Intro

Ben Weissman, who is not going to retire after this, comes out to introduce the keynote and tell everyone about what is going on for the rest of the week.

Next, Ben’s history, and how it started here at the PASS Summit. Thank you to all the people who made this happen over the years.

It is a privilege for us to be here, and there are a few initiatives to mention.

DEIB Committee:
New Stars Track 2024

Starting last year, we have dedicated 3 time slots for people who have never taken the stage at the PASS Summit in the past. It is an offshoot of the New Stars of Data conference where they help new folks get a chance to speak.

Want to become a speaker or mentor? newstarsofdata.com

New Stars Track will be back next year.

Thank you, data community and data friends!

Stay ahead of the curve, keep innovating!

Ginger Grant Keynote

Ginger Grant,

Generating Innovation: Change is not Artificial, It is Intelligent

What did you used to watch when you were a kid? Ginger watched Gilligan’s Island, naturally.

We used to watch TV, but kids today watch a lot less TV and more portrait mode video on their phone.

Portrait mode! Skibbity Toilet!

Cable TV is dying? If it doesn’t innovate! (And how can you compete that image, right?)

AI

Everyone fears AI, but we need to learn to use AI and keep ahead of the curve.

Netflix didn’t’ start out as the entertainment giant they are today; they started small mailing CDs competing against Blockbuster. Kids don’t know who Blockbuster is, and they are now… gone.

Netflix is around because they decide to do something different.

Being first isn’t always the key to success. Remember Visicalc? Lotus 123?

They tried new stuff, like Lotus Notes, and someone else decided to go after the spreadsheet building.

Who is that? Excel!

Being first doesn’t matter, innovation does. And that is not only for people.

Ben Weissman was once the world’s best VB 6 developer. While it is still possible to make a living at that, he would not be so successful if he had not continued to improve himself.

You need to be always innovating and learning.

And what is the best motivation? People. People who can inspire and help you. People that can innovate.

You need to be willing to take some risk and fail. Everyone fails. You too can innovate and succeed.

What makes some people successful and succeed?

Does anyone remember when you had an awful job? Ginger said that every Sunday she would get headaches, knowing the next day she had to work.

No one plans for a bad job, it would be like planning a divorce when you are getting married.

Keep your eyes open and learn from all the people around you. Watch and learn and see what is going on around you.

One time, Ginger believed that she was getting a very innovative job, right from Twitter. Everything seemed great, but people started leaving. And then they were replaced by less awesome people. Ginger asked “why?” from those leaving. People said they didn’t seem valued.

Not for money type value, but more as a person and their needs.

Later, Ginger was on the schedule to do training at a company. They said that the person who was in charge of training said she wasn’t good at it. A week before Thanksgiving, she was giving the opportunity to do more training. Despite all of the hard, extra work, she was excited, despite how hard it was. And she worked all December, didn’t take care of herself and got really sick.

After this, she got better, asked “How did it go? Why did I need to do all that work in December?”

The reply, “did you get it done?” and it felt like the boss was patting himself on the back. She was working 120 hours a month, but no real feeling of value… and she quit.

And more people did the same thing.

Much like Lotus 123, If you don’t’ innovate and give value, you go the way of the dodo.

WebMD did this retention study:

79% of people quit because they feel undervalued

Pay, Bad Fit, Overworked, and often Better Opportunities

Ginger has left for more money, but it did not make me feel better. Money doesn’t ensure you will feel better.

How many of you have heard of the Mississippi miracle? MS has a reputation for being poor and less educated.

They gave a test for reading comprehension. In 2013, the legislature was tired of being the low reading state. They were 50^th out of 52 in the US (and territories) in reading. So, there was some training that was useful to teach kids how to read. But they didn’t spend that much money.

MS is 44^th in school spending. In 2022, the last year they did the assessment, they were now #22 in reading. Didn’t spend a fortune but innovated and made lots of money. Training is valuable!

Netflix is generally good to employees. But in 2000, issues at Netflix, due to recession around 9/11. So, they cut back on staff (layoffs), and looked for people they could remove. HR turned out to have less work than other areas.

HR, it turned out, spent 90% of their time on 3% of the people. So, the removed those people, and asked their employees “what do you hate”

In short, gave people opportunities so they felt value. Go after opportunities, maybe New Stars of Data.

An employment story

Asked her employer, “Is there anything she could do? Got signed up for a big data analytics training class. Got excited. Found out they hired someone, transferred into the new department they want to be in. And they kept hiring people. And she kept asking, “when can I move to the new department?”

This kept on, and she quit.

And checked out:

Found a review on a company “The best thing about working here was the food trucks outside, inside is garbage”, and others had great reviews.

Make your own opportunities

Learning new skills. Ginger is learning Microsoft Fabric, which wasn’t even around 4 years ago. Create your own support group

Find people that you can lean on.

Treating people as equals is very important.

Story about a husband and wife who owned a company, and their workers were in the back. The person telling the story said that if they owned a company, everyone would fly first class.

How you understand your people is talking to them. Some need a lot of extra time. Some need training, we all are different.

Ginger is just like the rest of us, she gets busy and doesn’t get around to talk to them enough. So, she makes an appointment to talk to them.

Quitting

Companies are generally unhappy that you quit, because it is helpful to them. Simply Benefits HR Magazine estimates it costs 150% of the cost to replace a mid-level employee as percent of salary.

The company took their employees out to dinner, but then found out that the place was really expensive, so they just shared some food. Employees then felt like they weren’t work a $50 entre.

Later she was at a conference in Orlando and met someone who works in North Dakota. They valued him, and he needed to be on prem. So, they sent this employee to training in (this editor’s favorite place), Orlando.

They let him go places for training if he could get coverage and it was good timing.

The Elephant (called AI) in the room

Asks, has anyone done any prompt engineering? A few raised their hands. After this we will all have done some.

Be specific: what do you want to get out of it

Pick the persona: who is this for? What type of person are you looking for, for example?

Ask for clarification

Ask AI how to Ask AI a question.!

Be careful, because AI lies, which is also known as hallucinations! Grant Fritchey was asking something he knows a lot about (he has written books on!) and it gave wrong answers. Then the AI answer said it was from Kendra Little. But the link was actually not real. (Kendra is always super smart in that area as well!)

ZeroGPT can help you identify if text has been written by AI

Remember you are still working with people.

Two rules you need to remember

Golden Rule AND Wheaton’s Law

Treat others nicely, and don’t be a … just call it a jerk.

It requires people to be successful. Some AI companies (not Microsoft) used Reddit to train their data. So, if you asked their AI how do you get the pepperoni to stay on the pizza? Use glue.

Bad idea. You need reliable sources to get reliable answers.

And just remember:

People talk!

Story about being interviewed. The first person who was supposed to interview her once couldn’t be there, and the person who she would be replacing did the interview. But he told her she hated his job. Everything other than that seemed great, and the other people seemed great, but she didn’t take the job because…well she didn’t want to work at a place that would hire the person who interviewed her.

Finale

Innovate, keep innovating. Tools, training, and the people around us. Innovation is just thoughts and ideas. But take it beyond there and take it into reality. Find people that do what you want to do and go there.

Innovation requires people:

Thank you!