Ryan Adams Blog

The North Texas SQL Server User Group currently has an open position on their board of directors.  I am eager to serve the SQL community and very excited to have the opportunity to run in this election.  If you follow my blog I need your support.  Below is a little information on my involvement in the SQL community, why I want to be on the BoD, and most importantly how you can vote for me!

Community Involvement

I have been an active NTSSUG participant for about 2.5 years.  I was a core team member for SQLSaturday 35 and handled the coordination of benefits for our sponsors after Jennifer McCown (Blog|Twitter) brought them on board.  I also organized all of the volunteers for the day of the event.  I post all of our meetings on communitymegaphone.com so they get listed in the MSDN newsletter.  I have also created and maintain a LinkedIn group for NTSSUG and post our meetings on the DFWITProfessionals.com website to help increase our exposure and expand our group.  In addition, I actively blog and participate with the online community through Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Most recently I am serving on the core team for SQLSaturday BI Edition, and I am also serving on the organizing committee for SQLSaturday Houston.  As a follow-up to SQL Saturday 35 I setup Confio to be our sponsor for the month of August.  Lastly as another follow-up to my involvement with SQL Saturday 35 I secured a very special speaker for our January meeting.  I can tell you that you will not want to miss this meeting so clear your calendar now.  For more hints of what’s coming see Tim Mitchell’s (Blog|Twitter) blog post HERE.  If you are interested in my professional background you can view my BIO on my About Me page.

Why

I would be honored to be on the NTSSUG board.  This group has helped me and my career in many ways from meeting professional contacts to top notch technical training.  I want to give back to the group by being instrumental in providing others all the things this group has afforded me.  I am a firm believer in the SQL community where there is no comparison for professionalism, a network of people willing to lend a hand, and a comradeship that cannot be matched.  I believe I would be a great board member as I am highly motivated, extremely organized, and very passionate about the SQL community.  I want to search out opportunities and ways to grow our group into a premier chapter of SQLPass.

How to Vote

We’ve had some issues with our mailing list lately so here is the email with instructions on how you can vote.

Dear Members,

Thank you all for participating in this important process to elect another Member to the North Texas SQL Server User Group Board.

If you are hearing about this election for the first time, information on this special election can be found here.

http://northtexas.sqlpass.org/NTSSUGBoardVacancy/tabid/3031/Default.aspx

Voting Procedures

1.      You must be a North Texas SQL Server User Group Member, else your vote will be invalidated.  Click on the link below to join the North Texas SQL Server User Group distribution list which will automatically make you a member.

http://northtexas.sqlpass.org/DistributionList/tabid/364/Default.aspx

2.     Only 1 vote per member.

3.     Send email to vote@ntssug.com with the last name of the candidate of your choice in the subject line.

The North Texas SQL Server User Group is trying out a new format for the August 19th, 2010 meeting.  The first part of the meeting will be a presentation from Janis Griffin of Confio software.  She will be presenting, “Tuna Helper – Proven Process for Tuning SQL.”  The second half of the meeting is the new part.  We will be breaking up into small discussion groups to talk about various topics.  Each group will have a moderator to help facilitate the discussion.  I think this is a really great idea and I hope it works well.  My hat is off to the NTSSUG board of directors for this idea!  NTSSUG is a very large group and we all know how powerful and beneficial networking with other professionals can be, but networking in a large group can also be a challenge.  The NTSSUG board was very forward thinking in recognizing this challenge and trying something new to help the situation.  I really think this idea will help those who are not so outgoing get to know others in the group in a smaller and less intimidating setting.  SQL server has many different facets (PBM pun intended) and most professionals seem to specialize or gravitate toward a select few of those facets.  I believe this format will help connect like-minded individuals to each other, but still maintain the broad scope of interests with the standard main presentation.  I am hopeful that this will create strong bonds by connecting members to each other and connecting members to the SQL community.  May the connections spread like wild fire and our plates overrun with bacon!

As a side note I will be moderating the discussion on, “How do I get a job as <job title> without experience?”  Here is the list of topics:

• How do you keep current with a training budget of zero?
• How do I get a job as <job title> without experience?
• Using blog, Twitter, and Facebook for professional networking and career improvement.
• What benefits do you get from being part of a user group, and how could NTSSUG be a better resource for your professional development?

Also a new position has opened up on the NTSSUG board of directors and the candidates will each have a short speech during the meeting.  If you are interested in joining this awesome leadership then check out the NTSSUG website for more details, HERE.  As you can see this is a meeting you will not want to miss.  Here is what some others have posted.

Jennifer McCown (MidnightDBA)

Tim Mitchell

Lately the organizer team for SQLSaturday #35 in Dallas has had several requests from other SQLSaturday organizers about how to get sponsors and handle the sponsorships.  For us Jen McCown (Blog|Twitter) did an unbelievable job of finding sponsors and getting them involved in sponsoring the event.  In fact, she did such a wonderful job that it quickly became overwhelming and more than one person could handle.  That’s where I came in to help, but before you finish reading this post you need to read her blog on how she found the sponsors, contacted them, and defined the sponsorship levels. READ HERE.

My part was to handle the coordination of benefits with each of our sponsors to ensure they each got what their sponsorship level entitled them to.  Fortunately for me I am a very organized person, which was a benefit to me.  You have to be organized and able to communicate well.  You have to think ahead about all the small things you need to ask them in addition to their benefits.  Things like how many people are they sending, do any of them require a vegetarian lunch (we provided lunch for all sponsors and volunteers), do they require power, and how many items are they wanting to raffle.  You also need to make a list of things they simply need to be informed about like how big the table sizes are, as they might be bringing a table cloth.  Clear communication is paramount.  I sent each sponsor an email with a bulleted list of their benefits and the status of each item.  I also included a seperate list for the questions we needed answered that did not pertain to the sponsor benefits, and finally an ending paragraph of the informational things we wanted them to be aware of.  Getting everything possible in a single easy to read format avoids sending tons of emails about every little thing as you think of it.  This will save you time (which you will need), and help prevent you from annoying the sponsor with tons of email.  Remember you not only want them to sponsor this event, but also events in the future.  Make it easy for them and yourself by only including action items in follow up emails, and be as accomodating as you can while being strict with the rules of what their sponsorship level allows.  Sometimes this means doing some of the leg work yourself like picking up flyers for event bags, having them send stuff to you for their table and making sure it is ready for them that morning, and mailing back anything they have left over after the event.

The other thing you absolutely need is a good spreadsheat to track progress with each sponsor.  Make sure to include each benefit for their level, the answers to your questions not specific to their sponsorship, and the items they need to be informed about so nothing gets through the cracks.  You have to use your best judgement on the frequency of follow up emails concerning outstanding action items.  You don’t want to be that obsessive and pesky guy.  Do you really need to follow up with them every week when the event is three months away? No.  Three to four weeks on the other hand, you probably need to if those items are regarding them getting things mailed to you.

The bottom line is that you need to be organized and communicate clearly.  Make sure you thank them in your communications, and certainly be sure to thank them in person at the event.  Again you want them to sponsor future SQLSaturdays, so make sure they know how much you value their sponsorship.  Remember that sponsorships are great targeted business for the sponsors and great for our community!

How did I get here?  Most of my career has been spent with Windows administration, architecture, and design.  Several years ago I started to see the writing on the wall with Microsoft using SQL Server as the backend of all their new product lines.  I have a passion for technology and a pension for learning so I dove right into the SQL pool.  After a couple of SQL certifications and a Microsoft SQL Server Launch event, I discovered the North Texas SQL Server User Group.  I still have not found a community geared toward Active Directory and Windows architecture, so finding a group and community dedicated to my new passion; I knew right away this was my new home.  After all the friends and free monthly training, it was only natural that I wanted to jump in and help wherever I could when the group announced holding a Dallas SQL Saturday.

I volunteered and ended up organizing the volunteers and also coordinating with all of the sponsors.  Jen McCown (Blog|Twitter) of MidnightDBA started the sponsor process, but had too much on her plate with other SQL Saturday volunteer responsibilities, moving her family to a new home, and being a speaker.  I’m pretty sure she got all of two hours sleep the entire week of SQL Saturday Dallas.  Thanks Jen for everything you did, you are a true SQL Superstar!

I won’t even delve into all the pre-planning activities, but start with Thursday of that week.  We hold NTSSUG meetings at the Microsoft campus in Irving, TX on the third Thursday of every month.  Since I do not live or work nearby, I office out of one of my company’s other buildings on NTSSUG meeting days to avoid traffic.  That also means I start my day at about 5:30am.  The night before, I loaded my truck (both the bed and cab) with sponsor SWAG and material.  After my regular work day, I headed over to the Microsoft campus for our monthly NTSSUG meeting where Brad McGehee (Blog|Twitter) was speaking on PAL.  After the meeting we asked for volunteers to help us stuff the attendee bags and actually got it done in about an hour.  With my truck re-packed and even fuller than before, I managed to get home around 11pm.

I was up early again on Friday, but this time to be at the Dallas Stars annual warehouse sale.  My wife and I are huge fans and this event means we can actually afford some Stars gear.  Fast forward to 4pm I arrive at the venue to unload my truck and start preparing.  My first task was to make sure all the sponsor tables were setup, along with anything any of them sent me for their setups.  We had 18 sponsors including the facility and 11 of them had tables and 4 of them had lunch sessions.  After getting all of that setup and determining where the lunch sessions would be held it was now time to work on making sure I was prepared for organizing all of the volunteers.  Early in the week I realized there was no way the morning of the event that I could handle a volunteer orientation and the sponsors as they showed up.  I had Andy Eggers, one of the NTSSUG volunteers, help me out.  That night I walked him through the room and equipment setup, and how everything needed to run the following morning.  Thank you Andy, you saved my life!  After everything was setup we headed over to the speaker party for some awesome networking.

Saturday morning I arrived at the venue at 6:15am.  I am not a morning person and do not function well without sleep, and the late night/early morning patterns were starting to catch up to me.  Fortunately I have a little one at home and have had recent training in the art of little sleep, and I knew some coffee would fix me right up.  I am a very organized person and had everything printed up, check lists ready and a pen in hand.  The event was great, even though my volunteer duties prevented me from sitting in on the entirety of any of my desired sessions.  We provided breakfast for free, lunch at a low cost, free afternoon snacks, and even free ice cream!  Every session I attended was top notch.  We ended the day with sponsor give aways and various other SWAG that included top end SQL software, XBOX360, 1.5TB hard drives, iPOD shuffles, and an iPAD.  We can’t thank our sponsors enough for their support!  After some cleanup we headed out to the after party which was an incredible time of networking.

Did I mention we had a photographer?  Thanks go out to Emad Kamel and the link for pictures is HERE

This event was so great you should take the time to read what others are saying.  Here is a list of those that have blogged about SQL Saturday Dallas so far.

Bill Fellows (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/b7q7HC

Wes Brown (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/9orJXc

David Stein (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/aFb3Yw

AJ Mendo  (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/bPptxb

Jonathan Gardner (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/a9VQh0

Allen Kinsel (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/aJ3pkB

Jennifer McCown (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/9ihxAA

Stuart Ainsworth (Blog|Twitter)  http://bit.ly/daoEzE

Here is a list of the sponsors that helped make this such a great event.

• Attunity
• Confio
• CozyRoc
• Expressor
• FusionIO
• Idera
• Intellinet
• Matrix Resources
• Microsoft
• Nitrosphere
• Novedea
• Paciugo
• Quest
• Redgate
• SQLPass
• Telerik
• WestClinTech
• Region 10 Education Service Center
• MidnightDBA

I am very excited to be a part of the core planning committee for SQLSaturday 35 in Dallas on May 22nd, 2010.  The Dallas area is a technology hot spot and we have quite a local SQL community.  The North Texas SQL Server User Group averages 80 people every month.  If Sean McCown (Twitter|Blog)  is teaching a class before the meeting we rarely have under 100 people.  SQLSaturday is no exception, and current registrations put those numbers to shame.  This is our first time to hold a SQLSaturday in Dallas and planning an event this size is quite an under-taking.  I’m only handling two things and that is almost a full time job itself.  The planning committee has done quite a bang up job and this event will NOT disappoint.

There’s even a RUMOR that ice cream will be provided! I know what you are thinking, “Where do I signup?”  Well I’m sorry to tell you that you missed the bandwagon, but also excited to say that we are full and at capacity.  We have over 500 registrations with 50 people on the waitlist!  This is going to be one big event.

If you are already registered you can verify your registration and lunch paid status HERE.