One of the things we’re trying to do at SQLRally (May 2011 in Orlando!) is support and grow the social events that happen after the close of the official program. How do we do that? I’ve got a couple ideas, hope you’ll send more: Provide an ‘after hours’ page on the SQLRally web site (coming […]
Read more "SQLRally After Hours"I’ve hit that point where it feels like I need to work longer and harder to keep up, which is the signal for me that I need a break. I’ve got a couple meetings later today, and then I’m offline for the rest of the week to recharge, no big plans, just doing a few […]
Read more "On Vacation"Recently I had a student point me to CakeWrecks, a blog about good cakes gone bad.The post from today has cakes where the baker/maker took the instructions a bit literally, one example where they wanted a cake and flowers, and on the cake spelled out is….”and flowers”. Being very much the not-professional baker I can […]
Read more "CakeWrecks"I started writing on influence last week and promised some comments on how to build influence and credibility. There are a lot of ways to do both, some maybe more effective than others, and some perhaps more cynical than others. Hopefully these will get you thinking and from there you can decide what works for […]
Read more "Do You Have Influence? Part 2"Most people blog because it’s fun, rewarding, good way to improve writing skills, be cool, and it looks good on a resume. Some people also hope to use their blog to influence others in a positive way. If you’re in the latter group, read on! During our recent excitement about the 2010 elections for PASS […]
Read more "Do You Have Influence? Part 1"I’ll have a longer post next week about my own risk strategy, but I wanted to write this first, both to start getting some ideas working and to see the questions that arise. Failure of any kind isn’t widely regarded as good, and I’m not encouraging anyone to not plan. But especially in business and […]
Read more "Failing Fast"I was enjoyed the Sunday newspaper (on Sunday!) and ran across this column about various voting systems and that made me curious enough to dig a little more, starting with this article. There is a definite distinction between the system (often based on a math proof) and the implementation of the actual voting. Makes sense […]
Read more "Voting Theory"I found this while looking for a quick way to throw some words into a slide, was thinking something along the lines of a tag cloud and this goes a step beyond. You can plug in a word list, point it to a page or feed, then you can apply styles and shapes – yes, […]
Read more "Tagxedo"When I arrived at the Hutton Hotel in Nashville for the PASS Board meeting recently they couldn’t find my reservation. Customer service person number one handed me off to person number two, then to number three, and finally number four. I didn’t have the confirmation number handy and in fact had not made the reservation […]
Read more "A Complex Shower"I’m borrowing the title for this post from the pre-conference seminar Don Gabor is doing at this PASS Summit this year. It’s a 2 hour seminar that happens Monday afternoon at 4:30 pm, which means you can do a full length seminar and attend this one, or if you’re arriving mid afternoon on Monday you […]
Read more "Networking to Build Business Contacts"
SQLAndy 