At the end of last year I vowed to get back into speaking. I’m in a great place in my new job and have had some time to do some training I wanted to catch up on. And so, on a whim, I submitted a session to SQLBits 2023 (yes on the last day, don’t judge). For those not in the know, SQLBits is one of the largest data conferences in the WORLD (don’t believe me? Look at the stats on the website!). It’s also in Newport, Wales. And I’m not…

Traveling is not always an option with small kids and my husband’s schedule, but I noticed that the organizers were accepting a small number of remote sessions. Even better, you had the option to change to in-person if your situation changed. Thus the “I don’t know right now if I can travel to Wales at that time” excuse was eliminated.

Then came the theme. Having organized a fair bit of SQL events in Atlanta years ago, we always went big on the theme. My inner geek LOVES a good themed event! Can you guess what the theme is for SQLBits this year?

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS.

IN WALES. (My kids actually have tiny red dragons from our friends that were living in Wales for a bit.) That settled it, I was going to submit: if only for the small chance that I would be able to do something – I have no idea what – along the lines of a D&D theme. So on the last day, probably the last hour, I went ahead and submitted a session.

AND IT WAS ACCEPTED. Hoolllly Guacamollllllle.

The official title: Migrating data solutions to the cloud – a checklist.

Session Summary: So you’re the data person in your company and you need to look to the sky. Maybe you’ve been wanting to do it for a while, maybe it’s a mandate coming from the top. What are the steps you need to think about? Where do you even start? What are the risks? How can you begin to wrap your head around all the different things you have to coordinate? Companies don’t just need the IDEA that they should move to cloud, but a guide on how-to-do it. This session will not only give you that guide to get you going, but a foundation to take to your bosses to show just how awesome you really are.

Put aside I was actually shocked, I’ll admit to getting a little teary-eyed. I’m incredibly honored to be speaking among many of my idols and droves of speaker friends that I admire. Like blown away honored. TBH, I’m was a little disappointed that I’d have to miss other sessions that are playing at the same time. Fortunately the sessions are recorded, so I’ll still be able to catch them at other times.

If you are interested in attending my session , it’s on Saturday March 18th (the free day!!!) at 8:40 AM CDT (that’s 1:40 PM Newport time). I’m super happy (for many reasons) to be presenting on Saturday – but the conference itself is from March 14th – March 18th: 5 whole days of data goodness with a side of D&D theme. (I went ahead a bought a basic D&D kit for Christmas to indoctrinate my littles.) The last day is free, but I will be attending virtually for multiple days because this conference really is filled with a lot of incredible training opportunities.

On that note, GO REGISTER. The Early bird pricing ends on the 13th. For the cynics among you, I do not get anything for you registering except the warm and fuzzy feeling that I’m helping the community. Here – I’ll even put a convenient copy/paste link for you: https://events.sqlbits.com/2023/pricing. For those of us that can’t attend in person, there is a virtual option at a 30% discounted price.

Well, that’s all I wanted to announce. I’m officially presenting for a major international conference. Little ole me. (Special thanks to New Stars of Data and others for getting me started – more on that later.) Hope to see you there on the screen or in some of the community portals. Or maybe even in-person with a little magic.