The resources from this session are now available.

Session 1.

Become a SQL Pro who’s in High Demand.

Speaker(s): Wylie Blanchard.

Track: Professional Development.

Expertise in SQL is an in-demand IT skill. As demand continues to grow, so does the increase of SQL professionals entering your specific industry. Learn what’s needed to ensure that you become a stronger technology authority in your industry and a SQL Pro who’s always in High Demand.  You’ll learn how to invest in growing your expertise, improve your social/people skills, how to effectively sell and market your talent, what is a “source of truth” and why is it extremely important and more.

Session resources and photos are now available.

EVENT UPDATE Mar 23 2019: A speaking slot became available at the last minute, giving me the opportunity to present on another topic. I decided to keep the focus on career enhancement by sharing ways to position yourself as the candidate of choice during the interview process.

Session 2.

You’re hired! Creating value before and after the interview to before and after the interview.

Speaker(s): Wylie Blanchard.

Track: Professional Development.

Landing a gig as an employee, consultant or contractor has become highly competitive. You need to differentiate yourself in a way that tells the hiring manager that you are more valuable than everyone else. In this session, I’ll share 3 things that I’ve learned from my experience as an employee, hiring manager and consultant that will help you market your expertise, create new opportunities and get them saying “you’re hired”.

Session resources and photos are now available.

SQLSaturday is a training event for Microsoft Data Platform professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Analytics. This event will be held on Mar 23, 2019, at Benedictine University, 5700 College Rd, Lisle, Illinois, 60532, United States.

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Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

EVENT UPDATE: The SQL Chicago community is always the best. I had a full house for this session and the audience participation was amazing. Feedback from the audience was that they enjoyed the discussion portion on scaling degrees and certifications to maximize the return on their investment. I didn’t originally plan to share my views on scalability but I’ll definitely include it in my next session on this topic.

Notable Sessions: Here are two sessions that I attended that were great in both content and delivery.

• Henry Treftz’s (t) “Why Third Party Vendors Do The Things They Do,” which gave us an inside look at why ISV’s design their technology in ways that can sometimes make the end user ask, “Why did they do that”. Henry shares the pros and cons to ISV design.
• Ed Leighton-Dick’s (t, l, b) “How to Keep Your Databases Secure in Just Minutes a Day,” because we all need to learn more about database security. Ed is the go-to resource for helping us keep our DB secure.

Follow Up:

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.wylieblanchard.com/wp-content/uploads/Become-a-SQL-Pro-who’s-in-High-Demand_SQL-Saturday-719_Chicago-2018_-Benedictine-University_Wylie-Blanchard.pdf” title=”Become a SQL Pro who’s in High Demand_SQL Saturday 719_Chicago 2018_ Benedictine University_Wylie Blanchard”]

Download: Presentation Slides

Cool slide deck, nice presentation and organization of content as well as an awesome story to be telling others at UGs and SQL Saturdays. Thanks for paying it forward!

— Tim Radney (@tradney) March 19, 2018

SQLSaturday is a training event for Microsoft Data Platform professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Analytics. This event was be held on Mar 17, 2018, at Benedictine University, 5700 College Rd, Lisle, Illinois, 60532, United States.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

Why? Two reasons.

1. Video recording your presentation offers three ways to get constructive feedback ↓
2. Video recording your presentation offers three forms of content creation ↓

T-SQL Tuesday is the monthly blog party started by Adam Machanic (blog | twitter).

For T-SQL Tuesday #84, Andy Yun (blog | twitter) is encouraging experienced speakers to post something to help grow new speakers. Here’s my take on the subject.

Video recording your presentation offers three ways to get constructive feedback.

1. Watch & listen to the original video to learn: “What happened and to get a general feel for how well you delivered your message/content”.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Were you able to make a connection with the audience?
• Was the audience responsive and engaged? What specifically kept the audience engaged or detracted from their engagement?
• Did you involve the audience?
• Did you use humor and/or stories?

2. Listen to the audio (without video) to learn: “How your voice sounds, what you stated and what noises you made”.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Was their variety in your pitch, pace and volume? How did this support or detract from your delivery?
• Were your words clear, to the point and appropriate?
• What were the vocal reactions from the audience vocal reactions from the audience to your stories and/or jokes?

3. Watch the video (without audio) to learn: “How you used your body and the stage”.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Did you maximize the use of the entire platform area or stand in one location?  How did this enhance or detract from your delivery?
• Were you visible to the audience or were you hidden behind something like a podium or computer screen?
• How did you utilize your hands and did the use of your hands support or detract from your delivery?

Ready to take it one step further. Keep reading.

Video recording your presentation offers three forms of content creation.

1. Vlog: Video Blogging.

Sometimes people don’t feel like reading an article. In those instances having a video is a great alternative. If you really like the video from your speech then you can upload it to your website/blog as a new form of content to showcase your topic and your excellent platform skills. Alternatively, you can upload it to your favorite video hosting website like YouTube or Vimeo and then embed the video into your website/blog.

2. Podcast: Podcasting.

People like to consume information while they’re on the move – at the gym, on the train, driving, etc. In those instances listening to your podcast is a great option. Utilizing your video recorded presentation, you can easily extract the audio from the video and “BAM” you have a podcast episode. There are a lot of free and paid tools that will aid you in extracting the audio from the video. Next, you can upload the audio file to your site or upload it to your favorite podcast hosting website like iTunes, Libsyn and SoundCloud – then embed it in your website/blog.

3. Blog: Blogging.

Written text is probably the most widely used medium on the web. Get your video recorded presentation transcribed and now “DOUBLE BAM” you can use the transcribed text (or a portion of the text) as content for your blog post. Again there are free and paid options for transcribing the text in your video into a downloadable file.  Alternatively, some of the video hosting sites will transcribe the text of your video for you. All you have to do is download the transcribed text, edit it and then post it to your site. Currently, YouTube has options for automatically transcribing the text of your YouTube video.

As you continue to speak to audiences, video record each speech/presentation and follow the advice above, you’ll quickly find that your skills as a technical speaker are rapidly improving and your web content is quickly growing.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....