I've attended lots of conferences, the PASS Summit, and recently quite a few SQLSaturday events. I've seen lots of great speakers over the years and learned a lot. Right now PASS has a contest going on: The Best Thing I Learned at PASS. You can enter and might win airfare, a hotel, or free admission to the contest. As I was looking through the entries, I saw one very interesting comment in one of them. Someone mentioned that they went to see the "best minds in the business" at the Summit and learned a lot from them.
That got me thinking. Do you really want to see the best minds when you go to a conference? What about a SQLSaturday? Do you want to see the best, or are you happy to see someone that's put an effort into learning about a topic and can teach you something? What about at user groups?
Or, are you just looking for interesting, educational, and relevant content? Speaking is definitely a skill, and I know that a poor presentation detracts from the session. However I've seen some brilliant people give sessions that were horrible. I've talked to them and been amazed at their knowledge, but having them in front of a group trying to deliver knowledge just didn't work out well.
Finding someone that is both knowledgeable, and can speak well, is relatively rare. We are lucky to have some great people in this industry: Kalen Delaney, Kim Tripp, Paul Randal, Kevin Kline, Joe Webb, Brian Knight, and quite a few others. However as much as I enjoy their sessions, I don't want to see them speak every year I go to PASS. I also don't want to get the full court press from the Microsoft program managers and developers because some of them can't let go of the marketing and just deliver technical information.
In my mind we need a balance of both experienced, knowledgeable professionals, and up-and-coming professionals that want to become better speakers. I'd like to see great content most of all, delivered by a variety of people. I want to grow the next crop of great SQL Server speakers, and that means a variety of people, at a variety of events. I hope that PASS, SQL Connections, and other events remember this when selecting their lineups. I also would encourage everyone to give honest, constructive feedback to speakers to help them get better.
And I hope to see more of you out there participating in user groups. We try to feature new authors here at SQLServerCentral, and I'd like to see more of them speaking as well. I hope that more of you will give speaking a try this year at your local user group, and maybe we'll see you featured at PASS one day.
If you are coming to the PASS Summit, be sure to use the SSC3D code when you register to get $100 off and get a ticket to the SQLServerCentral party.
Steve Jones
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