After the amazing experience speaking and attending Data Grillen, this event came quite quickly. Run by Daniel Hutmacher and his amazing wife Ewa, it’s the yearly get together of data people in Stockholm
This year the event was extra special for me as I was in a co-presenter role. Together with Valerie Junk, we submitted a session on data literacy and got accepted!
Preparation and speaker dinner
During Data Grillen, I met with Valerie and we did some preparation for the session. Nothing more than running through the slides, getting the main thread of the session and sort of agreeing on who does what. Whilst waiting at Schiphol the next week, we revised a little more and decided we were ready. This may sound like we weren’t taking things seriously but the opposite is true. The main goal of the session is to have some sort of conversation and that doesn’t work when you rehearse to the point it becomes a stage play.
After a boring trip (those are the best) to Stockholm, there was a small meetup with speakers at the water front where the fun began. After this, all the speaker who were able to attend the speaker dinner assembled at the dock and we went on a very entertaining boat ride. The dinner itself served a lot of foods I wouldn’t have selected up front but it all worked and tasted excellent. A lot of fun was had and some very nice conversations were made. These are the best moments to get to know new people, catch up with those you haven’t seen in a while and generally have a lot of fun.
Conference day
The full conference day started at eight as I was part of a group of volunteers helping out at reception. Again a great way to meet people, start their day with a smile and support the organizers who are busy enough as it is. It’s a small step to take as an attendee or speaker to help out an hour or two but it can be a huge relief for the people running (sometimes literally) the event. The new location is amazing, Telia has an entire floor that we could use and their tech team came checking in at every session to see if everything was working fine. They took us seriously and as a presenter, that makes life so much easier and less stressful.
The session Valerie and I presented went very well, we had a lot of fun, ran out of time and learned a lot from each other. As it was a sort of try out, we were actively reaching out to get feedback and we got that. The event feedback needs to come in but from talking to people we got some very valuable insights into what worked and what didn’t. You know who you are and we can’t thank you enough for your insights and honest, actionable feedback.
After lunch, I decided to visit a session I had wanted to see for a long time, hacking and hacking mitigation by Sander Stad. It’s a very entertaining and yet frightening session into how your SQL Server can be hacked. Some techniques don’t work on Azure Sql but don’t think you’re safe from all attacks just because you’re in the cloud. If you get the chance, visit this one and maybe change a thing or two.
After event
After the raffle it was time to enjoy the after event, sponsored by B3 consulting. On the rooftop of the mall next to the conference building there was a real fun get-together with food and drinks, laughs and stories. The perfect end to a perfect day.
I decided to get back to the hotel a little after eight in the evening. My (social) battery was running out, even though it lasted longer because of being outside. That apparently makes a difference for me. Writing this at Arlande airport at eight in the morning, I am slightly questioning my personal ability to book flights as Daniel was offering a nice walk through the city.
In any case, it was a very worthwhile experience and if you have the opportunity, this is a very good conference to visit. But please remember that when you sign up, go there as well. Organizers spend quite some time and money on preparation and food for you and not showing up is a waste of resources.
Next up: Data Saturday Rheinland in Bonn, Germany. see you there?!
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