When I first started teaching database sessions at conferences, I noticed a pattern.
When I finished the session, closed PowerPoint, and thanked everyone for attending, a big queue of attendees would instantly start forming at the podium. People would line up to ask private questions, one at a time.
I was thinking back about the presentations I've been the most proud of over the years. I've written and performed a *lot* of stuff over time, but here are some of the free public presentations I'm the most proud of, and the stories of how they came to be.
#4: Watch Brent Tune Queries (2014)
This show was inspired by the Discovery Network. I love watching people just do their job. Deadliest Catch. Dirty Jobs. Maine Cabin Masters.
In my recent post about how I use OBS for training classes & webcasts, I mentioned that to keep things lively, you wanna have a variety of scenes that you can switch between to keep the viewer engaged. Imagine a TV show or sporting event that only used one camera angle and screen layout for 30-60 minutes on end: you'd be bored out of your gourd, and you'd tune out.
Today's post is for those of you who give presentations to user groups and conferences. Upload your resources before the session starts. When you say "I'll upload the resources later," the attendee hears you saying, "I'm winging this, I barely finished this deck 15 minutes ago, and I didn't even have the time to upload…
The call for speakers at the PASS Summit is open now.
As of this writing, there are less than 120 sessions submitted. To put that in perspective, in 2016, there were 758 sessions submitted overall, and about ~175 general session spots.
The PASS Summit is the biggest SQL Server community event, and a lot of us speakers have "present at PASS" on their bucket list. Getting in is legendarily difficult because competition is fierce. Many sessions are submitted for each one that's accepted, and you have to work hard to stand out from the pack. This year's Call…
Backups aren't just for databases. Back in 2012, I started on a journey of sharing my technical knowledge by giving technical presentations. Now this might scare the living jeepers out of most people, but I found it exciting and fulfilling. Since then, I try to speak at ten events a year. Recently, I had the…
June 2, 2011. I woke up around 5:00 AM, got dressed, left my cruise ship cabin and went downstairs to find a place to write about the dream I'd just had: A database murdered. Suspects isolated together on a ship. Technical sleuthing.
I knew immediately this was a presentation I needed to give. It would be a huge departure from anything I'd done before. And I wanted to do it on the biggest stage I knew of: the PASS Summit.
We teach a lot of courses. In addition to our online training, free webcasts and sessions at major conferences, we also teach mult-day events.
It's incredibly valuable to keep your audience active. Even when you're working in a lecture format, you should try to help give your audience moments where it's natural for them to mentally wake up and shake themselves out of a more passive listening mode.
This year there's a couple of special challenges you need to keep in mind for projecting your beautiful knowledge out to the audience. Fixing the Contrast Levels PASS distributes a custom PowerPoint template - looks great this year - but the contrast level is extremely light. The template uses light blue and light gray text…
I'm really stoked to share the news: Alaska (my home state) finally has a PASS Chapter of its own! The group just got started last December, and officially welcomed into the PASS organization at the end of January. While they don't have a Facebook or Twitter account yet, they do have a website and a YouTube channel.
Whether you're just getting started writing a presentation abstract, or whether you want to double-check it, or whether you want to understand why your abstract wasn't picked, it's always the right time to step back and ask some big picture questions about your conference submission. The blessing and the curse of the active database community…
When I'm writing a presentation or blog post, I often start here:
It's a photo of me in my office in Dallas, Texas in 2004. When I look at that picture, I remember everything like it was yesterday. I can talk at length about everything on the bookshelf, on my desk, in my drawers (the desk drawers, that is).
If your New Year's resolution is to start presenting at user groups and conferences, congratulations! You're about to embark on a fulfilling journey that will enrich the lives of thousands of people. It's a blast. Now let's put some thought into the tool you're going to use. You're going to be working on these same…
The four of us were talking about the writing tricks we use, and we thought you might enjoy hearing our styles. How Brent Writes I use RememberTheMilk.com to track my blog post ideas. I can use it from anywhere via a web browser, phone app, whatever. I can tell when I'm in the mood to…
Next week, the Brent Ozar Unlimited® crew will be attending PASS Summit in Seattle, WA. It’s a busy week, full of networking, learning, and teaching. Here are a few of our highlights. Want to add our sessions to your schedule, and view more information at your fingertips? PASS Summit has gone mobile with Guidebook! It's…
When you're speaking at a conference, try to get the room schedules long before the event day. Right now, the PASS Summit conference schedule is available, and each speaker's room is listed.
Then, check out the building's floorplan - in this case, the Washington State Convention Center's floorplans page. Check out the seating capacity for your room.
In your dream, you're standing in front of a room full of dozens of people, presentation mouse in hand, about to present to them on (insert SQL Server feature here). You wake up in a cold sweat. You're either terrified, or excited and terrified.
Are you ready to start presenting? Join Jes as she shares her secrets to building and giving successful technical presentations!
I began presenting on SQL Server two years ago. At the time I was a Senior Database Administrator. My workdays were spent getting ahead of the next big performance problem in an environment where software changes rolled into production like gangbusters. I was under a lot of pressure to be super-technical, stay on top of…
As a consultant and speaker, I'm lucky enough to go to a crazy number of SQL Server conferences. Here's what I think of each mainstream conference out there - who they're for, and who they're not for.
PASS Summit
Length: 3 days
Pre-Cons Available: Yes, many
Videos Available Online: Yes, but only for paid attendees
Tracks: SQL Server only
Typical Location: Seattle, WA
