Tag Archives: Events

New PASS Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Virtual Chapter Events

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So I finally got round to reading the latest PASS Newsletter and have seen that there are a number of great events coming up soon for the PASS BI VC.

The Data Warehousing and BI Virtual Chapter was started up Amy Lewis (@amy_lewisAZ), Tim Mitchell (Blog | @tim_mitchell) & Adam Jorgensen (Blog | @adam_jorgensen). If you are not already signed up for PASS, and in particular this VC, then shame on you. You should be. There are a ton of great resources and they are there for YOUR benefit!

The BI Virtual Chapter can be found here: http://bi.sqlpass.org/. Bookmark it now!! There is also a Twitter account for the BI VC (@PASSBIVC)

There are loads of great events coming up too. Here is a summary of what is on offer:

Date Name Links
2011/02/14 Master Data Services Development with Office 2010 Live Meeting
2011/02/23 Multidimensional Reporting: MDX Essentials for Report Design Live Meeting
2011/03/09 Introducing Microsoft’s Enterprise Data Information Management Products Live Meeting
2011/03/10 Denali Column Store: Data Does the Twist and Analytics Shout Live Meeting
2011/03/14 Governance Program using Master Data Services Live Meeting
2011/03/16 Working with Cube Writeback in Analysis Services Live Meeting
2011/03/23 SSRS & Report Builder: Now that it is Self Service Live Meeting

All events start at 12pm EST

Each of these are described in more detail on the BI Virtual Chapter website

 

I am thoroughly looking to each of these and want to express my thanks to the organisers for pulling this Virtual Chapter together.

SQLBits VI – The 6 Sets.

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It’s almost time for another SQLBits, and in my [humble] opinion, it’s not soon enough. These free conferences are fantastic and if you do have the opportunity to attend I suggest you do so. Whilst I have only a small idea as to what goes into organising a conference, I am pretty sure that it is a major undertaking. One that I am glad Simon Sabin (Blog|Twitter) and the rest of the SQLBits team (and let’s not forget volunteers here) are handling, and handling rather well. If you are keen to help out, in any way, contact Simon and offer your services.

I have only been to one SQLBits Conference (SQLBits V, Newport, Wales) and have talked about it here, here and here. I liked it. I liked it a lot (as if you couldn’t tell, right?). I got to meet loads of sqlservery people and had a number of good conversations, attend several brilliant presentations and a number of good ones (most of which I learned a bunch of new things), won a Redgate SQL Compare license (which I am still waiting for btw, Redgate, nudge nudge) and generally had a great time. While SQLBits V was a 3 day affair, SQLBits VI will be 1 day only and the theme is Performance Tuning and Scalability. Oh, and it’s free.

Conference Details

SQLBits VI will be held in London, and more specifically, at the Church House Conference Center, Westminster, London, UK on 16th April 2010. Starting at around 8am (for registration, swag-bag pick up and of course a few obligatory bacon baps) the conference kicks off with sessions across several tracks:

  • Database Administration
  • Development
  • Business Intelligence

With the focus being on performance tuning and scalability for all tracks, this promises to be a great conference for learning some interesting things.

Registration is open (and has been for a little while, if I’m being honest), but you will have to be quick. Becuase it’s only a 1 day conference, but mostly because it’s such a great conference and it’s FREE, places tend to be snapped up pretty darn quick. Also, if you register for SQLBits VI before 30th March 2010 you stand a chance of winning registration to the European PASS Summit (Germany), if you attend SQLBits VI then you stand a chance to win a registration to the PASS Summit (Seattle, USA).

One point on registration. As it is free, people tend to register even if they are not sure if they will actually attend. While this is not a bad thing in itself, if you are one of those people AND it turns out that you cannot attend then please cancel your registration. This frees up a place for someone else that can make it (but was too late [initially] for registration). There’s a lot that goes into planning a conference and most of this is done around the number of attendees. If a number of those registrants don’t pitch up, then there is a not only a whole lot of wasted money but a whole lot of wasted opportunity. Don’t be selfish, think of the community and act accordingly. Remember, it’s free!

Remember the after party

The sessions are bound to be fantastic, and you are likely to learn a great deal. But go home early at your peril. The prize giving, party and social after all the day’s events is not something you will want to miss. Why? Well, this is a prime opportunity to really get to know more SQL Server people. People that may well become your friends down the line, or at the very least be a contact point should you need assistance on a specific topic (the SQL Server Community is pretty awesome that way). It is also the best time to find those elusive speakers and ask them the questions that you have prepared. It’s a prime time to do this as the speakers are not stressed out about their presentations and are in a more relaxed and approachable state. They are much more likely to entertain your <ahem>query </ahem>, especially if you hand them a beer before you do so.

So, stay out a little longer than 6pm and make the most of a wonderful opportunity.

And finally…

I’m looking forward to catching up with some old acquaintances and learning a lot of new tricks on how to tune SSIS Packages and Scale Reporting Services Solutions. I’ll also be taking some notes on presentation styles and on what makes a speaker/session a great speaker/session, as I’m thinking getting on to the presentation bandwagon….in the hopefully not-too-distant future.

 

See you at SQLBits VI!

SQLBits VI has been announced!

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That’s right folks. Another SQLBits is almost upon us. And this time it’s in London! This SQLbits is to be held at the Church House Conference Center on the 16th April 2010. Details will be updated over at www.sqlbits.com. Simon is on lookout for volunteers, so if you are interested in helping out in anyway you can, contact him or leave a comment here (& i will forward the details to him).

See you there!


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SQLBits Agenda is now available

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The SQLBits agenda is up! And not a moment too soon. I understand that the organisers had a few issues when initially trying to get the schedule on the site, but all is resolved. These guys do great work to provide an amazing service to the community, and all at their own expense. So every credit to them as well as a big thanks from the rest of us!

You can find the SQLBits agenda here: http://sqlbits.com/information/newagenda.aspx

 
Lending a hand

After reading Jeremiah Peschka’s (@peschkaj) article, Volunteering with PASS, I’ve realised the need to help out if I can. So, one of my goals at the conference is to find a few of the current organisers and figure how I can get involved. Is there any better way to rub shoulders with the best & the brightest out there? So, if Simon or James or Chris or Martin or Darren or Allan happen to read this, then consider this my offer to help. By the way, you’re all on my list of people to meet… ;)

 

My Schedule

When I originally planned to go to SQLBits I wondered whether or not to go up on the Thursday evening or rush in on the Friday morning. I was never going to make the Thursday pre-con, so it was a toss up between shelling out more ££’s for another night in the hotel or risk missing the start of the Friday program. So I gambled and decided I would travel on the Friday morning. This was done before the agenda was published (train tickets are sooooo much cheaper if you book in advance, see my previous entry), hence the gamble. It seems to have paid off however, as registration is from 08:45 – 09:40 and I should arrive (hopefully) at around 09:30. Just in time.

Here’s my planned schedule (if you’re remotely interested):

Friday, 20th November:

[07:15 - 09:05] Train from London Paddington to Newport, South Wales
[09:30 - 09:40] Registration
[09:40 - 11:00] ‘Welcome’ session
[11:00 - 12:00] SQL 2008 Development Features [Simon Sabin]
[12:20 - 13:20] What’s New in Reporting Services 2008 R2 [Donald Farmer]
[13:20 - 13:40] Lunch & networking
[14:40 - 15:40] Powershell – Old Tricks for a new dog? [Martin Bell]
[16:00 - 17:00] Virtualising SQL Server [Justin Langford]
[17:00 - 18:00] SQLBits Shenanigans…
[18:00 - ??:??] Social

 

Saturday, 21st November:

[07:30 - 08:30] Breakfast & networking
[08:45 - 09:40] Registration
[09:50 - 10:50] …undecided…
[11:00 - 12:00] Let’s make SQL Fly! [Ramesh Myyappan]
[12:20 - 13:20] Using Perfmon & Profiler [Brent Ozar]
[13:20 - 13:40] Lunch & networking
[14:40 - 15:40] SSIS in SQL Server 2008 [Allan Mitchell]
[16:00 - 17:00] Report Builder 3 [Andrew Fryer]
[17:00 - 18:00] SQLBits Shenanigans…
[18:00 - ??:??] Social

 

Sunday, 22nd November:

[07:30 - 10:00] Long Breakfast & Networking
[10:32 - 13:48] Train back to London, Paddington
[15:00] Reunited with my amazing family.

 

I’m hoping to meet a bunch of folks at the conference, so if you are going, let me know. It’s always easier to start a conversation if you’ve already introduced yourself, even if that is only in a ‘online’ sense. So, either leave a comment here or look me up on twitter (@lukehayler). Oh, and if you’re already on twitter and not using the #sqlbits tag for related posts, you should be.

I’m hunting for social events next….stay tuned.

Gearing up for SQLBits V

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SQLBits is almost upon us. In less than 10 days, around 400 people will be descending on the Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales for the 5th instalment of what I am led to believe is a first rate conference. Great speakers, great sessions, awesome venue, _____________ attendees. That space is intentional. I plan to fill it in once I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a bunch of you and making a few (hundred) new friends.

Preparations

So I’ve been reading a lot in the last few weeks. As the PASS Summit has just come and gone, there are a multitude of blog posts out there about conference preparation, travelling tips, ways to cut costs, what type of questions you should and shouldn’t be posing to speakers/vendors/other attendees, starting conversations with others, making new acquaintances, as well as those about the actual conference.

My preparations have be slow and steady. Research has been the main focus, with understanding what sessions are on offer, who the speakers are and what events will be taking place ‘after hours’. The first two items here are easily accomplished by venturing over to the sqlbits website where you will find a description of each of the intended sessions, the speakers and their bios with links to their websites and other web presences (twitter) if any exist – most do, but there are a few who seem to be ghosts on the information super-highway (ha! when was the last time that you heard that phrase…). Say what you like, but I believe that if you are a speaker then you should at least have a spot on the intertubez where people can find out more about you and download your slides.

I’ve ordered a bunch of business cards from moo.com. They’re of the mini variety and hold all the vital contact info as well as a mug shot of yours truly – so you can remember who to avoid look for at the next meet…

I’ve started to put together a few questions for key people that I’m aiming to stalk find, meet and get to know a little better. I’ll bribe them with whatever they need to persuade them to stick around long enough find out who I am and to answer my questions – I find beer works pretty well in most cases.

What to do, Where to go

In terms of sessions that I’m thinking of attending, it depends on the schedule. I’ve been informed however, that although the schedule for the sessions has been done, ‘technical difficulties’ have meant that they are not yet available for the rest of us. Let’s hope they fix the issue soon… wink wink nudge nudge. Once I know when the sessions are to take place I’ll post a list that I’ll be attending.

On to the important stuff. Social Events! I have been searching for a while now, but have still to find any reference to the ‘after hours events’ – think organised dinners and karaoke sessions at the PASS Summit. This is due to the fact that either there are no events (yet) or they haven’t been adequately advertised. So, if any of you readers do have knowledge of any planned social events, please let me know. If there aren’t any planned events, well…, we’ll have to change that. Pronto.

I’ll see you there. SQLbits 2009.