SQLbits Archives

May 7, 2020

Online Event Fatigue

Hello, everyone – it’s been awhile. Like everyone else, I’ve been affected by the current state of the world and I’m finally able to take a few moments to blog. I’ve never been someone to just put out content for the sake of it. I had ideas over the past month, but did not want to seem like I was taking advantage of the situation or do a lot .of “me too” type posts (i.e. “So you’re working from home … now what?”). My whole career has been based on helping people prepare for worst case scenarios. To me it would have felt a bit like what we call here in the US an “ambulance chaser”. I’m not going to prey on fears, but SQLHA is here for our customers new and old. If you do need help with anything, please reach out.

Everyone’s situation is different during this pandemic. Where there is a quarantine/stay-at-home/shelter-in-place or similar order, some of us are by ourselves others are at home with family. That includes juggling work, maybe home schooling, and more.

Having said that, it seems like there’s been an uptick in the number of online events. I see two trends. The first is that most major conferences until mid-2021 have been converted to online instead of in person. I did not want to use the word cancelled because it’s not true if the event is still happening. Second, it seems like everyone and their aunt, uncle, cousins, and distant relatives is now doing a ton of online events. It’s like “Everyone is home, let’s give them something to do.”

The Rise of the Online Event

I was supposed to be in the UK at the end of March/early April to speak at SQLBits in the UK. Clearly that didn’t happen. It’s been rescheduled to the fall, but given the current world situation – especially with travel – as much as I want it to happen and to be there, my gut says Bits as an in person event may not happen in 2020. While I hope I’m wrong, part of me knows I’m not. Will we ever see rooms filled like the picture below in the near future?

Room filling up for my half day session at PASS Summit a few years ago

I’m also slated to speak at PASS Summit in Houston this year as I have a pre-con. They’ve already said there will be a virtual event even if the in person one can’t happen which is forward thinking. But let’s talk reality for a moment: even if it happens as in person, how many people are going to show up? Most companies are not going to pay for people to travel anywhere right now. It may be hard and bordering on impossible to get into and out of the US from other countries. There’s the bigger question … do people really want to be in a place with lots of others where it may be hard to do social distancing? I’ve been speaking at conferences a long time and for the first time in over 20 years, this has me pondering if in person events will come back, and when/if they do, what will they look like.

There’s another aspect to all of this that is a bit of an elephant in the room: conference cost. Microsoft, Red Hat, and VMware among others turned their large, in person conferences (Ignite, Build, VMworld, Red Hat Summit) that they charge attendees good amounts of money into online free events. Within reason, big companies can absorb the financial hit of cancelling a conference that would have had thousands or tens of thousands of people and turning it into a free online one.

What does that mean for smaller conferences such as PASS Summit, SQLBits, and Live 360? Many smaller conferences have tight budgets and are largely run by volunteers who have day jobs and lives. Can they afford to do that? I’m guessing the answer is no. And what would people be willing to pay to attend an online event when so much is out there for free? Again, I have no answers, but I’m posing the question because I can’t be the only one to ponder this. We’ll certainly find out sooner rather than later. All of the free stuff may set a dangerous precedent as if that hasn’t happened already with how people view training (i.e. paid training versus a free YouTube video).

As a speaker, I hope major events still happen but free for everything forever does not seem like a sustainable model. That doesn’t mean free is bad and I’m happy to support things like local user groups. In fact, I’ll be speaking at the Jacksonville SQL Server User Group in a few weeks at their virtual meeting. I’m looking forward to it. Giving back is a big part of who I am.

One of the biggest aspects missing from many online events is the interaction and networking that happens. For vendors in exhibition halls, it’s how they get in front of customers. How do you replace those face-to-face experiences in a virtual way that works for everyone?

Fatigue

This brings me to a more practical and very real issue for a lot of us – attendees, speakers, and organizers alike. As I mentioned above, it seems like since the pandemic, there have been a million webinars and online conferences announced. Some are multiple days and many hours.

As someone who has done training online, I know very few people can sit for hours on end glued to the screen watching technical content. I’m going to be announcing some online classes very soon, but the model I use spreads the content out to balance knowing you need to get work done and getting things in bite sized chunks is better. It took me awhile to come up with what works.

Add to that with the pandemic, with everyone at home, this is not a normal situation. Can you even find the time with everything else on your plate to sit through all of this content – free or not? Some scheduled SQL Saturdays are transitioning to the online model, but do people really want to also spend their Saturday now in front of a screen?

Even before COVID-19, people have said to me (paraphrasing), “Well, if I’m not physically at a conference, they’re expecting me to work.” Even when I do teach – including in person classes – people have to duck out for work interruptions. Now that events are online and ubiquitous, why should a company allow you time to just sit and watch content, not answer mails or tickets, etc.? It’s a very real problem.

Truth be told, I was talking with some folks about doing an online thing that will be cool if we do it, but right now just doesn’t seem to be the time to introduce it. I’m seeing and hearing the fatigue. People are already starting to tune these online events out or have them on as background noise in the way some of us listen to music. The little separation they have between work/life balance is nearly gone. I think we’ll do it, but it has to be at the right time.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I don’t know the answer. If I did, I should buy a lottery ticket. What do you think about all of this? Will you attend an in-person event/conference again? What influences that decision for you? Do you have event/conference/webinar fatigue? What would you pay for an online event or training with great content? How long are you willing to sit and watch sessions in one sitting?

I would love to hear from you because we are all just trying to navigate a brave new world none of us have encountered.

December 16, 2019

SQLBits 2020 Training Day Announcement

Happy Monday, everyone. I’ve been heads down with both teaching and customer work, but wanted to pop up to make an exciting announcement: I’m honored to have been chosen once again to deliver a Training Day at SQLBits 2020 which will be in London.

This year’s Training Day will be SQL Server Cloud Fundamentals which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31. I’ll be covering not only Azure, but Amazon AWS (EC2 and RDS), Google Cloud Platform, and hybrid scenarios – yes, even if you want to partially stay on premises, I’ve got you covered.

I’ve been in touch with the organizers, and right now all things are green for doing the lab that I’ve planned which is a lot of fun (no, really …). You can’t beat hands on experience! If you’ve ever taken one of my classes or been in a previous pre-con at another conference or a Training Day, you know my labs are designed to reinforce the concepts taught that day. No prior experience with any public cloud is necessary.

So my Training Day will be good for those who are not only new to any cloud, but those looking to maximize their existing experiences to be better at what they do.

If you don’t want to miss out on actual hands on experience with cloud stuff in addition to the instruction, reserve your spot early. If you sign up, you’ll get an e-mail closer to the date with instructions on what you’ll need to bring with you to do the lab.

I look forward to seeing you in London at SQLBits.

March 8, 2019

SQLBits 2019 Recap, Labs, and VMware vExpert 2019

Happy Friday. Things are finally calming down over here at SQLHA HQ. Last week I was in the UK at SQLBits 2019 where I delivered a Training Day on Thursday, February 28 and a regular session on Friday, March 1. I’ve always loved hopping across the pond to speak at Bits; it’s one of my favorite conferences. The atmosphere is always great, and the organizers do such a good job. It also doesn’t hurt that I love going to the UK. It was my first time in Manchester. Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to explore. I arrived in London on Monday night and took the train up to Manchester on Tuesday. I spent the next two days working (the inside of my hotel room was lovely), did the Training Day, my session, and headed back down to London before flying home.

The Bits venue was really lovely – it was in the old (and converted) Manchester Central train station. I’m a train guy, so it thrilled me to no end. You can see it in the picture later in this blog post. The Training Day went smoothly – I had nearly a full room. I never take it for granted that after all these years and conferences around the world, people still want to show up and hear me speak. So thank you one and all who came out to the Training Day which was not free. I know you have a lot of choice, and am honored that you selected me.

SQLBits this year made the decision to have 50 minute sessions. Anything under an hour can be … challenging, but I felt really good about my regular session “Common Troubleshooting Techniques for AGs and FCIs”. The Bits team already has the session uploaded, so feel free to view it at the link above. The audience was great, and I had a bunch of questions after. Luckily it was break time so people could ask me as I was tearing down. I also wanted to get off the stage quickly so the next presenters could get set up. I’m considerate like that!

The sign for the room

I hope to be able to go back in 2020, but if you ever get the chance, I highly recommoend attending at least one SQLBits conference in your career.

Getting home was a bit of an adventure. There was snow back home in MA, and for the first time in a long time, I did not fly direct from London. I went via JFK. My flight from JFK to Boston was cancelled, so I wound up staying the night in New York City and taking Amtrak home. It was not that big of a deal, and as someone who is on the road a lot, par for the course. These things happen. ProTip: if this happens to you, be nice to agents at the airport or on the phone. They’re having a crappy/stressful day, too, since they’re dealing with everyone else who is being affected. You get more with honey than vinegar.

Labs

The Training Day featured an all new lab that I put together, and was the first time in a few years I’ve done a Training Day with a lab. If you’re wondering why I sometimes have preconference sessions (nee Training Day in Bits-speak) without labs. I was one of the first (if not the first) to pioneer the use of labs on this scale in the SQL Server community, and it’s nice to see some others doing it now, but it’s never a slam dunk. Why?

First, before I even think of putting a lab together, I work with the conference organizers to see if the venue can support approximately up to 100 people doing labs. Since that may pepole banging on WiFi will consume a lot of bandwith, it would be a miserable experience for all involved (including yours truly) if connectivity sucked.

Second is the cost involved. There’s a cost associated with each student not only for the backend lab stuff, but also to the conference organizers for the bandwidth. If it’s not going to ultimately be too expensive, we won’t do it. Nobody is in the business of losing their shirts on these things. It’s much more economical now than the first time I did this at Bits and Summit five or six years ago.

Assuming the cost and the infrastructure is there, is it worth doing a lab? Let me say this: when others have said that labs were a lot of work and not worth it (some of whom have changed their minds since …), I did them. I’ve always believed in the power of hands on learning. I did labs for private and public classes when I had to bring (or send) an external hard drive with VMs and load them onto PCs with hours and hours of setup. That does not scale for so many reasons, not the least of which is the size of laptop needed to do my labs that way isn’t a low end spec. I think back to some of the classes I delivered in Australia where I arrived days earlier, had to load PCs up, test them, etc. Doing labs was, and still is, a big commitment.

For the past 5 or 6 (maybe 7?) years, my labs have been done through a browser. Everyone still gets their own set of virtual machines, but they no longer need to be loaded on everyone’s PC and use a hypervisor locally. Soon I’ll be offering Azure- and AWS-based labs in addition to VM-based ones for my classes and possibly precons … stay tuned!

There’s the whole instructional design part of this which is putting together the VMs (and getting them all to the right point …) as well as writing the lab manual. For one day of training, it’s hard to get a lab that works in 60 – 90 minutes knowing people are at different skill levels, but you want to do something that’s meaningful and not just “click-click-click you built something but you didn’t learn anything”. Needless to say, labs were and still are a big time investment on my end, and I feel they are worth the effort. It’s gratifying to see people loving them as they are working their way through.

Finally, with a one day class, you have to balance instructional content to put a lab in, so you need to design that part of the day even better since you’re giving up roughly 25% of your time to give that hands on experience.

I will say after all these years, it never gets old watching a ton of people all access VMs (across 100 people it’s easily 400 VMs or more) simultaneously. That’s a lot of horsepower, and also why I need to know well in advance if it’s going to happen because the folks running the backend need to ensure there’s enough horsepower reserved for the day. It’s not just “show up and run labs”.

Attendees doing labs at my SQLBits 2019 Training Day

If you want the best training and labs, sign up for one of the upcoming SQLHAU classes that are being delivered live online, or come see me in person during the Chicago dates in August. Use the code BLOG20 to get 20% off the April online class “SQL Server Availability Solutions in a Cloudy, Virtual World” which does has a lab. The discount is good through March 31. You can also subscribe to not only get our newsletter, but also get notified when we have new training or other training-related items. Sometimes we offer subscriber-only discounts 🙂

VMware vExpert 2019

I’m pleased to announce that yesterday I was re-awarded vExpert for 2019. Like people showing up for things like the SQLBits Training Day, I never assume that being renewed is automatic. Thank you, VMware!

February 7, 2019

SQLBits 2019 Is Only a Few Weeks Away

Hard to believe that SQLBits 2019 is only a few weeks away. I’m looking forward to speaking there again. It’s always an honor to be selected and Bits is one of my favorite conferences to attend if I can make it. This year, it’s in Manchester which is somewhere in the UK I’ve yet to visit, so I’m excited about that as well.

I’m currently finalizing the content and the lab for the Training Day I will be delivering on Thursday, February 28 – Modern SQL Server Availability Architectures. Hopefully the venue can support the lab, so we’ll see. That aspect is completely beyond my control, but what I have cooked up should hopefully be fun if we get to do it. You’ll need to bring your own laptop and make sure you run the test link that is linked in the description. Last I checked, seats were filling up quickly, so don’t miss out!

I’ll also be doing a session on Friday, March 1 – Common Troubleshooting Techniques for AGs and FCIs at 14:25 (2:25 PM for those of you on my side of the pond).

If you haven’t registered already, what are you waiting for? If you have, see you there. Come up and say hello!

February 10, 2017

I’m a VMware vExpert and Schedule Updates

It’s been a crazy (but good) start to 2017. Besides the foot of snow that got dumped on the Boston area yesterday, I’ve been busy with client engagments, writing the book and other things (those other things you should hopefully see soon), and took a bit of a break by getting away for a few days (the first time I took more than a day or two off in about two years). My batteries are recharged (something I talk about in this blog post from 2015), and to add to an already exciting year, I was named a VMware vExpert for 2017. I’m extremely humbled and honored. Thanks to VMware for recognizing me. I don’t just speak Hyper-V, you know 🙂 This is a nice bookend to my already dual MVP status with Microsoft.

I also have finally found some time to update our Events page with everything I have coming up – which is a lot! Max already put his stuff up, so I’m the slacker here. Besides SQL Saturdays in both Boston and Chicago, I’ll be back at SQLBits doing another (and all new …) Training Day as well as a session, and heading to Ireland for the first time to speak at the SQL Server Ireland User Group. I’m also eying something in London the week before (the last week of March) if we can make the stars align, so stay tuned.

We’ve been working on the training schedule for 2017 USA classes and hope to annoiunce things in the next few weeks – we just need to nail down one or two things before announcing anything.

Hope to see you at one of these upcoming speaking engagements!

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