Are the posted questions getting worse?
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Lynn Pettis (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
Grant Fritchey (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
I would like to get into the mind-set of speakers out there. Now, as it stands I have zero-interest in presenting/speaking due to a lack of knowledge.My question is ( for you speakers out there ) when you select a topic to talk about is it something that you know absolutely 100% everything about? Or do you know "enough" to present some material and present it well ? I am just curious...
Mostly I go for stuff I'm passionate about.
You don't have to know everything 100%. You should know it reasonably well. Personally, I have no issue with saying "I don't know" while presenting. As long as you're clear about what you're presenting and you appropriately level set going in, people won't ask you 400 level questions during a 100 level session (although there is always some idiot who wants to play "Stump the Chump"). Just be sure you've got what you're presenting right. It kills me to hear wrong information being given. I'm perfectly fine with basic info or introductory stuff (in fact, I prefer giving beginner sessions, I leave the high-end to really smart people like Hugo, Gail, Paul, etc.), just get it right.
Presenting is important and I advocate for everyone doing at least a little of it. Not because you're going to become an MVP or get a job as an evangelist for a software company, but because we have to sell stuff all the time. Learning how to present, how to teach, how to share, how to influence, is good for your career.
HA imagine the person trying to play stump the chump with Paul Randal? Oh I can see it now....
I reckon this is like a professional athlete working your way up the ranks, maybe starting in your garage, then a local event, then a national event... then the world! 😛
Sort of like the story about the individual trying to tell Paul Randal how DBCC CHECKDB worked in SQL Server 2005. There is something wrong when someone argues with the person that wrote the code.
oh wow, that really happened?
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Grant Fritchey (8/5/2016)
jasona.work (8/5/2016)
A thought I had the other day, reading another of Steve's postings on the SQL Saturday thing. Keep in mind, I've been to one, so if this does happen at others, feel free to point and laugh...What about, when it comes to sessions, having a panel-type session? Bring in several local people to be on the panel, regardless of skill level, and turn them loose to both discuss interesting problems and how they've solved them and take questions from the attendees? Rather similar to what goes on at various other types of conventions (admittedly, I don't think you'd be able to ask a DBA what the best part of working with John Barrowman / Steve Buscemi / Mark Hamil / Margo Robbie was, but...)
By having both seasoned DBAs and newer DBAs, you'd also get a decent discussion with explanations of either why the problem was solved that way, or what a possible better method might be.
Just a random thought...
I see these all the time.
It's a mixed bag though. Sometimes you get great questions from the audience and a wonderful discussion. Other times... yawn... There's a bunch of people sitting on chairs at the front of a room staring at a few people who are shy or just wondered into the wrong room and can't find their way back out. It's weird.
I can see how that would happen. It would be somewhat more difficult, I think, to make an interesting description for something that would be rather free-form. Or worse, it's scheduled for the end of the day, so people go to it looking for a quiet place to nap, so the panel members are sitting up front watching a bunch of people snoozing away...
Which is where having air-horns for the panel would help...
😀
Of course, if no one has an interesting topic to start things off with, that wouldn't help either.
Or if the panel goes off course, say from a discussion on the merits of tally tables into a discussion on the merits of tea vs coffee as a morning pick-me-up...:hehe:
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BrainDonor (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
HA imagine the person trying to play stump the chump with Paul Randal? Oh I can see it now....Actually, Paul is more than happy to admit when he doesn't know something. Sometimes he might say he doesn't know, but he can find out and other times he'll say he doesn't know because the area they're asking about isn't something he deals with.
And if he thinks you're just trying to be smart-arse then he deals with that quite well too.
I quite like it when a presenter admits they can't answer a question, instead of those that just waffle and hope nobody has noticed.
I totally understand that but I was more thinking of the mind-set of people wanting to play the "stumping" game. Its just rude and unnecessary.
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Joining a cult today
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore RooseveltAuthor of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning -
what took you so long Grant?:-D
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BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
what took you so long Grant?:-DNot sure. My son has had one for a year. I've driven it a few times and fell in love. So when the truck died, again, pulled the trigger on this.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore RooseveltAuthor of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning -
Anyone who knows ASP please have a look if you haven't already: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic1806628-2799-1.aspx.
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jasona.work (8/5/2016)
So, something completely different!Movie review of the new Bourne movie (kept short)
Pros: Decent enough typical action movie.
Cons: Oh god the mangling and mis-use of techie! When during a very early scene in the movie someone commented (in subtitles) "we'll corrupt their database with SQL" I had a bad feeling. Which was confirmed about 15 seconds later in the same scene as to just how well they'd done their homework on the tech side of things...
My inner cynic very quickly became my outer cynic at the point when a social-media type company (think Facebook'ish) was claiming they'd have a system where "all your information would remain private" (As a co-worker has told me, if a company is giving something to you for free, you're the product.)
Would I go see it again? Not even if it was on TV for free.
Do I regret the money spent to see it? Nah, it was a night out with the wife, and movie popcorn!
Why does movie theater popcorn seem to taste so much better than when you're at home and make popcorn (excluding actually putting oil in a pan and tossing in the popcorn kernels, I'm talking bagged microwave popcorn, which means I probably just answered my own question, didn't I?)
To be a bit pedantic the quote was "Use SQL to corrupt the database". It was overly simplified for the non-techie movie goer and did depict a penetration and hack attempt from a collective - imho. Technically the statement is correct. You can use SQL to corrupt a database. I know of more than a handful of ways to do that.
My wife and I chuckled at the "private" data for a social media company that is gathering all of your bio data, preferences, habits, travel patterns etc. That part of the story line was very much like a few books I have read.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events -
Grant Fritchey (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
I would like to get into the mind-set of speakers out there. Now, as it stands I have zero-interest in presenting/speaking due to a lack of knowledge.My question is ( for you speakers out there ) when you select a topic to talk about is it something that you know absolutely 100% everything about? Or do you know "enough" to present some material and present it well ? I am just curious...
Mostly I go for stuff I'm passionate about.
You don't have to know everything 100%. You should know it reasonably well. Personally, I have no issue with saying "I don't know" while presenting. As long as you're clear about what you're presenting and you appropriately level set going in, people won't ask you 400 level questions during a 100 level session (although there is always some idiot who wants to play "Stump the Chump"). Just be sure you've got what you're presenting right. It kills me to hear wrong information being given. I'm perfectly fine with basic info or introductory stuff (in fact, I prefer giving beginner sessions, I leave the high-end to really smart people like Hugo, Gail, Paul, etc.), just get it right.
Presenting is important and I advocate for everyone doing at least a little of it. Not because you're going to become an MVP or get a job as an evangelist for a software company, but because we have to sell stuff all the time. Learning how to present, how to teach, how to share, how to influence, is good for your career.
You're a member of the audience of a presentation you've paid for and have been looking forward to, from a respected and well-known presenter, and some idiot begins a spiel which is sounding like "Stump the Chump". How would you deal with it?
How would you like the audience to deal with it when you're presenting? Sotto voce "This idiot's trying 'Stump the Chump' with Grant" following a discrete exchange of nods and winks? I can't help thinking that this is something which could - and should - be internally controlled.
“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail ShawFor fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden -
ChrisM@Work (8/5/2016)
Grant Fritchey (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
I would like to get into the mind-set of speakers out there. Now, as it stands I have zero-interest in presenting/speaking due to a lack of knowledge.My question is ( for you speakers out there ) when you select a topic to talk about is it something that you know absolutely 100% everything about? Or do you know "enough" to present some material and present it well ? I am just curious...
Mostly I go for stuff I'm passionate about.
You don't have to know everything 100%. You should know it reasonably well. Personally, I have no issue with saying "I don't know" while presenting. As long as you're clear about what you're presenting and you appropriately level set going in, people won't ask you 400 level questions during a 100 level session (although there is always some idiot who wants to play "Stump the Chump"). Just be sure you've got what you're presenting right. It kills me to hear wrong information being given. I'm perfectly fine with basic info or introductory stuff (in fact, I prefer giving beginner sessions, I leave the high-end to really smart people like Hugo, Gail, Paul, etc.), just get it right.
Presenting is important and I advocate for everyone doing at least a little of it. Not because you're going to become an MVP or get a job as an evangelist for a software company, but because we have to sell stuff all the time. Learning how to present, how to teach, how to share, how to influence, is good for your career.
You're a member of the audience of a presentation you've paid for and have been looking forward to, from a respected and well-known presenter, and some idiot begins a spiel which is sounding like "Stump the Chump". How would you deal with it?
How would you like the audience to deal with it when you're presenting? Sotto voce "This idiot's trying 'Stump the Chump' with Grant" following a discrete exchange of nods and winks? I can't help thinking that this is something which could - and should - be internally controlled.
That's one that speakers have to learn how to deal with.
I actively encourage questions. However, if someone goes off on a lecture, I won't even hesitate to interrupt them. As far as asking me challenging questions, great. I'm perfectly happy to say I don't know but I'll find out. I frequently turn the questions into blog posts. So I let them play the game, just so long as the question is a question and they're not taking over the presentation. The fun ones are when they come up with their most withering blast of a question and they have the wrong answer in mind. I LOVE those.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore RooseveltAuthor of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning -
ChrisM@Work (8/5/2016)
Grant Fritchey (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
I would like to get into the mind-set of speakers out there. Now, as it stands I have zero-interest in presenting/speaking due to a lack of knowledge.My question is ( for you speakers out there ) when you select a topic to talk about is it something that you know absolutely 100% everything about? Or do you know "enough" to present some material and present it well ? I am just curious...
Mostly I go for stuff I'm passionate about.
You don't have to know everything 100%. You should know it reasonably well. Personally, I have no issue with saying "I don't know" while presenting. As long as you're clear about what you're presenting and you appropriately level set going in, people won't ask you 400 level questions during a 100 level session (although there is always some idiot who wants to play "Stump the Chump"). Just be sure you've got what you're presenting right. It kills me to hear wrong information being given. I'm perfectly fine with basic info or introductory stuff (in fact, I prefer giving beginner sessions, I leave the high-end to really smart people like Hugo, Gail, Paul, etc.), just get it right.
Presenting is important and I advocate for everyone doing at least a little of it. Not because you're going to become an MVP or get a job as an evangelist for a software company, but because we have to sell stuff all the time. Learning how to present, how to teach, how to share, how to influence, is good for your career.
You're a member of the audience of a presentation you've paid for and have been looking forward to, from a respected and well-known presenter, and some idiot begins a spiel which is sounding like "Stump the Chump". How would you deal with it?
How would you like the audience to deal with it when you're presenting? Sotto voce "This idiot's trying 'Stump the Chump' with Grant" following a discrete exchange of nods and winks? I can't help thinking that this is something which could - and should - be internally controlled.
The "paid for" past is to me actually irrelevant. I take the audience of a free event like SQL Saturday just as serious as the audience of a paid-for event such as the PASS Summit. But that's just an aside.
I do not agree that this should be internally controlled. Sure, it might help some speakers, but it can also make matters worse.
My point of view is that it is the speaker's responsibility to remain in control. For questions, my view of how they should be dealt with is this:
If there is sufficient time and the question is probably relevant to several people in the audience, the speaker should answer it (where "I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer).
If the question is off-topic, or the question is only relevant to the person asking it, or there is simply not enough time to answer it, ot there are other reasons for not addressing the question during the session, then the presenter should suggest that the person asking stick around after the session and then they can discuss.
(The last part is very hard to get right. I have been lured into spending way too much time on very specific issues that were probably of no interest to others in the audience, and I have mentally kicked myself for that afterwards. Especially when the question is intrigueing and I want to find the answer myself, it can be hard to restrain myself from diving in right on the spot).
Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server/Data Platform MVP (2006-2016)
Visit my SQL Server blog: https://sqlserverfast.com/blog/
SQL Server Execution Plan Reference: https://sqlserverfast.com/epr/ -
SQLRNNR (8/5/2016)
jasona.work (8/5/2016)
So, something completely different!Movie review of the new Bourne movie (kept short)
Pros: Decent enough typical action movie.
Cons: Oh god the mangling and mis-use of techie! When during a very early scene in the movie someone commented (in subtitles) "we'll corrupt their database with SQL" I had a bad feeling. Which was confirmed about 15 seconds later in the same scene as to just how well they'd done their homework on the tech side of things...
My inner cynic very quickly became my outer cynic at the point when a social-media type company (think Facebook'ish) was claiming they'd have a system where "all your information would remain private" (As a co-worker has told me, if a company is giving something to you for free, you're the product.)
Would I go see it again? Not even if it was on TV for free.
Do I regret the money spent to see it? Nah, it was a night out with the wife, and movie popcorn!
Why does movie theater popcorn seem to taste so much better than when you're at home and make popcorn (excluding actually putting oil in a pan and tossing in the popcorn kernels, I'm talking bagged microwave popcorn, which means I probably just answered my own question, didn't I?)
To be a bit pedantic the quote was "Use SQL to corrupt the database". It was overly simplified for the non-techie movie goer and did depict a penetration and hack attempt from a collective - imho. Technically the statement is correct. You can use SQL to corrupt a database. I know of more than a handful of ways to do that.
My wife and I chuckled at the "private" data for a social media company that is gathering all of your bio data, preferences, habits, travel patterns etc. That part of the story line was very much like a few books I have read.
Oops. I saw the movie opening weekend, so I'm not too surprised I mis-recalled the quote. Although, I guess whether it could be considered correct or not depends on how you define "corrupt." Scratch that. If you replace existing data with incorrect data, it would be considered "corrupt," I was thinking of data file corruption (ie, such as when you use a hex editor to play with the MDF.)
As for the private data, yeah, as people keep getting told, and keep not paying attention too, anything you put anywhere on the internet is *not* "private" in any way, shape, or form. *Someone* is profiting from your information. You really want to mess with Facebooks algorithms? Either "like" absolutely every single page that you come across that has a "like" button, no matter what it's for (accidently came across a page dedicated to "Nazi lesbian hookers in love with furniture" page? LIKE it!:w00t: {BTW, that reference is lifted from the movie "UHF" and should be "...hookers abducted by aliens and forced into weight loss programs."}) or never, ever "like" anything.
And even then, they'll figure stuff out from your posts, so don't post anything, either.
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Hugo Kornelis (8/5/2016)
ChrisM@Work (8/5/2016)
Grant Fritchey (8/5/2016)
BLOB_EATER (8/5/2016)
I would like to get into the mind-set of speakers out there. Now, as it stands I have zero-interest in presenting/speaking due to a lack of knowledge.My question is ( for you speakers out there ) when you select a topic to talk about is it something that you know absolutely 100% everything about? Or do you know "enough" to present some material and present it well ? I am just curious...
Mostly I go for stuff I'm passionate about.
You don't have to know everything 100%. You should know it reasonably well. Personally, I have no issue with saying "I don't know" while presenting. As long as you're clear about what you're presenting and you appropriately level set going in, people won't ask you 400 level questions during a 100 level session (although there is always some idiot who wants to play "Stump the Chump"). Just be sure you've got what you're presenting right. It kills me to hear wrong information being given. I'm perfectly fine with basic info or introductory stuff (in fact, I prefer giving beginner sessions, I leave the high-end to really smart people like Hugo, Gail, Paul, etc.), just get it right.
Presenting is important and I advocate for everyone doing at least a little of it. Not because you're going to become an MVP or get a job as an evangelist for a software company, but because we have to sell stuff all the time. Learning how to present, how to teach, how to share, how to influence, is good for your career.
You're a member of the audience of a presentation you've paid for and have been looking forward to, from a respected and well-known presenter, and some idiot begins a spiel which is sounding like "Stump the Chump". How would you deal with it?
How would you like the audience to deal with it when you're presenting? Sotto voce "This idiot's trying 'Stump the Chump' with Grant" following a discrete exchange of nods and winks? I can't help thinking that this is something which could - and should - be internally controlled.
The "paid for" past is to me actually irrelevant. I take the audience of a free event like SQL Saturday just as serious as the audience of a paid-for event such as the PASS Summit. But that's just an aside.
I do not agree that this should be internally controlled. Sure, it might help some speakers, but it can also make matters worse.
My point of view is that it is the speaker's responsibility to remain in control. For questions, my view of how they should be dealt with is this:
If there is sufficient time and the question is probably relevant to several people in the audience, the speaker should answer it (where "I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer).
If the question is off-topic, or the question is only relevant to the person asking it, or there is simply not enough time to answer it, ot there are other reasons for not addressing the question during the session, then the presenter should suggest that the person asking stick around after the session and then they can discuss.
(The last part is very hard to get right. I have been lured into spending way too much time on very specific issues that were probably of no interest to others in the audience, and I have mentally kicked myself for that afterwards. Especially when the question is intrigueing and I want to find the answer myself, it can be hard to restrain myself from diving in right on the spot).
I've seen you deal with Stump the Chump, Hugo. SQL Bits Nottingham I think - a presentation on MERGE. It worked just fine.
“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail ShawFor fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden -
ChrisM@Work (8/5/2016)
I've seen you deal with Stump the Chump, Hugo. SQL Bits Nottingham I think - a presentation on MERGE. It worked just fine.I did?
Really?
I always say that I've been lucky enough that I never yet had to deal with Stump the Chump.
I guess I should now revise that quote to being stupid enough that I never have recognised Stump the Chump. But apparently, just taking the question serious and answering it the best way works.
Thanks! 🙂
Hugo Kornelis, SQL Server/Data Platform MVP (2006-2016)
Visit my SQL Server blog: https://sqlserverfast.com/blog/
SQL Server Execution Plan Reference: https://sqlserverfast.com/epr/ -
Hugo Kornelis (8/5/2016)
ChrisM@Work (8/5/2016)
I've seen you deal with Stump the Chump, Hugo. SQL Bits Nottingham I think - a presentation on MERGE. It worked just fine.I did?
Really?
I always say that I've been lucky enough that I never yet had to deal with Stump the Chump.
I guess I should now revise that quote to being stupid enough that I never have recognised Stump the Chump. But apparently, just taking the question serious and answering it the best way works.
Thanks! 🙂
More likely too focussed on the subject to recognise what the antagonist was up to 😀
The interference was brief, I remember that much, but can't remember for sure the resolution.
“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail ShawFor fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden
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