This month I’m very grateful because I was given the opportunity to present at DevLink in Chattanooga. I got to meet a lot of new people and see presentations by people that just don’t hang around SQL Server specific events. It was great. I’m going to apply next year (depending on scheduling of course) and I’m applying for a lot more development conferences. I still get to see friends present, Louis Davidson, Kevin Boles and Kevin Kline were all there. But I get to see new people. Speaking of which, speaker of the month for September 2014 is Josh Lane (b|t) and his presentation AWS vs. Azure, Which One Is Right for You.

The thing that I found the most amazing about this presentation was how even-handed it was. Josh Lane really went out of his way to find positive (and negative) things to say about both platforms. Because of this, I think anyone really trying to understand which platform to pick, and, more importantly, why they should pick it, walked away with good data. I’m working with Azure regularly and I picked up a few things that I didn’t know. I also liked how he identified lots of commonality between the two platforms. The slides were very simple and clean and well structured. Mr. Lane’s delivery was excellent. He was engaging, handled questions well, and kept things moving. I was really impressed.

The one issue I have with the presentation is that there was really way too much material. He didn’t just rush through the last of it. He skipped right by sections. And those sections looked interesting. I’m pretty sure this was put together for a venue that had more than an hour of time, but I don’t think he would have made it through on a 75 minute schedule either. So, as much as I hate to say it, I’d suggest trimming some material. Going quickly through some doesn’t usually make people too angry, but skipping stuff entirely makes them feel ripped off. But, what a great problem to have. Too much awesome, well delivered material.

Thanks for the session Mr. Lane. I’ll keep an eye out for other material from you in the future.

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