1) The document discusses preparing for a SQL Server upgrade by outlining the speaker's goals which include making upgrades simpler, thinking about upgrades well before they happen, and introducing a checklist to use. 2) It highlights reasons for upgrading such as older versions reaching end of support and changes in licensing and high availability/disaster recovery options. 3) The speaker provides an overview of SQL Server versions and editions and recommends deciding it is time for an upgrade, picking a version and edition, inventorying databases and applications, testing the upgrade, and monitoring afterwards.