First time presenter, what a feeling!
It's been a couple weeks now, and the dust has settled but not the sentiment. I am talking about my very first public presentation performed at Spain Oracle Users Group (SPOUG) during the Technical SPOUG Day 2018 on September 25th. This was a one-day event packed with interesting presentations throughout the day that distracted me from my nervousness until it was the last one right before my own. My colleague Pythianite
Nelson Calero was there too and gave me his support to deal with everything that was going on. Meeting some of the "giants" whose shoulders I've been standing on, like Neil Chandler or Dan Morgan, was pretty impressive and I really appreciate all the tips Neil gave me during that day. My
presentation was not a fancy, state of the art cloud-related one, but more one that goes back to the basics of Oracle database OS-related configuration. This helped to further turn me into a nervous wreck as I felt that it wouldn't be of interest to people. But it seems that my fears were unfounded, because enough people turned up to make the presentation useful for them, hopefully, and gratifying for myself. Those who know me won't be surprised by the fact that I went over the allotted 45 minutes and, unknowingly, ignored the assistant showing me the "0 minutes left" sign. It was very interesting and exciting for me to be up there answering questions, talking to people about their issues and, simply put, being in direct contact with a part of the Oracle community. So, overall, a fascinating experience that may not have been possible if it weren't for the Pythian conference presenter programme that allowed me to assist and, together with these blog posts, start contributing to the Oracle community from which I've taken so much over the years and expect to continue leaning on. Ahead comes a similar adventure, this time during
DOAG 2018 Conference where I will be co-presenting with another fellow Pythianite
Björn Rost. This is a bigger event, in a foreign country and with a potentially wider audience, so my nerves have started building up already. Wish me luck!
