Comments on: PASS Summit Feedback

By: Rob Farley

Rob Farley — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 02:27:52 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Andy, Alex, Kendra & Paul.
I do plan to continue improving as time goes on. For example, I want to make sure that my conversational style doesn’t come across as purely conversational when making points that are actually very significant. I talk about the importance of seeing data in sets (eg Products) rather than a class (eg Product) because it’s far easier to get what’s happening with the Query Optimizer that way – but need to make sure that it doesn’t come across as filler.
And I don’t want to simply cater for those who like my style. I need to be conscious of those who don’t like it, and make sure that the size of that group is shrinking, not growing.
I might even reintroduce slides at some point – although it might be more for making sure that audience members who have downloaded it have some background reading rather than it being script for me to follow.

By: Paul Turley

Paul Turley — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:36:39 +0000

Non-conformists rarely please all of the people all the time. Rob, you are who you are and and many people appreciate your personality and presentation style. You have knowlege, experience and insights to share. I enjoyed all of your presentations at PASS and spending time chatting with you at the conference. We all learn from feedback but that doesn’t mean you have to change who or how you are. You don’t need a disclaimer or warning. Just a guess but I’ll bet Buck W and Paul R get their share of comments from people who get their feathers ruffled. The rest of us think they rock.

By: Kendra Little

Kendra Little — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:50:59 +0000

I’m a fan. I’d be a raving fan if I could, but I’m from Seattle, and, you know, we’re just not completely capable of that in general. 😉
My comment is that I think this is the *best* way I’ve seen to talk about feedback from the PASS Summit. I like the format and discussion a lot.
I also really admire your comments that you don’t want to conform because of getting a difficult spot of ratings, but you’re still seeing what you can learn from the feedback. That’s the approach I want to take, too.

By: Alexander Kuznetsov

Alexander Kuznetsov — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 02:04:53 +0000

Rob,
I really enjoyed your talk on shrinking plans and such. Of course your style is quite unique, so uploading a trailer of your presentation on youtube would help people decide if they want more of it.

By: Rob Farley

Rob Farley — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:49:06 +0000

Hi Bill,
I’d like to think that shouldn’t be necessary.
In fact, I’ve found that warning people about things only seeds their feedback. I’ve taught basic T-SQL to people, and told people who have actually been writing queries for a year already that they may find the first part of the course slow-going, while I make sure that the beginners have grasped the basics enough and are eased into the whole concept of queries. The more advanced students will repeat my warning on the feedback form almost word for word – I’ve effectively seeded their criticism.
So… maybe, but I’m not sure that a warning or disclaimer will actually help much.
Rob

By: Bill Graefe

Bill Graefe — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:14:33 +0000

How about a caveat/disclaimer to start the presentations?

By: andyleonard

andyleonard — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:51:20 +0000

I am a raving fan of Rob and Brent!
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By: Rob Farley

Rob Farley — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:28:53 +0000

No worries, Zach. I’m pleased you got some good points from it. 🙂

By: WIDBA

WIDBA — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:25:00 +0000

I have to say, I was at the presentation and thought it was fun. I did take away two really great points from the presentation (shrinking plan) that I probably didn’t think of when writing my review. Your style was welcome and definitely a welcome respite as it was between Conor Cunningham and Bob Ward’s content packed presentations.