On March 15 & 16, 2011, PASS will be presenting another round of 24 Hours of PASS – 24 one-hour presentations given by SQL People. The March event is centered around Women In Technology (WIT), as it is Women’s History Month. PASS put out a call for SQL women speakers to submit abstracts.
There was no way I was going to do it. Me, present, when there are speakers like Gail Shaw and Stacia Misner, Kendra Little and Jessica Moss? But I was working on my session for the WI SSUG and submitted a session for SQL Saturday #67, and someone on Twitter asked about 24HOP. I protested, and several people jumped in with encouragement. So I took the dive and emailed my abstract.
I don’t know if I’ll be presenting. That’s up to the community, when the voting takes place. I do know that I am terrified I will get picked, and terrified of presenting to an unknown number of people worldwide, but I still did it.
Why? Because people in the community are supporting me. Because people read my blogs, and listen to my Twitter chatter, and IM me with questions, and they think I have something to say that they can learn from. This thought floors me. I do not consider myself an “expert”, but people still want to learn from me. So I humor them.
When I first heard of this idea, I sat down and made a list of women in the SQL community that I respect and admire and would love to listen to. I figured they had all submitted their abstracts already, because these women are awesome.Today, I found out less than 20 abstracts have been submitted so far.
WHAT?
So I’m publishing my list of Awesome SQL Women I Think Need to Talk SQL at 24HOP. If you’re on this list: I admire you. Please consider submitting if you haven’t yet. If you’re not: I don’t know every woman who works with SQL, because there ARE a lot of us. Throw your hat in the ring and get noticed!
Gail Shaw
Kathi Kellenberger
Jessica Moss
Stacia Misner
Erin Stellato
Kendra Little
Karen Lopez
Michelle Ufford
Jen McCown
Meredith Ryan-Smith
Denise McInerney
Kimberly Tripp
Erika Bakse
Wendy Pastrick
Crys Manson
Kalen Delaney
Pam Shaw
Julie Smith
Audrey Hammonds
Lynn Langit
Sandra Mueller
Tracy Hamlin
Lori Edwards
Rebecca Mitchell
Janice Lee
Andi Letourneau
Arlene Gray
Christina Leo
Would all of you consider submitting a session? Just to amuse me? I want to hear what all of you have to say, whether it be about SQL Server index internals, or T-SQL basics, or Data Collectors, or Replication, or SSRS, or MDX. You all have taught me something, so I know you can teach others.
Submit a session by emailing the abstract (250 word max) and bio (125 word max) to 24hours@sqlpass.org. The deadline is Friday, January 14 – so please hurry!
Jes Borland is a Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server for Microsoft, where she is a trusted technical adviser, deep technical support, and teacher for her customers. Her experience as a DBA, consultant, and 5-time Data Platform MVP allow her to help the business and the IT teams reach their goals. She has worked with SQL Server as a developer, report writer, DBA, and consultant. Her favorite topics are administration, automation, and performance. She frequently presents at user groups, SQL Saturdays, and other community events. She is also an avid runner and chef.
