It Depends

Comments on "The Exceptional Presenter"

I purchased The Exceptional Presenter recently as part of my professional development spending. I currently work primarily as a trainer and I've done some training/speaking going back almost 20 years, but by no means would I consider myself to be exceptional. Some things I think I do reasonably well, some areas I still struggle with. Often it's less about speaking and more about how to convey a technical concept, but I definitely have room to improve just on the speaking side. Subject came up for two reasons; one is I'm working on a new speaker evaluation process for events, and the other is that I want to revise and extend my class on Successful Technical Speaking (a free class I do a few times each year).

This book is really a lot more about presence, posture, and process than it is about how to train or teach. I've learned a few things already and am looking forward to trying some of their suggestions for practicing the techniques. Not sure that will translate into success, but it's worth spending some time on. Even if you're not a speaker or trainer odds are at some point these skills come in handy when you move into managment or start dealing directly with clients.

Try the book, it's a good read.

PCMagazine Goes to Monthly Format

I don't have a URL handy for it, but in the latest print issue of PC Mag they announced changing to 12 issues a year compared to the 22 issues a year it has been forever. I've been reading PC Mag since 1988 and it's been sad to see the exodus of so many long term columnists and the change/rechange in focus as they try to find their way. Not just them of course, technical magazines in general continue to shrink and decline more than most magazine segments. I suspect that is because more than the other segments the IT professional increasingly wants their information available online and eschews paper.

I think it's our loss. Web reading just doesn't match print, even when web contented is printed via the nearest laser. It's good to read something that occasionally isn't 100% on topic but turns out to be interesting and useful anyway, and the ads seem more useful if less entertaining. Have to wonder if we'll see a similar decline in other segments over the next 10-20 years?

Planning a SQL 2008 Launch Event

As a user group leader I see new products as a chance to make sure our members know about the new features (or pitfalls) of a new release, and to grow and evangelize our group - not a novel approach, but sound I think. Met with Shawn Weisfeld from ONETUG last night to discuss what we might do to put together a launch event for our respective (SQL & .Net) communities next year. It's going to be a little strange since VS 2008 is RTM, SQL 2008 is somewhere on the horizon, and perhaps Server 2008 is somewhere in between? It was an interesting discussion; how do we something different from our annual events (SQLSaturday, Orlando Code Camp) that will still be fun, leverage our event experience, and not just be a waste of time for attendees? We want something demo focused, not the fancy demo's you see at TechEd, something down to earth that shows how to employ a new feature. How do I create a spatial index? How does the new date data type work? I think seeing that stuff used in minimalistic fashion helps people relate it to the work they do now, looking for the one or two killer features (for them) that might make it worth the pain of the upgrade!

What's a good format? Do we rent a theatre and just put a succession of demo doers up front? Good for a large audience, but harder to get participation. Maybe something less formal akin to a chalk talk? What's a good venue for that? Or do we go for a few flashy demo's and just make it a fun event, perhaps at the FunSpot?

The challenge of course is to provide value to those that attend as they'll be taking time off from work. I like SQL Server, earn my living from it even, but for a community launch event to work it can't be all fluff and spin. I think it's enough to look at the new features and how to employ them without a lot of 'this feature saved Company X 2000 man hours' or whatever the marketing people come up with. Or do people find value in seeing how the early adopters find value and all the success stories?

Upgrading to Office 2007

I've put this off for a while, but I needed a break from the routine and I'm starting to get a few things sent to me in the newer formats so maybe there is some level of adoption. After fighting through some install issues because I had the 2007 to 2003 converters installed it's running finally. I've seen the previews and know about the ribbons, but in practice it IS different and at this early place frustrating - I used to know where everything was located! I'm sure that will change soon enough, and then maybe I can see if really does increase my productivity (I'm skeptical, but we'll see). More practically speaking each version does add some nice options. For instance, I see that Outlook now has a dialog that controls whether programmatic access is allowed and the new todo bar looks interesting, it's definitely a step in the right direction. I've made a note to revisit in a couple months to see if there was any 'killer feature' or productivy enhancing piece. Note that neither of those is necessarily required to validate the value of the upgrade, but it would be nice.

oPASS Meeting Notes

We had our final meeting of the year last night, minutes posted here. Pretty good turn out, 22 total. And given that we started the group back up in April with about 10 attendees, we're growing nicely.

Highlight for me last night was getting more feedback from the group itself about SQLSaturday. Clearly they take some pride in the event and the way we used volunteers really contributed to that. We had a good discussion about speaker evaluations and I'll be posting more on that soon. Also was the first time I had seen Brian talk about performance tuning in SSIS and was interesting to see some of the not so obvious things you can do to improve performance, we're discussing changing his current class to include or possibly extending to a 5th day.

User Group Meeting Checklist

I'm a fan of lists so that I stay on track rather than trying to remember all things at the list minute. Prepping for user group meetings is no different, usually happens near the end of a hectic day at the office and forgetting something...well, that's not fun. Here's my current list and a couple comments on it:

• Ice chest (current meeting site has no refrigerator)
• Soda
• Water
• Ice
• Sign in sheets (we ask for first & last name, email address, and if first time attendee)
• Pens (for completing the sign in sheets & name tags)
• Sticky name tags
• Prizes (a mix of some good ones if we can find them, and usually a junk prize or two as well!)
• Projector (again, current location not the greatest, we have to bring a projector), power cord, video cable
• Cups
• Plates
• Napkins
• Business cards (with the user group contact info)
• Candy
• Signs directing attendees to the room
• Pizza (order 10 min prior to meeting start, more or less)

I package some of that stuff up and leave it ready to go, some has to be done closer to the last minute (removing the projector from the classroom at End to End Training and getting ice.

Our meeting is tonight and it should be interesting to see how attendance goes so close to the holiday break. We've got a few prizes to giveaway and Brian is presenting '12 Days of SSIS'. We'll also be getting some post event feedback on SQLSaturday.

Strategic vs Tactical Time

As an owner of a small business one of the constant struggles is time management, and more importantly, finding time to think long term and not just short term. It's the nature of business (and work) that we tend to focus on tactical items, those things that have to get done today, or that we have to put time into today in order to meet whatever timeline we have.

I've always believed in doing what needs to be done first, then doing what you want to do after, if you have time and energy. Do the dishes, then read a book. It's a smart strategy because it makes sure you do have the time and energy to get things done, but it often means that the strategic thinking part is either done when you're tired or just gets deferred. But it is a short term strategy? Or am I just defining "what has to get done today" incorrectly?

I haven't answered that to my own satisfaction yet, but it's important. I've seen way too much short term thinking as an employee to want to fall victim to it now that I work mostly solo.

Lists of Tools

I ran across this list of interesting tools by Scott Hanselman and there is some good stuff to look at it. I've always had a fondness for small special purpose (and mostly free) tools (software or woodworking!). I've made a note to start my own page with some original ideas on tools soon.

Google Knol As Community Competitor?

I ran across this in the Google bloghttp://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html announcing a new beta feature called Knol that allows an author to publish a page about on whatever topic they choose. The page at a time publishing metaphor is interesting, something that would presumably have more depth and focus than a blog entry, but not rise to the level of building a site that focused on the topic. It also makes it easy, or at least easier, for an author to look at writing as a way to profit from their efforts, by adding ads or getting a sponsor for their pages.

Monetizing is important; if done well it encourages authors to work harder, work better, produce better content. Sites like SSC allow authors to monetize in limited fashion, typically paying a flat fee rather than a per view rate. I like that model because the author can see that they will earn x dollars (removing the will I make any money issue) and because it discourages breaking up content into multiple pages (or worse) just to drive up their earnings. The Google model fits those willing to take on a little risk for perhaps greater reward.

The downside to the Google model is they may well wind up with a lot of junk pages designed just to attract pages views, there's no one to monitor for outright plagiarism, and it's very likely that for the most popular subjects we'll have 18 different authors all writing about the same thing. Community sites offset most of those dangers through a combination of the resident editor/owner as well as the oversight of the community members. Will Knol be able to build that kind of community? Doesn't seem likely, but perhaps I shouldn't bet against them?!

For us SQL Server people it could be an interesting twist - will authors who previously published on SSC, SQLTeam, etc, opt to give it a try? Will they post on a community site for 90 days or whatever and then repost on Knol? Would we better served if authors wrote purely based on wanting to make a profit? Or would we get better content if they were trying to write the best page in the world about a sliver of SQL Server and just used Knol as the platform? I'd like to see the pressure of Knol cause community sites to evolve into being a little more author friendly as they fight to stay relevant. For now I'll continue to publish here in the community I helped build and continue to enjoy, but I'll see how things evolve and perhaps give it a try (on the list after trying the wiki thing in some form or fashion!).

Managing Funds for User Groups

This question seems to come up a lot and it's worth discussing. Few user groups are incorporated, fewer still are true non-profits, so how you pay for pizza, charge sponsors, do the little things that need to be done without having a checking account? In my view unless you have a huge group incorporating isn't worth the time or money. There's an initial filing fee, an annual fee ($150 in Fla), plus you have to file a corporate tax return, file change of address if officers move, etc. Non profits are extra work beyond that.

To start with I'll say that I don't see anything wrong with just asking one member to manage the money, even if its keeping cash in a cash box. For the average group it might be a couple hundred in cash per month from sponsors, donations, etc. Just keep a written journal of expenses and present it at the meeting for review. The worst that can happen is someone steals a few hundred dollars. Not likely, and not the end of the world if it happens.

A better solution is to find a member that has a business that's willing to invoice sponsors and handle the money for you. The advantage is they can write checks and often can provide credit card services as well. In terms of auditing the money it's really the same thing, just review the status at each meeting. oPASS used End to End Training (where I work) to manage funds for SQLSaturday and it worked out very well, most sponsors would much prefer to pay by credit card compared with having to get a new vendor set up with finance.

Of course one of the big advantages of a corporation is it shields you from personal liability (when done correctly!). I know we live in a world where lawsuits are common, but given that incidents are rare and that if something does happen the corporation would have no assets (just inviting them to come after members personally anyway) I'm not sure it's worth it. Given the choice I'd incorporate, but you have to be beyond soda and pizza money to consider it.

From a sponsor perspective I'd much rather pay with a credit card or write a check than to show up with cash, or to have to arrange the pizza/soda to be there (a common request so that the group handles NO cash).

How do you make a Wiki work?

Following up on my post about Wikipedia, I read an article in Eweek, 25 Tips for a Better Wiki Deployment that seemed interesting, but hardly earthshaking. In my view building a successful wiki depends on a confluence of events, mainly a problem or subject that lends itself to the format, and the willingness of users to contribute and maintain the content that addresses that problem or subject. I think Wiki's excel at answering questions, but that assumes you are asking the right question! It's very common in forum posts for someone to ask a question after not being able to find the answers via a search engine because they were using the "wrong" word or phrase, where someone with more experience often finds the answer right away because they know the words.

I've been looking at Wiki's out of curiousity - love the technology, but still not sure I recognize all the value everyone else does. I need to capture and organize a bunch of information about conducting a SQLSaturday, would that work well in a Wiki rather than the Word doc I'm using now? My doc representation is serial, start to finish, can I build a wiki so someone can follow the information the same way, or extract it and order it the same way? Or is that anti-wiki?

I think wiki's succeed just like Sharepoint does, not because of the technology, but because it enables (dare I say empowers) non IT users to post useful information on the intranet. I'm looking for a wiki project just to try it out first hand, but waiting for one that seems like a good fit!

Contributing to Wikipedia

Recently I posted about an interview with Jimmy Wales and only a couple days after that I ran across What Motivates Wikipedians in the November issue of ACM Communications. The motivations varied, with the primary ones being fun and ideology (knowledge should be free). There didn't seem to be one hugely compelling reason, but according to their numbers the average contributor puts in 8 hours a week.

That had me thinking about two things. First, maybe I should be contributing, both to give back some value and to better understand the work that goes into it. Adding that to my list, now to find a topic about which I can say something meaningful. The other point was a reiteration of something I already know; that communities are incredibly powerful things.

Powerpoint from a Blackberry

Ran across the Impactica Showmate, a $249 item (gadget?) that allows you to present Powerpoint presentations wirelessly via Bluetooth directly from a Blackberry - no wires, no laptop. Most of my presentations have a demo part that requires a laptop and I always have a copy on USB key just in case, but still, this seems interesting. One more way to get some additional mileage out of the phone. Cost seems way high from a consumer perspective, at $49 I'd buy it, probably not at $249!

How Will Processor Licensing Evolve?

Information week had an interesting article that talks about the different methods of licensing used, ranging from the what we're used to with MS to the 'processor value unit' used by IBM to others even more...complicated. I think over time MS will have to change their licensing policy for SQL or increase the cost of the license to offset decreasing revenues as we're able to put more and more load on a server. None of the options discussed in the article really seem very palatable, at least to me - someone who likes the pay for it once and use it a long time model!

It's almost the perfect storm, CPU vendors driving up the number of chips per core, and at the same time virtualization is about to really take off. Licensing schemes for software are pretty bad already, I'm not sure this will make things worse as much as different. I suspect I'd opt for the simplicity of a subscription model over the more convoluted calculations that would probably result in me paying about the same amount of money anyway. It's worth paying attention to; any change could have a dramatic (probably negative) impact on our ability to deploy new SQL servers to to upgrade versions (because they are licensed per core and next version might not be).

Event and Session Evaluation Results for SQLSaturday Orlando

SQLSaturday is ultimately about attendees, and they finally speak! The scores look very good and the comments should be useful for helping us do a better job next year. Worth reading, even if Im a bit biased:-). Link is here: http://opass.org/content/showcontent.aspx?contentid=396