Category: Professional Development

Speaking at SQL Saturday Raleigh

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I am happy to announce that I will be speaking at SQL Saturday Raleigh this Saturday, April 27, 2019.  I have been part of the organizing team for this event for the past few years so have never been able to speak (those of you who are fellow organizers know why!).  This year we had a last minute cancellation of an afternoon session, so I decided to step up and fill the slot.

I will be presenting my What is Power BI? session at 2:30pm.  If you’re in Raleigh with some time on your hands, stop by and say, “Hello”, I’d love to see you.  You can also check out some other great sessions as well, we still have registration slots available.

Using Power BI To Track My Activities

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As a MS MVP one of the things you have to do is keep track of all the “things” you do for community, whether it be volunteering, organizing, speaking, etc.  It can be a bit daunting trying to keep track of all of it.  But hey, I’m a Data Platform MVP, how hard can it be to keep track of data?!  Queue music from one of my favorite Blake Edwards movie .. Pink Panther.

At first I was just keeping track of everything in a text file via Notepad.  That got very unmanageable very quickly with all the different kinds of things I was doing.  I migrated all my data to a spreadsheet, because we all know that Excel is the most popular database in the world, right?

I knew that I had been busy in 2018, but I had no idea until I used Power BI to look at my data.  Yes, I was significantly busier in 2018 than I ever had been and 2019 is shaping up to be just the same if not busier.

Take a look at what I created.  It was a fun project to work on and allowed me to explore some things in Power BI that I don’t work with on a regular basis.  Let me know what you think.

Don’t Forget To Take Break

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So many times we get sucked into a rabbit whole when fixing/troubleshooting things we forget to take a break.  More often than not this leads to the “not seeing the trees through the forest” syndrome as my grandfather used to call it.

Sadly this happens to me more than I like to admit.  I am tenacious when it comes to problem solving and I don’t like to “give up”.  However, once I hit that mentality of “I’m not going to let this problem beat me” is when I most need to take a break.

I have found that if I quit focusing on the problem at hand and do something else, often times not work related, for a few hours when I come back to the issue I solve it within 10-15 minutes.

Case in point, just yesterday I was troubleshooting a Power BI Data Gateway issue.  We had the Gateway installed and configured.  The Power BI Service could see and communicate with it so we were all set to create our first data source.

We entered in all our information about the data source and when we clicked the Add button, it came back with a failure.  It was a very generic error that didn’t really tell us anything.  I searched the Power BI Community forums only to find that we had done everything correctly.  I was stumped, but I started down the path of “I’m not going to let this problem beat me!”  Right then is when I should have put it down and walked away.  But no, I kept doing the same things over and over again expecting a different result (and we all know what that leads to – CRAZY town).

I was forced to take a break and go coach my swim team of 6-12 year old kids.  I completely forgot about the problem for 2 hours while I coached and talked with my kids.  When I got home and sat down at my desk, I had an epiphany.  Check the Gateway logs!  Wow, why didn’t I think of that before?! I discovered that the gateway had gotten itself into a bad state so I restarted the gateway service and was able to successfully create the data source using the data gateway.  That took less than ten minutes, sheesh.  If only I’d been forced to coach swim team earlier.

So the next time you encounter a problem and just can’t seem to figure it out, take a break.  Give your brain something else to focus on and you just may save yourself from a trip to CRAZY town.

Speaking at DataGrillen

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After speaking at SQL Saturday Iceland last year, which is a smaller event that I absolutely loved (you can read about that adventure here), I decided I wanted to do another smaller event.  They are much more intimate and offer a better chance of engaging with attendees, sponsors, organizers and other speakers.

I heard about a smaller event called SQLGrillen that took place in Germany.  Their motto is “Databases, Bratwurst and Beir”.  How cool is that?!  But alas, I missed the call for speakers deadline, so I kept my fingers crossed that the event organizers would put it on again this year and low and behold they did.  They’ve changed the name to DataGrillen, but it’s still the same cool event.

I submitted a session and to my surprise and amazement, I was selected to speak.  I will be giving my Profiling Your Data session on Friday, June 21, 2019.  Now my German is very limited (Nein, Ja, Bitte, Bier & Bahnhof) but I’m still excited and I hope to see you there.

The event is already sold out, but they do have a wait list.  If you want to go get your name on the list as soon as possible because it’s FIFO.

Auf wiedersehen for now.

Speaking at SQLBits

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I got an early Christmas present this year, I found out I had been selected to speak at SQLBits!  That’s what I call a gift that keeps on giving.

I have always wanted to attend SQLBits so I decided that 2019 would be the year I would finally attend.  Since I had decided to attend, I thought, “what the heck, why not submit session?  I’m going to be there anyway.”  But never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to be selected.  I will be presenting my Profiling Your Data session.

It’s been twenty years since I was in England and I am super excited to be going back.  I have family ties to England so I added a few extra days for sight seeing.  Last time I was there I visited Malvern Link, home of the Morgan Motor Car Company, my dad’s favorite auto manufacturer.   This time I am planning a quick trip over to Liverpool so I can see where my Dad’s favorite band (and one of mine) was started, you may have heard of them, they’re called The Beatles Winking smile

Speaking at SQL Saturday Nashville

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I am excited and honored to announce that I have been selected to speak at SQL Saturday Nashville on January 12, 2019.

I’ve been to Nashville before, in fact I was just there last June for Music City Tech, and am super excited to be going back.

I will be presenting my Profiling Your Data session.  If you’re in area and haven’t registered yet, there are still seats available, you can register here.

Feel free to stop by and say, “Hi”, I’d love to see you.

Speaking at SQL Saturday Oregon

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I am so excited and honored that I have been selected to speak at SQL Saturday Oregon on November 3, 2018.

I will be presenting my Data Types Do Matter session at 10:15 am.  I am so excited to be presenting to a kind of “home town” crowd.  I lived in the Willamette Valley for a while when I was a kid and even graduated from High School out there. 

If you’re in the Portland area on November 3, 2018, stop by and say hello, I’d love to see you!

Things To Know About SQL Saturday Charlotte #806

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Did you know that SQL Saturday Charlotte is just a few weeks away on October 20, 2018?  This will be the seventh year for SQL Saturday Charlotte.  Here are a few things we think you should know.

What’s New

Venue

After being at the same venue for the last six years, we decided to switch to a new venue this year.  We will be at the Central Piedmont Community College – Harris Campus, located at 3210 CPCC Harris Campus Dr, Charlotte, North Carolina, 28208.  This is on the opposite side of town from our previous venue and very close to the airport.

Pre-Cons

We have not one, not two, but THREE pre-cons to choose from this year!  Whether you are in the DBA or BI realm, there’s something for you!  Check them out, but register soon as seats are limited.

Devin Knight & Mitchell Pearson

Kevin Kline

Kevin Feasal

Technology Workshops for Kids

We are offering two workshops for kids.  A morning session for kids aged 7-10 and an afternoon session for kids aged 11-13.

Morning Session – Kids aged 7-10

Afternoon Session – Kids aged 11-13

Organizing Crew

We have had some excellent volunteers in the past.  So excellent in fact, that we decided to add them to our organizing team.  Please welcome Brad Llewelyn (B | T) who is acting as our PM.  He’s doing a great job, considering it’s akin to herding cats.

Recommended/Discounted Hotel

We have worked hard so you can save some green by finding hotel that is close to the venue and the airport.  Use this link to get a discounted rate of $119 per night.

What’s The Same

Organizing Crew

For the last seven years, our core organizing crew has been made up of the (mostly) same great #SQLFamily members.  Because of this we are able to provide a  great experience for attendees, speakers and sponsors.

Our Commitment

We work hard to select the sessions that will provide the best range and depth of learning for our attendees at the same time helping first time speakers get their start.

We hope to see you this year at SQL Saturday Charlotte on October 20, 2018.  If you haven’t registered yet, do so soon, our new venue is smaller and we will have a registration cap this year.

Moving On To New Adventures

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I am pleased to announce that as of September 10, 2018, I will be part of the SQL Data Partners team!

I started my career at a consulting company in Denver, CO right out of college and loved the challenges that it brought.  After a long hiatus from consulting, I’m headed back to my professional roots and couldn’t be happier.

I will be working with Carlos Chacon (In | T), Managing Partner & Bill Lund (In | T) and I can’t wait to get started.  If you aren’t familiar with Carlos, you should be.  He has a great Podcast and runs an excellent conference called SQL Trail.

Here’s to new adventures.

Power BI World Tour Is Coming to Charlotte

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If you haven’t heard, Power BI is doing a world tour, eight cities in four months and Charlotte, NC is one of those stops.  The Power BI World Tour is coming to Charlotte on August 27, 2018, and I will be speaking at this event!

I will be presenting my What is Power BI? session on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.  The Power BI World Tour is hosted by the local Power BI User Group (PUG) which means you will be getting premium Power BI content by local industry experts.  There’s still time to register, but hurry as seats are limited.

Hope to see you soon in Charlotte!

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