Thanks to everyone who joined the blog party this month. I noticed three themes in the responses. Every response had one or more of these themes woven into their response.
- I learned something.
- I discovered ways to improve my presentations.
- I get more value in the hallway conversations.
No matter how you learn, you can find value at conferences. Our industry is made up of people with different learning styles. I learn best in a classroom. Others prefer hands on experience. Before we recap the responses, let’s have a look at the invitation.
The Invitation
We are in the heart of the spring conference season. Maybe you had the opportunity to attend FabCon / SQLCon or a weekend event like Data Saturday. This month I’m inviting you to tell us about one or more things you learned at ANY conference you have attended that has impacted you or how you work.
Rob Farley – Presentations with impact! | LobsterPot Solutions
Rob discusses the impact of a TechEd speaker who engaged the audience including himself. He used this experience to develop into a better speaker. He also emphasizes the importance of community interaction and hallway conversations at events.
I wanted to be able to grab the attention of the people in the room (or at least most of them), and hold onto it. To teach their hearts and not just their minds, hopefully so they would leave changed. I try to do the same with my consulting, with the people I encounter in life in general.
Vlad Drumea – T-SQL Tuesday #197 – An impactful session changed my DBA career – VladDBA
Vlad recalls a session from ITCamp in Romania on security. Even though he had been a DBA for many years, this session motivated his ongoing work in cybersecurity.
Not only did I find her session very insightful and entertaining, but it kick-started my active interest in cybersecurity which turned out to go very well with my passion for SQL Server.
Jamal Hansen – T-SQL Tuesday 197: How I Have Been Impacted by Conferences | Jamal Hansen
Jamal focuses on the general value of attending conferences. He differentiates between vendor conferences and community conferences. Community conferences focus on people more than product.
The community conferences are different. People are the focus. Ideas and friendship are the reasons they come together. Those are the ones with talks that stick. Those are the ones I keep going back to.
Kevin Chant – T-SQL Tuesday 196 – An impactful session – Chantified Lens
Kevin shares how a session at SQLBits encouraged him to expand well beyond SQL Server on premises. He would delve into Azure and DevOps. That session positively impacted how he conducts his own presentations today.
Suffice to say that this session led me down the path to many things. Including working on a special project for my employer at the time and an improved awareness of the possibilities of CI/CD. I ended up absorbing so much knowledge about Azure that I ended up gaining the MCSD Azure Architect certification.
Steve Jones – Impactful Sessions I’ve Seen: T-SQL Tuesday #196 | Voice of the DBA
Steve starts out explaining how at this point in his career he finds more value in the conversations than in the sessions. However, that was not always true. He lists six sessions from the many he has attended through the years that impacted him.
There’s always a lot to learn, and going to sessions is a great way to get inspired and help you build your own solutions.
Mike Donnelly – Examples of Memory Leaks (T-SQL Tuesday #197) – A Coding Journey
Mike talks about a session on SQL Server administration he attended at his first SQL Saturday in Minnesota. He learned the importance of managing SQL Server at the server level. At the same event he heard about the local SQL Server user group, eventually becoming its board chair.
At that same SQL Saturday, I learned about the monthly PASSMN meetings and started attending them regularly, which led to me eventually presenting some sessions of my own, and ultimately becoming the PASSMN board chair (after Steve stepped down). It is not an exaggeration to say that SQL Saturday #58 changed the course of my career.
Louis Davidson – T-SQL Tuesday #197 – An impactful session or two from a conference – Drsql’s Database Musings
Louis calls out two sessions on database design that impacted his database design. At CA World he learned about the impact of semantics, and at the SQL Server 7.0 launch, he got insight into SQL Server internals.
Why I still go to sessions – Because I learn things that I don’t know. Sometimes it is deep, interesting things that change me. Sometimes it is things that don’t mean anything big, but stick with me. Sometimes it is something that helps me professionally.
Courtney Woolum – T-SQL Tuesday #197: The Value of Conference Season – Data Court
Courtney highlights two sessions from Derby City Data Days. The first was on SQL Server indexing optimization. As a lone DBA, she got validation for much of the work she was doing. The second session covered the PIVOT function in SQL Server and was instrumental in solving an issue she was dealing with. She also calls out friends she made at the event.
A final shout out to everyone who has been a part of the organization, planning, and execution of an event in this great community. Your time is much appreciated and does not go unnoticed. Please keep up the great work you do, and remember: Cleveland Data Rocks.
That’s a wrap!
Thank you to everyone who partied with us this month. I hope you are encouraged to attend, organize, or present at an event.
Are interested in hosting? Contact Steve Jones for details.