On Tuesday of this week, at 4:45PM I received an e-mail that I was not expecting!
It was only 12 days ago that I submitted my first ever session abstract to speak at SQL Saturday Phoenix. Since this was my first go round I was not really sure on the timeline on when decisions would be made and notifications would start to be received. The Phoenix team sure does work fast.
Needless to say I was not expecting to get a “Congratulation” e-mail, but I was more looking forward to the “Thanks, Maybe Next Time” e-mail. Since I am new at developing and delivering a presentation I was not thinking my abstract was polished enough to be selected. I have continued to work on my abstract over the past week in order to be prepared to submit to a few more SQL Saturday’s I had my eye on.
In the past week while doing research, I ran across a #TSQL2sday challenge put out by Andy Yun (b | t) in October of 2016. So after reading that it seemed that Andy was open to helping people throw their hat in to the game for speaking. So I jumped on Twitter and reached out to Andy to see if this project was something he was still investing time in and willing to help me. He responded and was game to give guidance along with a handful of other brave Twitter soles. Tracy Boggiano (b | t) also offered up some advice via e-mail to give me guidance.
So with the help of these two great folks I began refining my presentation Title and Abstract. For me it was in hopes to submit at one of those other SQL Saturday’s I had my eye on. But it turns out it was refining it for my Phoenix session.
Now I have 6 weeks to focus on building my presentation, demo scripts, demo environment, practicing my public speaking. Did I mention the later scares me to death. However, I am committed to go through the process and be as prepared as humanly possible. I am also going to enjoy this opportunity and put my fear outside of my mind. I am excited to meet some new people in Phoenix and attend some great sessions on the agenda.
