Thursday, January 30, 2014

[Presenting] Changing session title - what should I call my EN presentation?

So, SQL Saturday #271 (Albuquerque 2014) is over.  It was a blast.  We got to drive through Amarillo, see the Cadillac Ranch, get our Kicks On Route 66, etc, etc.  The venue was awesome, they treated us like kings, and it looked like a good turnout. 

I felt I did pretty good on my presentation, though there are a few things I need to tweak.

Interesting, though, while everybody who went loved it, it looks like a decent number of people didn't come because of the title.  My current title is (take deep breath):
"Master of All I Survey - track code changes and more across your environment".


Part of the reason for that overly-grandiose title was because, while I am definitely the target audience for the presentation, I didn't see either of the 2 times it was presented at PASS - and I was at both!  But since my title isn't working either, what should I change it to?

Here are the titles of the other two events
  • "Auditing Events in SQL Server 2005" (PASS 2005)
  • "Using Event Notifications in SQL Server 2005/2008"  (PASS 2011)

The abstracts (and presentations) are both great - but IMHO the titles could be stronger. I saw "auditing events" and said "I don't do auditing"; for "Using Event Notifications" thought "not familiar with those, not sure what it is, read abstract later".


I found some others online:
Monitoring and Recording DDL changes on SQL 2005 (NARC)
Auditing DDL Changes in SQL Server databases


Current ideas.
Evil Overlord - know when your minions are changing SQL code/tables/etc in production
Who changed that code? Finding production changes in real-time using Event Notifications.
Real Time Spy - being proactive by knowing when code changes in production
DB_Ops Evolved - Be the Proactive Hero by knowing when things change!
DB_Ops Evolved - be proactive by knowing when DDL changes occur

The question becomes - what do I focus on?  I thought I did pretty good - catchy bit, then tells you what it does (track code changes) and that it focused on multiple machines. 

What else could I focus on? 
  • Real-time - I really think this is an big benefit over the other trace methods.
  • Trace Events like Failed Logins, ERRORLOG, Deadlocks, etc
  • Being Proactive  
  • SOX-type stuff - failed logins, code changes, etc.
 I'm working on a couple presentations under the Aegis of "DB_Ops Evolved" to introduce advanced concepts and a healthy respect for the engine), hence that last title.

I'm wide fricking open, here.  And at a loss. 

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