Search results matching tag 'User's Group'

A wee bit exhausted… time to reenergize

drsql — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 02:26:00 GMT

I admit it. I am tired and I have not blogged nearly enough. This has been a crazy year, with the book I finished writing, the pre-cons I have done (teaching is NOT my primary profession so I do a lot more prep than some others probably do), lots of training on Data Warehousing topics (from Ralph Kimball, Bob Becker, and Stacia Misner, to name three of the great teachers I have had), SQL Rally, SQL PASS, SQL Saturdays and I have gotten a lot more regular with my simple-talk blog as well… Add to this the fact that my daughter added a new grandchild to the family, and my mother has started to get so weak she is starting to fall down quite often (I am writing this blog entry from a spare bedroom at my mother-in-law’s house while my mom is in rehab!) and I am getting exhausted.

Am I whining? Probably, but it is my blog! No, seriously I figure that occasionally you have to poke your head out from under the covers and write something and this is my something until after the New Year (other than posting a few already written and edited simple-talk blogs). I am on vacation from work for 2.5 weeks, and I don’t plan to do much with this laptop of mine for those two weeks unless the spirit hits me with an idea for a blog that I just have to write, but usually most of my blogs that have any technical or artistic merit take weeks to complete. On the second of January, I hope to be back at it, analyzing my resolutions from last year, and making good on a few of them, particularly “Blog about my other (computer) love occasionally” and review some of the gadgets I have acquired as they pertain to doing my job as a writer/data architect. (Hint: My mother-in-law does not have Internet access, so some of the devices I have here are instrumental in my ability to work untethered for weeks on end.)

So until next year, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year! I hope your holidays are restful and fun. I know part of mine will be because I intend to replicate this picture at least one or two more times next week, hopefully with a Turkey Leg in the hand that isn’t holding the camera taking the picture (all with my Windows Phone set on Battery Saver Mode, which delightfully turns off all syncing :)

PASS Nomination Committee

drsql — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Edit: Well, I didn't get elected, and at this point, seeing who won (great choices in Angela, Stephanie, and Jason) and what else I have going on between now and the end of the year (presentations, grand childen being born, etc), I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Usually the phrase "maybe next year" is cold comfort to the people who were not (as the election site so elequently uses) top vote getters, but in this case, I think we can all be happy that the top vote getters will do a great job for PASS and that we have more time to do other community activities. So, see you maybe next year.

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Starting today you can vote for your choice for who should be on the Nomination Committee for SQL PASS (or perhaps some previous day if you aren't reading this on the 13, and if it is after noon on the 23, well, tough). There are 12 people who are up for vote with 3 slots available so this should be fun. There are a few people I know quite well on the list, and a few I don't really know at all. Looking at their qualifications I think one thing stands out. You probably can't make a bad choice. One of them is myself, and this is a job I did once in the past, and is something I feel like I am somewhat uniquely qualified to do from 11 years of working with PASS members and board members alike.

The job is helping to pick who will get the chance to run for the Board of Directors for PASS by vetting the people who apply (according to the PASS By-Laws, Section VIII.3, assuming I am reading it right.) So, the fact is, your choice ought to be somewhat based on how your idea of a board member matches up with our ideas. Of course, it will be a team effort and there is always compromise.

So let me tell you the criteria that I personally have always hoped to find in board members.

Professional level technical skills (primarily SQL). The last thing we need is people who know nothing of what we do simply trying to make a name for themselves with the concept of a professional group like ours. We need people that understand what it is they will be representing. They don't have to be experts by any means, just solid skills, probably demonstrated in the community.

Strong leadership qualifications. Ideally, we will get people who have led groups of people before. Not everyone who would be a great Board Member will live near enough to a SQL user group to be involved, so this could mean technical management, local government, and volunteer work for charities, church leadership, or even being a team leader. A big plus is that the person should be able to communicate well publicly to unify the community of PASS through the good times and the times that are opposite to the good times.

History of volunteerism. Possibly just with PASS, or possibly with some other type of organism. The person ought to know what it means to work for not a buck.

History with PASS. Even if for just a reasonably short period of time, the person should know enough about PASS that they aren't just blindly trying to join at the top. Attendance at a conference or two would be a good bonus so they know what it is about but not everyone can afford to attend, even if they were comp'd the entrance fee.

Ideas on what they think PASS should be like and how they can help get it there. (Perhaps) obviously we all expect that candidates aren't just campaigning because they think it sounds cool. They have a desire to move PASS toward some better future.

Over the years I have put my name in the hat a several times for the board of directors, and twice was cut by the Nomination Committee, and the one time I was a candidate I lost. The funniest part of that year's Summit for me was that I was sincerely relieved when Kevin Kline sat me down and told be I had lost. I did not (and still do not, really) have the strong leadership qualifications needed to be on the Board of Directors. However, like most any longtime volunteer, I feel like I have a solid understanding what kind of kind of person inspires me as a volunteer. (Hence the list!)

If you look at the 5 qualities, all of them are solidly focused on community. If you agree with my vision of what a PASS leader should be, vote for me. I promise to make sure the candidates are up to the high quality that you expect. If you don't agree (or perhaps just didn't find my black and white photo to your liking), vote for someone else, everyone seems quite solid as members of this committee.

If I don't get elected...there is less work for me to do, and I will have more time to server PASS and the SQL Community in any other way I can.

SQL Rally Relational Database Design Pre-Con Preview

drsql — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:58:10 GMT

On May 9, 2012, I will be presenting a pre-con session at the SQL Rally in Dallas, TX on relational database design. The fact is, database design is a topic that demands more than a simple one hour session to really do it right. So in my Relational Database Design Workshop, we will have seven times the amount of time in the typical session, giving us time to cover our topics in a bit more detail, look at a lot more designs/code, and even get some time to do some design as a group. Our topics will be:

Theory - More or less the foundational principals and processes that will presumably help you understand the "why" behind the rest of the material.
General Data Modeling - The basic concepts behind database design, data modeling, graphically and semantically. Terminology and concepts will be covered to make sure that when I say a word, you know what I am meaning. The field of computer science is littered with confusing terminology that needs to be made clear.
Normalization - Basically the process of making your database work well with the relational engine form both a performance and data integrity point of view.
Physical Modeling - The actual process of creating a working database by choosing proper data types, protecting the data integrity, etc. We will discuss the steps, as well as take a look at a model that is implemented.
Implementation Patterns- For the most part, the primary pattern that we use in a relational database is normalization. Database, tables and columns are rather easily mapped to requirements, and using normalization, we usually will arrive at a solution.However, there are certain types of solutions that crop up in common implementations. Examples include uniqueness, hierarchies, files, user-specified schema, data driven design, and more.
Other Miscellaneous Advice - Time permitting, I have a set of slides that cover some basic performance/security/implementation related material.

A lot of the material/examples/demos come from my 2012 book (SQL Server 2012 Relational Database Design and Implementation) that will be shipping just before the Rally, so I am making arrangements to get copies of the book for most if not all of the attendees. So the day will introduce the material to you in a rapid format, and then you can take the material home and read it again (and my email is always available for further questions on the material as well.)

PASS First Timer Advice–Make it worth it!

drsql — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:45:41 GMT

I have seen a lot of other people giving advice about what to do on your first trip to the SQL PASS Conference and I want to give you my two cents worth as well. Many people will be pushing the social aspects of the conference and that is excellent advice which I too will emphasize, but in my mind there is one main thing you need to do:

Make it worth it.

Someone has shelled out a pretty large sum of money to get you there, and they want to see some return on investment in order for you or your coworkers to do it again. There are far too many choices out there for training, and PASS is a great bet to really learn a breadth of information in a short amount of time. Add to that a pre-con or two and you can get some deep insight to in the short period of time. One thing that I love about it is that there are so many sessions that even after 10 years I can get some extremely deep information from super geniuses Conor Cunningham and Bob Ward (and not of the Wile E Coyote variety!) as well as some very deep information from a host of others, all on topics that I am already quite good at and still learn a very valuable thing or two (and sometimes even more). Then I can pick up get beginner and intermediate topics on stuff that I am just interested in.

If you have problems you need solved, write them down and bring them with you. Bring your laptop with demonstrations of your problem. I know I love to help out people with design problems if they have enough information to make it easy to see what they are trying to do. The SQLCat team (http://sqlcat.com/) usually has a great presence and will talk to you about problems, and there are labs to try out features that you might not usually have access to. Add to that the lounge with a bunch of current and future MVPs hanging out willing to give you some time talking about SQL Server related topics. Just don’t come to most technical sessions and expect to ask a question that takes 10 minutes of explaining and get your solution while everyone else waits…

So take it somewhat seriously and learn something to take back to your company and show that the investment was worth it. And try not to quit and change jobs the week after the Summit, if you can. Nothing kills a training budget like people getting the feeling that they are paying their employees to go to a job fair for a week.

Now, as long as you can make the investment pay off for whomever has paid for you to come to the Summit (even if it is you!), now have fun. There are tons of opportunities to have fun at the Summit. On the opening night we have a Quiz Bowl game where we quiz some of the smartest (goofiest) people in the SQL community on various insane topics. There is a PASS Party one night, a dinner you can sign up to attend on Monday and if you keep your ears open, plenty of other happenings around the Summit. Right around the conference center there is a theater, numerous restaurants, an excellent arcade, so there are plenty of places around to hang out with your new PASS friends you might make. And if you take one of the shuttles to your hotel with other people, you will probably meet a few people heading to the conference right after you get off of the plane (if you don’t bump into someone on the plane!) One of the best things about attending a large conference like this is that you can meet a lot of people you probably read/watch on the Internet and find out that they are just people (albeit people who spend a good amount of free time punishing various keyboard devices a little extra).

I said I would mention it, and social networking is a very useful tool, especially at conferences. My suggestion is to (at least a few weeks prior to the Summit,) sign up for twitter, get a twitter client and follow @sqlpass at a minimum (feel free to follow @drsql too!) Also use your twitter client (or if you refuse, a browser) to periodically watch a search of sqlpass: http://twitter.com/#!/search/sqlpass. All of the twitter types will be telling everything that is going on, so if you go to a session and don’t like it, you can find out another that is good. If you want to find a group of people out one night to hang with, there is always something going on. A handy tool I have started using on my Windows Phone 7 is an app called Spout (there is an iPhone and Android version too) that lets you watch a twitter stream, twitter search, facebook account, google reader, and several others in cool looking rotating display. I used it at Devlink last week and it was cool watching what everyone was saying about stuff based on a twitter search of “devlink”. And the best part of using twitter? The friends you make at the conference go home with you and become close friends over time, sometimes even those you never even physically meet.

In the end, you can either go to the conference, attend some sessions and go home, or…end up with a head full of knowledge, some real new friends, a host of virtual friends, and a community that you can lean on when you have needs (of course, they will lean back too.) And if you really like this conference stuff, there are lots of user groups and one day little PASS conferences all over the ~~country~~ world these days called SQL Saturday that you can go to and see some of the same people and lots of new faces. Who knows, you might even find yourself compelled to speak at next year’s event!

SQLPASS Submissions

drsql — Sat, 07 May 2011 01:20:14 GMT

So I am a bit hesitant to post this because the past few times I have posted about something I have submitted they have failed to occur. But hey, I might as well. If I don’t I might get all 5 sessions I submitted and have to do them.. and that would be super tiring.

So I put in 5, including a 1/2 day session and a pre-con and if I could choose only one, it would be the pre-con. Before you start thinking I am stating the obvious, I have done one pre-con by myself at the Orlando SQL Saturday last year and it was great to have enough time to actually do the topic of relational database design, including time to actually get the people in the session to create designs on their own. The 1/2 day session is intriguing. I am thinking that a 1/2 day would still give us time to do some database designs, though not likely on the whiteboard in teams. In either case, if I get to do either of these, I figure I would bring my Wacom Cintiq 12x monitor to interact onscreen…

So, the sessions I submitted are, starting with the regular sessions:

Database Design Fundamentals – A session I have done quite a few times over the years, including quite a few SQL Saturdays recently with major changes to the normalization bits based on newer, friendlier example code.

Characteristics of a Great Relational Database – A new session that I have only done once for the AppDev virtual chapter. It is a basically a list of seven characteristics that make a database great, rather than just functional.

Database Structures for Programmers – A session that I am writing for Devlink this year (and probably the Nashville SQL Server User Group in July) that is probably encroaching on a few of my idol’s sessions who talk about structures. My goal in suggesting it was to branch out a bit and start talking a bit more about non-relational stuff. A great lacking I think is sessions about the physical structures, particularly at the level I tend to give talks at (which is to talk about complex subjects in less than complex manners.) A lot of developers don’t want to get so deep it gets confusing, but they do need to know about how the physical implementation of SQL Server can be manipulated for your benefit.

Database Design Patterns In Practice (1/2 day) – In this session, my goal will be to cover constraints, triggers, etc and how you can put them together to make interesting objects in your design. It will be highly interactive, more or less consisting of an overview of data protection/implementation objects, then a set of scenarios that we will implement together.

Database Design Workshop (pre-con) – This session will cover database design from the basics to actually putting it into practice. It is a bit like drinking from a firehose, but it very practical in nature as we will be looking at stuff that any person who has to do database design will do regularly.

So there you have it. If I get even one of them I will be happy to do it. Speaking at PASS may be the most stressful of all of the speaking I do since the competition is strong, there are lots of tracks,and I have regularly been in the final slot of the conference where I probably would have been too tired to attend a session myself. If you want to get a solid idea of why this gets to me, watch for my SQL People entry comes up sometime this month.

Allen White to speak at our Nashville SQL Server User’s group April 24

drsql — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:18:00 GMT

I am scheduled to be the opening act, with a short 5-10 minute tip/trick session entitled “Tips – Taking Care of ‘Future You’”, and then the illustrious Allen White will take over and give a presentation on the new administration features of SQL Server 2008. Frankly I am glad that he is going after me, because I know he is going to be quite a bit better than me :) (This being based on what I have heard and the fact the he is a professional trainer and I am just a rank amateur!)

If you don’t know Allen, his bio is:

Allen is a SQL Server Trainer for Scalability Experts, a leading provider of scalable solutions, training and services based on Microsoft SQL Server. He's spent over 30 years in IT, including operations, development, telecommunications, network admin and database design and administration. He's been using SQL Server since 1992 and is certified MCITP:Database Administrator, MCITP: Database Developer and MCT. Allen has been awarded Microsoft’s MVP Award for his work in the SQL Server community for the last two years. He's active in the Ohio North SQL Server User's Group and contributes in the MSDN Forums, answering questions about SMO and PowerShell, and maintains a blog at http://sqlblog.com/blogs/allen_white/default.aspx.

He is a great guy, and I am looking forward to getting an opportunity to hear him speak. He is coming to see us because he happened to be in town for the weekend to run the Country Music Marathon. I was going to run it, but then I realized I was going to be in Atlanta for SQL Saturday. (Okay, to be honest if you know me you would be fairly certain that I won’t even be walking 26 miles anytime soon.)

If you want to come out and see Allen too, we will be at Nova Copy, 15 Lindsley Ave. Nashville 37210. RSVP to Shelton Dickson (shelton@dicksonresources.com) as soon as you can if you are coming so we will know how much pizza to order.