Jekyll2023-04-18T08:56:04+00:00https://blog.datasaturdays.com/atom.xmlData Saturdays Blog{"name"=>nil, "twitter"=>nil, "picture"=>nil}My thoughts on diversity in tech conferences2021-06-23T00:00:00+00:002021-06-23T00:00:00+00:00https://blog.datasaturdays.com/community/2021/06/23/thoughts-on-diversity-in-conferences<p>This blog was syndicated from <a href="https://sqlgene.com">sqlgene.com</a></p>
<h1 id="my-thoughts-on-diversity-in-tech-conferences">My thoughts on diversity in tech conferences</h1>
<p>Today there has been some discussion on Twitter about diversity in tech conferences. I’m not going to link to the discussion directly, because this isn’t about the specific conference that spurred the conversation. I’m not here to name and shame anyone.</p>
<p>I volunteered for 3 years as program manager for PASS Summit, so I will be speaking from experience. I have written before that <a href="https://www.sqlgene.com/2019/10/08/what-convinced-me-that-diversity-is-important/">diversity is important</a>, and I think the bar for that is raising for tech conferences. So where should that bar be?</p>
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<h2 id="what-is-your-target-goal">What is your target goal?</h2>
<p>First, I think every single tech conference needs some kind of target goal for diversity. It doesn’t have to be a a hard numerical goal and it doesn’t have to be a quota, but diversity should be somewhere in the thought process, every step along the way. If you are not intentional about this, you will trend towards the default, which is a very homogenous speaker pool.</p>
<p>So what kinds of goals are there? In my mind I see 4 easily defined ones:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>No goal</strong>. No consideration given to diversity. This is <em><strong>unacceptable</strong></em> in 2021.</li>
<li><strong>Attendee demographics</strong>. Aiming for parity with the diversity of your audience</li>
<li><strong>Speaker demographics</strong>. Aiming for parity with your speaker pool</li>
<li><strong>Regional/Global demographics</strong>. Aiming for parity with the general population.
I personally believe the bar today should be set at #2 & #3, whichever is more difficult. In my experience, there are concrete steps you can do to improve the diversity of your speaker pool, such as encouraging folks to submit, or setting aside a certain number of invitation slots. If the your selected speakers aren’t at least as representative as your submitted speakers, then you aren’t trying hard enough.</li>
</ol>
<p>When I was working on PASS Summit, diversity was a secondary concern, but it was a consistent one, <strong>and</strong> we took steps when there were issues. We didn’t have any hard targets, but if we felt there was an imbalance, we would go out of our way to juggle the schedule or intentionally invite speakers. There was plenty of room for improvement, however, especially with decisions outside of the selection process.</p>
<h2 id="where-does-diversity-matter-most">Where does diversity matter most?</h2>
<p>It is not enough to say that your total pool of selected speakers has diversity. Diversity is most important <strong>where there is an implied endorsement or there is money involved</strong>. You don’t get to shine a spotlight and then ignore your responsibility.</p>
<p>If a conference is placing emphasis on a subset of speakers, the bar for diversity is even higher there for two reasons. First, there is where a conference has the most <em>discretion</em>. It is much easier to get it right with a dozen speakers than a hundred. And if they are promoting a specific set of speakers, they have much more control over who they are promoting and why.</p>
<p>The other reason is any time you elevate a subset of speakers, you are making a statement, even if it’s an unintentional one. Let’s say that hypothetically your conference had 25% females speakers, but not a single female precon speaker. That would send a strong implied message, because precons are lucrative, highly coveted, and a strong endorsement of the speaker. These kinds of implied messages can be immensely discouraging.</p>
<p>For us at PASS, this applied to two areas main areas. First was the <strong>televised sessions</strong>, because these sessions had a broader reach and there was an implied endorsement of quality. It also applied to <strong>precon trainings</strong>. If folks saw the same old faces for precons, we would get roasted, and rightfully so. Lastly, it was also an issue in some of the marketing of the early invited speakers, and sometimes that presented a tension between marketing process and the selection process.</p>
<p>One other area where it matters are <strong>panels</strong>. In the year 2021, there is no reason to ever have an all male panel, ever, ever, ever. On a panel of 4-5 speakers, it does not take that much work to for you to find at least one female speaker. If you can’t, you should cancel the panel and look into the deeper issues with your selection process. Even if it is completely accidental, a “manel” comes across as lazy at best.</p>
<h2 id="what-can-conference-organizers-do">What can conference organizers do?</h2>
<p>Generally speaking, conference organizers have a wide variety of tools to improve diversity if they are willing to get creative and especially if they have a budget to work with. PASS was notoriously stingy, which forced us to depend on the former.</p>
<p>Ideally, it should start during the call for speakers. If the speaker pool seems lopsided, the conference organizers should be taking steps to encourage new and diverse speakers. Any conference integrated into the community is likely going to have connections that can amplify those messages. Even better, if a conference is willing to pay speakers, that opens up a much broader pool instead of the most privileged folks. In some cases, conferences can also set aside a certain number of slots for invited speakers and use those to improve diversity.</p>
<p>During the selection process, a lot of it comes down to mindfulness. A conference should be spot checking things all along the way, even better if they can get folks from outside the team to help. Again, having a certain number of reserved slots and being willing to invite and pay people can go a long way here.</p>
<p>Finally, there are indirect steps the conference can take. First, what are you doing to encourage new or low-profile speakers? Things like feedback on abstracts or speaker mentoring can increase the breadth of speakers available to you. As a new speaker in 2017, I <a href="https://www.sqlgene.com/2017/04/15/things-i-like-about-the-changes-to-pass-summit-submission-process/">felt discouraged</a> about submitting to big conferences and I’m sure under-represented folks feel the same way.</p>
<p>Additionally you can take steps like having a clear code of conduct, having sessions on diversity, and providing support for underrepresented groups. Signs that a conference is safe and fair to underrepresented groups will encourage more of those folks to submit.</p>
<h2 id="summary">Summary</h2>
<p>Improving diversity in a conference is hard work, and the average call for speakers is often an unbalanced starting point. However, conference organizers have a number of tools available to them, especially for large paid conferences.</p>
<p>In 2021, there is never an excuse for an all male panel, and any elevated subset of speakers, such as paid precon speakers, should come under heightened scrutiny. Every tech conference should at least be aiming to match the demographics of their submitted speakers and their attendees. To me these all feel like a reasonable starting point.</p>eugenemeidingerThis blog was syndicated from sqlgene.com My thoughts on diversity in tech conferences Today there has been some discussion on Twitter about diversity in tech conferences. I’m not going to link to the discussion directly, because this isn’t about the specific conference that spurred the conversation. I’m not here to name and shame anyone. I volunteered for 3 years as program manager for PASS Summit, so I will be speaking from experience. I have written before that diversity is important, and I think the bar for that is raising for tech conferences. So where should that bar be?Viewing GitHub Pages Locally2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:002021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00https://blog.datasaturdays.com/blog/community/data%20saturdays/2021/04/15/locally-viewing-github-pages-new-data-saturdays<p>This blog was syndicated from <a href="https://blog.robsewell.com">blog.robsewell.com</a></p>
<h1 id="data-saturdays-has-new-clothes">Data Saturdays Has New Clothes!</h1>
<p>The Data Saturdays Admins asked the community to vote on their favourite logo for the Data Saturdays website. After over 400 votes the results came in.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/datasaturdays/status/1380152923498352644"><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/newdatasaturdayclothes.jpg" alt="newclothes" /></a></p>
<p>Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting <a href="https://www.dcac.com/">https://www.dcac.com/</a> generously supported Data Saturdays and paid for the artist to design the logo and create the artifacts via <a href="https://99designs.com">99designs.com</a>. THANK YOU Denny and many thanks to Monica Rathbun <a href="https://twitter.com/SQLEspresso">twitter</a> - <a href="https://sqlespresso.com/">blog</a> for all of the hard work in organising and administering all of the requirements and handling all of the communication with the artists.</p>
<h1 id="now-we-have-to-update-the-web-site">Now we have to update the web-site</h1>
<p>The next challenge we face is to update the website. As the website is hosted on GitHub Pages using Jekyll, this means that we can easily update the website by updating the code and letting GitHub actions build the new site but we have no way of checking the way that it looks before we push the changes. With such a radical change required, I felt that it would be a good idea to explore how to do this locally.</p>
<h2 id="install-everything-you-need-locally">Install everything you need locally</h2>
<p>I examined the requirements to create a local development environment and this meant installing Jekyll and Ruby and a host of other things, there appeared to be a whole bundle of quirks and strange errors that may or may not need to be handled so I quickly went off that idea!!</p>
<h2 id="docker-to-the-rescue">Docker to the rescue</h2>
<p>This is a fantastic use case for using a Docker container. I can host all of the required bits inside a container, spin it up and down as I need it and I don’t have to worry about polluting my machine with software and settings or the pain of having to configure it to work.</p>
<p>Also, other people have already done a lot of the work so I dont have to.</p>
<p>I am running Docker in WSL2. I followed these <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2020/03/02/docker-in-wsl2">instructions</a> to set it up. It doesn’t take very long.</p>
<p>With thanks to Hans Kristian Flaatten <a href="https://github.com/Starefossen">GitHub</a> - <a href="https://twitter.com/Starefossen">Twitter</a> who has created <a href="https://github.com/Starefossen/docker-github-pages">this docker image</a> it is as easy as running this from the local directory of the site repository</p>
<div class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>docker run -it --rm -v "$PWD":/usr/src/app -p "4000:4000" starefossen/github-pages
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>If you are not using WSL but native Docker on Windows, then the command to run is slightly different</p>
<div class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>docker run -it --rm -v .:/usr/src/app -p "4000:4000" starefossen/github-pages
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>As soon as the container has started running and built the site I can see my changes locally in my browser at <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">http://localhost:4000/</code> There are a few warnings as it builds that can be ignored. These are due to the autoomatic dynamic page generation code.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/localdev.jpg"><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/localdev.jpg" alt="localdev" /></a></p>
<h1 id="develop-and-test">Develop and Test</h1>
<p>Now I can make changes to the code in the website and save the file and the site will update. In the below video, you can see that I have updated the favicon so that the new logo appears.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.robsewell.com/assets/uploads/2021/livedevelop.mp4">Video Link</a></p>
<p>I shall go back to editing the site now.</p>
<h1 id="a-little-feature-if-you-are-working-on-your-event-page">A little ‘Feature’ if you are working on your event page</h1>
<p>If you are following the wiki documentation to create or edit your event, you will find there is a little complication. When you click on yours or any event link on the front page it will take you to a page that starts <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">http://0.0.0.0:4000/</code> like <a href="http://0.0.0.0:4000/2021-04-17-datasaturday0005/">http://0.0.0.0:4000/2021-04-17-datasaturday0005/</a>. This will not work on a Windows machine so you will have to replace <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">0.0.0.0</code> in the address bar with <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">localhost</code></p>
<p><a href="https://blog.robsewell.com/assets/uploads/2021/0000.jpg"><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com/assets/uploads/2021/0000.jpg" alt="0000" /></a></p>
<p>and then it will work</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.robsewell.com/assets/uploads/2021/localhostworks.jpg"><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com/assets/uploads/2021/localhostworks.jpg" alt="localhostworks" /></a></p>
<h1 id="data-saturdays">Data Saturdays</h1>
<p>You can find the <a href="https://datasaturdays.com">Data Saturdays web-site here</a>. There is a list of all of the upcoming and past Data Saturdays events available.</p>Rob SewellThis blog was syndicated from blog.robsewell.com Data Saturdays Has New Clothes! The Data Saturdays Admins asked the community to vote on their favourite logo for the Data Saturdays website. After over 400 votes the results came in. Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting https://www.dcac.com/ generously supported Data Saturdays and paid for the artist to design the logo and create the artifacts via 99designs.com. THANK YOU Denny and many thanks to Monica Rathbun twitter - blog for all of the hard work in organising and administering all of the requirements and handling all of the communication with the artists. Now we have to update the web-site The next challenge we face is to update the website. As the website is hosted on GitHub Pages using Jekyll, this means that we can easily update the website by updating the code and letting GitHub actions build the new site but we have no way of checking the way that it looks before we push the changes. With such a radical change required, I felt that it would be a good idea to explore how to do this locally. Install everything you need locally I examined the requirements to create a local development environment and this meant installing Jekyll and Ruby and a host of other things, there appeared to be a whole bundle of quirks and strange errors that may or may not need to be handled so I quickly went off that idea!! Docker to the rescue This is a fantastic use case for using a Docker container. I can host all of the required bits inside a container, spin it up and down as I need it and I don’t have to worry about polluting my machine with software and settings or the pain of having to configure it to work. Also, other people have already done a lot of the work so I dont have to. I am running Docker in WSL2. I followed these instructions to set it up. It doesn’t take very long. With thanks to Hans Kristian Flaatten GitHub - Twitter who has created this docker image it is as easy as running this from the local directory of the site repository docker run -it --rm -v "$PWD":/usr/src/app -p "4000:4000" starefossen/github-pages If you are not using WSL but native Docker on Windows, then the command to run is slightly different docker run -it --rm -v .:/usr/src/app -p "4000:4000" starefossen/github-pages As soon as the container has started running and built the site I can see my changes locally in my browser at http://localhost:4000/ There are a few warnings as it builds that can be ignored. These are due to the autoomatic dynamic page generation code. Develop and Test Now I can make changes to the code in the website and save the file and the site will update. In the below video, you can see that I have updated the favicon so that the new logo appears. Video Link I shall go back to editing the site now. A little ‘Feature’ if you are working on your event page If you are following the wiki documentation to create or edit your event, you will find there is a little complication. When you click on yours or any event link on the front page it will take you to a page that starts http://0.0.0.0:4000/ like http://0.0.0.0:4000/2021-04-17-datasaturday0005/. This will not work on a Windows machine so you will have to replace 0.0.0.0 in the address bar with localhost and then it will work Data Saturdays You can find the Data Saturdays web-site here. There is a list of all of the upcoming and past Data Saturdays events available.Creating a New Data Saturdays event2021-03-18T00:00:00+00:002021-03-18T00:00:00+00:00https://blog.datasaturdays.com/blog/community/data%20saturdays/2021/03/18/creating-a-new-data-saturdays-event<p>This blog was syndicated from <a href="https://blog.robsewell.com">blog.robsewell.com</a></p>
<h1 id="creating-a-new-data-saturdays-event">Creating a New Data Saturdays Event</h1>
<p>There’s a new process to create a Data Saturdays Event page, so I thought I would write an explanation and a run through</p>
<h2 id="what-is-data-saturdays-">What is Data Saturdays ?</h2>
<p>Firstly, not everyone will know what a Data Saturday event is, so lets start with that. There are two parts to it.</p>
<p>A Data Saturday is an event that provides (usually free) training and information sessions about Azure Data and SQL Server. At present they are hosted online.</p>
<p>The Data Saturdays resource is an <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/datasaturdays">open-source repository</a> which enables event organisers to easily build a web presence as an entry point into their event. It integrates with other free event management solutions such as <a href="https://sessionize.com">Sessionize</a> enabling Call For Speakers, easily integrating the schedule, room links and speaker walls. The website is <a href="https://datasaturdays.com">https://datasaturdays.com</a></p>
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<p>Here is a screenshot of the first Data Saturday “in” Pordenone.</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/datasaturday1.png" alt="Pordenone" /></p>
<p>The marvelous <a href="https://twitter.com/spaghettidba">Gianluca Sartori</a> and I started this to enable Pordenone to hold an event. We open-sourced the <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/datasaturdays">code</a> and hosted it in the <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/">SQL Collaborative GitHub organisation</a> alongside community tools such as <a href="https://dbatools.io">dbatools</a> with a <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/DataSaturdays/blob/main/LICENSE">MIT licence</a> so that it is free for anyone to use and to collaborate with. The website is hosted on <a href="https://pages.github.com/">GitHub Pages</a> which generates static pages using <a href="https://docs.github.com/en/github/working-with-github-pages/setting-up-a-github-pages-site-with-jekyll">Jekyll</a>. We figured that this not only enabled a quick free solution but also offered opportunities for people to enrich their skills by collaborating.</p>
<p>We wanted to include other community leaders to assist with guiding the project and we were proud that everyone we asked to be involved accepted. The people who are Admins of the project (who can approve changes to the code and therefore the website) in addition to Gianluca and I are : -</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/way0utwest">Steve Jones</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/sqlespresso">Monica Rathbun</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/_randolph_west">Randolph West</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/intoleranse">Johan Ludvig Brattås</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/amtwo">Andy Mallon</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/sqlzelda">Elizabeth Noble</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/Warwick_Rudd">Warwick Rudd</a></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/sqlatspeed">Matt Gordon</a></li>
</ul>
<p>We have now enabled 10 Data Saturday events to exist, which we still think is amazing! However with growth comes challenges.</p>
<h2 id="creating-an-event-the-old-way">Creating an event the old way</h2>
<p>The old method of creating an event involved the organiser providing the required information and an admin creating the static HTML page. Copying and pasting, ensuring that the template stayed the same but the detail was altered. Of course, when things are done manually humans can make errors and we made errors. The beauty of hosting the website in code in GitHub is that we can quickly change the code when we notice and fix them but this was not ideal.</p>
<h2 id="automation-automation-automation-">Automation Automation AUTOMATION !</h2>
<p>I love automation, I get a real buzz out of taking manual monotonous tasks and automating them. I looked at the process we were following and took the bait and decided to automate it. I have created a data-driven process for creating and updating the event web-page and the rest of this blog post is an accompaniment to <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/DataSaturdays/wiki">the official documentation in the Wiki in the Data Saturdays GitHub repository</a>. I might also blog about how I did it.</p>
<p>If you wish to just watch a video, you can find that here</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QdoZ7NNn32c" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<h2 id="creating-a-new-data-saturday-event">Creating a New Data Saturday Event</h2>
<p>How do you create a new event? The steps are laid out in the <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/DataSaturdays/wiki">wiki</a></p>
<h3 id="tooling">Tooling</h3>
<p>We suggest that you use <a href="http://aka.ms/vscode">Visual Studio Code</a> as the editor to make these changes. Visual Studio Code is a superb free lightweight cross-platform code editor. To reduce the frustration we also suggest that you add the <a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=redhat.vscode-yaml">YAML Extension</a> to Visual Studio Code as this will help to identify any problems with YAML.</p>
<h3 id="fork-the-data-saturdays-repository">Fork the Data Saturdays Repository</h3>
<p>I have previously written a blog post that <a href="https://blog.robsewell.com/blog/source%20control/jupyter%20notebooks/azure%20data%20studio/dbatools/dbachecks/how-to-fork-a-github-repository-and-contribute-to-an-open-source-project/">explains how to contribute to an open-source repository which you can also use as reference for some of these steps</a></p>
<p>We are using GitHub as the source control for the website, so you will need to signup for a <a href="https://github.com/">GitHub account</a> if you do not have one already. This is free. Once you have that, navigate to the <a href="https://github.com/sqlcollaborative/datasaturdays">Data Saturdays repository</a> and click on the Fork button</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/fork.png" alt="fork" /></p>
<p>It will ask you where you want to fork it and you should choose your own GitHub account</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/forkwhere.png" alt="forkwhere" /></p>
<p>It will only take a few seconds and you will have a fork of the repository in your own account.</p>
<h3 id="clone-the-repository-to-your-machine">Clone the Repository to your machine</h3>
<p>To work with the code, you need to clone it to your own machine (There are other options like <a href="https://github.com/features/codespaces">codespaces</a> which I love, but we will leave that for another time) Click on the green Code button and copy the URL using the button</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/cloneweb.png" alt="cloneweb" /></p>
<p>then in Visual Studio Code <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">CTRL + SHIFT + P</code> will open the Command Palette and search for clone</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/clonevs.png" alt="clonevs" /></p>
<p>If you do not see Git:Clone you will need to install git from <a href="https://git-scm.com/downloads">https://git-scm.com/downloads</a></p>
<h3 id="create-a-new-branch">Create a new branch</h3>
<p>You create a new branch to hold your changes by clicking on the branch name in the bottom left</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/branchchoose.png" alt="branchchoose" /></p>
<p>and give it a new name</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/newbranch.png" alt="newbranch" /></p>
<h3 id="create-the-markdown-file">Create the Markdown File</h3>
<p>Now you can start to create the data for your event. First you need to see what the next available number is. Check the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">_data/events</code> directory to see what has gone before you.</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/getnextnumber.png" alt="getnextnumber" /></p>
<p>In the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">_posts</code> directory, create a new file with the following naming convention <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">YYYY-MM-DD-datasaturdayXXXX.md</code> where <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">XXXX</code> is the next number available. An example name is <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">2021-06-12-datasaturday0007.md</code></p>
<p>In the file you place the following content</p>
<div class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>---
layout: post
title: "The Name of the Data Saturday in double quotes"
subtitle: "Data Saturday"
tags: [event]
comments: false
data: datasaturdayXXXX
---
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>The 3 dashes are important to keep. The name must be in double quotes and the data must match your number. It should look like this.</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/markdown.png" alt="markdown" /></p>
<p>Save the file.</p>
<h3 id="create-the-data-file">Create the data file.</h3>
<p>This is the most important file. This file is the one that will feed the page that you use. This is the file that you will update as your event timeline progresses.</p>
<p>In the <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">_data/events</code> directory create a new file named <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">datasaturdayXXXX.yml</code> (The XXXX is your number again) example <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">datasaturday0007.yml</code></p>
<p>In this file paste all the following</p>
<div class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>name: "This is the name of your event inside the double quotes"
date: The date of your event in YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss TZ IE 2021-06-12 08:00:00 -0000
description: "Your event description inside double quotes, you may use HTML.
You MUST escape double quotes with a backslash \
(Look in the repo or wiki for examples of how to enter images)
Line breaks need to be entered as <br>
"
registrationurl: This is your registration URL
join:
description: Click on the room you want to join. You can change rooms at any time to attend the sessions that you prefer.
rooms:
- name: Room 1
url: you can add more rooms if you have a virtual event. You can remove these if you do not know yet.
scheduleurl: This is your schedule URL from Sessionize. You can leave this blank until you have it.
sponsors:
- link: https://yoursponsorlink
image: your sponsor image
height: image height if required
speakerlisturl: This is your Call For Speakers URL when you start, once you have chosen your sessions change this to your Sessionize SpeakerWall API URL
callforspeakers: true (until your call for speaker finishes!)
volunteerrequesturl: If you want a link for people to volunteer place it here
organizers:
- name: Your name
twitter: https://twitter.com/TWITTERNAME
email: Contact email or not
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Now you have to fill in your own data. The fields have explanations in them, the wiki has descriptions and you can always refer back to this blog post also. Some are obvious like name and date, some will take a little thought like description and some you won’t have yet like your Sessionize API URLs.</p>
<p>This file can be altered any time that you like during your event timeline as more information becomes available or you wish to change things. Each time, you can create a Pull Request to the Data Saturdays repository but before that <strong>It is really important</strong> that you check your YAML.</p>
<p>Once your data file is ready</p>
<h3 id="check-your-yaml">Check your YAML</h3>
<p>If you have followed our advice and used Visual Studio Code and the YAML extension then you can check that your YAML is correctly formed by looking at the problems tab</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/noproblem.png" alt="noproblem" /></p>
<p>The example above has no problems so the YAML is correct. If it is not you will see</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/problem.png" alt="problem" /></p>
<p>Normally with YAML the problem is spaces, try to line up the text until the problem goes away.</p>
<h3 id="sync-your-local-repository-with-github">Sync your local repository with GitHub</h3>
<p>Once your changes have been made, you will need to commit them with a commit message. We suggest that it is something relevant to your event</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/commit.png" alt="commit" /></p>
<p>Then you will need to press the publish button in Visual Studio Code to publish this branch to GitHub</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/publish.png" alt="publish" /></p>
<h3 id="create-a-pull-request-in-the-data-saturdays-repository">Create a Pull Request in the Data Saturdays Repository</h3>
<p>Last step is to create a Pull Request. Open your browser at your local GitHub repository. You will see a green button saying compare and pull request.</p>
<p><img src="https://blog.robsewell.com//assets/uploads/2021/createpr.png" alt="createpr" /></p>
<p>When you click that it will automatically open a pull request for you. Add some details about who you are and your event and an admin will then review it and merge it. Once it has been merged, the site will be rebuilt and will include your new event page.</p>
<h3 id="continue-to-update-your-event">Continue to update your event</h3>
<p>AS you progress along your event timeline, you will need to edit the data file and create a new Pull Request. You will do this</p>
<ul>
<li>When you get a new sponsor</li>
<li>When you have enough volunteers</li>
<li>When your Call for Speaker closes</li>
<li>When your event is published and you have your SpeakerWall and Schedule API URLs from Sessionize</li>
<li>To add links to your virtual rooms</li>
<li>To add your feedback links</li>
<li>After your event has finished</li>
</ul>
<p>As you change those things, create new Pull Requests, and they are merged, your event page will be updated.</p>Rob SewellThis blog was syndicated from blog.robsewell.com Creating a New Data Saturdays Event There’s a new process to create a Data Saturdays Event page, so I thought I would write an explanation and a run through What is Data Saturdays ? Firstly, not everyone will know what a Data Saturday event is, so lets start with that. There are two parts to it. A Data Saturday is an event that provides (usually free) training and information sessions about Azure Data and SQL Server. At present they are hosted online. The Data Saturdays resource is an open-source repository which enables event organisers to easily build a web presence as an entry point into their event. It integrates with other free event management solutions such as Sessionize enabling Call For Speakers, easily integrating the schedule, room links and speaker walls. The website is https://datasaturdays.com