I WANT YOU to Present at SQL Saturday 85 Orlando

I WANT YOU to Present at SQL Saturday 85 Orlando

Dear Reader today I want to make a call for action.  I am part of the orginizing team that is putting together SQL Saturday 85 in Orlando on Saturday September 24^th, along with Shawn McGehee (@SQLShawn | Blog), Karla Kay (@karlakay22 | Blog), Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog), and Andy Warren (@SQLAndy | Blog).   I would like to ask you to submit to be a presenter at SQL Saturday 85 in Orlando. 

“But Balls,” you say, “I’d like to but it seems so difficult.  I don’t know what to do?”

No Worries Dear Reader, I know what to do and I’ll walk you through it!  There are a couple steps and it is easy to do.  I’ll even help you write one up with a couple examples!

WRITE AN ABSTRACT

The first step is to write an Abstract of what you want to present on. An abstract is just a description in paragraph form about the topic that you would like to present on. Let’s take a look at my abstract on  Compression and you’ll see how easy this is.

Page and Row Compression How, When, and Why

Page and Row Compression are powerful new tools. Vardecimal shipped with SQL 2005 SP2, Page & Row with SQL 2008 RTM, and Page & Row with Unicode Compression with SQL 2008 R2. Get an overview into how each version of compression works internally. Learn how your Allocation Units will determine if your data is a candidate for compression. Understand how your tables Update and Scan pattern’s affect the compression types you should consider. And what you should you take into consideration for additional overhead.

 I have seen some really cool titles for presentations out there, if this is your first time don’t feel like you have to break the bank.  You don’t need to have the most AWESOME TITLE EVER the first time you present.  Stick with what you know and start out simple.   You Start off with a Title, mine was pretty simple.  I’m presenting on Page & Row Compression, How you do it, When you would want to, and most importantly Why.  That’s all you need.

So let’s come up with three titles for a possible presentation right now.  Maybe you want to present on THE TOP 10 THINGS YOUR DEVELPERS SHOULD KNOW, SURROGATE KEYS VS. NATURAL KEYS –THE GREAT DEBATE, or PARTITIONING FROM BOUNDRY POINT’S TO SLIDING WINDOWS.        

There we go we have 3 titles to choose from, and as you can see they each lend themselves to what we are going to talk about.  Now we come up with a description.   What is it you want to present on?  I would suggest a topic that you like, enjoy, or feel strongly about.  Preferably you would have some experience with it? 

So let’s write out some descriptions

The Top 10 Things Your Developers Should Know

It’s not easy being a DBA, heck it’s not easy being a Developer.  Too often DBA’s and Developers are put at odds, are we two different species, are they from Venus and we’re from Mars, Why Isn’t Green Lantern the movie more successful?  There are a lot of questions and you want Answers!  Come and find out the top 10 things you Developers should know about SQL Server and a friendly way you can present them.

So there we go, we start off with the statement, “It’s not easy being a DBA, heck it’s not easy being a developer.”  We don’t want to alienate anybody you get just as many developers, managers, and other folks at a SQL Saturday as you do DBA’s.  And then the Question Why isn’t the Green Lantern Movie more successful Why do we have such a hard time communicating?  Then present the solution, and suggest a Take-Away-Item that people will get by attending your presentation. “There are a lot of questions and you want Answers!  Come and find out the top 10 things you Developers should know about SQL Server and a friendly way you can present them.”  

Notice I made a couple light hearted jokes in the abstract, you don’t have to do that. My Page & Row Compression Abstract doesn’t have that.  So let’s do one more that is a little more serious.

Surrogate Keys vs. Natural Keys – The Great Debate

An essential part of Database Design is looking at the keys that you’ll have in your tables, You want to make sure that you’ve got a Primary key right?  But do you want that key to be Natural or Surrogate? What is the difference between Natural and Surrogate Keys, What is the Sort order on a Page, and How can they affect performance?  Come find out as we take a step by step process that will build and compare each!

No jokes this time Dear Reader, kind of like an anti-mullet, no Party in the back and all business up front.  

THIS SPEAKER NEEDS AN INTRODUCTION!

So now we get to the second thing you will need, a speaker description.   In my opinion this is the most difficult part because you are describing yourself, that’s not always easy to do.  So let’s take a look at mine.

“Bradley Ball is a MCITP SQL 2005 & MCTS 2008 Database Administrator with over 10 years of IT experience.  Bradley spent 8 years working as a Defense contractor for clients such as the U.S. Army and The Executive Office Of the President of the United States.  He is currently a Sr. SQL Database Administrator for Publix Supermarkets.  He has presented at SQL Saturday 62 in Tampa, for the MAGICPASS and OPASS chapters in FL, and SQL Rally. Bradley can be found blogging on http://www.sqlballs.com/ “

I kept this pretty simple.  I put my name, the certifications I currently have, my job title, and the number of years I have in experience all within one sentence.  Next the I put some of the cool places I’ve worked for, and what I’m currently doing today.  You can add where you have presented, but that sentence is pretty new for me, because I’ve only been doing this 6 months.  And finally I pointed people here, in-case they want to know more about me.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

If you are on Twitter, YAY!  If not you should be, a large part of our SQL Community, MVP’s, Speakers, Authors are all on Twitter and regularly offer free advice to anyone who asks.  There will be a place in the submission form that asks for a Twitter Handle, mine is SQLBalls.

Linkedin is basically a resume/professional version of Facebook.  It is really easy to get started, and before you know it you’ll connect with some awesome people!  Here’s a quick look at my linkedin Page. And if you hop online, send me an invite.  I'll be happy to add you!

SUBMIT

Now here is the best part Dear Reader, once you have your abstraction you Submit it by CLICKING HERE!  I hope to see you in Orlando!

Thanks,

Brad