Teaching the Masses
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Day 1 of the PASS Summit was somewhat interesting. I only made a couple sessions, spending most of the time catching up with friends from previous years or people that I email with on a regular basis. It seems like wasted time, but it's invaluable to me, hearing what others think, how they view the world, what they think of our industry and more.
This conference is even more valuable given the highly concentrated mass of SQL Server professionals, mostly DBAs of one sort or another. I hear specifically about databases and SQL Server, not just general notes about other technologies.
However I did get to one session, a 400 level session, that I was looking forward to. I won't mention which one here, but a few speakers were listed from Microsoft, one of whom I've heard speak before and was looking forward to hearing again.
I did see him and hear him. For about 20 seconds and then he left the presentation to another Microsoft-ie and a representative of a company Microsoft is working with on a project. The session promised to be interesting, and the opening slide looked promising, but it degenerated fast from there. I struggled with the accents (both presenters were European), but more there wasn't much information given. We spent 40 or so minutes or more describing a basic schema and (very) high level architectural setup that could easily have been handled in 5. They also deferred a number of questions, then didn't answer them, didn't give any great lessons learned or dive into specific recommendations. It was almost that the presenters expected us to be impressed with their work, presented at a high, case-study-type level.
In many ways I'm an ugly American, and one is that I prefer to see a presentation that's polished, if not a little glitzy. Not that I want to see a marketing pitch, but I think you can give a smooth, polished talk that's full of technical information.
This presentation made me think that the delivery isn't really as important as the information being given, but it does matter. I heard people leaving the session and walking through the hallway using words like "horrible", "suck", "poor presentation", and "waste of time" among others.
There are some very, very smart people giving presentations, both from Microsoft and other companies. However many of them aren't really good speakers. It's one thing when we cannot understand what they're saying because of an accent, but it's another thing, and much worse when there isn't a good technical information. Most of us are hungry for knowledge, and we're really looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
I encourage anyone to take a chance and submit a presentation, or an article :), and I applaud you for the courage to put yourself out there. However it's like many other things in our careers; we have to work at it. You need to not only practice the talk, but get feedback from friends and colleagues on the technical content. I think most of you can do a good job, but you need to run through it a few times.
I like the people at Microsoft and I think there are some great developers there, but I've seen quite a few that shouldn't be presenting. They're not good at it and it doesn't show off their skills. I really think they'd be better off hiring a few local actors to deliver the talks and let the developers take the questions at the end.
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Steve,
Who do I talk to for a presentation. I can think, speak and write and I have quite interesting things to talk about. If these traits don't disqualify me for presenting, clue me in to get me in.
best,
steve dassin
http://www.beyondsql.blogspot.com
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I have no affiliation but nevertheless, a shameless plug: http://www.toastmasters.org/
James Stover, McDBA -
And, people wonder why I didn't spend the money to go to PASS. S2D2 if you know what I mean
Sorry it worked out that way, Steve.
--Jeff Moden
RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally) -
Quote: "In many ways I'm an ugly American, and one is that I prefer to see a presentation that's polished"
Replace American with South African and it applies to me as well. We only have DevDays and I attended 2000, 2001 and 2002. In the beginning 90% of the presentations was good to brilliant with excellent technical content (Even if there was an accent). In 2002 I could only rate 10% as good. The emphasis seems to be more on the parties.
5ilverFox
Consulting DBA / Developer
South Africa -
I'm not sure about PASS, but in the academic world it is often postgraduates who develop and present their own work. The fact that you are at a conference indicates that your work is worthy of attention (usually).
The presentation itself is just another part of the academic work - and if it's your first published paper it's a never wracking experience. I remember one poor chap whose hands were shaking so much he couldn't keep the laser pointer on the screen, let alone the things he was trying to point at!
I don't doubt from what you say that the presentation could have been better, but maybe it was someone's first attempt and they're just not very good at it yet. Give them another chance and they might have improved.
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I was wondering......what was the European accent? The reason is that although I'm English I am also partially tone deaf. I cannot understand some of my fellow countrymen's accents.
Some speakers have such thick accents or mumble so I end up lip reading. If they read, with their head down, from notes I'm really in the soup!
Madame Artois
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There's nothing wrong with wanting a presentation to be polished. Otherwise you'd be better to stay home and read the book.
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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I apologize for being thin-skinned about this (see below), but stop for a minute and put yourself in the shoes of those "Europeans" (not very descriptive, how many countries and languages does that cover, nowadays?!?): they're forced to conduct their business in a foreign language, which they've had to learn the hard way, along with the technical skills they need.
I understand the need for a lingua franca (Latin earlier, English now...) in the business world, what with globalization and all, but how many Americans would like being put in the same position and how many currently know a foreign language well enough to make a formal presentation in it?
I have an "accent" myself and, believe me, it's no fun getting those strange looks and constantly being put on the spot because of it, so please, a little tolerance and understanding for those of us who weren't "fortunate" enough to grow up in an English-speaking country.
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I don't get to too many conferences, presentations, etc. I basically have to beg my company to go to one.
The last one that I attended was the release for SQL Server 2005.
The best presentation during the full day was by David Brashears. He is a mountain climber and talked about his climbs of Kilimanjaro, not SQL Server. Most of the rest of the day was filled with breakout snoozers that were more rah rah than technical.
It just isn't worth fighting the red tape to leave the office for the day for this stuff.
Scott
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I have a great deal of sympathy for your plight. Certainly your English is a LOT better than my French, and I respect people for the effort they need to do to live in a world where another language is spoken.
Having said that, though, if one has limitations in a language, perhaps public speaking is simply not the right option (article writing is probably a good way to share your information).
[My wife works for an Ivy league school, her department's job is to evaluate the spoken English skills of every foreign grad student--they must be tested and certified before they are permitted to teach classes (and class teaching is a requirement for the program). It is very stressful for some of the students, but it really is a critical part of education]
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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I understand your plight Steve. I have encountered this in many meetings and presen tations. I have even encountered this when taking training courses. I truly hope that MS and the 'others' are reading this because they need to 'fix' it. Granted the speakers are supposedly doing this out of the 'good of their hearts' (LOL). However, the more important part of the poisture is the attendees. They paid money for the conference, travel and lodging not to mention the rescheduling of activities and time from both work and personal lives. It is truly a monumental waste of time. It sounds as if the ROI is very poor when it should be very high.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
- Having said that, though, if one has limitations in a language, perhaps public speaking is simply not the right option (article writing is probably a good way to share your information).I agree completely, although people sometimes get railroaded into things they're not prepared for and they must then make the best of a bad situation... It is very possible that such was the case for those "Europeans" at the PASS event.I'm probably also more thin-skinned about the whole thing than I should be because I live in an area (NE Ohio)where there are comparatively few foreign-born people and, as a result, I stand out more. Strangely, I feel more "at home" when I visit my daughter in Boston.
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I do feel terrible when your expectations (and money) are waisted. You try to get the best out of a presentation but you end up being unable to justify to your boss or yourself the time and the money
Hope you have better luck next time.
* Noel -
Was the person a Microsoft employee or just someone worked with Microsoft for a project?
If the person was a Microsoft employee, I was surprised that Microsoft did not have any presentation class. My former company offered a presentation class for anyone that needed to present in a conference. However if the person was not a Microsoft employee, you could not blame the company. As a foreigner myself, I know sometimes people may have a hard time to understand me, I still remembered my first comment on my first article was complaining my grammar. I also worked with people from Europe, Japan, Mainland China and India, their accent could drive you up the wall, especially these days all the customer service in most companies are in India.
I am sorry about your disappointment, on the other hand, no one was born to be a good presenter.
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