3 ms·

Realistically, what would they do if you showed up in jeans? "Sorry folks, the talk is cancelled. Your speaker decided to wear jeans today."? That is the sor

by jlgreco 13y ago

Realistically, what would they do if you showed up in jeans? "Sorry folks, the talk is cancelled. Your speaker decided to wear jeans today."? That is the sort of bullshit that I always call bluffs on. Worse case scenario you get someone all huffy and upset that their rule has been ignored (making them feel unimportant, as they should), and you give them a "whoops, too bad."

BrentOzar 13y ago
> Realistically, what would they do if you showed up in jeans? Nothing at that talk, but you may not be on the invite list for next time. Microsoft's invite list for TechEd is notoriously political. The leader for each track (an MS employee) picks the session list. To give an extreme example, one of my submissions was called something like "Fixing Slow SQL Servers." I was told, "At TechEd, there are no slow SQL Servers." It was changed to Building the Fastest SQL Servers. (sigh)
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Well, if you are planning on not giving further anyway talks because of how you are being treated, then there is probably very little harm in not being invited in the future. IMHO, life is too short to donate time to people who are going to treat you like a child.
  - BrentOzar 13y ago
    Agreed, and as I mentioned in the first comment, that's why I quit presenting. There's enough places to volunteer my time already - no need to do it there.
- Quai 13y ago
  Check I just created a list of conferences to never attend too. I live in the real world.
ceautery 13y ago
I agree in spirit, but not details. The dress code is what's unimportant, not the person trying to manage the speakers.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  The way I look at it is that anyone who gets upset over trivial details like that is almost certainly unimportant. If they were important, then calling their bluff on something so minor wouldn't be taken as an attack on their usefulness. Minor things only become major things if the person demanding them has nothing better to do. 99.9% of the time when you call peoples' bluff on stupid shit like pant color at a talk, nobody cares. Most people who demand that sort of thing have better things to be worrying about.

by jlgreco 13y ago

BrentOzar 13y ago

> Realistically, what would they do if you showed up in jeans? Nothing at that talk, but you may not be on the invite list for next time. Microsoft's invite list for TechEd is notoriously political. The leader for each track (an MS employee) picks the session list. To give an extreme example, one of my submissions was called something like "Fixing Slow SQL Servers." I was told, "At TechEd, there are no slow SQL Servers." It was changed to Building the Fastest SQL Servers. (sigh)

jlgreco 13y ago
Well, if you are planning on not giving further anyway talks because of how you are being treated, then there is probably very little harm in not being invited in the future. IMHO, life is too short to donate time to people who are going to treat you like a child.
- BrentOzar 13y ago
  Agreed, and as I mentioned in the first comment, that's why I quit presenting. There's enough places to volunteer my time already - no need to do it there.
Quai 13y ago
Check I just created a list of conferences to never attend too. I live in the real world.

ceautery 13y ago

I agree in spirit, but not details. The dress code is what's unimportant, not the person trying to manage the speakers.

jlgreco 13y ago
The way I look at it is that anyone who gets upset over trivial details like that is almost certainly unimportant. If they were important, then calling their bluff on something so minor wouldn't be taken as an attack on their usefulness. Minor things only become major things if the person demanding them has nothing better to do. 99.9% of the time when you call peoples' bluff on stupid shit like pant color at a talk, nobody cares. Most people who demand that sort of thing have better things to be worrying about.