I’ve just returned from Lingen, Germany after the DataGrillen event. This year, I wasn’t only attending (which you should do as it is one of the best events) but for the first time, I was also selected as a speaker.
Speaker dinner
The evening before the event, there was the speaker dinner. It was a lot of fun but also a lot of people who are able to make a LOT of noise. I heard someone say that we were audible across the main square in Lingen. I really felt this the next day but can only look sternly at myself for forgetting my earplugs to somewhat limit the noise. The atmosphere was excellent, the food very good and the conversations really fun.
Event
This feeling remained during the event. When I woke up and went for breakfast, I assumed to be able to get that done quickly and prepare for the first day. In the end, it took me about 90 minutes. To many fun conversations, meeting new people and just having fun. After a 5 minute walk to the event location it was again a tsunami of friendly faces. Some familiar, some new but all in the same mindset of being excellent towards each other.
After the keynote, I had to do some work because I’m human and are still unable to work without making small mistakes. And sometimes computers say no. But around lunch I decided it was enough for the that moment and I wanted to get into lunch and some sessions.
The best session I watched that day was by Thomas Kronawitter on talent shortage in analytics. In this session he showed the impossible job adverts (looking for one person but actually looking for a team of people) and the challenges that come with that. Thomas showed some simple solutions to fixing that and then went into a very important topic; micro aggression. It’s something that might go unnoticed by most people and is something we need to be more aware of. The topic was well introduced and handled with the appropriate care. Thomas’ session is one that deserves much more attention and I really hope it gets selected at more events as it opened my eyes.
I heard multiple people claiming it as the best session they saw that day, and rightfully so.
After spending some time in the hallway track with both sponsors and other attendees just getting to know each other (more) it was time for the grillen part. Lovely food, nice beers and excellent company. Nothing more I could ask for. To make something very clear, there were both vegetarian options provided (I didn’t ask about vegan so I don’t know about that) and the beer is fully optional. There is 0 pressure to do anything, the event aims at making sure people will have a good time.
After the grillen part, I went back to my hotel room to prepare a bit for the next day (my session was planned at 11) and I had to finish some work.
The next day I started with a lengthy breakfast again and attended a fun session by my former mentor Jess Pomfret and wonderful data friend Claudio Silva. They created a session on DBA Tools in a wheel of fortune style which made it fun, unpredictable and with that a great way to start the day. I followed up with a session from Karim Ourtami on Git branching and then it was time for my own session.
It was the first time I was presenting from my MacBook which gave a few challenges. One of them having cloned wrong repositories for my demos and slide deck. Stupid me for not checking fully. Alexander Arvidsson was kind enough to remind me that my VS Code should be in the light mode, not dark mode, for the audience. Thank you again, and it something to remember; dark mode is excellent if you’re programming but not so excellent when presenting. After the first 10-15 minutes where I had lot of fun and interaction with the audience, the fire alarm went off. From previous experiences I had learned to stay calm. Keep going until the ‘authorities’ tell you to get a move on. It took about 2 minutes for Ben Weissman to come in and tell us to go outside and wait for further instructions. We did and fortunately, it was a ‘just’ someone smoking where it wasn’t allowed and nothing more serious.
I had to pick up the session again which was a totally different experience. I do hope people still liked it.
After lunch I took some time to relax and then went to the next best session of the day; burnout tales from the field by Monica Rathbun and John Morehouse. They were both very open about their experiences and most of the people in the audience recognized too much. Because, yes we’re all overworked, find it very hard to say no, think we can fix this in 5 minutes and prioritise work over free time. I know I do. I’m a workaholic and I just love the things I do (well, most of them anyway). But as the presenters tried to get across, we have the right or even obligation to say no. We’re not machines that are active 24/7. We have limited time in our lives and we shouldn’t just spend that all at work or our company.
Writing this down is easy, acting upon it is much harder. I know I have problems in this area even though my company supports me where it can.
After this session, I was done for the day and just needed fresh air. Again having chats with friendly faces and asking for some advice. Which I got.
Then there was the raffle and then, for me, time to drive back home. A short drive and then cuddles with wife and kid, the people I work for.
Last thoughts
As usual, DataGrillen proved to be an amazing event. This time for me the focus was a bit less on the tech and more on the human/non-tech part. I really want to do a big shout-out to both William Durkin and Ben Weissman for creating a diverse schedule, a welcoming atmosphere and doing their utmost for making sure every person can have a great time. These two lead by example and create a breeding ground where we can all grow from but also help others to grow. I can only hope that there will be an event in the future.
Oh, if you were there and have feedback for either sessions or the event as a whole, please go to https://evals.datagrillen.com.
Thanks for reading!
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