After a very successful previous year of presentations – three user groups, two SQL Saturdays, and 24 Hours of PASS – I decided to submit abstracts to speak at PASS Summit in October 2011. Summit is huge. It’s probably the biggest SQL Server conference in the world. It was hard to talk myself into hitting the submit button on the page.
It couldn’t have been hard for only me, though. Thank you to everyone that submitted a session. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could all present? And thank you to the PASS Program Committee volunteers for your hard work in selecting the sessions.
The gamble paid off, though! On Wednesday, I was notified that Reporting Services 201: From Basic To WOW! was selected as a regular session! The abstract:
You have mastered the art of linking a dataset to a table in SQL Server Reporting Services. You have solid, reliable reports that you and others depend on. Learn how to take them from basic to “wow”, using features such as tablix, lists, images, and charts. At the end of this session, you will be familiar with:
– Report properties such as headers, footers and backgrounds
– Tablix properties such as ToolTip and NoRows
– How to build and customize a matrix
– How to effectively use lists, an often-overlooked feature
– Adding charts to make reports visually appealing and easy to understand
Make Your Voice Heard was also selected as an alternate, so I’ll have the crayons and construction paper in tow, just in case!
Do you like to talk, write, answer questions, and be helpful? The SQL community likes to talk – a lot! We tweet, we blog, we answer forum questions, and more – to help others. Add your voice! Learn about the different ways you can share your experience and knowledge. Once you start teaching others, you’ll realize how much knowledge you have. Attend this session to learn the basics of communicating on Twitter, asking and answering questions on forums, and how to set up and maintain a blog.
This is really exciting for me. And nerve-wracking. But mostly exciting. I love speaking, and I’m excited that I’ve been given this opportunity. I hope some of you are able to attend PASS Summit, and hopefully come to my session.
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.
