A Transition from 2012 to 2013

Last year was a year of transformation for me.  I decided to get more involved and got hooked on the feeling.  It started innocently enough, I volunteered to help with SQL Saturday in Columbus.  It didn’t take much at all.  I checked the checkbox when I registered that I wanted to be a volunteer.  One thing lead to another until it was Saturday morning and I ended up helping at the registration desk for the event.  It didn’t seem like a big step at the time.  However, by the end of the year I would realize that change begins with these smallest steps.

I am a self described introvert.  Anyone who knows me would use the word shy to describe me.

This leads me to my next small step of 2012.  The Ohio North SQL Server User Group was planning to have a SQL Saturday in Cleveland.  After my experience in Columbus, I knew I had to get more involved in helping with the event.  So I volunteered and went to the planning meetings for the event.  Also, there was a call for speakers for the event.  Allen White (blog | @SQLRunr ) in the President of the Ohio North SQL User Group and anyone who has ever heard him speaks knows that he always says, “Each and every one of you have something that you can share…”.  Based on this I decided to submit an abstract on Master Data.  It was a topic of interest to me and I thought others would be interested in it also.

Even though I was not select to speak at the Cleveland SQL Saturday.  The team asked if I would give my presentation at the user group meeting that month.  Well the user group meeting approached and I had my slide deck ready to present.  My heart was beating and my palms were sweaty.  I can tell you now it does not matter if it is 20 or 40 people.  For myself personally, the fear is the same. In the end, my slide deck was short and topic needed to be reworked.  However, I survived and I learned from the experience.

Well the day came for the Cleveland SQL Saturday.  Due to a small glitches of planning the facility I ended up playing Carlton the door man for a few hours.  It didn’t matter I still had an amazing time.  What made it amazing was that I was part of something that was helping others.  Those I spoke to during the event was having fun and becoming revitalized by learning about SQL Server.

These small steps help me to also help and present at the Akron Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professional’s chapter meeting and SQL Saturdays in Pittsburgh and Washington DC.  In addition, I will be sitting on the Board of Directors for the Akron Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals.

As I look to 2013 I look to get more involved to help others in the IT community.  I am currently planning on either helping or presenting at 6 SQL Saturday in 2013.  The Akron Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals are celebrating their 60th anniversary and will be helping to celebrate and grow the group.  Finally, I will post more here.  My goal will be to post one new post every other week.

Happy New Year from my family to yours.