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SQL Saturday Dallas, 2018

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Quacky rides bikes!

 

SQL Saturday Dallas #734 is a wrap!

I’m still tired, 2 weeks later!

This is my 7th or 8th SQL Saturday as an attendee.  3rd as a pre-con presenter.  5th delivering a Saturday session, 1st as a sponsor and 1st as a co-organizer.

And it was a blast.

Months of prep work went into getting things ready…venue change, sponsor chasing, speakers, goodies for speakers and attendees, pre-con stuff, after-part, speaker dinner…you name it, I at least read an email about it.  This was my first time around so I was following the lead of veterans on the NTSSUG board.  We had over 1000 people register…I don’t recall the final tally of actual attendees but the place was packed all day!

My pre-con (DBA Fundamentals) went really well, with a record number of attendees. By design this class is usually small and intimate.   The BI session next door had 65 or so!  I’ve done this pre-con 3 times now, and this was the first time I actually had a technical issue (fonts went wacky) and a brain cramp in the middle.  But, I recovered and people (hopefully) learned something they can take back with them to the office.

I also did my Disaster recovery session on Saturday, which I think went really well, and got a bonus of meeting someone I knew through a previous client and only by phone.  I always think you’ve done your session well when people line up to chat with you afterwards:

Either something was really funny, or my backpack has way too much stuff in it…

 

Our Dallas DBAs sponsor table went really well…except everyone seemed to think I was raffling off my personal racing bike.  Lots of folks came by for the raffle and the free t-shirts (100 only…gone in 90 minutes).  Some even stopped to ask what we do, giving me the chance to promote our Apprentice program.  Thanks to everyone that came by!  And also to Richardson Bike Mart for providing the $150 gift card for our raffle.

Not the raffle item….just clickbait apparently:

The entire staff of Dallas DBAs, in official uniform

 

A very special shout out to my good friend and graphics/web guy, Jeff Miller of Igniss Images for shooting this event as a free service to the SQL Server Community.  See the pics!

Thanks to all the attendees for coming, and to the Sponsors that make it possible!

Kevin3NF

 

SQL Saturday Dallas 2018

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Hey all!

I am doing my DBA Fundamentals all day pre-conference at SQL Saturday Dallas on Friday, May 18.  Register HERE. $120 until May 1, then $140.  If you are not sure if this is the class for you, please go watch this promo video I threw together, then email me if you still have questions.  If you are a mid or senior level DBA, this is not a good use of your money and time…check out the others that are happening that day.

And then on Saturday, May 19 (Free!) I will be giving my Disaster recovery is everyone’s job! presentation, currently scheduled for 11am, subject to change at the whim of the organizers (spoiler alert…I’m one of the organizers, lol)

This is going to be a great event…the theme is “SQL de Mayo”, because Texas!  Go register now to reserve your spot, because it will fill up and being on the wait list is kind of a drag.  And buy lunch too!  No free lunch…

Hey…we still need more sponsors at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels to make this event even more awesome and I’m the guy to contact about that, so…contact me!

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

^^^ follow me, you stalker 🙂

 

DBA Fundamentals at SQLSaturday Cincinnati

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I will be teaching my all day “DBA Fundamentals” pre-con at SQL Saturday Cincinnati on March 16, 2018.   There is a $125 fee for this class, which includes lunch.  Possibly a cool DBA t-shirt as well…

This class is targeted at pretty much everyone that wants to know more about how SQL Server works and is not an experienced DBA.

Probable topics (I adjust on the fly depending on time…) can be viewed on the registration page.

Some unedited comments from previous attendees:

DBA Fundamentals comments

I love that one at the bottom!

If you are unsure if this class is for you, email me or ping me on Twitter…I want you to get your money’s worth! Or, check out this promo video I made to help you decide.

If you are anywhere near Cincinnati but can’t/don’t want to do pre-cons, come to the Saturday events…everything is free except for lunch!

Thanks for reading.

Kevin3NF

SQL Saturday Minnesota 2017

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Now that the official schedule has been published, I am pleased to announce that I will be doing a pre-con and a regular session at SQL Saturday Minnesota on October 6-7. 2017.

The Friday pre-conference will be “DBA Fundamentals for the Junior, Accidental and non-DBAs.”  This will be a wide ranging day-long discussion on the underlying fundamental pieces of SQL Server Administration that are beneficial to both new DBAs, and those that have to work with or fill in for them.  Please see the link for details, and feel free to contact me with any questions.  There is a $110 (plus service fees) charge for this, which is split between me and the local SQL User group organizing the event, after expenses.

The Saturday regular session will be “Backups for new/non-DBAs…the Why, not the How”, where we will cover Disaster recovery scenarios and the part SQL Server plays in the recovery.  We won’t spend much time on specifically defining backup types, etc.    Currently this is scheduled for the 1-2pm time slot, but that may change.

Edit: my Saturday session is now 10:15am – 11:15am 🙂

I’m very excited to be coming to the MSP area!  I even have a friend that lives in the area that I get to see for the first time in 3 years…plus all of the new friends I will make at the events!

Thanks,

Kevin3NF

Thoughts from a New Speaker

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Sunday afternoon…enjoying the “Post SQL Saturday” calm…

SQL Saturday Houston was yesterday, which in and of itself is not that unusual for me.   I’ve been to many technical conferences over the last 18 years…4 SQL Saturdays, 2 PASS Summits, SQL Server launch events, TechNet stuff back in the late 90’s and more user group meetings than I can count.

This particular event was the first time I ever went as a speaker.   Its technically the first time I’ve ever spoken to a technical audience.   12 years ago I did a demo of some Red Gate tools, but that was a short ad-hoc thing.  I’ve taught a few training classes in the workplace and am currently doing a 5 week fundamentals class now.  Small, interactive and very different than yesterday.

Wisdom for first time speakers can be found all over.   Blogs, Twitter, and there is even a Slack channel for it in the SQL Community slack. Almost all of that says to start small, like at work or at the local user group.  Practice and rehearse, until your dog and kids know your topic inside and out. Never type in a demo, etc.

I prepared a slide deck and pretty much winged it…which is what I do best.  If I rehearse things I get nervous and wind up second guessing myself.  I skipped the local user group part and went straight for  SQL Saturday.  I applied to speak at Houston (DR/Backups) and Chattanooga (Security) hoping to get a nibble on one.  Much to my surprise I was accepted to both.  Apparently the desire for beginner/fundamental topics is significant.  The attention some of my fundamental blog posts gets tends to support this.

My session went really well (in my opinion), with the only technical issue being a projector that overheated and had to cool for a few minutes. As a joke I broke out my backup laptop claiming to have been half-prepared.

I was a bit nervous the day before, but when I got to the event site and into the Speakers/Sponsor/Volunteer room, all that went away.  I almost had a last minute switch of session times with Bob Ward, as he was running a little late.  But, he got there with a few minutes to spare.

One of the best prep things I did was go to Brent Ozar’s (b|t)performance tuning pre-conference on Friday.  I went as much to watch presentation style as for the knowledge being shared.  Brent is a great presenter.  I also really enjoy anything Pinal Dave (b|t)has to say, mostly due to the excitement and passion he delivers it with.  Pinal could make a snail race exciting.

The San Jacinto Junior College facility was fantastic with clean rooms, stable WiFi, etc.  Everything there looks new.  The local SQL Saturday team had all the bases covered.  Allen (t), Devon (t), Sarah and the rest made for a fantastic day.

I’m looking forward to Chattanooga next weekend, and who knows where beyond that.   If you are interested is presenting, don’t let anything stop you from responding to a call for speakers.  Applying is half the battle 🙂

Thanks for reading,

Kevin3NF

 

 

 

SQL Saturday Houston 2017

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I will be presenting my session “Backups for non-DBAs….the Why, not the How” at SQL Saturday Houston on June 17, 11am.

This is mostly targeted at non-DBAs such as owners, managers, CxOs, developers and sysadmins…but all are more than welcome.

We will be discussing various scenarios to consider as part of an overall DR/Business Continuity plan, as well as sharing a few horror stories from the field…both ancient and current.

The session abstract:

Join me and get some new perspective on what your DBA is doing, and why!

Targeted at the non-DBA such as BI/DW folks, Application Developers, Managers, and System Admins, this session will go over the reasons we back up our databases, our systems, etc. Considerations such as Single points of failure, High Availability/Disaster recovery, Business Continuity and others will be discussed in this interactive conversation. It will be conversation heavy, with supporting slides to download, and one Database backup demo at the end if time permits.

Everyone involved in a technical role needs to at least know that the things they have created will be recoverable in the event of a disaster, or even just an “oops” moment. The CIO/CTO should know how long critical systems will be down when bad things happen. Backups are everyone’s responsibility…whether asking the right questions or implementing the process.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Kevin3NF