Tuesday, October 11, 2016

First time presenting at a SQL Saturday (#560 Charlotte)

Back in February I ended up doing a presentation called IO Tuning 101 for the local PASS chapter, so when the local BI PASS chapter announced they where looking for speakers for a SQL Saturday in September I cleared my schedule and decided to send in my submission.

I had tried to get the speech in for Summit, but was turned down.  Part of it was lack of experience, both in submitting and speaking. Admittedly it was an extreme long shot for Summit, but you never know if you do not try.

I was however happy to have been selected to speak at SQL Saturday #560 in Charlotte on September 17, 2016.  This approximately 1 hour introduction to query tuning using SET STATISTICS is an extreme entry level speech, no slides, just demos and me explaining what we are seeing on the screen.  It shows how some very simple tuning of disk I/O can drastically improve query performance, and is something just about anyone can try out.  This is a reactionary tactic, not something that necessarily works in the design phase, but in 20+ years of doing this, one of the most common requests I get goes along the lines of "this ran fine yesterday, why is it slow today?"

Was I nervous?  Yupp.  Did it go well?  I thought so, the feedback was mostly positive, some thought it was too basic, but that is the entire reason for this presentation.  Having seen so many good speakers coming to our user group to speak, most of it is too high end for a lot of people and it scared them off.  I'm going to be working on a series of introductory topics, and intermediary topics, too try to help more people get up to speed.  Now, too find the time....

And yes, I do plan on applying to speak at more SQL Saturdays.  It helps me learn, and hopefully it helps other people in our community.

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