Art of the DBA Rotating Header Image

presenting

T-SQL Tuesday #84: Getting Ready for your Presentation

boy-speech-lettersI’ve been super busy lately, but I wanted to at least post something for this month’s T-SQLTuesday. The topic is about encouraging new speakers, something I’m very passionate about. I think that speaking is one of the best things you can do to boost your career. If you are reading this and are considering speaking, I encourage you to reach out to your local user group and see if you can get started with a 15 or 30 minute session. Take a shot, I’ll bet you’ll be surprised.

What I want to share are some tips for the day you give your first presentation. A lot of folks are going to talk to you about building and preparing your presentation, but that is only half the battle. What you should do when you actually GIVE the presentation is often glossed over, even though this is the most high pressure moment of the whole cycle.

How do we reduce or relieve some of this pressure? Well, let’s start with a list of things that could possibly go wrong when you present. Think about the following list:

  • You’re presenting and you get an on-call page.
  • Your demo blows up spectacularly.
  • While giving your presentation, your computer attempts to apply updates.
  • You start 10 minutes late because you have issues with your video or sound.
  • During your presentation, someone sends you a picture on your favorite IM client:

oh_hai

Any of these will easily throw an experienced presenter off their game. For a new speaker, it can spell disaster. I’ve got a routine that I go through on the day of my presentation, which is designed to reduce that risk of disaster. And who doesn’t like reduced risk?

Getting Ready

Step 1: At the beginning of the day, well before my presentation, I make sure my presentation machine has been updated with Windows and other corporate software. This is SUPER important if it’s a Tuesday (when Microsoft releases updates). Doing this avoids any update surprises while I’m presenting or right before I go on stage.

Step 2: A couple of hours or so before my presentation, I will walk through my presentation. I open up the PowerPoint slide deck and step through it. When I get to demos, I will walk through my demo scripts. I test EVERYTHING, and do it in order. If I encounter an error, fix it, and then start over. This helps me insure that the flow works and that I understand what the step dependencies are in my demo.

Step 3: About an hour before my presentation, I will turn off everything on my presentation machine unnecessary to the presentation. Programs like Skype, Google, unneeded local SQL instances, Virtual Machines….so on and so forth. I only want what I need running to make sure that I have enough resources for my demos, along with keeping possible distractions shut down.

Step 4: At least 15 minutes before I’m due to present, I go to my room and hook up my presentation machine. I test the video and make sure my adapter works. This way I can address any tech issues that could hamper the presentation. I will display PowerPoint and also my scripts and demos to make sure everything looks ok.

I also usually duplicate my screen to the projector. This is important because if I extend, this means the only way (typically) that I can see what’s on my screen is to look back at it. This is distracting for your audience. If you duplicate, you only have to look down at your screen, which maintains contact with the audience.

Step 5: Right before I present, I turn my phone OFF. Then I put it in my bag. I get it away from me. I don’t want to get calls, I don’t want to have to worry about silencing it, and I don’t want it buzzing in my pocket if I’ve got a lot of notifications. The phone is off and away.

It’s GO time

At this point, I’m free and clear to do my presentation. Does that mean that nothing will go wrong? Of course not. However, performing these steps puts me in the best position to give my presentation without disruption. It is a foundation for success. Just like we build out our database solutions to minimize the option of failure, we need to approach our presentations with a similar sort of care to help guarantee our own success.

I want to thank Andy Yun(@sqlbek) for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday. It’s a great topic and I hope folks get a lot out of it. If you’re considering stepping into the speaking world (and you should!), this month’s blog posts should give you all the tools to succeed. Good luck!

Sharing My Summit 2016 Submission Results

Sharing your abstract results for 2016 has become a Thing(TM) that Brent Ozar(@BrentO) started this week. At first I wondered about the value, but as I read others posts it made sense to share because it helps pull the curtain back a little to how the process works for speakers. It also gives us insight into the kind of work the volunteers are doing. As such, I want to share some thoughts on what I’ve seen and how it can be improved.

First off, let’s get the fine print out of the way:

  • Thank you to Allen White(@sqlrunr) and the speaker selection team for managing this cat herd. It’s a tough job, but it shouldn’t be thankless. We appreciate your hard work.
  • Thanks to the volunteers who gave of their time to read and offer feedback on the abstracts. While I have some thoughts on the nature of the feedback, I recognize and appreciate the time it took to write those comments.

Let’s go over the general thoughts. I’ve been deeply intrigued by the speaker selection process over the past five years. With each year, the speakers who submit get better feedback and the process is improving with each iteration. Just like the software we work on, it still has “bugs”, but I think we all need to recognize the strides this process makes and how PASS is doing its best to balance all the factors to create an annual Summit with a variety of voices and a solid conference offering.

On this, my biggest complaint is the overall subjective nature of many of the comments. I’ll address mine specifically when I list my abstracts, but as I read others feedback, it seems like many of the reviewers let their bias color things a bit too much. It might be that we have different perceptions of session levels or that there’s a misconception about a tool, technology, or technique. My suggestion back to the abstract teams is that, as you’re reviewing, step back a moment and be careful that your reviews do not contain too much subjectivity.

(Yes, even THAT might be considered a subjective judgement. Take it for what it’s worth.)

Now, let’s look at my abstracts (All General Session submissions):

Powershell Jumpstart for SQL Server DBAs – Level 100

(Accepted)

Abstract:
Powershell can be intimidating. There are many challenges to using it, especially for those not familiar with its nuances. Once understood, the language can be used for effective and robust automation that brings together SQL Server with other Windows components, such as the file system or Active Directory.

In this session, we will cover the Powershell fundamentals, how you can use Powershell itself to learn about concepts and syntax, and techniques for using Powershell with SQL Server. We will focus on core language patterns that you can use immediately, take the mystery out of the code, and help you get started writing your own PowerShell scripts. Attendees will not only acquire an understanding of Powershell, but see practical examples of how it can be used with SQL Server, along with a set of resources they can use to learn more about the language.

Prereqs:
None

Goals:

  • Introduce attendees to Powershell, what it is and where it came from. Cover basic syntax of Powershell and how it is written.
  • Demonstrate specifics of how Powershell can be used to manage and automate tasks around SQL Server.
  • Provide attendees learning resources for Powershell.

Feedback:

  • abstract – detailed but not compelling
    topic – level too low
    subjective rating: not interesting
  • The outline seems to clearly describe the contents of the presentation.  The topic and goals should be compelling to attendees.  The target audience should be big enough to support this session.  There appears to be a reasonable amount of live demonstrations in relation to the topic being presented.
  • Attendants would be interested this session because it is a beginners session.

My Thoughts:
This is where I have an issue with the subjective nature of the feedback. Maybe I’m a little too sensitive about DBA’s perception of PowerShell (I have the debate of “Why bother?” more than I care to count), but the “not compelling” comment is off base. A basic PowerShell session may not be compelling to the reviewer, but we have a LOT of DBAs out there who want this kind of information. I know because I talk to them a lot. I also take issue with the “level too low”, because this session is specifically designed to make PowerShell easy to grasp for those who haven’t worked with it.

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much since this was the one selected. I’m proud of it and the content. It has been very well received at other venues, so this is a case where I think the reviewer was letting their own personal bias of the content color the abstract review a little too much.

Automating Azure SQL Management with Powershell – Level 200

(Not Accepted Popular topic, higher rated session selected)

Abstract:
Azure is still a new frontier for many database administrators. While cloud environments bring a lot of flexibility and freedom, there is a lot to learn and a lot to keep on top of. The current portal provides a functional GUI experience, but the most effective way to manage Azure environments is by using Powershell. In this session, we will look at the fundamentals of using Powershell with Azure SQL databases. We will dive into the tools that can be used to deploy and manage these environments, as well as patterns and processes to automate these tasks. Attendees will leave with a solid foundation to build and administer SQL database environments in Azure.

Prereqs:
Basic familiarity with Powershell and Azure.

Goals:

  • Review Powershell Azure cmdlets and how to use them. Includes connecting to your Azure account and setting your subscription.
  • Examine the Azure cmdlets specifically built for Azure SQL Databases and how they apply to the Azure SQL Database operating model.
  • Demonstrate how to use the cmdlets to create, modify, and remove an Azure SQL Database. Discuss patterns for using these and automating Azure SQL Database deployments.

Feedback:

  • Abstract-  well written, compelling
    topic –  topic and title clear. Topic rarely covered
    subjective rating – interesting
  • Great topic. I would like to attend.

My thoughts:
I think this was just a full field and I had another session accepted. The feedback was pretty sparse, but there is an interest here. I’ll probably submit this one again.

Benchmarking SQL Server with Powershell – 300 Level

(Not Accepted Other sessions selected based on building a balanced program for track coverage, speaker coverage, topic coverage, and session rating.)

Abstract:
Performance is key for any database system. As professionals, we are constantly challenged to to keep our servers performing at peak condition. The struggle is many administrators do not understand their current profile, so it is hard to know when performance degrades. Benchmarking SQL Servers is a vital task that is often overlooked because it is either not understood or difficult to manage. This session will cover the important metrics to measure for an effective benchmark and will also demonstrate how a benchmark can be captured using Powershell. Attendees will leave with a clear plan of how they can measure their SQL Server performance, how that measurement can be automated, and how to develop an action plan to dynamically manage these tasks at scale.

Prereqs:
Understanding of SQL Server performance fundamentals, such as perfmon counters and wait statistics. Basic understanding of Powershell.

Goals:

  • Review what constitutes a good SQL Server benchmark. This will cover perfmon counters and wait statistics.
  • Demonstrate how this benchmark can be collected with Powershell.
  • Show how the benchmark can be automated and reported on.

Feedback:

  • abstract: one grammar error in abstract, but detailed;
    topic interesting
    subject rating: I like this topic
  • I would attend this session.
  • Topic is a good and relevant option.
    Level is good for prereqs and goals.
    Abstract is ok, with a few wording and grammar choices that could be improved/changed to make reading easier (ie. ‘performing at peak condition’ and  ‘The struggle is (that) many… ‘.

My thoughts:
Again, full field. This is a session of mine that has evolved over the past year. It started as more PowerShell focused and has become more “How to do a benchmark” focused with PowerShell the supporting actor. The grammar comments are something I continue to work on, because I tend to get waaaaaaay too verbose when I write and put myself into grammatical corners (see what I did there?). I would submit this again, because it appears to have been well received.

SQLPS In Depth – Level 200

(Not Accepted Higher rated session selected)

Abstract:
A big hurdle for using Powershell and SQL Server together is the SQLPS module. Both old and new users of Powershell don’t completely understand its capabilities. There’s also the concern of how Powershell, SQLPS, and SQL Server all interact with one another. In this session, we’ll talk about the cmdlets you may not know about, tricks to save time using the provider, and even a few gotchas on how the provider works that can save you some time and energy. We will go in depth on what happens in SQL Server when commands are run using the SQLPS module. When we’re finished, you will have a deeper understanding of how you can use SQL Server and Powershell together, along with best practices to integrate the module with your automated tasks.

Prereqs:
Minimal familiarity with Powershell, basic familiarity with SQL Server

Goals:

  • Review the SQLPS provider functionality and go over what it is and how it works.
  • Cover the cmdlets in SQLPS, how they are used and gotchas in their implementation.
  • Demonstrate practical applications for both the provider and cmdlets for SQL Server automation.

Feedback:

  • I would like to attend this session.
  • The outline seems to clearly describe the contents of the presentation.  The target audience may not be big enough to support this session.  The subject matter does not appear to match the experience level (somewhat advanced topic for a 200 level session).
  • abstract: detailed
    topic: goals not compelling
    Subjective Rating : so and so

My thoughts:
The biggest take away here is “The target audience may not be big enough to support this session.” I think that’s true, and the reason is a double edged sword. Many view PowerShell as a niche topic, so there might not be as much demand for this. However, the whole reason I talk about PowerShell and SQL Server (and I submit sessions like this) is to try and move it beyond being a niche topic. This session is intended to get more people excited about PowerShell by seeing what it can do and how to get over some of the hurdles of working with it.

That being said, I had an advanced PowerShell session at last Summit that was deeply technical and still had 300 people in the audience. Maybe it’s not quite as niche as I thought. However, I believe I need to focus on sessions with more general appeal for future Summits.

Speaking Updates – July 2015

This is a short break from my usual blog posts to share some information on upcoming presentations I’m giving that might interest you.

Performance Palooza – Virtual Performance Chapter

Coming up in two weeks (July 23), I’ll be part of the annual Performance Palooza that is run by the Performance PASS Virtual Chapter. I’m pretty excited, as this will be a new session I’ve built from some work I’ve been doing on benchmarking SQL Server.

SQL SERVER BENCHMARKING: THE POWERSHELL SPEEDOMETER

How fast do you think you were going? The only way to be sure is to have a reliable way to measure your performance. The challenge with SQL Server is that there are many aspects of your stack that you need to measure and understand. Powershell, with its ability to access and report on all these different levels, can give you a robust tool to benchmark your SQL Server. This session will cover benchmarking methodologies, the tools Powershell offers for capturing performance information, and will demonstrate how you can use them to measure performance statistics. After attending this session, you will understand how to effectively use Powershell to measure your database speed.

RSVP here if you’re interested: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6348286936653801474

Upcoming Precons

I’ve had the opportunity to present my Introduction to Powershell for SQL Server DBAs now at both SQL Saturday Albuquerque and SQL Saturday Atlanta. This has been a great time for me and I’ve already had comments from attendees of how they’ve used Powershell in their current jobs. If you plan on attending either SQL Saturday Omaha or SQL Saturday Denver, you have an opportunity to learn some Powershell and add this robust tool to your skill set.

Introduction to Powershell for SQL Server DBAs

This full day session will help build your foundation for learning and using Powershell.  While we will be focusing on using Powershell as a SQL Server Database Administrator (or Developer), much of the material will also review general use for system administrators.  By attending this training, you will gain an understanding of what Powershell is, how you can use it in your day to day management of your environments, and what specific things can be done using Powershell in a SQL Server environment.

RSVP to either of these links if you are interested:

IT/DEV Connections – Las Vegas, NV #ITDevCon

ITnDevConnections_logo_TylerOptimized_236x59I’m super excited to be speaking at this year’s IT/DEV Connections Conference in Las Vegas. This is a huge opportunity for me to share some of the useful Powershell techniques that I’ve built out in my work environments. I will be presenting two sessions:

There are TONS of great speakers at this event, so it’s a huge learning opportunity for attendees and will be a great time.

PASS Summit 2015 – Seattle, WA #PASSSummit2015

I'm Speaking Graphic_LargeThe grandaddy of ’em all. I’m honored to be part of this year’s Summit speaker line up. This is the premiere SQL Server conference and will be my fifth year in attendance. I’ll be speaking on a Powershell topic that will not only help out a lot of DBAs with their day-to-day work, but will also give you some insights in to how I think the world of database infrastructure is changing with the two magic buzzwords of “DevOps” and “the Cloud”. If you’re the kind of DBA that has to manage the struggles of deploying and maintaining SQL Servers in a highly-available environment or a large enterprise, this session can make your life a whole lot easier.

PowerShell and the Art of SQL Server Deployment

In today’s tech world, IT professionals are driven to perform tasks faster and more consistently. Automation is the watchword for our success, whether we are deploying SQL Server to private virtual clouds or public platforms such as Azure IaaS. This session focuses on rapidly creating and configuring SQL Servers, using PowerShell and desired state configuration. You will see practical examples of how to create repeatable builds of SQL Server that can be deployed in a matter of minutes. We will also review how these techniques can be applied to both public and private cloud platforms, helping to ensure success in any situation.

Even if you don’t want to attend my session, you should seriously consider registering for the Summit. It’s the largest pure-SQL Server conference in the world and has been a tremendous boost for my career over these past five years. And now I get to speak there! (How cool is that)

The PASS Summit 2015 Call for Speakers

Here we are, the annual community tradition of submitting sessions to the PASS Summit. This is the big time, the real deal, the event everyone wants to be seen at (as far as SQL Server goes). We all have hopes and dreams of standing on that stage, sharing what we love about SQL Server with the greater community.  Now that the submission deadline has passed, I wanted to post a few thoughts I had on this year’s process.

And yes, I want to do it before the OTHER annual community tradition of “bitching about why I didn’t get selected” starts.

Too Many Topics

The first thing that struck me was the excessive number of topics in each track. I didn’t count them all, but it was a little overwhelming. What made the process especially difficult was that there’s a lot of overlap with these subcategories, making it confusing about which to select.  This is especially a challenge for me with Powershell submissions, because many of the abstracts I created could have easily gone under two or three subcategories.

One example is my abstract on automating SQL Server builds with Powershell. Now, there’s a Powershell/SMO subcategory and one for Installing/Upgrading SQL Server. Which do I choose? I went with Powershell because that’s the focus of my session, but it might have been more applicable to the other.  This is a problem.

Suggestion: Either PASS needs to cull the overall list of topics or allow you to select multiple topics for your abstract.  Personally, I’d prefer the former.

Too Many Submissions

We have a good problem in the SQL Server community: tons of great speaking talent. There a lots of folks at the local and regional level who give great presentations at local user groups and SQL Saturdays. There’s also a fair amount of mediocre talent as well. However, all of these speakers can submit to Summit, regardless of their experience level. This places an overwhelming burden of work on the program committee.

I don’t want to make speaking at the Summit an exclusive club. I think all community members should have the opportunity to present at the Summit, but we need to balance that with consideration for the program committee volunteers and trying to provide the best product for Summit attendees. As such, the process should focus on standards that encourage both active community participation and a focus on public speaking.

Suggestion: PASS needs to start placing restrictions on who can and can’t submit. They already do this for the precons. My initial thought is a speaker should have four public SQL speaking events in the past calendar year. With opportunities like local user groups, SQL Saturdays, and virtual chapters, this is not a difficult number to hit.  It ensures that the speaker is an active community participant, someone who is contributing and practicing their craft.

We need more faces

In general, this isn’t a big deal, but we do have many popular speakers get multiple sessions at the Summit. I understand these folks are a draw and will put butts in seats, but the reality is that every person who gets doubled up means one less other speaker who will be selected. Again, considering the depth of speaking talent in the PASS community, this strikes me as problematic in general and a wasted opportunity to increase the variety of speakers at the Summit.

Suggestion: All speakers are limited to a single session, no exceptions.

More Transparency Around the Selection

I know this is a constant refrain regarding PASS, but it is needed. This is not me piling on the organization for being closed and secretive, but simply reminding them that we still need to know more about what’s going on. I’ve been paying attention to the selection process for the past two years and it IS getting better. I like how open PASS has been with how the program committee works.

The challenge is that the program volunteers don’t make the actual selections. They make recommendations that are passed to the selection committee. The selection committee then performs “levelling” and uses that to select sessions. This is the black box, because I don’t know what the levelling process entails and how things are judged. I’m not advocating some grand conspiracy theory around who gets selected, but there will always be questions and criticism until we are better informed about why.

Suggestion: PASS needs to continue what they have been doing and communicate more about the process. As I said, I recognize that the process of improvement is ongoing and it is getting better, but it can’t stop. The community needs communication, especially as we grow larger and larger.

Videos Don’t Add Value

I understand that PASS is trying to gather as much information about a speaker as possible. Videos are not the way to do it. There are too many issues with recording quality and software that make this a reliable method. Additionally, many videos won’t actually display a candidate’s public speaking skills, only their ability to sit down and chat in front of a camera. These combine to make video recordings more subjective than objective, and we need to focus on objective quantifiers.

Suggestion: Just ditch the video submission.

You Don’t Deserve To Speak At The Summit

This one is directed to the entire community, the people submitting. Every year I see the same tweets and posts griping about how certain people did not get selected or others did. How the process is horribly broken. To be fair, when you craft abstracts and then wait two to three months for a response, the resulting rejection is disappointing.

I think, because of all the other opportunities in the community, being rejected from a speaking event is a bit of a shock. The reality is that competition is tight for the Summit and speaking slots are limited. Getting turned down really is not that surprising. What bothers me most is that I see an attitude of entitlement from some of community members concerning presenting at the Summit. None of us are owed a speaking slot and the burden is on each individual speaker to prove their worth.

I view speaking at the Summit a lot like free agency in a professional sport. There’s a lot of competition to get noticed and a lot of reward if you do. Some people have an edge because they’re really good at what they do and demonstrate that on the public stage. Some others are hidden gems, waiting for their opportunity to get noticed. However, the market is driven by demand and selections are made based on that demand, not by attribution or “right”. We as speakers should always be striving to prove ourselves to the community and our selection should be based on ability, presence, and contribution, all of which will drive up demand.

Suggestion: Chill out if you don’t get selected. Focus on what you can do locally and regionally, through your own user group and SQL Saturdays.The Summit is awesome and I love going, but the truth is I have MUCH more of an impact speaking at smaller events. I encourage all community members to have a presence at these events, to focus on what they can do in their city. Build your community resume and skill set so that when you do submit to the Summit, you’ll be better prepared when you do make it to that stage.

In Conclusion…

I’ve already shared some of this with some members of the PASS board privately, but I wanted to share this publically as well. This is our community and we all have the ability to affect this change by being involved and reaching out. What has always impressed me about PASS is how grass roots it is and how members feed off each other. We need to focus on that, because it is what makes our community stronger than any other technical community out there.

T-SQL Tuesday #41: The Hook #tsql2sday

Bob Pusateri(@SQLBob) is this month’s host for T-SQL Tuesday with a topic I definitely can relate to.  Bob asks bloggers to talk on their presenting experiences:  how they got introduced to it and why do they keep doing it.  Since I’m right on the heels of giving my Server Core talk at SQL Saturday 197, it’s perfect timing.

To put my presentation experiences in context, let’s first talk a bit about some of my performance philosophy.  I’ve written about my musical background before and how it relates to giving technical talks.  One of my chief theories of performance (and art, for that matter) is the requirement of an audience, that art is not really art until you have an audience to appreciate it.  It’s all well and good for me to practice and play by myself, honing my skills and rehearsing pieces, but none of this becomes music until there are people to listen to it and hear my message.  Art is about communicating with that audience, sharing something of yourself through your performance.

This is a philosophy that directly translates to the presentations we give in the SQL community.  The main driver is for us to share our technical knowledge with our peers, to create and education conversation with those who do what we do.  For many, it’s intimidating to present when you think you have nothing to share.  When we realize that we can teach our audience something new, it’s an epiphany of what our impact can really be. This was exactly the “hook” that got me into presenting.

It was March 2011.  I had recently read Brent Ozar’s (@BrentO) landmark post: Rockstars, Normal People, and You.  I wasn’t sure about presenting, but I’d figure I’d give it a bash, so I reached out to the Denver User Group to see if I could sneak in for a slot.  After initially being told that my first chance would probably be something in the summer, I got a call from the VP of Events to see if I could give a short talk for the March meeting.  Apparently, the regularly scheduled speaker had to cancel and the group needed someone to fill in on short notice.

I had about two weeks.  In retrospect, that is a TON of time, but as a new speaker I felt like I was cramming last minute for an exam.  I put together a short presentation on database security, built around this cool extended stored procedure I found: xp_logininfo.  The night of the meeting came along and I went to the podium to warm up the room for Doug Lane(@thedouglane) with my “dinky, little presentation” .  The 30 minutes flew by, I think partly because of my nerves and I talked quickly, but everything went fine.  My demos worked, no one laughed at me, and my biggest sin was not speaking up so the back of the room could hear me.

Then came the “hook”.  As I was packing up for the evening, Tom Norman(@ArmorDBA) came over to talk with me.  Tom’s been a regular at the user group for a while who has given his own share of presentations.  To this day, I remember what he said:

“I’ve been a DBA for over twenty years.  You taught me something new tonight.”

Needless to say I was flattered, but it took a couple days to sink in.  When it did, it hit me: these were people that benefited from my performance, an audience that enjoyed my performance.  I was able to take my technical knowledge and mold it into something more.  Two years later and I’m a regular speaker in the mountain west area as well as VP of Events for the Denver group.  I’ve had the opportunity to speak at SQL Rally and many other SQL Pass events.  Presenting has been so much fun and it’s opened countless doors and started numerous friendships.

I want to thank Bob for giving speakers a chance to share their experiences.  My biggest hope is that we can encourage those who haven’t started speaking to do so.  If you’re reading these T-SQL Tuesday posts and you haven’t given a talk yet, go talk to your user group right now.  The SQL community is always looking for speakers and, whether you believe it or not, you have something I want you to teach me.

Speaking Out

Every January, many talk about what they want to accomplish in the New Year.  Goal, resolutions, attempts to improve both personally and professionally.  Within the community, a lot of my friends have set goals for public speaking, aiming to talk at user group meetings, presenting to their peers at their jobs, or larger aspirations.

Time and again, we hear the refrain about how presenting can boost your career.  I know I’ve spoken about it myself on a number of occasions.  The problem for most is their first presentation and how daunting it can be.  Sometimes someone’s not sure where they could first chance to speak.  Other times it’s a question of finding the “right” topic to speak on.  Not surprisingly, I’ve had a number of conversations in the past months with community members who are grappling with these issues.  The desire is there, but they need a little guidance in order to start down the path.

Finding the audience

I think the issue of finding a venue is the easier problem to handle.  Over the past two years I’ve become more involved with the Professional Association for SQL Server and I’ve gotten to know many of the local and regional organizers.  Recently, I’m became one of those people as well, joining the board of the Denver SQL Server group this past January.  Over this time, I’ve learned that your local user groups are always looking for speakers and typically have several different ways to help new speakers get started.

For example, we have three established groups here in Colorado, with fourth one getting started.  The three established groups all provide the same general format for speaking slots:

  • A 30 minute “lead off” slot, where the meeting will usually have someone speaking on an introductory topic
  • A 60 minute “main event” slot, typically featuring a local or national name on a more in-depth topic.

When I started my own presentation path, I got my feet wet with the 30 minute intro slot.  60 minutes is a bit much to take in for a first presentation, both for assembling material and also for the intimidation of talking for a full hour.  Also, when it’s the first of two presentations in the evening, it takes some of the pressure off because there will be someone else speaking after you.

I also know that many local groups are looking at other options with their formats in order to promote new speakers.  With the success of lightening talks at the Summit, many user groups have been talking about implementing that format within their own meetings as a way to give new speakers an even easier way to get started.  For those unfamiliar with the format, several short presentations (8-10 minutes each) are lined up next to each other.  Topics are fairly limited, as there’s only so much material you can cover.  In Denver, we’re planning on using this format to open our March meeting and having only new speakers

Speaking….in the Cloud?

Unfortunately, local user groups only meet once a month and aren’t always convenient for everyone.  The good news is there are other speaking opportunities outside of these meetings for new presenters to make use of, found in the PASS Virtual Chapters.  There are many of these groups built around various areas of interest within SQL Server and they’re always looking for speakers.  The great thing about these meetings is that they’re held online, so that many of the scheduling and possible travelling difficulties are avoided.

I personally had the opportunity to present to two virtual chapters last year and they were great experiences.  It took a little while to get used to the limited audience interaction, but it also meant that I was a little more control of the flow of things.  For new presenters who may be intimidated by the audience, this is a great in between step.  Also, you’ll have a meeting moderator who can assist you getting things going, which helps expand the comfort zone because you basically have someone backing you up.

We always talk about the Cloud and how it will change our careers.  This is yet another way that it’s impacting us.  Through virtual chapters, we have even more opportunities to present and reach a larger audience.  Certainly, we hear every day how many of the top consultants are reaching out to the community through free training and it’s easy to observe the success they’re having.  There’s no reason new speakers can’t have the same success with these very same tools.

Yeah, I’m Region Wide

If you’re involved the community, it’s hard at this point to have not heard about SQL Saturday.  I love these events and I’ve been very pleased to see the explosion in the number of SQL Saturdays over the past year.  One of the reasons these events were started was to grow the SQL Server speaker base and, by necessity of the sheer number of these mini-conferences, they are continually in need of new speakers.

While it may be a little intimidating to start speaking at one of these events, the benefits are amazing.  Even if you have had a chance to speak once or twice already, it can’t be understated how important it is to speak at one of these, even if you have to drive a couple hours or plan a quick weekend getaway.  It’s not just about the opportunity to speak, but also to network.  While attendees get a chance to meet local SQL Server professionals, speakers have a chance to talk with regional and national speakers that are also in town for the event.  For example, if you were speaking at SQL Saturday Albuquerque, you’d have a chance to chat with Aaron Bertrand, Steve Jones, and Denny Cherry.

Keeping it in house

Lastly, the easiest place to present could be no further than your workplace.  Presenting within your company has several advantages, the biggest being that you are probably already familiar with your audience.  Also, you can probably have an easier time scheduling your presentation, which becomes more convenient for you.  Overall, presenting to your co-workers provides you a more comfortable experience, which might be an easier first step if you’re not sure about getting up in front of a bunch of strangers.

The Longest Talk

Whether you speak at a user group meeting, online, or to your team at work, you have plenty of options for a venue.  “I don’t know where I could speak” is not an excuse that’s available to any SQL professional.  I used this excuse for a while, but then when I spoke with my local speaker wrangler for the Denver SQL User Group, it committed me.  Suddenly, I had a time and a place where I had to speak and I couldn’t back out.  Well, I could, but what would that say?  We’re in the tech world because we love challenges, we take on new problems, and we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones.  This is just another challenge, so grasp it and help your career go further.

Next week, come back and I’ll provide some additional information on the second hurdle:  How to choose a topic.

Looking Forward

Last time we met (ah, such a wonderful time), I did a once over of my accomplishments for 2012.  While I was pleased with the results, we must remember that career development is an ongoing process.  With 2012 in the review mirror, it’s time to put my 2013 goals to paper.

Speaking

I’m not going to lie, I really enjoy presenting.  It’s addictive and makes me think the tests are right(ENTJ, by the way).  I pushed myself to the edge on this last year by speaking at 5 SQL Saturdays, 2 Virtual Chapter meetings, a handful of user group meetings, and Rally.  This was a good stretch, so no reason not to match it.  In 2013, I will aim to:

  • Speak at 4 SQL Saturdays (and I’ve already got 3 on the books, which will be number 4???)
  • Submit to speak at the PASS Summit.
  • 3 chapter presentations (a mix of virtual and “meat-space”).

Note, I’m just submitting to Summit.  I have no illusions about this one, many people tried for years before they were accepted.  I need to get my foot in the water and start beefing up my presentations to Summit quality.  No, I won’t be doing Bob Ward(@bobwardms) or Adam Machanic(@adammachanic) level stuff, I’m quite happy in the 100-300 range, but I feel there’s a real need for that sort of stuff in the community and I plan to bring my A game.

Blogging

Ugh.  Blogging is what I struggle with.  Not that I don’t have things to write about or I dislike writing, it’s more that I dislike making time to write.  It feels like homework (and it is, after a fashion).  Blogging, however, is a GREAT way to get ideas out of your head and self-document your work.  To that point, I plan on:

  • Blogging once a week.  (ALWAYS commit to a regular schedule)
  • Continue to focus on automation and monitoring.
  • Blog about my server inventory and automated restore testing processes.

Certification

In general, I’m in the camp that certification doesn’t necessarily prove competency.  Many of the smartest people I know don’t have any certifications at all.  However, I agree with Glenn Berry(@glennalanberry) that self-acquired certifications (i.e., you didn’t go to a boot camp) show a willingness to go the extra step, much like community involvement.  Also, having them doesn’t hurt your resume, an overall net gain in almost any case.  My plan for 2013:

  • Get the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) by June.
  • Get the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert(MCSE): Data Platform by end of year.

Seeeeeeeeeeeekrit Project

Wow, how’s that for vague?  That’s intentional, as I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but I want to put this to paper to hold myself accountable.  Basically, I had a really cool idea at this year’s Summit and I really want to go for it.  Keep your eyes open for more on this throughout the year.

It’s Gonna Be HUGE

As you can see, I’m loading up on 2013 like a starving man at an all you can eat buffet.  It’s exciting and intimidating, but most of all, it’s achievable.  Nothing on this list is out of my reach.  Also, many of these things fold into one another, such as my presentations meshing with my blogging meshing with my seekrit project (ah HA!  Parallelization!).  I’m ready to take it all on, ‘cause it’s gonna be awesome!

SQL Rally 2012: It’s all about the sauce

Consider, for a moment, the Eggs Benedict.  Most breakfasts involve egg, sometimes with toast, sometimes with meat (bacon, sausage, etc.), various combinations.  However, this one signature dish is special because it combines all this and then covers everything in tasty hollandaise sauce.  This unique combination sets the dish apart from your normal breakfast.

Our database careers are similar.  Any of us can get the job done with some basic combination of study, practical experience, and some community involvement.  What sets one path apart from another?  What gives us that extra boost that makes us stand out from our peers, that carries us up to a new level of success?  What, in short, is the hollandaise sauce of our own personal careers, providing that flavor that makes us special and unique?

This week I had the opportunity to attend the second annual SQL Rally.  For those of you following along, I wrote about my experience at SQL Rally Orlando last year and the profound impact it had on me.  This year, it was a little different for a couple reasons, though the impact was no less significant on my work and my professional growth.

First off, I’m now a community “veteran”.  This doesn’t mean I’ve got a special status, but it does mean that it was now my turn to reach out to people who were attending for their first time.  I met many new folks, shared war stories and terrible jokes, and generally spread the infection that is the SQL Family.  This infection strengthens us, since having a good professional network provides us knowledge and opportunity on a logarithmic scale.

Secondly, this year I attended as a speaker.  Instead of just trying to soak it all in, now I had to get up and talk on my own topic.  That was a particular thrill on its own, because while I’ve done several local and regional events now, now I was speaking on a national stage to the largest audience I’ve had to date.  While I haven’t seen the feedback forms yet, I was blown away by the number of people who came up and personally thanked me for presenting.  Because of the encouragement I received from my audience, I’ve gone ahead and submitted to the PASS Summit for 2012.  It wasn’t on my goal sheet for the year, but I see no reason to hold back now.

Finally, these conferences are still primarily about learning, not just networking and speaking.  I still wanted to make time to attend sessions and add advance my own personal learning.  The sessions this year were better than last year and I got a LOT of great knowledge.  On top of that, all the rooms were packed with the exception of the very last slot on Friday.  My focus on administration and internals topics and saw some great sessions on extended events, integration processes, 2012 features (and, yes, Bob Ward pulled out the debugger), and other topics.  I also mixed in a couple development sessions to broaden my experience.  Overall, some great sessions from some top notch talent.

Sure, the Summit is bigger with larger names, but Rally is incredibly valuable on its own.  Since it’s a smaller conference, you can have more direct access to some incredibly smart people.  I had conversations with at least 4 MCMs , a number of other authors and MVPs, and members of the SQL CAT team.  I got guidance on professional development as well as technical problems, without the crush or general busy-ness that comes with the size of the Summit.

I want to reiterate that we can go through our daily work, study the blogs, and go to technical courses.  We’ll still be moderately successful in our professional lives.  Community involvement is what adds that special kick, that extra flavor.  It’s the hollandaise sauce that completes the Eggs Benedict and makes it more than just eggs, an English muffin, and Canadian bacon.  If you want to be that person in your company who makes a difference, who is recognized as being something more than a database administrator or developer, then conferences like these will not only give you the knowledge you need to succeed, but also connect you to the community that drives change and sets the trends.

I want to extend a huge thank you to the NTSSUG guys who made this all possible, like Sri(b|t), Tim(b|t), Ryan(b|t), and Dave(b|t) (as well as many others I KNOW I’m forgetting).  The fact that such a great event is hosted and supported directly by members of the community shows the strength of what PASS is doing.  I can only hope that reading this inspires you to go to your own local user group or attend a SQL Saturday.  Get involved, get connected, because if you aren’t you’re, quite simply, doing it wrong!

The importance of listening

A while back when I was still studying music, I went to a master class conducted by a prominent tuba player. We covered a lot of the usual stuff, like breathing exercises, intonation, and specific excerpts and audition pieces. A major portion of the time, though, was spent on another important aspect of musicianship: listening. As a group, we talked about listening to different musicians to how they would phrase melodies or shape dynamics, discussing guys like Sinatra, Rush, Miles Davis, and many others. It was stressed that spending time listening critically to music was just as important as practicing and something we should be spending a couple hours on daily.

I began to think about this vital part of musicianship recently when I was at SQL Saturday 107, talking with other presenters about how we approached our presentations. For many of us, the practice of public speaking isn’t just about sharing with others of the SQL community, but also about improving our own skills. I’ve written before about how presenting is like performing and, while I’ve been practicing and rehearsing my presentations, I’ve also been trying to watch other presenters to learn what techniques others use and what might help me improve my own skills.

There have been a couple speakers that have taught me a lot, simply by watching them use their craft. Probably my biggest influence to date is Grant Fritchey(b|t). I’ve learned a fair amount from watching him, but one of Grant’s greatest strengths is he presents with passion and excitement. When a speaker is energized about a topic, the audience will be engaged and drawn in by that energy. It’s important because the energy becomes cyclical. The more the audience is engaged, the more comfortable the speaker gets, and the better the presentation flows. I’ve also noticed that Grant doesn’t try to force the audience to respond, but allows his own excitement to resonate in the audience.

Another lesson I’ve learned is how to use humor to relax an audience. Wes Brown(b|t) does some fantastic presentations on storage and part of what makes them work is his easy, natural humor. If you’ve ever met Wes, he’s always got a joke ready. This works for presentations because it relaxes the crowd when everyone shares a laugh. It also gets the audience to respond to the presenter, breaking down the wall between the two. This is important, because it helps create and drive that energy between the performer and audience.

A quick follow up on this, I’ve seen a lot of people use “funny pictures” in their presentations to interject this humor. While this works for some folks, I found this doesn’t work for me. In the style that I give presentations, I find that this approach is a little forced and takes away from the story I’m trying to tell. This isn’t to say that it won’t work for you or for other folks, it’s just a case of observing how others do something, evaluating it for my own use, and making a decision based of that analysis.

Some other thoughts on what doesn’t work. I’ve seen demos blow up on folks, presenters who lose focus, session that try and cover too much material, presentations that end to quickly because a speaker lost control of the pacing, etc. While none of these are related specifically to one another, they always remind me of how important it is to practice. The more you go over your presentation material, the better you will be at presenting it to others, and you can recognize the lack of rehearsal through critical observation.

The key with all of this is to become a student of the craft. Many of us have great technical knowledge, the ability to figure out those tough problems like memory pressure, storage bottlenecks, security, application caching….the list goes on and on. Much of this is because we read and study that craft. If we want to similarly immerse ourselves in the study of public speaking, we should watch what others do. This can be done at the PASS Summit, SQL Saturdays, or your local user group. You also can go online and watch any number of presentations at TED or other webinars given by the community. In fact, it could be very helpful to watch non-technical presentations to add perspective. Just as any musician would spend at least part of his day listening critically to music, you should watch videos, webinars, and other demonstrations with a critical eye.

Now I want to note, you’re not looking for errors just for the sake of errors. I had a music teacher who called those folks “calculator kids”, just figuring out everything that went wrong. That’s not what this is about. By watching presentations critically, you want to catalog what you like and what you don’t like, and try and figure out what things in a presenter’s style works for them. The goal is to find those skills and techniques that will make you a better presenter.

Here’s a little exercise: The next time you watch an online video or go see someone talk about a topic (any topic), write down three things you liked. That’s it, simple enough. Try and do that each time you’re in a session. You don’t even have to say these are three things you will do in future presentations, but by just writing them down you’ll start thinking about those tricks and will choose some for yourself. I promise you, just by doing that, your presentations will better and not only will your audiences get more out of them, you will too.

Upcoming Presentations

More on the how later, but I wanted to let folks know about some presenting I’ll be doing over the next couple of months. I’m extremely excited for all of this speaking and the opportunities to share with the SQL Server community.

My partitioning presentation, Eating the Elephant, is now slotted for three upcoming events:

  • PASS Virtual Performance Chapter – For those following this group, Jes Borland-Schulz(b|t) did a great presentation on filegroups last week. Partitioning will be a natural follow up to this topic and I’ll be presenting to this group on March 22.
  • PASS Virtual Data Architecture Chapter  – Tom LeBlanc(b|t) asked me to give this presentation in April 19 after we talked at SQL Saturday #104 in Colorado Springs.
  • SQL Rally in Dallas – Seriously, I’m giddy about this. The SQL Community selected me as part of the Community Choice vote and I’ll be giving this presentation sometime during the conference. For those of you interested, I blogged about the first SQL Rally last year. It’s a great event, much cheaper than the Summit, and was a fantastic boost for my career. Even if you don’t come to see my presentation (I forgive you), you really should go.

I’m extremely excited and honored that people want to hear me speak. Presenting is a lot of fun for me and very rewarding, both on a personal and professional level. It’s a vicious cycle, too, because while I’m giving the same presentation three times over the next three months, I’ve already got 2-3 more presentation ideas bubbling around in my head that I plan to give by the end of the year. Stay tuned, 2012 is turning out to be pretty awesome!