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I Need Your Help Improving #SQLPASS

July 15, 2014

Read this if you’re a #SQLPASS attendee – you’re the one I’m trying to help. Last week I wrote about how conference organizers pick sessions, and I closed by talking about how there’s no clear right or wrong way. However, some ways are wronger than others, and today let’s talk in general terms about what happens when things go wrong. I can’t possibly discuss this subject with actual speaker names lest I hurt people. (Disclaimer: that’s a dark music video about drugs and violence, but the song is insanely danceable and catchy, and it’s been stuck in my head for weeks. You’re welcome.)…

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How Conference Organizers Pick Sessions

July 8, 2014

conference, presenting

As we reflect on the #SQLPASS selection process this year, let’s take a big step back and look at a lot of possibilities. When you’re building a conference or training class, there’s so many ways to build a good agenda. There’s no right way or wrong way – it’s all up to the organizers. Let’s pretend you’re building an all-new event from scratch. Will the final decisions be based on numbers or personal curation? Sounds like a loaded question, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with picking sessions based on feelings. Heck, that’s how we do it as a company – when Jeremiah, Kendra, and…

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My #SQLPASS Abstract Feedback (And How to Get Yours)

July 3, 2014

pass, presenting, sqlpass

When volunteer speakers submit a session for the PASS Summit conference, volunteers on the Program Committee have the tough job of ranking them and picking winners. In the past, this has been done completely in private, and speakers had no idea why their sessions weren’t accepted. This meant they couldn’t work to get better. Thanks to requests from the community, that’s changing this year! Amy Lewis, the Board of Director member responsible for the process, writes in her blog post announcement: “If you submitted a session proposal for Summit 2014 and would like the comments from the abstract review team,…

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How to Plan a Training Class

July 1, 2014

consulting, presenting, training

It looks so easy from the outside – just slap together a title and an abstract, set up a web page, and the money just comes rolling in, right? Nope. I’ve done training classes around the world, from conferences to private classes to cruise ships. Since we just launched another one, I figured it’s a great time to share some of the logistical questions you’ll want to consider. It’s not a complete guide on how to plan a training class – it’s just a starting point: Who will attend your training class? Who’s your target audience? What’s their job description? What’s the pain they’re facing?…

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Why I Keep Speaking at User Groups and SQLsaturdays

April 29, 2014

consulting, marketing, presenting

Badges badges badges badges badges badges badges badges badges badges badges badges MUSHROOM MUSHROOM Before I did a lot of speaking, I assumed there were two types of speakers. One group just loved volunteering to help people. The other group was a bunch of money-hungry people that wanted to talk attendees out of their wallets. Now that I do a lot more speaking, I don’t just assume that this is true – I am convinced it’s true. For example, I accidentally sat in a vendor session at SQLSaturday Chicago, and I was flabbergasted by the blatant advertising – frankly, hucksterism – coming from…

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What Should You Blog About?

April 8, 2014

blogging, career, presenting

Like the Barenaked Ladies sang, it’s all been done, but you still have to come up with blog posts and presentations. Here’s how to do it. Step 1: Understand that you’re working a 2-year plan. If you wanna come up with a bunch of totally disconnected, unrelated, throwaway blog posts, then just put a bunch of Books Online page titles in a hat, and draw a different one out every week. Done. But if, on the other hand, you want to have a reputation as an expert, then you need to pick the topic and focus on it. I’m not…

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Book Review for Presenters: The Story-Teller’s Start-Up Book

March 18, 2014

blogging, book review, presenting

Communicating is the single biggest part of my job. Whether I’m consulting, presenting, or recording training videos, I need to understand what the other person is trying to communicate, and get my own point across in the most effective way. The Storytellers Start-Up Book The tricky part, though, is that my audience (or clients) have already heard the boring ways of presenting the same information over and over. They’ve grown desensitized to hearing about backups or heaps or security or whatever, and they need to hear the important stuff in a way that really sinks in. I can’t just study…

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Using an HD Camcorder as a Mac Webcam (Updated 2018)

March 11, 2014

mac, presenting, reviews, training

My Home Office Setup I do a lot of webcasts and training videos (here’s an example), so I wanted better quality video. Sure, MacBooks come with a built-in webcam, but it’s over the laptop display, and that doesn’t really help much when I’m using a desktop monitor. I’ve tried USB HD webcams like the Mac-friendly Logitech C615, and the results were okay, but not amazing. After a lot of experimenting, here’s the combination of parts that worked well for me: Magewell USB Capture HDMI Gen 2 – 1 Channel HDMI to USB Video/Audio Capture Device, Up to 1080p60 Recording (32060,…

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Advice for Aspiring DBAs: Reach Out and Teach

December 10, 2013

career, community, presenting

As you transition into database administration full time, you’re going to be working with more people in different departments. The developers, systems administrators, SAN admins, BI team, project managers, and end users will all interact with you because you hold the keys to the data. Jeremiah presenting at SQL Intersection in Vegas It’s tempting to think of yourself as an all-knowing magical guardian, and to think of others as morons. As you gain knowledge, you might become condescending to others. You’ll get angry with developers who don’t write flawless queries, or project managers who think they can host a multi-terabyte…

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Why I Broke the #SQLpass Rules (And How It Worked)

November 7, 2013

pass, presenting, sp_AskBrent, sqlpass

I like trying new ways of delivering presentations, pushing the boundaries of what’s normal at conferences. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying a few different things: Giving out a stored proc and walking the audience through using it Making webcast attendees run queries on their systems while they watch the session Handing out pieces of paper making attendees fulfill queries This year at the PASS Summit in Charlotte, I wanted to try another new experiment – simulate what a DBA’s life is really like onstage. I brought them in to learn about performance troubleshooting basics, just like…

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presenting

Hi. I’m Brent.