This will be my “One to Many” (snicker) blog posts about the events of last week but this topic was something that really stuck out to me as amazing.

If you had the privilege of seeing Buck Woody ( @BuckWoody | blog ) speak and even more specifically if you were in the  AZ-202-M session on Hybrid Solutions for On-Premise and In-Cloud Database Applications session.

Before the session even started I tweeted:

…but what I saw during the session was nothing short of amazing.  So Buck is up there doing his thing… I have a front row seat so I’m directly in the splash (attack) zone when all of a sudden while he’s describing one of his slides the desktop computer in that room decides to reboot and I think even died.

This would of been me:

This was Buck:

Without even hesitating he immediately asked if anyone in the room had his slidedeck downloaded and was following along. Someone nearby to me raised his hand as he had his laptop with him and was reading through the deck while Buck was presenting.  Buck asked if he could borrow his laptop for a little while.  The gentleman kinda laughed thinking that he was joking but Buck was dead serious.  The attendee graciously offered up his laptop and Buck took it and plugged the cable from the projector into the laptop and kept going.

Un-friggin-believable.  As a speaker I have to tip my hat and bow to him on how well he handled this… I swear I told this story to everyone I saw for the rest of the day because it was amazing how calm and cool a seasoned-vet speaker can be when faced with potential disaster.

I also have to give a “shout-out” and honorable mention to  Thomas LaRock ( @SQLRockstar | blog ) who also had a technical disaster happen to him.

This was Tom’s laptop the morning before his first session he had to give at the Summit.  Apparently laptops don’t bounce (who knew?).

So Tom gave his sessions without any presenter / speaker view notes and you would never of guessed it.

It was a pleasure to see these two gentlemen handle their own mini-disasters so well and an inspiration to speak more and more this year so that if a disaster like this ever happens to me that I will be able to channel my “inner-Buck” or “inner-Rockstar” and still deliver my content effectively.

If you’d like to chat with me about this or anything else (SQL or other) please leave a comment or hit me up on my Twitter: @ColinStasiuk

7 days at sea with some of the best of the best when it comes to what I love to do (SQL Server) is just too good of an opportunity to pass up…. especially when I have a wife who is so encouraging and supportive of my “endeavors”

With only 15 spots (9 left as of this blog post) this is your chance to really deep dive and go back and forth on some great topics with the likes of Brent Ozar, Tim Ford, and recently announced addition to the training team Buck Woody.  If you’ve had the pleasure of hearing these guys speak you know what an amazing opportunity this is, if you haven’t, just ask around on Twitter and you’ll learn pretty quickly that you can’t get training like this from a team like this anywhere!

Check out SQL Cruise for more details.

Enjoy!! (Follow me on Twitter: @ColinStasiuk )

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/503789849

Please be sure to not only click the “Add to my calendar” but also the “Register” button so that we can plan accordingly for food and drinks. 

Date:  Jan 27th 2010
Time: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Location: Stanley A. Milner library
Map: 7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Meeting Room: Centennial Room – Basement Level
Speaker: Buck Woody
Topic: Improvements in SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008R2

Session Abstract:

“Come hear Buck Woody, Microsoft’s “Real World DBA”, explain the improvements in SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008R2 over SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005. He’ll show you what the new features are for developers and DBA’s and a quick overview of the new Business Intelligence features. He’ll show some practical examples of the new Transact-SQL statements, management features, and data types so that you can figure out where it fits in your organization.”
Presenter Information:  Buck Woody (http://blogs.msdn.com/buckwoody/)

Buck Woody has been working with Information Technology since 1981. He has worked for the U.S. Air Force, at an IBM reseller as technical support, and for NASA as well as U.S. Space Command as an IT contractor. He has worked in most all IT positions from computer repair technician to system and database administrator, and from network technician to IT Manager and with multiple platforms as a Data Professional. He has been a DBA and Database Developer on Oracle systems running on a VAX to SQL Server and DB2 installations. Buck has a business degree and several industry certifications, including MCSE, MCDBA and Brainbench DBA. He is the author of over 400 SQL Server articles and five published SQL Server books; he is the site personality on InformIT.com’s SQL web, and was the President of the Tampa SQL User’s Group for 5 years. He was awarded the Microsoft MVP Award in 2006 for SQL Server, and started work in the SQL Server Team at Microsoft a year later. He has over twenty years extensive professional and practical experience in computer networks and database design. He also teaches a Database Design course at the University of Washington. 

Agenda:
5:00 pm – Pizza and Socializing
5:30 pm – Sponsor Presentation
5:45 pm – Feature Presentation
7:00 pm – Wrap Up and Draws

If you haven’t signed up already at EDMPASS.com please do so now to receive meeting notifications, news, and updates from EDMPASS.

Hope to see you there.

Enjoy!!

EDMPASS WANTS BUCK WOODY!!!

When talking to Summit attendees the one name that comes up constantly or the one question that comes up is…

“Did you get a chance to see Buck Woody present?”

I did… and it was my first time.  It was the end of the day I believe on the Thursday… I would tell you EXACTLY when but….

Anyways… back to the story… so I go into Buck Woody’s session on Policy Based Management, Data Collector, and Central management Servers and I was pretty tired as it was and the room was cooking but as soon as I walked in the door it was entertainment from start to finish…. and not just entertainment but VERY informative.

I remember back in the days of junior high and high school the teachers that stand out in my mind are the ones that were able to educate the class while adding a bit of fun and their own flavor to the material.  This is Buck Woody. 

We’re all at the Summit, we’re all there to learn, and we’re all excited about SQL Server BUT if you had the pleasure of seeing a Buck Woody session you should know exactly what I mean when I say this guy takes presentations to the next level. 

I heard a rumor on Twitter that if the Summit was NOT in Seattle that there is a chance that Buck Woody might not be able to attend and speak due to the travel costs:

… and this is exactly why I for one DO NOT want to move the Summit out of Seattle.  PASS has come right out and said that if we move the Summit from Seattle that we will NOT be able to take advantage of the all the local Microsoft folks (like Buck Woody).   Now some might say I’m a little biased in my opinion because Seattle is only an hour and 45 minute flight for me… but I would feel the same way if it was in Chicago, New York, or Boston. 

Anyways the goal of this post was 2 things:

1) To spread the good word about a great speaker – Buck Woody

2) To get Buck Woody to speak at EDMPASS

I’ve accomplished #1…. let’s see how I do with #2

Enjoy!!