Announcement: I'll have my slides, videos, and associated material available on the Events page of MidnightDBA.com by Sunday 5/2 at the latest!
Earlier this month I gave my first public speaking session at the NTSSUG user group meeting, and yesterday I added two more session notches on my belt at SQL Saturday Atlanta. I've been reading a LOT of recaps of other SQL Saturdays, and I'm excited to follow suit here! I'm going to talk about the bad, the good, the lessons learned (that I'm hoping to apply to SQL Saturday Dallas), and then about my sessions.
I'm going to list the bad first, just to get it out of the way. But I want to make this really, REALLY clear: I think Stuart (Stuart Ainsworth, Twitter) and the gang got about 97% of everything RIGHT at this event. Every event will have hiccups, or things to improve on. We list the bad not so we can complaint, but so we can all grow our conventions!
Now, the bad:
-
There was only one check in desk, manned by two volunteers for checkin, plus a couple more for handing out attendee shirts and bags. It would have helped the first sessions of the morning get started on time if they'd put another check in desk in place, IMO.
-
The Atlanta gang handled raffles rather uniquely – they conducted them during each session. That was actually a good idea: Attendees got a numbered raffle ticket and a short session eval form. At the end of each session, attendees were to complete the form, write their ticket number (not name) on the ticket, and we drew from that. It was very efficient and quick, and striped the handing out of swag. The problem was, it wasn't clear on the tickets that attendees should write their number, not name. Speakers were supposed to remind people, but I know I for one completely forgot. I think people tend to skew their critique toward "Excellent" and "good job" when their name is on the paper. Anonymity breeds honesty.
-
Would've been nice to have a map of the rooms. Not super duper necessary, but nice.
-
The sponsor area layout was a little confusing and cramped, but I'm not sure if I could have done any better.
-
The schedule really could have used level information (beginner, advanced…). I talked to a couple of beginners that were overwhelmed with advanced material early in the day.
-
My sessions were scheduled back to back, in different rooms, at the end of the day! I had to rush to break down and set up my stuff and run to take a bio break, cutting people short who wanted to talk to me. I say again…not that huge a deal, just a nice to have.
The good:
-
Really clear and laid back tone, from the pre-event emails to the discussions and officiating all day.
-
Lovely, laid back speaker reception.
-
Great location and layout for the event itself. Thanks MS!
-
Perfectly cromulent coffee, food and drink (though free flowing sodas would've been nice!)
-
Volunteers and organizers! I'm on the planning board for SQLSat Dallas; I know how much effort this takes. I have mucho, mucho respect for Stuart and the gang.
-
WONDERFUL speaker room. We were told we might have to fight over chairs, but the storm drove attendance down a little, enough that we could keep our chairs in the speaker room!
-
At the end of the closing ceremony, the attendees were asked to help clean up / put back together. Lots of people pitched in and got the job done well. Kudos for asking, and way to go attendees for stepping up!
-
As I said, having raffles throughout the day was a really good idea. There was still plenty of big swag for the closing ceremony, and the earlier raffles kept the end of day much shorter.
-
Sponsors! Thank you, and thank you!
-
There was wireless access, but the decision was made to limit it to speakers (some demos depend on it); otherwise it would have completely tanked.
There were a few points that I thought were just interesting:
-
Attendees got raffle tickets at the beginning of the day for the end of day raffles; these tickets had attendee name and email preprinted. Through the day, people dropped their ticket into the boxes of their choice (at vendor tables), so they could choose what swag they were in the drawing for. This way, no one had to keep up with ticket stubs, and vendors had names/emails of people interested in their giveaways. The volunteers wrote the session titles/times on the windows at each room entrace.
-
No opening keynote. No problem (they didn't have the space)
-
Thoughts: Geoff Hiten brought his daughters, ages 11 and 14, to help out at the event. They were a dream, helping out, making faces at their dad through his session, chatting politely in the speaker room, and even attending a couple of sessions. I echo what Audrey of DataChix wrote in her SQLSat41 blog: I'd really like to bring my daughter to the next event.
Now, on to ME ME ME ME… This was my second time to give a session in public (as opposed to in front of a camera); my Code Sins didn't go quite as well as the first time I'd given it. I rushed it, skimmed over some things, and ended WAY early. But it wasn't bad, either, and the session ends with a group vent sessions – everyone gets to tell their horror stories of the absolute worst things done to databases. People really enjoy that, and I do too. The 30-40 people who attended gave me very good marks on the speaker evaluations (posted below in the interests of transarency), and I got to have a couple of great talks with attendees between sessions. The last session of the day was my T-SQL Beginner's Kit. It was a significantly smaller group, but that was just great! It was very cozy, and everyone seemed very interested. Again, great feedback from attendees, and great reviews.
Scores for Code Sins
-
1 = 3s = 3% Okay
-
12 = 4s = 39% Good
-
17 = 5s = 55% Excellent
-
out of 31 total
Comments:
-
Jen kicks @ss!! (From a Tweep)
-
Awesome! Cannot wait to check out your site!
-
Well, I could understand it, so that's great to me 😀 (From one of the Hiten children)
-
Super DUper (Tweep)
-
engaging. good examples.
-
Really good use of "voice" for public speaking. Made mundane topic interesting.
Scores for Beginner's KIt
-
1 = 3s = 10% okay
-
1 = 4s = 10% good
-
8 = 5s = 80% Excellent
-
out of 10 evals total
An extra big THANKS to the people who attended my sessions, participated, and spoke with me afterward. It meant a lot to me.
Okay, time to get some SLEEP. Goodnight, and well done!
-Jen McCown
http://www.MidnightDBA.com