SQLSat Nashville is chaired by yours truly and there are a few things I want everyone to know about this event.
- 2018 will be the 5th year I’ve been at the helm of this event and every year we’ve worked to help community members.
- We have offered Pre-Cons to seasoned speakers that wanted to try longer teaching sessions.
- Last year we hooked first-time SQLSaturday speakers up with mentors to help them.
For 2018 we are again offering first-time speakers mentors and opportunities to update abstracts after the CFS ends. This will give you a little more time to finesse your submission after working with your mentor. We’ve had several folks volunteer to mentor newbies but are still waiting on first-time speakers to reach out to us. Please if you are on the fence about speaking, let me know.
Why take the risk?
Many would ask why would we take a risk on new speakers? I mean OMG what if they are terrible? Well, my answer to this is that as a community leader my job isn’t solely to provide content to attendees. My job is to grow a community and grow individuals. My desire is to help make others successful in any endeavor they reaching for outweighs the risk, hands down. But we’ve taken the extra steps of making mentors available and allowing them to provide feedback throughout the process. If we grow only one new speaker this year it will be worth every moment.
Why you should take the risk and speak.
Well, many people don’t think they have anything interesting to talk about. That’s not true at all, I almost guarantee that you struggled with something in the last month, you worked hard and you solved the problem. Now I promise you that someone else is either having or going to have a similar issue and that your insights might just save them time and money. There are many folks out there just starting their SQL related learning, they need you!
Still on the fence?
I realize speaking isn’t for everyone. Anxiety can be a real bitch, but sometimes it’s manageable. But if you are sitting there thinking it might be nice to try it, or maybe you are thinking I don’t know if I can; then now is the time. PASS host Speaker Idol, which is a lightening talk competition for speakers that have never spoken at PASS Summit. There are several rounds during the week of Summit with a finale on Friday afternoon. Winner gets a speaking slot next year. This means 1 free admission ticket to PASS Summit! They have criteria that include previous speaking experience, such as SQLSaturday.
WIT Speakers
#SpeakerIdol at PASS summit this year had zero submissions from women. This saddens a lot of folks and there is now a community push to encourage more women to apply and more to start speaking. I’ve heard of events with goals of having X# or X% of women speakers. I’ve heard of campaigns to target women in the community to submit to their events. Ladies, if you are considering speaking in 2018 #SQLSatNash would love to have you. If you want to discuss your topic and ideas I’d be happy to listen. If you want a mentor from within the community I can find you some of the best support out there.
Final thought.
You won’t know if you don’t try.
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