Blog Archives
SQL Saturday 192, Tampa Has Come and Gone But Left Its Mark!
This past weekend was SQL Saturday 192 in Tampa. Being my home user group event always makes this event special, however this was the first time I spoke at my home SQL Saturday and that made it an event that I will always cherish. In addition, this year, I took in a full day pre-con training on Friday with Buck Woody (b | t) and quite frankly it changed my life. How many times can you say that about a SQL training, let alone a $99 training?
I know what you’re thinking, believe me I do. How can a one day training change your life? I have spoken at two SQL Saturdays prior to this event and a couple of times at a couple of user group meetings so to say that I was a speaking novice would be an accurate term in my eyes anyway. In addition, I have had no formal training in public speaking except for the semester speech class that I nervously tried to avoid and almost vomited every time I stood up in front of the class.
This journey began in 2011 as I resolved myself in Andy Warren’s Professional Development Plan session at the Tampa BI SQL Saturday. I wanted to conquer this fear of public speaking and give back to the community. It seemed pretty simple. I had no idea how hard it would be and with my fight or flight instincts many times I wanted to just run away, but I did not want to embarrass myself in this community and that held me accountable.
After taking Buck’s class entitled “Creating Your Best Technical Presentation: A Speaker Workshop,” I now feel that I have the skills necessary to put together a decent presentation and deliver it without embarrassing myself. The presentation this past Saturday went well considering that I did not rewrite it, I also did not want to run or vomit and those are great things in my book. Now I have to go back and rewrite my presentation with the skills that I have learned. If you ever get the opportunity to take this class at a local SQL Saturday near you, do it!
Enjoy!
SQL Saturday #192 Tampa in a Few Days
We interrupt our series on replication, to remind everyone that this Saturday is SQL Saturday Tampa. Our Tampa user groups are proud to present a stellar lineup and three pre-con trainings this year focusing on DBA, BI, and professional development. The pre-cons are as follows:
- For the DBAs: SQL Server Internals from the practical angle by Dmitri Korotkevitch
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For the BI enthusiasts: Taking the Next Step with Reporting Services by Jessica Moss
- For Professional Development: Creating Your Best Technical Presentation: A Speaker Workshop by Buck Woody (Come sit with me in this session with all of the cool kids!)
Keep in mind that we have moved to Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus to accommodate our recent growth and to allow us to host more speakers featuring eight tracks this year with 46 sessions lined up. Here is a map of the layout so that you do not get lost:
If you have not registered yet, what are you waiting on? Register now and avoid the rush!
SQL Saturday #192 Tampa
We interrupt our series on replication, to remind everyone that next week is SQL Saturday Tampa. Our Tampa user groups are proud to present a stellar lineup and three pre-con trainings this year focusing on DBA, BI, and professional development. The pre-cons are as follows:
- For the DBAs: SQL Server Internals from the practical angle by Dmitri Korotkevitch
-
For the BI enthusiasts: Taking the Next Step with Reporting Services by Jessica Moss
- For Professional Development: Creating Your Best Technical Presentation: A Speaker Workshop by Buck Woody
Keep in mind that we have moved to Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus to accommodate our recent growth and to allow us to host more speakers featuring eight tracks this year with 46 sessions lined up.
If you have not registered yet, what are you waiting on? Register now and avoid the rush!
SQL Saturday Updates
It is an honor and privilege to be selected to present at SQL Saturday Tampa on March 2, 2013. We will be at a new location this year, Hillsborough Community College in beautiful Ybor City, due to our growth over the last couple of years. In addition, we have three pre-cons this year and I will be attending the “Creating Your Best Technical Presentation: A Speaker Workshop” by Buck Woody (b|t). Hopefully, after this session, my presentation skills will continue to improve before my session on that Saturday. If the winter blues got you down then head down to beautiful Tampa for a warm weekend of SQL learning and register for SQL Saturday #192.
This year I will finally get to attend two other SQL Saturdays that are in the relative vicinities. In the past there was always something going on during those two weekends. As it stands, I am planning on submitting my newest session, Backups: Getting the Most Out of Your Storage, to both of those events. Curious as to what they are?
SQL Saturday Jacksonville (#SQLSat215) will be April 27th and SQL Saturday Atlanta is tentatively scheduled for May 18th. Come on out and join me at all three of those events and maybe one of them will have some SQLKaraoke for the after event! Enjoy!
New Tampa User Group Meeting Tonight, Be There!
Tonight will be the first meeting of the new Tampa Side SQL User Group Meeting. The regular Tampa Bay SQL User Group meets in Clearwater on the third Thursday of every month. However, many people on the other side of the bay have a hard time attending because of traffic and geography until now. We will be meeting from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm at the Computer Associates headquarters near I-75 and Martin Luther King Boulevard (see the address below). Please RSVP so that it gives the sponsor an idea of how much food to bring.
I am humbled to be the first speaker to present for the new group so come out and see my Seven Deadly Sins of the SQL Server DBA presentation that I gave at the Pensacola SQL Saturday last month. I look forward to seeing you there tonight! Enjoy!
Computer Associates
10210 Highland Manor Dr, Suite 300 (Room 302)
Tampa, Florida 33610
First UG Presentation Scheduled
It is with great excitement that I announce that next Thursday night, July 26th, I will be presenting my Seven Deadly Sins of the Database Administrator at the first user group meeting for the second (actually third if you count BI) Tampa user group. Confused? Don’t be. The Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group meetings are actually held in Clearwater (also known as across the bay) which makes them difficult to attend for professionals who work on the Tampa side of the bay. Therefore, we have received approval from PASS to add a second group to the area and its first meeting will be next Thursday. Now you are up to speed, so let’s proceed.
This is the same presentation that I presented at the Pensacola SQL Saturday last month, but I will try to extend it out to 15 minutes. In other words I will speak slower and add more ‘ums’ in there. Just kidding, I hope.
I will however do something different this time. Drum roll please. I am going to give this presentation from my iPad using the Keynote application and the new VGA out adapter that I ordered. Why you ask, because I am a geek and there is no real demo in this presentation. I will update you all after the presentation so stay tuned. Enjoy.
Personal Development Plan…Midway Status
Six months for 2012 are now in the books and I thought it would be a good time to revisit my original goals for the year and see what needs to still be done. My updates will be highlighted in bold.
- I will post daily to this blog in order to give back to the SQL community that has helped me so much over the years. So far so good here!
- I will spend time daily helping people on twitter, SQL blogs, and various SQL-related websites such as SQL Server Central. So far I have only been able to help on twitter and blogs.
- I am setting a goal of 300 followers on Twitter which would double my existing followers for 2011. I now have 315 followers, that is awesome, thank you everyone!
- I will attend at least ten of the twelve Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group meetings. So far I have not missed a monthly meeting.
- I will attend three to five other SQL User group meetings, such as the Tampa BI group or Orlando’s MagicPASS. I need to get going on this one as I have not made one of these yet, bad boy.
- I will attend every Tampa VMWare User Group meetings which occur quarterly. This is spot on, since the Tampa VMUG has not had a meeting since Dec 2011, I have not missed one yet.
- I will attend other events that interface with SQL Server or VMWare such as the Orlando IT Pro Camp scheduled for January 21, 2012. Missed the Pro Camp, will look for others.
- I will attend one Microsoft SQL training course this year, but I cannot say at this time what that course will be as that will depend upon my employer ;-). I would like to attend Course 2778a (Writing Queries Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL) and Course 6234 (Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services. Even better, I got to attend a SQLskills.com training!
- I will attend every SQL Saturday offered in the Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville areas. I would also like to attend some others, if possible, within driving distance. I am already registered for SQL Saturday #110 in Tampa on March 10, 2012. Had to miss Jacksonville because of a final in one of my college courses, but made up for it by going to Pensacola.
- I will volunteer to help with at least one SQL Saturday this year. Volunteered at Tampa, will do others later in the year as well.
- I would like to attend SQL Rally in Dallas this year and I would definitely like to attend the SQL PASS Summit, but with one child in college this year and two more entering over the next two years, I may have to pass on this one for a couple of years until they are situated and my bank account returns to normal. Rally was a no go, still hopeful for Summit.
- I will continue to take at least one to two classes a semester online in order to complete my degree in Business Administration. All those Engineering and Computer Science classes I took 20 years ago are not relevant today and I would like to possibly return to consulting in five or ten years and that degree would be more beneficial in that long term goal. Still attending classes regularly.
- I will continue SQLAndy’s recommendation to meet at least three people at every SQL event. This is a great recommendation for networking. It is hard sometimes to break out of our introverted ways. So far so good.
- I will attain my VMWare Certified Professional 4 certificate this year for VMWare. Not going to happen as VMWare retired the exam before my one year was completed, and I have not focused on VMWare as much as SQL Server.
- I would like to speak somewhere this year, my local SSUG, VMUG, or even a training session at work. I need to get over my fear of public speaking. 2012 is the year to step it up and take it to another level. Presented at Pensacola SQL Saturday and now will do my local user group.
Wow, I am well on track this year!
I Am Passionate About Best Practices
After writing for the Tribal SQL project, I think I’ve realized just how passionate I am about best practices. For example, the other day I asked my wife if she could change our bed sheets to which she replied that they had only been on there two weeks. My retort was that best practices dictated changing the sheets weekly for optimum comfort in sleeping performance. Yes, I’m coocoo for Cocoa Puffs over best practices!
In the shower this morning, as that is where most of my brilliance comes from, I decided to start preparing myself to do a presentation. That has been a long time coming with my left side usually talking my right side out of it. Or was it the other way around? I can’t recall, moving on. Part of the stumbling block for doing a presentation was finding a niche in the SQL Server community and now I think I have resolved myself to that niche so I am slowly chiseling away at my excuses for not presenting at a SQL Saturday or my local user group. There are only a couple of excuses left now and those are slowly fading away, so now I must harness the power of the SQL Force! Next stop SQL Saturday, then possibly a SQL Rally and then SQL PASS; whereby my plan for global domination will be complete.
Enjoy!
Today is SQL Saturday Letdown Day!
SQL Saturday #110 in Tampa is in the books. Done. Finito. Over. The Sunday after SQL Saturday is the proverbial sugar crash for the weekend. What comes up must come down.
The build up for months of anticipation meets the pre-cons and then comes the big day SQL SATURDAY! Meeting all of the #SQLFamily, meeting local user group friends, meeting new peers and SQL rock stars makes for an excellent day, and oh yeah there was some amazing FREE training thrown in there, too.
Now we must face the reality: we have one year to wait until the next Tampa SQL Saturday! Well not really, as we are one of the lucky ones that has two events, our second one is for business intelligence held in the fall. And I won’t mention that we have one in Orlando in the late summer, early fall. Ok, I’ll admit that we are spoiled here, but I never get enough of these events.
I had planned this year to attend the events in Jacksonville and Atlanta, however I have exams on both of those weekends for one of my college courses. What a bummer! I may then have to expand out to South Florida or Pensacola to make up for the loss! See you there!
Enjoy!
SQL Saturday #110 Countdown
SQL Saturday #110 in Tampa is only a few days away…have you registered yet? Check out the schedule of speakers, especially if you have already setup your Guidebook app as there has been some minor shuffling over the last few days. There will be 35 great sessions and lunch is provided thanks to our great sponsors.
If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up now as your help is always appreciated. I look forward to seeing you there on Friday, if you are volunteering, and Saturday for some great #SQLAwesomeness!!
Enjoy!
SQL Swampland 