SQL User Group

My first time, lessons learned!

SQL Padre Career, SQL, SQL Saturday, SQL User Group ,

This past weekend, I had the privilege of doing a presentation at SQL Saturday #514 in Houston Texas.  I had been to other SQL Saturdays before as both a participant and a “volunteer”; but I had never have spoken before.

Speaking in front of people is usually no big deal to me.  I have been designing, presenting, hosting and administrating all types of training for the Boy Scouts for many, many years.  I have taught Scouting newbies how to tie a knot to presenting on topics like “Project Planning and SMART goals” (email me if you want to know what SMART goals are).  I have even coordinated an all day training event very similar to SQL Saturday for my Council called University of Scouting.

But what was different about this experience was the topic.  I have been active in the Boy Scouts since I was eleven.  I know Scouting information, concepts, and topics backwards and forwards. I have been facilitating trainings (presenting) since I was 15. So Scouting is 2nd nature to me.  But presenting on SQL Server topics was somewhat nerve wracking.  For me it was a test of not my presenting abilities; but my SQL DBA abilities.  As an “Accidental DBA” I have always questioned my abilities with SQL Server.  Everything I have learned about computers I have learned my self, so I am always 2nd guessing myself. 

As a “First timer”, I thought it would be best to cover Beginning Level topics.  My thought was 1) I knew the material and 2) after reading Tim Ford’s #EntryLevelChallenge it motivated me to remember my fellow newbies.

I won’t go into the topic of my presentation today as this is more about the experience.  The audience, which I had 14 in attendance, was very attentive and I don’t think I put anyone to sleep!

I do need to work on my demos.  They all worked as expected; but switching between laptop and projector, throwing SSMS on the projector screen, changing screen settings from duplicate to extend was all too much.  There has to be a better way to switch between PowerPoint in presentation mode and SSMS to do demo. So I will practice that.

I thought I did best on time management.  The time allotted was 60 minutes, I said “Thank you for your time” at 59 minutes and 30 seconds. 

Over all the experience was well worth it. By the responses I received from the speaker evaluations, I think I did an OK job.  I had no major criticisms except to slow down, I assure you that was nerves at the beginning. 

Hostile Takeover

SQL Padre Presentation, SQL, SQL User Group ,

Last night, I had the privilege of presenting to the Baton Rouge SQL Server User Group (@BRSSUG).  This was my 2nd time presenting to the group and I hope it was as informational as it was enjoyable for me.

The Nuts and Bolts of the presentation

The whole premise of the presentation was to outline and layout what to do when you are given a SQL Server to manage.  In some cases you may “discover” a new SQL Instance on your network and not have access to it.  I presented one method of gaining access through what I call a “hidden door”.

I am a big supporter (even though I don’t do it as often as I should) of documentation!  PowerKnowledge is Power and as our friendly neighborhood Spiderman would say “With great power comes great responsibility”.

What type of information do you need to collect and document on?  I explained several bits of information that I gather on a regular basis and gave several tips and demonstrated some wonderful scripts from people much smarter than I am on how to collect this information.  I have been using these scripts in “My SQL Toolbox” for a  long time.

Here is the slide-deck I used last night with all the links to the various tools of “people smarter than me” that I use on a regular basis.