My experience helping at SQLBits 2024 in Farnborough
Table of Contents
Introduction
This is the fourth time I have helped at SQLBits. I really enjoy being part of Team Orange and contributing to the running of a fantastic conference. Here is my account of SQLBits 2024. I thought I would give you some insight into my experience each day and also of some of the duties we need to carry out. I also tracked my steps to give you an idea of how much walking I did each day. Bear in mind that you are not expected to be busy all day, and accommodations are made for anyone who isn’t able to be on their feet all day.
Pre SQLBits
Workshop
In the weeks leading up to the event, we are asked to attend a workshop to explain more about the app we need to use and run through the protocol for the event. This is mostly for the benefit of newcomers, but we all need to attend. The session is run 3 times to give everyone a few choices.
If you are a new volunteer, you will likely start off with being asked to help on the latter days of the event, only after moderating at an event are you likely to be offered to moderate the training days / 100 minute days.
Planning our week
The week before the event, the agenda is opened for us to pick which sessions we want to moderate. We are asked to moderate no more than 2 sessions on the 100 minute day and 4 sessions on the other days. This is pretty cool on SQLBits’ part, as it leaves us lots of downtime to either attend sessions we want to see, or just chill out.
I had arranged accommodation for the event with a fellow helper and I do not have to pay to attend the event in return for helping which is a really nice bonus.
Packing
We are supplied with a t-shirt for each day we are helping, and so I mostly need to worry about clothes for the evening, my tech equipment, and my kit for the SQL Run!! Amongst other essentials, three things I try to not go without. Most important is a pair or two of Skecher GO Walks* as they are super comfy and I will be on my feet a lot. With long days, lots of walking and fluctuating air conditioning, I find myself getting really dehydrated, so I bring a pack of HIGH5 ZERO Electrolyte Tablets*. I take these before and after running to help me stay hydrated, I will take these before and after Bits each day. Finally, I have a pair of Loop Engage Earplugs*. I have some sort of auditory processing issue where loud noises / speaking in my vicinity can distract my concentration to the point where I struggle to talk or hear what someone else is saying. These earplugs were recommended to me by Steph Locke and they seem to help by just lowering the sound levels ever so slightly. Annoyingly, I forgot them this time dammit!!
Tuesday
I wasn’t able to attend the training day this year. Although it is the first day and everything is getting started, I feel like it is a bit more relaxed because there tends to be less people, and folks are just return to the same room to continue the same session. I expect it is more frantic for the organisers with the rush to get things started, but as a helper, first day is a bit more relaxed in my experience.
Wednesday
Step count by 18:00: ~6500.
The Huddle
We have a speaker huddle at 7:30 just to run through any things we need to be aware of about the premises, the runtime, any teething problems from the previous day, and any key events occurring on the current day. I am given my 4 t-shirts and a helpers pack. Once the huddle is over, some people will be asked to station at the front desk, some will be asked to station at community corner, mostly it is just time for breakfast and catching up with my fellow helpers after being given a tour of the building to get my bearings. We have a helper room where we can keep our stuff which is good as I have running gear with me for the run in the evening.
The day begins
I started the day helping out two new helpers at Wolfgang Strasser’s “Navigating Data Governance in Microsoft Fabric and Purview”. The team try to ensure new helpers are paired with an experienced helper, but two new helpers managed to pair themselves up. I was going to their session anyway and so I offered to give them some help save them not being able to attend the session they picked.
My first moderating session was at 11:10, moderating for Sue Bayes’ talk “Soaring Through Data: An Intro to Python for Data Analysis” which talked through analysing Garmin data, Sue is a very rigid time keeper so this session was super easy to moderate.
Taking a break
I did attend the first half of Paul Andrew’s session “An Engineers Guide To Realtime Data Handling And Analytics” but I was lagging a little by then and so I watched the second half of Paul’s session from the bean bags in the Expo Room. There is a QR code to hook up to the talk’s audio, I was able to chuck on my headphones and watch a giant stream of Paul’s talk overhead. Amazing!
Wrap up then run
I ended the day by moderating “Delta and Databricks vs SQL Server” presented by Annette Allen, Anna Wykes and James Yarrow. The SQLBits run was straight after this talk so after a rapid clean up of the room, and a change of clothes, I was off to the run. Back to the apartment for a shower and onto the board games night where I caught up with some old friends, and made some new ones.
Thursday
Step count by 18:00: ~7500.
All hands on deck for the Keynote
We have a 7:30 start again, recapping any issues from the previous day and highlighting any new ones. Today is Keynote day and so everyone is needed to be on hand to usher everyone into the room and be seated as quickly as possible. This is probably the most critical part of our entire time, as we need to get everyone (and it really is everyone as this is the only session running!) into the room and seated fast so that the Keynote can start on time and (hopefully) not overrun. People tend to want to leave gaps when seating but we cannot accommodate that in this session as it is going to be full, so all the helpers are stationed between banks of chairs to direct people into rows and ensure no seat gets left empty. Once the Keynote is finished, we also need to get everybody out of the room again so that it can be quickly converted back to two rooms for the next sessions!
Thursday morning sessions
After the Keynote, I attended these sessions:
- “Microsoft Fabric. Adoption, adoption, adoption: What gets measured, gets done” by David Alzamendi
- I moderated at “You Can’t Govern Data You Don’t Understand” by Joseph D’Antoni
- “Analytics Architectures on Microsoft Fabric” presented by Freddie Santos and Bradley Schacht
Thursday afternoon sessions
In the afternoon block, I attended the following sessions:
- I moderated at “How I Deal with Depression” presented by Eugene Meidinger
- “A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Data-Driven Culture in Your Business Using Power BI” by Gethyn Ellis
- I moderated at “What’s new on the Power BI Roadmap” by Mohammad Ali and Rui Romano
- I kind of moderated at “Nose-Dive Narratives: Slide Karaoke 2024” by Simon Whiteley
I took a short break to catch up with Gethyn, we went and sat in the community corner for a bit and chatted about Daffodils and Dragons. I say I kind of moderated the Nose-Dive narratives because this was compèred by Simon Whiteley and it had a life of its own. This was an amazing session, and you really need to dig it out when the recordings are available.
Data Toboggan and Pub Quiz
After the sessions wrapped up for the day, I attended the Data Toboggan user group, which was a Q&A session with various speakers.
I then went to the curry night and pub quiz, we didn’t win, but we had a good time!
Friday
Step count by 18:00: ~7000.
Friday morning Sessions
I attended the following sessions:
- “Workflows of Highly Functional App & Data Engineering Teams” by Jerry Nixon
- I moderated “Scanning the skies above SQLBits - Realtime streaming of flight data with Microsoft Fabric” by James Dales
- “Flight of Innovation” by Ben Weissman
- I moderated “Fabric Product Group - Ask us Anything” by Mark Pryce-Maher
Friday break
After that I decided to take a break from sessions. I was feeling a little tired after back to back days and I haven’t been sleeping all that well in the apartment. I spent some time near the inclusive corner, where I got to meet two wonderful guide dogs in training. I also spent some time chatting with the sponsors and catching up with some friends.
Friday afternoon sessions
A few more sessions before the day was over:
- I moderated “Fabric Power Hour” with Lars Andersen, Mark Pryce-Maher, Devang Shah and Scott Stauffer.
- “Augmenting Power BI Adoption with Center of Excellence team” by Syangprova Sinha
- I moderated “Better ETL with Managed Airflow in ADF” by Niall Langley
Helpers to the rescue
Today epitomised the helper experience for me. I was moderating the Power Hour with Richard Swinbank. It was clear that we were going to have a VERY big session and lots of people were queueing outside. The Power Hour has a LOT going on with many speakers to oversee and a very large audience, and Richard and I were up against it.
I jumped on slack to ask whether anyone would be able to help us out and within minutes there were 5-6 more helpers in the room guiding people in and making sure we had every seat filled. Outside of the Keynotes, this was far and away the largest audience with almost 300 people in the room and not a single seat to spare, people sat on the floor and people watching from the wings! It really is awesome to be part of a team that can pull together like that.
Party night
After the sessions, it is party night, a chance to unwind.
Saturday
Step count by 18:00: ~7500.
Mugs
Our final day! After our 7:30 huddle, I manned the mug stand in community corner with Richard Munn until 9:00 between grabbing some breakfast.
Saturday morning sessions
- I attended “The data runway: Soaring to New Heights with Fabric Data Activator” by Denis Selimovic
- I then took a break to prep for my talk because yeah I was speaking at SQLBits! You can read about that in a separate post coming soon.
- 11:30 I gave my talk with Anna-Maria Wykes on “How to Run Code Clubs for Neurodiverse Children”.
- 12:00 was the community keynote “Impactful Journeys in the Data Platform Community and inspiration for you” hosted by Rob Sewell and Ben Weissman.
Downtime
I took some time out over lunch to catch up with some friends and sponsors.
Saturday afternoon sessions
- There was only standing room for Cathrine Wilhelmsen’s “Choosing between Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure Data Factory”.
- I moderated “The What and the Why of Microsoft Fabric Real-time Analytics” by Devang Shah. We had a last minute issue with Devang’s laptop, it would not present! Devang was able to present the session via Microsoft Teams on a colleague’s laptop!
- I moderate “A Deep Dive into Analytics Delivery Behind one of the Largest North American Banking Acquisitions” by Rodrigo Lemmi.
- I attended “A Deep Dive into Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse” where Luke Maloney and Mark Pryce-Maher
Closing
And with that, SQLBits 2024 was over! We all returned to the main expo hall where prizes were awarded by sponsors and also for the helpers. Had a great time once again. No one does it quite like SQLBits!
Post SQLBits
I was totally exhausted on Sunday, it really was just a day of rest and relaxation with our dog Maple who had been missing me lots by all accounts.
During the coming weeks, Bits will reach out to us for feedback to improve on things in future events. We have had some improvements to the helper experience this year, a new app which means less moving parts and whilst there were some teething issues there has been some great work done to improve the helper experience over last year.
Get involved
So that is my SQLBits experience. I really enjoy helping out at SQLBits and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in contributing to the event in future. It is a great way to meet new people, learn new things and be part of a fantastic community. If you are interested in helping out at SQLBits, you can sign up on the SQLBits site.
More reading
Some other blogs from the SQL Bits helpers…
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