Tag: speaking

Three Trips

I’m down to three trips, with most of my busy month behind me. It’s been a hard year at times, easy at others. This month I was in Vegas, LA, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Charleston, with one more trip to Vegas next week. The travel is hard, and in addition to wearing on me mentally, it compresses the rest of my time at work. That adds some stress, which bleeds over into family life for me. Some people separate well; I don’t.

That’s OK, Despite the hard travel, I’ve enjoyed seeing so many people I know and meeting new ones. Across the 11 talks I gave this month, I enjoyed them all. I met at least one new person at each, if not more, and had some great conversations.

Three trips left.

The next one is SQL Intersection in Las Vegas, which will be a fun trip as my wife is coming along. Then it’s Portland for a SQL in the City seminar and a SQL Saturday in November, and a repeat in Washington D.C. in December.

Plus vacation. I desperately need to take time off. Both for mental health, and because I’ve accumulated too much that needs to be used before the end of the year. After searching out a bit of balance last year, I didn’t do a good job this year, and need to pay more attention to things. I love my job, and I enjoy going to work, but the last month+ has been hard.

I’m just making a note here, partly to remind you to take your own time off from work, but also to warn you I might be gone in Nov/Dec a bit from work.

October 24, 2013
Speaking at the October Denver SQL Server User Group

I have a talk this Thursday at the Denver SQL Server Users Group. I’ll be talking about Continuous Integration for databases, looking at ways you can automate database builds and perform some automated testing as you move forward in your development.

If you’re in Denver, come out and do some networking. I’m happy to do either talk, or even something else if people want.

October 21, 2013
Two Weeks to SQL Intersection

If you haven’t made it to a conference this year, you’ve still got a great one to think about: SQL Intersection. The second installment of this conference, run by SQLskills (Kimberly Tripp and Paul Randal) takes place in two weeks. Come to Las Vegas and learn a ton about SQL Server on October 27-30. You can register now and if you choose the SHOW package, you’ll get an XBOX One or a Surface RT.

I spoke at this event in the spring and it was interesting. There were some amazing speakers (Brent Ozar, Kendra Little, Joe Sack, and more), which meant I didn’t have too many questions (or attendees) at my sessions. That’s OK. If I had the chance, I’d probably rather go see those speakers talk about performance rather than some of my niche topics.

This fall I’ve redone some sessions and built new ones. Perhaps I’ll do better as I have some developer focused topics and there will be developers and hybrid technology folks at the rest of the Dev Interestion event. With ASP.NET, Visual Studio, Azure, and Sharepoint events taking place as well, perhaps I’ll get a few people to wander over as I walk about Version Control for databases along with Automated Building and Testing of your database changes. My employer, Red Gate Software, has tools and does a lot of work in this area, and while you don’t need our tools, you do want to be sure you implement these concepts in your environment.

I’ll also be talking about branding, but tell your boss not to worry. I’m not trying to get you a new employer, but help you stand out in your current one, get a raise, or find a better job that fits what you want to do.

It will be chilly in most of the country by late October, but it should still be beautiful in Las Vegas. If you stick around for the weekend, Halloween in the city is something to see. Come to the conference and extend it into a vacation that you’ll never forget.

Register today for the last big SQL Server conference I’ll be at in 2013 and I hope to see you there.

October 14, 2013

The 2013 SQL in the City Tour

The 2013 SQL in the City tour kicks off today for me. I’m flying to LA this morning, early, in order to ensure the venue is ready and perform our last 3-4 keynote practice sessions in real time. We’ve been practicing remotely, but in order to ensure things run smoothly, we want some last minute practice at the podium, with all three of the speakers together. I think we have a fun, informative, and not-too-long keynote you’ll enjoy.

Then it’s off to the pool. I’ve been swimming more this year with a sore knee, and I’ve got pools lined up for the all the stops on our tour: Pasadena, Atlanta, and Charlotte. I’ve even searched out a few places in Charleston, where I’ll be SQL Saturday #227 in between the Atlanta and Charlotte events. I’m not sure of my schedule, but if you want to put in some laps, send me a note on twitter and I’ll let you know when and where I’m going.

These events are free, one day events sponsored by Red Gate Software. Our intention with the events is to support the community, help you learn more about SQL Server, and give you some tips, tricks, and hints for using our tools. You don’t need to use our tools to learn something at the events, but we do think you’ll see that our tools make your job much, much easier. We think we provide a lot of value, and it’s worth the price of the tools to make you more productive.

This year we were much more organized than the previous years and we’ve broken up our days and sessions into DBA and developer tracks. Our goal is to teach both groups, and tailor sessions for each side of the SQL Server community to help you get better at your job. We started in London earlier this year, and with additional practice by Grant and myself at our smaller seminar events, we think we’ve got some great sessions for you to see.

If you’re in one of the cities, register and come by. We’ve heard great feedback from people and most think the information and inspiration you get is worth a day away from the office.

Steve Jones

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