I have now officially submitted to SQL PASS Summit 2015. Five sessions. All me (well, and a few others on the panel I submitted). The hard part is over…but how did this all happen?
My story starts back in the year 2013. My first time to attend a SQL PASS Summit. It was in Charlotte, NC. I didn’t know these were normally in Seattle. It didn’t really seem to matter too much either. I was a first timer. And they labeled me as such.
I didn’t mind. I knew I was a newb. I embraced it. I signed up for and watched the webinar for first timers put on by Denny Cherry. I also got a first timer buddy (aka Someone I can follow around like a puppy until I am comfortable enough and have found other suitable, like minded, people that will welcome me and allow me to accompany them to places that sell beer).
I met so many new people while at Summit that year and out of all the conferences I had been to in the past, this was by far the best experience I had ever had. One this that happened numerous times when talking to people was hearing the words “Have you thought about presenting?” I’m all “Wow…these people are nice…and encouraging…wait…presenting? Say what?”
Did they need fresh meat? A new crop of willing yet unsuspecting folks to throw their hat in the ring, to hopefully be selected, and dive head first off that cliff into something that might become an obsession that would challenge them in ways they had never thought of before? Maybe. Maybe they did. Maybe it was a little cultish. Well, pass the kool-aid.
I came home and gave it some thought. I really wanted to do this but did not know where to start. I felt like I had stuff to say. Stories to tell. Experiences to share. But where to start? I decided I would do a panel. I rounded up some experienced speakers for a particular SQL Saturday, created my session and submitted it. That was the easy part. I then decided we would have weekly internet video chats so that everyone could get acquainted, and I could get their take on how they saw the panel going. They were also able to provide me much needed guidance with my slide deck (something else I had never done before) and how the session needed structure. I took all this in and did my slides accordingly.
The time finally came for the SQL Saturday event and my panel session. I made the trip out there and met up with everyone. I attended my very first speaker dinner. I could not believe I was there and in the same room with some of the brightest and well known minds in the SQL community. This was it – my first taste of what would consume that entire year.
The panel went well. My fellow panelists and other patted me on the back for a job well done. Feedback was good. I was elated. I was hooked. I thought I was ready to handle what was up next – my first solo session. Just me and my slides. Another SQL Saturday. Another city.
To be continued…