Archives for February 2011

Note: Since I attended SQL Saturday #66 as a speaker, I’ll write about my presenting experience in a separate post.  This post covers my experience at the event as a whole.

Last Saturday was the most fun I’ve had in quite a while.  I’m not sure how else to introduce it so I’ll get right to the details.

The Facilities

What a great place to have an event like SQL Saturday.  The CO Springs User Group who hosted the event wanted to turn up the networking to 11 and their choice of venue paid off big time.  In an ordinary, meeting-like setting, networking can feel forced.  People introduce themselves somewhat reluctantly, a few lines are exchanged about what they do and where they work, and then they move on.

At Mr. Biggs, we played laser tag together, drove go-karts together, and bowled together.  When we had to wait in line for laser tag, we all started networking naturally.  (If you really want people to talk to each other, make them wait in line together.)  I never imagined having this much fun at a SQL Saturday.

Speed Dating

Starting off the morning, we grouped into areas of interest such as DBA, dev, and BI.  Each group formed two circles, one inside the other, and the outer circle rotated around so that each person in the inner circle got to meet everyone in the outer circle.  We asked each other what we do and what our greatest accomplishment was in that arena.  One reason I really liked this was the three people I met (mine was a small circle) all ended up attending my presentation later.  Having met them made me a little more comfortable with my audience, and I knew if I wanted more interactivity, I could easily call on them by name.  One of the attendees, Sandra, asked me a question about Report Manager later in the day.  I don’t know if she would have done that had we not already met face to face.

The People: Speakers and Organizers

I was actually more nervous about the speakers & organizers dinner on Friday than I was the presentation on Saturday.  I am not well known in the SQL community, nor do I consider myself an expert at anything to do with SQL Server.  I have some experience with the product, and that’s about it.  Adding to my anxiety was my introverted nature; I don’t make conversation easily and I don’t always speak clearly.  In short, I was going to hang out with some of the giants of the SQL realm and I was pants-wetting terrified.

The best word I can think of is “overwhelmed”.  I was overwhelmed at how completely approachable, friendly, and down-to-earth everyone was.  Getting to know them took very little effort.  An hour after dinner, I was joking with Bill Fellows, taunting Jason Horner via Twitter, and bowling for Chris Shaw when he wasn’t looking.  (Chris had a score of seven after four frames, so I think I was doing him a favor.) The last time I had that much fun with complete strangers was summer camp in 1987 – I was 12 years old.

I’ve seen a lot of gushing on Twitter (and blogs now, too) about how great a job the organizers and volunteers did with this SQL Saturday.  It’s not hyperbole.  Chris, Kat, Andrew, Rebecca, and everyone else who gave their time and energy to put on a great event deserve all the credit they’ve gotten and then some.  Kat even had our speaker evaluations back to us on Monday.  Outstanding work by all of them.

The People: Attendees

The people who came out to hear what we speakers had to say were delightful.  They were friendly, respectful (I don’t remember a single person walking out on a session in progress), and genuinely interested in what the speakers had to say.  Also, some of them must’ve been snipers in the military; at laser tag, I got shot in the back more times than I can count.

I offer a heartfelt thanks to all who sat in on my session.  You were my first audience and you were polite, engaged, and some of you even took notes (the ultimate compliment, in my opinion).  Thank you.

The Presentations

I had a hard time choosing which sessions to go to because, even though I’m a BI developer, they all looked intriguing and useful.  Credit to both the presenters and the organizers for making SQL Saturday #66 burst at the seams with valuable content.  The sessions I did sit in on were:

• Chris Randall’s “Beyond BIDS” – Caring for and Feeding a SQL Server BI Solution: So much good information, so little time.  I’ll be glad I attended when it’s time to re-deploy my SSAS projects.
• Bill Pearson’s Becoming DAX: An Introduction: An easy-going intro session for people who don’t do much with DAX or PowerPivot (like me).
• Mark Halstead’s SQL Server Performance Tuning: Good real-world advice about what counters really matter.
•  TJ Belt’s Documentation. You know you love it: Got to see some nice templates and hear tales of documentation heroism.

Bill Pearson had a hilarious line to open his Becoming DAX presentation: “This venue is awkward, because legally I’m not allowed within 200 feet of children.”

The Best Part

I have no less than fourteen people I now consider friends:

Bill Fellows (billinkc on Twitter)
Chris Randall (cfrandall)
Chris Shaw (SQLShaw)
Gabriel Villa (extofer)
Jason Horner (jasonhorner)
Kat Meadows (KatSQL)
Kevin Krueger (kevinkrueger)
Marc Beacom (marcbeacom)
Meredith Ryan-Smith (coffeegrl)
Randy Knight (randy_knight)
Rebecca Mitchell (SQLPrincess)
TJ Belt (tjaybelt)
Bill Pearson (Bill_Pearson)
Steve Jones (way0utwest)

The speaker/organizer functions before and after the event gave me considerably more time to get to know them than if I had just attended on Saturday.  This alone makes me think I should be volunteering at SQL Saturdays (or other events) where I’m not speaking.  I hope to see all my new friends – as well as those I met but didn’t get to know – at another SQL Saturday soon.

And so…

What more can I say?  Great people, great place, great experience.  This event was beyond memorable for me; it was unforgettable.

Update (2/15/10):  Kat Meadows is back on Twitter.  I’ve added her Twitter handle in the list above.