Month: January 2020

I’m Speaking at #SQLSatSpokane

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I am super excited to announce that I have been selected to speak at SQL Saturday Spokane on March 21, 2020.  Not only have I been selected to speak, but I’ve been selected to give a pre-con on Friday, March 20, 2020 as well.

I will be delivering my Power BI Zero to Dashboard pre-con.  This is a full day introductory session to Power BI that focuses on: introducing the Power BI eco-system, what it can and cannot do for you; the importance of data cleansing and modeling;  and data visualization best practices.  My target audience is those that have little to no experience with Power BI, but want to learn more.  If this sounds like something you could benefit from you can Register Here.

I will also be delivering my What is Power BI? session on Saturday, March 21, 2020.

If you’re in the Spokane area on Saturday, March 21, 2020, stop by and say, “Hello”.  I’d love to see you and chat.  There are still registration slots open, so register now.

I’m Speaking at SQL Saturday Victoria

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I am so happy to announce that I have been selected to speak at SQL Saturday Victoria on March 14, 2020. This will be my second time speaking at this event.

I will be delivering my Data Types Do Matter session. I love giving this session, it’s not anything new or sparkly, but it’s so important. Get the data type wrong and you can cause yourself a world of hurt later.

If you’re in the area, stop be and say, “Hello”, I’d love to see you and chat a bit.

New Session, Intro to Azure Data Catalog

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I am excited to announce that I have created a new session, Intro to Azure Data Catalog.  This has been a long time in the planning and it’s about to be executed for the first time on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.  I will be presenting it for our local user group, Triad Microsoft Data Platform User Group (f.k.a. TriadSQL).  If you’re in the area, please stop by, I’d love to see you, get your feedback and chat for a bit.

2019 in Review

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What an incredible year it’s been.  I kept thinking that I was busy, but I had no idea until I looked at the final numbers (I have a Power BI report that I’ve created to track my  activities).

Angela’s Community Activities

Major Accomplishments

  • I delivered 27 sessions at 20 events in 6 countries.
  • I created my own Power BI pre-con content and started delivering it.
  • I was the lead organizer for a SQL Saturday.

That is considerably more than I thought I would be doing at the start of 2019.  When I started to think about what I wanted to do for 2020, I reflected on 2019’s activities and came to the following conclusion:  I need to support the local and virtual groups more.  As a former local group leader, I understand how hard it is to get speakers, especially in the smaller cities.  So I’ve created some goals for 2020.

Goals for 2020

  • Speak at more local and virtual user groups.
  • Create content for two new sessions.
  • Improve my PowerApps skills.
  • Write one technical blog post per month.

For the first bullet point, if you are a chapter leader (local or virtual) and would like to have me speak for your group, please reach out.  I’m willing to drive up to 6 hours one-way to make this happen.  I will also check for local groups when I’m doing personal travel to see if something fits.

The second bullet point, Create content for 2 new sessions, may seem arbitrary, but it’s not.  I have two ideas that have been rolling around in my head for the last month or so and it’s about time I get them out of my brain and into something tangible.

The third bullet point, Improve my PowerApps Skills, may seem a bit out of left field, but I did start out as an application developer way back when and I want to get back to that a little bit and PowerApps looks like a great place to start.

The fourth bullet point, Write one technical blog post per month, is something that I’ve been wanted to do for a while, but have never made the time to do it or formalize it.  This year I’m putting it on my calendar every month to help keep me accountable.

I hope your 2019 was as productive as you hoped, if not more, and I wish you all the best for 2020.