SQL Server in the Evening (4th Event)

This evening was a first for me. Fresh (knackered) from helping out at SQLBits at the weekend I faced one of my demons and made my debut at public speaking.

The opportunity was provided to me by Gavin Payne (@GavinPayneUK)  and it was tonight at his 'SQL Server in the evening' event that i took the beginners slot. The event is a SQL Server user group that runs in West Surrey. Tonight's venue was the Ramada Hotel on the Hog's Back in Farnham.

My session was first (no pressure) and was entitled CSI SQL : Auditing SQL Server. I felt I did ok but was initially rather nervous. My content addressed the way I have recently approached a large number of audits of SQL Server installations. It had quite a wide scope and was more of a memory jogger than a technical indepth talk. I finished by presenting the spreadsheets and scripts I developed to quickly audit systems. On a side note I loved the usb powerpoint clicker and have since put one on my birthday wish list (should I get the whim to present again!). I enjoyed doing it and found the positive feedback extremely encouraging.

After an delicious but delayed buffet (my fault for overrunning my time slot) we were treated to 2 further presentations. The first was an inspiring deep dive into PowerShell by Pete Rossi   (@RossiPete).  Powershell is high on my 'must play with' list for automating administration so I found this quite an eye opening session. Finally AlwaysOn functionality in Denali was the topic for Microsoft Certified Master Christian Bolton. Christian spent an hour explaining the how High Availability in SQL Server 2012 has improved.

A great evening overall and a large weight lifted for me by public speaking.

r