PASS Summit 2018 Session Feedback

calendar Dec 6, 2018 · PASS Summit  ·
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Another PASS Summit has come and gone, and as always I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to attend and speak! Thank you to everyone who attended my sessions, and an extra-special thank you to those of you who took the time to fill out session evaluations. Speakers are always looking to improve their craft, and the best way to do so is with candid feedback from attendees. Your constructive comments and criticism really do matter!

Now that the session evaluations have been returned, I wanted to share the comments I received.

SSMS & T-SQL Tricks: Working Smarter, Not Harder

The first session I delivered at summit this year was my SSMS Tips and Tricks session, and before I get to the feedback I should say that I am just over-the-moon happy with how well this session went. I had a wonderful and interactive audience, especially for the last timeslot of the day. I also had a HUGE audience. My biggest ever. The official attendance count was 631. It has long been a goal of mine to fill a large room at a conference, and with this session, I did that. In fact, I had the second-best attendance count of any session at PASS Summit this year!

So now for that feedback – it was excellent! Out of 631 in attendance, 67 people filled out an evaluation. Any comments I make here will be in italics.

Evaluation Questions (5 is best, 1 is worst)

  • Rate the value of the session content: 4.69
  • How useful and relevant is the session content to your job/career?: 4.70
  • How well did the session’s track, audience, title, abstract, and level align with what was presented?: 4.76
  • Rate the speaker’s knowledge of the subject matter: 4.72
  • Rate the overall presentation and delivery of the session content: 4.64
  • Rate the balance of educational content versus that of sales, marketing, and promotional subject matter: 4.81
    I find this one funny, because I had no sales/promotional material at all other than mentioning my employer for 10 seconds during the "about me" slide. Apparently someone still thought that was too much. Oh well!

Comments (negative)

These were more about the logistics of the conference center than the session, but I wanted to include them here.

  • Room size was actually too large. At least a third of the seats were empty.
    Capacity planning is hard. I think PASS HQ did a pretty good job of making sure that sessions likely to draw a crowd received larger rooms.
  • Did someone accidentally turn the thermostat to 50 degrees? Wow it was cold!
    I'm guessing PASS HQ had no input on room temperature, and that's all determined by the convention center. Personally I prefer it be a little cold, as it helps me alert. Also if you're cold, you can always put on a sweater, whereas there's only so much clothing one can remove if it's too warm…

Comments (positive)

  • Room was great. Speaker made use of the mute button on his microphone when he coughed/took a drink. I noticed and appreciated it!!
    I try my best! Projecting my voice makes me cough, even after loading up on slippery elm. I think turning off the microphone very quickly is the best way to avoid blowing speakers, ears, or the recording!
  • Great speaker, very understandable. No question was beneath him to answer. Great content. Been working in SQL for 2.5 years and learned a few tips! Would definitely go to another class taught by him.
  • A lot of good info for jr. DBA level people or developers. Developers don't always understand what a DBA does or why they are busy. This presentation helpsmake things more clear.
  • Learned several things about management studio that I didn't know about
  • Great tips! It was hard to take notes so I’m hoping the website you provided does a good job at detailing them. I like how you showed us things we can use at our jobs tomorrow.
  • These are the things I come to Pass for. Sessions like this make it worthwhile!
  • I liked it. I have used ssms for many years and i didn’t know much of these tricks
  • Bob was excellent
  • Very pleased with content and delivery.
  • For me this was a hugely useful session with tons of knowledge I can immediately use in my day to day work. Probably the most useful session in my four times at PASS
  • Bob had a great demeanor and kept everyone engaged and provided many examples of tips and tricks. He also was very organized which kept the demo portion moving smoothly.
  • This was the most useful/practical session I attended. Sometimes it's the simple tips and tricks which provide the most benefit. Now on to putting them into practice. Thanks for sharing. The session was easy to follow. A lot was taken away. Thanks!

Select Stars: A SQL DBA's Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB

The second session I delivered was an introduction to Azure Cosmos DB, co-presented with David Klee. 79 people attended and 17 filled out evaluations.

Evaluation Questions (5 is best, 1 is worst)

  • Rate the value of the session content: 4.76
  • How useful and relevant is the session content to your job/career?: 4.18
    I get it, Cosmos DB isn't relevant to a lot of people's jobs, YET. But I think it will be soon, and it's definitely worth understanding the basics of.
  • How well did the session’s track, audience, title, abstract, and level align with what was presented?: 4.82
  • Rate the speaker’s knowledge of the subject matter: 4.82
  • Rate the overall presentation and delivery of the session content: 4.71
  • Rate the balance of educational content versus that of sales, marketing, and promotional subject matter: 4.88

Comments (negative)

  • room was too warm
    Again with the temperature. Sorry to say there's no way to please everyone.

Comments (positive)

  • Thank you for the very good session! This was a lot of information but presented in a very logical approach and easy to digest. Good time management too.
  • Good introduction to cosmos db. Presented in an engaging manner
  • This was a wonderful 101 presentation that gave the bare bones of ComosDB. I even loved the partitioning example.
  • Very good session, speakers maintained a good pace and let enough room for questions. The table of contents was solid, good buildup with enough level of detail.
  • Really good session for me on how Cosmos is setup and good guidance on the part I need, getting data out. The .net code has helped get me rolling on that front which made the session worthwhile out of the gate at work. Thorough explanations and good demos. Thanks
  • excellent insight into Cosmos DB infrastructure and capabilities

All in all, I am extremely happy with how both of my sessions went, and with the feedback I received! I really couldn't have asked for my sessions to go any better this year. Hopefully, if I am selected to present again, I can make my future audiences just as happy!