Showing posts with label SQL Community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SQL Community. Show all posts

Friday, February 21, 2014

Up Coming Speaking Events

Hello Dear Reader!  We are 2 months into 2014 and the New Year is off to a busy start. This year already I've spoken to 3 User Groups and had 1 Workshop on Performance Tuning. This is only the beginning.  Between  now and May I've got 12 more presentations.  While I'm out and about I hope that I will get to see and meet up with a lot of SQL Family.

First Up Tampa!

SQL Saturday #273 is just around the corner.  I am one of a whole host of other great SQL Server Experts that will be on hand for the free training and free learning.  Stop by!  

February 22nd
SQL Saturday Tampa #273
Trimming Indexes Getting Your Database In Shape! (Click the link to go sign up)

Do you have the PASS Summit Blues?  We are 11 months away from the next great gathering of SQL Minds.  During this time of the year you watch your DVD's/Downloads/Streaming content from last.  You look at the presentations at the SQL Saturday's and start to wonder what will be planned for next year.  You miss your friends, you miss the atmosphere, you miss the Summit.

Well Pragmatic Works has the cure for the PASS Summit Blues.  All this month we have been doing our presentations from last year for Free, as part of our Training on the T's.  Next week you will get a chance to see my presentation from the Summit, Plus a little extra content as I take up not ONE, but TWO time slots.

Hope to see you there!

February 25th
Pragmatic Works Training on the T's
SQL Internals Deep Dive Part 1 (Click the link to go sign up)


February 27th
Pragmatic Works Training on the T's
SQL Internals Deep Dive Part 2  (Click the link to go sign up)

This March SQL Server MVP Jorge Segarra (@SQLChicken | Blog) and myself take our two man show on the road.  We did Tampa last month, next up Reston VA.  I'm hoping to catch up with some old friend's while in VA, and I'm sure you want to miss the two of us in action.  We still have seats, but they are going fast!  (Click the link to go sign up)

March 18th - 20th
Pragmatic Works
Performance Tuning Workshop  (Click the link to go sign up)
Reston, VA

Last year one of my favorite all time memories was SQL Saturday Boston.  I'd never been to Boston when I submitted and I'd always wanted to go.  Little did I realize that I would end up back in Boston 5 more times before the end of 2013.  I can't wait to go back and join the amazing speaker line up that Mike Hilwig(@MikeHilwig|Blog) has put together!

March 29th
SQL Saturday Boston #262
Trimming Your Indexes Getting Your Database In Shape  (Click the link to go sign up)

I'm in Portland Oregon for the first time ever.  As if that wasn't enough reason to show up, I'm presenting with none other than my colleague Roger Wolter(@RWolter50 | Blog).  Roger is a former PM for SQL Server for Microsoft.  He has forgotten more about computer science that I've ever known.  He's a nice guy and he's flat out brilliant.  He has worked on some of the largest and most complicated Service Broker installations in the world, he has vast in the field experience with SQL Server.

Roger and I are teaching the Performance Tuning Workshop not once, but twice this year.  I hope to see you there, because this Dear Reader is going to be a lot of fun.


April 8th
Pragmatic Works
Performance Tuning Workshop  (Click the link to go sign up)
Portland, OR

My good friends Jose Rivera(@SQLConqueror|Blog) and Guillero Caicedo(@SQLTitan|Blog) invited SQL MVP Jorge Segarra and myself to present a full day Pre-Con for SQL Saturday Puerto Rico.  I've gotten to know Jose and Guillero quite well from different SQL Saturday's and the PASS Summit.  This is a great honor as it will mark my 1st ever Pre-Con for a SQL Saturday!

Jorge and I will be pulling out all the stops to give you a full day of information and Performance Tuning knowledge that you can use.  I hope to see you there!

April 11th
SQL Saturday Puerto Rico #283  (Click the link to go sign up)
Full Day Performance Tuning Workshop

April 12th
SQL Saturday
Puerto Rico #283
TBD

Roger Wolter and I tackle SQL Server one more time in the Mile High City.  Denver is a beautiful town and I cannot wait to come out and visit will all the #SQLFamily out there.  We will also be presenting at the SQL Server User Group on the 29th.


April 29th-May 1st
Pragmatic Works 
Performance Tuning Workshop (Click the link to go sign up)
Denver, CO

April 29th 
Denver Colorado SSUG
TBD

Jorge and I will be taking our two man show over to SQL Saturday #298 Jacksonville.  When Devin Knight(@Knight_Devin | Blog) called me up and asked I was stoked!  This will be the 4th time that Jorge and I have presented together this year and I can't wait!  Come out and join us for some learning and fun!


May 9th
SQL Saturday Jacksonville #298
SQL Server Performance Tuning and Internals  (Click the link to go sign up)

May 10th
SQL Saturday Jacksonville #298
TBD

As you can see Dear Reader this year will be busy. There are more plans right now that we are working on that go all the way out to the end of the year.  More on that in the next couple of months!

As Always, Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks,

Brad

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

24 Hours of PASS Deck and Demo's Live!

Hello Dear Reader!  Another very quick blog.  Thank you to all of the people that tuned in to see me present on SQL Data Internals for the 24 Hours of PASS tonight.  I truly appreciate you spending your hard earned time with me.

My Deck and demo's are now live on the resources page.  I've added a list of all the presentation's that I used as references.  Any Scripts not in the deck you can find at the following links.

Click Here for the Slide Deck and Click Here for the Demos.  Now the links to all the other material.

Paul Randal MCM Video Series Data Structures http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/gg313756.aspx

Bradley Ball SQL Internals Reading Data Records Part 1: Tag Bytes http://bidn.com/blogs/SQLBalls/ssas/2776/sql-internals-reading-data-records-part-1-tag-bytes

Bradley Ball SQL Internals Reading Data Records Part 2: Null Bitmap Offset http://bidn.com/blogs/SQLBalls/ssas/2781/sql-internals-reading-data-records-part-2-null-bitmap-offset

Bradley Ball SQL Internals Reading Data Records Part 3: Fixed Length Columns http://bidn.com/blogs/SQLBalls/ssas/2785/sql-internals-reading-data-records-part-3-fixed-length-columns

Bradley Ball SQL Internals Reading Data Records Part 4: Null Bitmap http://bidn.com/blogs/SQLBalls/ssas/2789/sql-internals-reading-data-records-part-4-null-bitmap

Bradley Ball SQL Internals Reading Data Records Part 5: Variable Offset Array http://bidn.com/blogs/SQLBalls/ssas/2791/sql-internals-reading-data-records-part-5-variable-offset-array

Bradley Ball Differences in the Null Bitmap between SQL 2005 and SQL 2012 http://www.sqlballs.com/2012/07/differences-in-null-bitmap-between-sql.html


Bradley Ball SQL Internals Reading Data Records Part 6: Variable Length Data http://www.sqlballs.com/2012/07/sql-internals-reading-data-records-part.html



As always Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks,

Brad

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

SQL Saturday 232 Schedule is LIVE!

Hello Dear Reader!  Just a quick blog post today.  The Schedule for SQL Saturday 232 is now live!  You probably have heard me tell the story about how the First SQL Saturday was 6 years ago in Orlando.  Many people from the community participated to make it a success, and that success continues because of community members all over the world.  This year as SQL Saturday comes home for its annual event we have a lineup that is unparalleled. 

Currently on the schedule we have 13 active SQL Server MVP’s, 4 Microsoft Employees, and 1 MCM.  Speakers from all over the country are coming to Orlando for this event and now all we need now is you.

Come make a little bit of history with us in Orlando.  All of this doesn't even cover the Lunch, served by speakers and always delicious, or the prizes.  Last year we gave away an X-Box, IPAD, gift cards, software, and many other prizes thanks to our great Sponsors.

SQL MVP Rodney Landrum (@SQLBeat|Blog), Pass Evangelist Karla Landrum (@KarlaKay22|Blog), and your friendly neighborhood SQLBalls worked tirelessly on the schedule.  We scrapped and scrimped to get every slot possible to bring you the BIGGEST SQL Saturday Orlando ever.

More blogs on this during the ramp up to the event, for today all I ask it go check out the schedule by clicking here.  Signup, get some SQL Community, and make sure to stop by and say Hi!

See you there!

Thanks,
Brad

Monday, July 15, 2013

T-SQL Tuesday #44 Wrap UP



Hello Dear Reader, what a busy week we’ve had last week!  I’ve got 3 big Thank You’s that I would like to give. 

First off I’d like to say Thank You to Adam Machanic for allowing me to host T-SQL Tuesday #44.  When I first started blogging, I participated in T-SQL Tuesday to keep myself writing at least once a month.  Hosting one seemed like a very far off goal at the time.  Thank you Adam for coming up with the concept and helping to promote growth for all of us bloggers out there!

Secondly my SQL Family, SQL Friends, and fellow Bloggers.  Without you writing there is no content.  You put your hard earned time into this effort and I Thank you.  Not gonna like I’m getting a little verklempt! 

Lastly Dear Reader, Thank You.  Without you all we may as well not put words to digital paper.

The subject was Second Chances and I was very impressed with the blogs, all around great job everyone.   18 spectacular blogs all about different types of Second Chances.



Koen Verbeeck (@Ko_Ver | Blog) Wrote about free time on the job, and how he would approach it now vs. years ago.



Jes Schultz Borland (@grrl_geek | Blog) Blogs about her first experience with SQL Server Clustering and the lessions she’s learned along the way.  She also has the funniest picture of the day, I believe people stopped and looked at me as I laughed.


Steve, our resident Aussie/DBA in Exile, (Blog) talks to us about some of the many different mistakes made.  I believe my groan and the words “ouch” may have audibly escaped my lips stirring my cube mates when I read about the SAN bullet point.  Most importantly he reminds us to celebrate failure as well as success, and how to do it with a sense of humor.

Joey D’Antoni (@jdanton | Blog) A mountain of a man, with a stare that could straighten out T-SQL at 200 paces, tells us all about the moment you realize that you’ve done something wrong, and a time where a QA task was run, but not against QA.  Probably the best quote of the day goes to him “the bead of sweat moment”.  Beautiful description of a feeling that all of us have either had, or will have.


Oliver Asmus (@OliverAsmus|Blog) shares with us a story of woe when he was a Junior DBA.  It involves a Delete statement that has a where clause, but only the delete portion was highlighted.  The dreaded where clause, we know thee well.  Fortunately a Sr DBA was there to help out and Oliver adds some nice thoughts on explicit transactions.

The always excellent Robert Pearl (@PearlKnows|Blog) gives us some Pearls of Wisdom on sending emails.  In our youth we tend to fire them off rather quickly, sometimes that leads to trouble.  This is great advice for anyone in the business world with an email account!

Lance England (@LanceEngland|Blog) reminds us of all the things that can go wrong when we leave our cell phone at our desk during lunch….. and kick off a large update transaction on prod…… and do not execute a commit or rollback.  The most important part is once you make the mistake how you learn from it.

Stuart Moore (@napalmgram|Blog) reminds us that it isn’t just mistakes that we want a second shot at.  There are quite a few where you did a good or even great job but you know you could have done better with more time.

Martyn Jones (@MartynJones|Blog) Wrote his FIRST T-SQL TUESDAY Blog this week!  First off Thanks for Joining the Party Martyn!  Martyn takes us through an exercise in making sure you’re executing your code in the right environment.  Great Point!  I always like to check SSMS to validate my environment, once bitten twice shy.


The Editor and Chief of SQLServerCentral.com Steve Jones(@way0utwest|Blog) weighs in on SQL Slammer and the havoc that can be done by not patching.  Ahhh 2002, we all remember you well!



WRAP IT UP 

When you look at the people that participated this past month you see MVP’s, an MCM, Consultants, DBA’s, and none of us are perfect.  Mistakes are a part of life, and it isn’t the mistake that is important but how you handle it.

The next time you do I hope you remember that, take a deep breath, and just keep going.  That Second Chance to do things differently will be just around the corner.

As always Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks,


Brad

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

T-SQL Tuesday #44 How to Take Down Prod in 30 Seconds

Hello Dear Reader!  Welcome to my blog on T-SQL Tuesday #44 Second Chances.  I’m hosting this month, and we are writing all about second chances.  My second chance comes from the not to distant past.

One day the DBA team was given a toy frog as some part of swag from a vendor.  We did what any group of grown men would do.  We put a dunce hat on it.  We decided that whoever screwed up next would have it sitting on their cubical wall, and we would pass it around as the next offender appeared.  A fun little way to pass the time and rib one another.  

No sooner had I participated in developing this badge of shame, than I earned it.  The title says it all.  How to take down prod in 30 seconds, but I should clarify.  Not some, not half, but allllllll you’re clustered servers in just 30 seconds.


I have to give a special Thank you to my buddy Dan Taylor (@DBABulldog | Blog), you see I remembered I had the frog.  I had forgotten what I had done to earn it.  It was sitting on the edge of my mind, but no matter how hard I tried I could not remember it.  It was sitting in a fog just out of reach.   An itch that I couldn’t scratch.  A few words out of his mouth and it all came flooding back.  As a good friend we've swapped many stories over the years, without his memory (which is better than mine) I would have had to go with a less interesting tale of woe.

“So Balls”, you say, “How did you screw up?”

Well Dear Reader I had an unfortunate convergence of unexpected anomalies that peaked in a spectacular crescendo of a mistyped password.   Yes a mistyped password.  My second chance would be typing in correctly.  The next best thing is explaining it so you hopefully never have to feel the same pain.

I SOLEMNLY SWEAR I AM UP TO NO GOOD


I had a new production SQL 2008 R2 Instance to install.  Things were going pretty smooth.  I got up to the screen where you punch in the password for the service account, and that’s when it all went wrong.  

I mistyped the password.  GASP, SHOCK, AWE, OTHER SUCH EXPRESSIONS!!!!!

Normally I would agree no big deal, but the next time I punched in the password I didn't get a password error, I got an error informing me that the account was locked.  Enter the series of unfortunate events.

Imagine you live in a world where all of the Prod servers are using the same service account.  Imagine that you've suggested this be changed but it ended up on the “That’s a good idea we’ll tackle that another day” pile.  Imagine that you are not using Microsoft Clustering for your Clustered servers, and that the inventive Server Engineers rolled their own “health check”.  Imagine that your current password policy locks out when you mistype the password somewhere between 3-8 times.

“But Balls”, you say, “You only typed your password once?  Not 3-8 times!”

Exactly.  There’s a bug in the installer for SQL Server 2008 R2.  When you click the next button after filling out the service account information, you authenticate at least twice for every account you type in.  Not so in SQL 2005 or SQL 2008 (not R2).  But in SQL 2008 R2 one mistyped password counts a whole lot more.  Depending on the services being installed, enough to lock out an account.

Then you are left to watch the manual health checks fail because the account is locked out, attempt a cluster failover, only to be locked out on the other side because the SQL Service account was locked out.

You catch your error quickly.  Run to the Team Lead, report what has happened, hoping this can get fixed before the inevitable outages begin.  Then you race back to your desk.  You have an uncomfortable phone call to place to the help desk.

Imagine that while this unfolds you are waiting on hold for the help desk to open a ticket (you have to follow protocol), that will get assigned to an engineer, who will pass it on to AD Services.  Queue the uncomfortable elevator music.

Co-workers scrambling in the back ground, like the bull pin of a busy newspaper.  Someone is keeping an active wipe board of what servers are now down, every minute someone in your cube starting to say “Have you….” Only to be cut off by your response “Still on Hold”.  Queue the music.

Other co-workers are fielding calls from App Teams reporting that their applications are offline.  Other co-workers trying to reach managers that can bypass a well-orchestrated bureaucratic separation of duties that results in elevator music while you are still on hold. Did I mention being on hold?  While on hold forty-five minutes can feel like weeks.

The saving grace (for my job), the bug I found was easily to duplicate.  It was easy to see that this behavior was not in previous versions.  As an added bonus those service accounts started becoming unique real quick.

DEMO: THE BUG I LEARNED ALL ABOUT

We’ll skip ahead a bit.  Say you are installing SQL Server 2008 R2.  We’ve gotten up to the Server Configuration where we are punching in our passwords.  First let’s open up our Event Viewer, click on our Security Tab and clear it out. 


*If this were anything other than my personal VM I would backup the log so we could restore it, do not clear out a security log on a prod server without proper guidance.


Now the only event in our log is the event denoting that our log has been cleared.  Back to SQL Server. 
 

We will click on the Use the same account for all SQL Server services button and type in our .\s-sqlsrv service account.  Definitely not following best practices here.  SQL Engine, SQL Agent, and SSIS all getting the same service account. 



Let’s Type the password in wrong and see what happens?  Click OK.  Click Next.



SQL reacted just like we thought.  Theoretically we should have 1 bad login check right?  The same user name was in use, we don’t need to validate it 3 more times.  One should do.  Perhaps at most we’ve got three validation checks right?


Let’s head over to our trusty error log and see. 

We’ve gone from 1 to 13 errors in the click of a button.  How many failed logins do we have?  Not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, but 8 failed logins from one attempt.  You’ll get this if you use the button or if you do not use the button.

You may be asking did this get fixed in SQL 2012?



One look at the installer and you can see the button is gone.  Let’s punch in the same service account name and an incorrect password.



And now on to our error log.



Wow!  Six entries, now we are looking at 3 entries per account.  Nope didn’t get any better.

WRAP IT UP

Long story short, make sure those passwords are correct.  Personally I like to use a utility like KeePass to generate, store, and copy my passwords from.  Anything that keeps me from typing.  Or as the case may be mistyping J.

As always Dear Reader, Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks,

Brad






Friday, July 5, 2013

SQL Saturday Orlando: LAST CALL for Speakers


Hello Dear Reader!  I just wanted to write to Thank All of you for the submissions to SQL Saturday 232 Orlando.  This has been a crazy event and we are still several months away.  

Everything started out as it normally does, Karla Landrum (@karlakay22 | Blog),   leading the way pulling a motley crew of Shawn McGehee (@SQLShawn | Blog), SQL MVP Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog), SQL MVP Andy Warren (@SQLAndy | Blog), Ben Cork, and myself behind her.

We hit a hiccup early on.  Our venue wasn’t going to be available on the date we had originally announced.  Unexpectedly we had to shift our date.  Some speakers couldn’t make it, and it brought us into conflict with other SQL Saturdays that some speakers had committed to speak at.  At that time we put out a very public call for speakers.

There's Still time to get a seat at our table!
The response was overwhelming!  So overwhelming that we are closing the call a bit early.  The call for speakers will end on July 10th and we hope to have the schedule out within a week or two after that.  Speaking with Rodney Landrum, my speaker committee co-captain, our goal is still the same.  No speaker will get turned away.



An essential part of SQL Saturday is to provide free training to the community.  Equally important is to help grow the next generation of SQL Server professionals who will be our speakers.  Look no further than myself to see proof of this.

So Dear Reader, get those abstracts in, because we’ll expand the number of rooms to fit you in!  Get ready to be part of the biggest SQL Saturday Orlando Ever!  Besides You know you want one of these!

As always Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks,


Brad

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

T-SQL Tuesday #44 The Second Chance

Hello Dear Reader!  This is the first Tuesday of the month and you know what that means.  It’s time to announce the T-SQL Tuesday Topic of the month!  This is your opportunity to participate in the largest SQL Blog party on the intrawebs. 

T-SQL Tuesday is an event started by Adam Machanic(@AdamMachanic| Blog) back in 2009.  The basic idea one blogger hosts the party and others participate.  We announce the topic the first Tuesday of the month, July 2nd 2013 for today, and everyone will post their blogs on the second Tuesday of the month, July 9th 2013 for the actual posts.  This month the host is none other than ME!

I love T-SQL Tuesday, there is always so much to write about.  Our world of technology changes so fast.  Each of us has the daily constraints of a life and a job as well.  Sometimes it is great to have a topic to write on so you can express your point of view or get the opportunity to dive a little deeper into an area of SQL that may have piqued your interest.  Equally as wonderful is reading all the other blogs that people have put together on the subject.  Variety is the spice of life, and will we get it in spades.


“So Balls”, you say, “That’s great, but what’s the topic?”

Thanks for keeping me on task Dear Reader!  Without further ado the topic of T-SQL Tuesday #44, Second Chances.

SECOND CHANCES



 As a DBA or a Presenter/Speaker we have all had at least one moment we would like back.  The demo didn't work, you were green and got asked a question you now know in your sleep.  You had a presentation in front of a client, and it all went sideways.  Maybe you logged onto the prod server thinking it was dev and dropped something you shouldn't have.  These moments serve not just as painful reminders, but also as powerful instruments for learning.  Would you like another shot at getting it right?  WELL NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!   Or I guess actually your…. Second…. Chance.  Your missions should you choose to accept it, tell me one of the moments you had, and most importantly what you learned from it!

First and foremost the rules. 

Rule 1: Don’t get yourself fired.  If you almost dropped the prod DB last week, truncated an important table, or took down a prod server during critical business hours, and nobody knows it was you & the people you work for read your blog, you should probably avoid writing about it here.  You want to write about events we can look back on and reflect over, not events HR would *love* to know about.

Rule 2: Some Time next Tuesday using GMT, here’s a link to a GMT time convertor, publish your blog post.  For example in the US that would cover 8 pm Monday to 8 pm Tuesday.

Rule 3: Make sure that you include the Image at the top of the page helping to identify your post as a T-SQL Tuesday blog.  Then come back here and post a link in the comments so I can find them.  Before the end of the week I'll do a round up of all the blogs. 

Extra Credit!

Tweet your blog with the hash tag #tsql2sday & go read someone else’s blog on the subject!
As Always Dear Reader, Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you next Tuesday!

Thanks,

Brad

Friday, May 3, 2013

SQL Saturday 232 Orlando Call for Speakers!


Hello Dear Reader!  We are at that time of the year again.  SQL Saturdays are popping up all over the country, spring is beginning to give way to summer, and the planning for SQL Saturday Orlando 2013, aka #SQLSAT232, is gearing up.  

This year our team of unbelievable SQL Server professionals  Shawn McGehee (@SQLShawn | Blog), Karla Kay (@karlakay22 | Blog),  SQL MVP Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog), SQL MVP Andy Warren (@SQLAndy | Blog), and Ben Cork are working to bring you an incredible event.

Leading up the speaker track are myself and SQL MVP Rodney Landrum(@SQLBeat|Blog).  That brings us to you Dear Reader.  I need your help, I need YOU to submit to be a speaker for SQL Saturday 232.

“So Balls”, you say, “What is SQL Saturday and why should I submit to be a speaker?”

That my Dear Reader is the $50,000 question.  The short answer, let’s go make a little history together.

COME MAKE SOME HISTORY


What is SQL Saturday?  From its humble beginnings, SQL Saturday was started as a way to give back to the SQL Community.  The statement “give back”, is over used and often clichéd.  It is used to give meaning to deeds, when people have trouble justifying “why” they did something with greater substance than going with the truth and saying they did it because “it was popular to do”.   True justification rolls off the tongue like drops of rain water fall off leaves.   In this case, however, I find to “give back” fitting. 

The professionals that assembled saw value in sharing knowledge.  Turning hard learned lessons, production level victories, and new and unexplored concepts into group discussions and learning.  In the end it created an amazing support group.  We are one group of professionals, which have a particular job. Sometimes we are on a team, other times alone, the people we interact with outside of our field do not often understand our challenges.

The one thing I hear over and over again from first time SQL Saturday goers is, “I feel like I arrived at a home that I never knew I was missing”.  I share that feeling, it was how I felt on my first day.  My first was SQL Saturday 49 Orlando 2010.  You can see, I arrived late to the party. 

The very first SQL Saturday happened in Orlando on November 10th 2007.  It was the brain child of Andy Warren.  There was only one SQL Saturday in 2007.  The concept was simple, get MVP’s, Authors, first time presenters from the SQL Community, and put on a FREE day of training.

Six Tracks, Seven different time slots, and a total of 37 different sessions throughout the day and we had our first one in the bag.  The very next Year saw SQL Saturday 2 in Tampa, followed by SQL Saturday 3 in Jacksonville, SQL Saturday 4 back home in Orlando, and SQL Saturday 5 (the first one out of Florida) in Olympia Washington.  Five SQL Saturdays in 2 years.  Last year in 2012 there were 50 in many different States across the US and 32 in other countries and US Territories, for a total of 82 different events.

Now it’s time for SQL Saturday to come back home.  Now it’s time for SQL Saturday Orlando.  Once a year we do this.  We come back home to where it all started.  It is fitting that Orlando is associated with attractions from far across the globe.  There is a magic here that draws us in (no not just the Mouse).  This is where it all began and this is your chance to be a part.  I wouldn’t want you to miss it!


WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?

If you want to give a talk but don’t know where to begin, read this blog I put together ( I WANT YOU to Present at SQL Saturday 85).  I discuss Abstracts, how to write one, and how to put together an author biography.

Once you’ve done that all you need to do is click here to submit, the call closes 7/23/2013 so get yours in now!

“So Balls”, you say, “I already see some SQL BAD @$$es like Tim Ford, Devin Knight, and Andy Warren have already submitted?  What chance do I have?”

Not just good, but a GREAT chance Dear Reader!  SQL Saturday not only has the goal of educating people for free, but we grow local speakers. I was in charge of speakers for SQL Saturday 85 and my mission was to give everyone a slot especially first time speakers.    Rodney and I have talked about this, it took longer to drink the beer than it took to set our guidelines.

I want you to succeed Dear Reader, and so does the rest of the SQL Saturday Team.  If you have the fire in your belly to go out and give a talk to a group of IT professionals, newbie or Pro, you cannot find a better venue than SQL Saturday Orlando.

I hope to see you there!  As always Thanks for Reading!

Thanks,

Brad

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

T-SQL Tuesday #41 Becoming a SQL Server “Presenter” GET INVOLVED!




Hello Dear Reader!  It’s been a while since I participated in a T-SQL Tuesday, and this month Bob Pusateri (@SQLBob|Blog) is hosting it.    Bob is very active in the SQL Community, I met Bob briefly at the PASS Summit this year, and occasionally say Good Morning to him on Twitter.  His topic is one that really interested me, because it’s a story I’ve been meaning to tell but just hadn’t gotten around to.  Without further ado here’s Bob in his own words to describe the topic:

This month the prompt is how did you come to love presenting? What was the first time you gave a presentation in front of a group and really enjoyed it? Was it something that was required of you in school? Something you did in the workplace? Were you inspired by other SQL community members and thought “I think I can do that too”? Whatever your story is, I’d love to hear it. Not a presenter? Not a problem! Feel free to chime in with whatever you like that’s related to either presenting or SQL Server in general.

Sometimes I look at the things I’ve been able to do in my career and I wonder how did I get here?  First & foremost.  I have a tremendous support system.  Even to this day without the help of my ex-wife, friends within the SQL Community, and my co-workers (past and present) I wouldn’t be where I am today.  That support has helped more than I can say, which is probably why a lot of my blogs start with Thank You.  That support allows me to write the rest of this blog.

IN THE BEGINNING


Not so long ago, I didn’t know what a SSUG was.  Two years and six months ago (roughly), I attended my first SQL Saturday.    I did not have a blog.  I did not tweet.  If you would have asked me who SQLBalls was, I would have probably said, “That sounds like a serious medical condition you should have checked out.”  I had left the Office of the President and went to work for Publix.

Over the years I had moved the family a lot for my career.  This would be the move where we didn’t have to move anymore.  I had attended the first 24 hours of PASS, I posted on the forums at SQLServerCentral.com, but that was it.  Did I mention, I didn’t know what a SSUG was.  Didn’t know where my local one was, Kendal Van Dyke(@SQLDBA | Blog) was still putting together MAGICPASS.  An interesting thing had happened when I went to the 24 hours of PASS.  I saw a presentation on a subject I was pretty knowledgeable in.  There were several things that I had done that the speaker didn’t mention, and I wondered “did he know about them”?
I looked at the speakers like some secret Fraternity, I’m just a regular guy.  I had no idea how you got to speak at one of those things.  So I let it go.  While working for Pulix my buddy Dan Taylor (@DBABulldog| Blog) told me about SQL Saturday #49 Orlando.  If I liked the 24 Hours of PASS, then I’d love this.  So away I went.

“So Balls,” you say, “Who did you go see?”

Great question Dear Reader!  I started off strong.  My first live SQL Presentation ever was watching  Tom LaRock(@SQLRockstar | Blog) talk about Wait Stats, What Are You Waiting For? Next up Argenis Fernandez (@DBArgenis | Blog) Multi-Server Management with SQL Server 2008 +, then Nathan Heaivilin (@SQLHeaven ) Introduction to Execution Plans, Lunch on the Lawn where I met my friend Noel McKinney (@NoelMcKinney | Blog), next Jeff Garbus (LinkedIn) Choosing Indexes for Performance, Jorge Segarra(@SQLChicken | Blog) Policy-Based Management in a Nutshell, and Kevin Boles(@TheSQLGuru) SQL Server Partitioning from A-Z.

Yes I remember it like yesterday.  A fog had lifted.  I found people that not only understood what I did everyday but faced the same issues I did.  It was like a support group for DBA’s, only we have beers after our meetings instead of coffee and donuts (those are for SQL Saturday’s in the morning).

The after event was just as important.  I knew no one.  I was a stranger.  Even though I’m social I was quite nervous to just walk up to this gathering and invite myself in.  It is there that I met Jack Corbett (@UncleBiguns| Blog) ½ of my future Law Firm of Biguns & Balls.  Jack is a nice and welcoming guy.  We struck up a conversation immediately.  I found Noel right after that, Patrick Leblanc (@PatrickDBA | Blog), and Jack joined us and we talked for over an hour about nothing and everything.  I found my community that day.  And it was good.

THEN THERE WAS TAMPA


I wanted to get involved.  The next event that came around I wanted to submit for.  I figured I would get rejected, but I didn’t understand what SQL Saturday was for.  To grow local speakers, to give first time speaker’s a chance.  Little did I know my first shot was coming up.  I looked at what other speakers were doing and prepared.  Most had blogs, I set up the one you are reading now, got on Linkedin, Twitter.

The hardest part was coming up with the name I would use for Branding.  Several people in the community had written about that and I knew it was important.   It was a full days worth of work on the Saturday.  For the cost of the URL, signing up with Blogger, setting up a gmail account, and all the other stuff it was time well spent.  I’ve tweeked things over time, but it was quick and easy compared to the time it takes to blog J.

All of that underway I submitted to SQL Saturday 62 Tampa.  I don’t know that I’ve ever Thanked Pam Shaw(@PamShaw ) properly.  You see most of my presentations where not the final version I have now, and I tweek them constantly.  I find the more I present on a topic the more I learn about it.  She asked me for three topics, I gave her my three.  She picked the one topic that I didn’t expect.  Compression.  Whatever topic I present on, Compression will always be my first.  It set me on a very good path.

At the encouragement of Jack I submitted to SQL Rally.  I lost out on the voting but was a close second.  I got invited to present in a Wild Card spot.  I submitted to 5 more SQL Saturday’s and presented before the year was over.  I did 3 webinars, 2 on Compression (THANKS PAM!!!!), and on a whim submitted to the PASS Summit that year.

No way would I get selected.  It would be good experience.  I’d get rejected, I’d keep practicing, and next year I’d get my shot.  I submitted a Deep Dive that I had yet to finish writing.  Apparently they thought I was ready.  I got selected!

Me I’m still just a regular guy.  There are real stars out there in our community and they are awesome.  That’s not this story, Brent Ozar(@BrentO | Blog)  tells that one really good though, read Rock Stars, Normal People, and You by Brent.  It’s okay I’ll wait.  It’s worth the read.

WHATS YOUR BEGINNING


So that’s me.  That’s how I started out.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  It can happen quicker than you expected.  So where do you start?  Go to your local User Group.  Go to your local SQL Saturday.  Email a guy that works with a company that put’s on Webinars every Tuesday and Thursday at 11 am East Coast time.  *Cough* *Cough* <points to self> *Cough* *Cough*.

Tell me what you’ve been doing in the community, tell me where you’ve presented before.  If I’ve never met you have you done a webinar?  They aren’t always right for first time presenters, but give yourself a couple go’s and you’ll be ready.  Get in front of a crowd, let people ask you questions, take those questions and research them.  Write blogs, hop on forums, answer posts, research the ones you don’t know, and write blogs.  Sensing a trend?

Your story, if it hasn’t already started, can start here.  You Dear Reader have the ability to talk about something right now, that I would want to know about.  You have some insight that I would like to have.  The daily work you do gives you a perspective that no one else has.  That is valuable.  Your time, your work, your knowledge all make up who you are.

Every single one of us started somewhere.  If you’re well along that road Good Job, I hope it is paying off.  If you are just starting out, then you are in good company, because not all that long ago I didn’t even know what a SSUG was.

As always Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks,

Brad