needed to pack up and leave.

    Saturday at SQL Bits is the free day. I had two sessions, and while I sat in a few others, I also needed to prep. It had been quite some time since I’d actually worked with one of my sessions and the technology.

    My branding session had a packed room and went over well. People asked a few questions, and hopefully I helped a few people. My CI session wasn’t great. The room was packed, but my VM acted up. I suspect that some of the changes to the config of HyperV at Red Gate caused a few issues, and I couldn’t demo everything I wanted to. Some of my processes failed when I didn’t want them to, and passed when they did. My apologies to the attendees is coming soon.

    I didn’t stick around Saturday night as I had to get back to Heathrow for an early Sunday flight. Things were uneventful from then on for me.

    I met lots of new people, as well as seeing many more that I’ve known for years and only see in the UK. The event was run as smoothly as any I’ve experienced, and was a lot of fun, with quite a few spouses and even some kids there.

    Thanks to everyone that attended and huge thanks (and kudos) to the organizers. I’m already looking forward to next year and hoping to get to speak again.

  • Apologies to my CI for Databases Attendees

    I have to apologize to everyone that attended my Continuous Integration for Databases talk at SQL Bits. I ran over, a few demos didn’t work, and my machine flaked more than expected. I know those things happen, but I still need to apologize.

    While there were problems with my demos, I should have moved on and gone through things a little quicker as well. I could have cut out, or cut down a few concepts, to get through things quicker. The session is really built for 75 minutes, but that’s no excuse. I need a 60 minute, smoothly delivered, version.

    I also should have run through everything completely after some changes at Red Gate. I only set up part of it, which was a mistake. I don’t know if I’d have caught anything, but I might have.

    I’ll work on getting some video and written content of the presentation up here, and hopefully that will help you understand the concepts, and perhaps start to implement CI with your own databases.

  • Creating Your First Technical Speaking Opportunity

    Abstract:

    This session will cover the basics of choosing a topic, writing an abstract, building a slide deck, and finding an opportunity to deliver your presentation. This is a short introduction to beginning to speak about technical topics.

    Length: 30 minutes

    Slides: FirstSpeakingOpportunity.pptx

    Sample Blank PPTX: BlankSample.PPTX