1. Table Size
1. Store Results
2. Compress Tables
1. Compress Indexes
2. Store Results
3. Process Cube
4. Backup Database –PassThru
5. Download Denali CTP
6. Grab Configuration Info
7. New Get-DisksSpace try to pass from Reg servers w/ Group
8. Email Space Report
9. CSV with Bulk Insert
10. Import CSV with Out-DataTable
11. Allen Kinsel – Logs
12. SQL Saturday – Navigate Event Schedule XML

PowerShell has taken the Pole for the DBA division at SQLRally!  Come see why the organizers have chosen this session to lead the pack to the Green Flag.

We will be covering new ground, not rehashing last year’s PASS Summit presentation.  I have developed several new examples for leveraging PowerShell in your everyday DBA role since then.  I am promising 6 new scripts for everyone but if I get on a role that number might be closer to 10 when they drop the green flag on this year’s event. 

If you’ve never used PowerShell before don’t worry. We will spend a few minutes on a ‘get up to speed lap’ so everyone is going at the same pace when we step on the gas with all this new material.  All scripts will be made available for you to download during the session and access later on from pit-row.

After my session here’s what I’ll be checking out:

What sessions I'll be checking out during SQLRally

Marco provides an overview of using sysprep for Windows Server 2008R2, and SQL Server 2008R2, which also now supports this feature. This is especially useful when wanting to get up a new (lab or even production environment) quickly. He will be doing this using only Microsoft Hyper-V & Windows PowerShell without any other external tools.

Marco Shaw
Marco ( blog | twitter ) is a consultant with CGI and has over 12 years of IT experience. He has been awarded a Microsoft MVP award for the last 4 years in the Windows PowerShell category.

LiveMeeting: Registration Link
_____________________________________________________________
Designing Cubes for Performance
April 20, 2011, 12 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Stacia Misner

Building a cube is simple. After all, you have a lot of wizards at your disposal to do the development work. But building a cube that delivers data quickly requires you to make additional changes to the database design. In this session, you’ll learn what steps you need to take in the development process to ensure the cube is designed for optimal performance, whether you’re using Analysis Services 2005 or Analysis Services 2008. You learn not only how to properly design dimensions, aggregates, and partitions, but why these design principles improve performance.

Bio:
Stacia Misner is a consultant, educator, mentor, and author specializing in Business Intelligence solutions since 1999. With more than 25 years of experience in IT, she is the author or co-author of ten books about BI. Her most recent books include Business Intelligence in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Building Integrated Business Intelligence Solutions with SQL Server 2008 R2 and Office 2010. Stacia provides consulting and custom education services through Data Inspirations, writes about her experiences with BI at blog.datainspirations.com, and tweets as @StaciaMisner.

LiveMeeting: Link
_____________________________________________________________
Database Standards SOP
April 21, 2011, 1 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Thomas LeBlanc

Join Normalization nut Thomas LeBlanc for a review of a standard operating procedure used among DBAs at an employer. See the changes he made after joining the BI group at this employer. The session will go through naming conventions, check list for creating a table, formatting in stored procedures, and more. A brief preview of the SQLRally talk 3rd Normal Form: That’s Crazy Talk!!! Will be given about Lookup tables. This discussion comes from 21+ years of developing databases for application developers. The use of identity columns for primary keys, and the need for a unique constraint on transaction tables that do resort to ID columns will be covered.

Thomas LeBlanc
Thomas is a semi-retired Senior DBA turned ETL Lead Architect @ Amedisys in Baton Rouge, LA. Worked in the IT field for 21 years experience w/ COBOL dBase, FoxPro, Visual FoxPro, VB 3 thru 6 and .Net(C#). Designing and developing Normalized & Dimensional database has become his passion. Full-time DBA work started about 9 years ago. he has been blessed with speaking at SQLRally this year. Free time is spent helping other & improving his relationship with family & God.

LiveMeeting: Link

Building Applications That A DBA Will Love
April 12, 2011, 12 PM Eastern
Presenter: Andy Warren
Attendee URL: LiveMeeting

It’s natural for the focus to be on the end user when we build applications, but it’s important and worthwhile to build into our design some things that make it easier for the DBA to provision, tune, and support the product we deliver. So what does a DBA care about? Performance of course, but also security, scalability, space usage, and yes, even documentation. This presentation will cover tips in a number of areas that address the concerns of the DBA, and we’ll talk about why you should care about making the DBA happy too!

Andy Warren

Andy Warren is a SQL Server consultant and trainer who occasionally writes some code too. He’s on the PASS Board of Directors, was a founding partner in SQLServerCentral.com, started the SQLSaturday event format, and is currently a SQL Server MVP. Andy blogs at www.sqlandy.com, and can be reached via Twitter as @sqlandy and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/sqlandy.

How do I attend?
Attendee URL: LiveMeeting
_____________________________________________________________

Efficient and effective processing of OLAP CUBES with AMO and XMLA
Fri April 15th 12PM EST (US)
Speaker: Steve Simon

Topic Description:

Within the financial industry, rapid and effective decision making is critical to our client relationships. Analytical tools such as OLAP cubes help make this a reality. In many 24 X 7 enterprises, data capture and cube updates occur on an ongoing basis throughout the business day. We are able to achieve this through the innovative utilization of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). This intermediate level hands-on presentation will show the attendee how we have utilized Analysis Management Objects (AMO) commands and SSIS to ‘fire’ our OLAP CUBE updating processes. The presentation will discuss the high level concepts behind Analysis Management Objects (and the XMLA that is generated from the commands) and the scenarios under which we can benefit from their usage. Topics covered will be the updating of dimensions, measures, partitions, the cube and more.

Bio:

Steve Simon is an Assistant Vice President with State Street Corporation in Boston. He has been involved with database design and analysis for over 26 years. Steve has presented papers at eight North American PASS Summits (in Orlando, Seattle WA (4), Denver CO (2) and San Francisco CA), two at PASS Europe 2009 and one at PASS Europe 2010. He has just recently presented his PASS 2008 Summit presentation in Johannesburg South Africa. Steve is actively involved with the SQL Server community within the Boston area and is a regular presenter at the New England Code Camps and SQL Saturday events and participates actively on many of the Microsoft User Forums. He is also the Virtual Chapter leader of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) Oracle – SQL Server Virtual Chapter and is a PASS regional mentor. He will also be presenting a data mining paper at SQL Teach in Montreal between May 31^st , 2011 and June 3^rd 2011.

URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=RPN4J9&role=attend&pw=J%25%7E*7r%229d

This one would look great in your email signature!

This one would look great in the tight-hand column of your blog

Or this one:

If you’re using the PrimePress theme like me you’ll want to put this under /wp-content/themes/primepress/headers

Learn some of the quirks and capabilities of SSIS. Learn about the pitfall of “parallel path choicing”. Use the Script Component as a data source (to solve complex sourcing issues) and as a data destination (to get around the identity column conundrum). See how to use Script Tasks to build directory scanners for efficient file import techniques. We’ll also go over some the tunable properties of the Data Flow object.

Josef Richberg
Josef is a DBA for HarperCollins Publishers working with SQL Server and SSIS.  He has over 17 years’ experience designing, building, and tuning SQL Server.  Josef was the recipient of the ’2009 Exceptional DBA’ award and actively blogs at http://josef-richberg.squarespace.com.

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL:  Live Meeting link

Onto the boring part:
I put a lot of work into that session and even on the day of the event I was still second-guessing what scripts to put in and which to leave-out. Thankfully fellow [PowerShell] speaker Trevor Barkhouse ( blog | twitter ) sat through my entire presentation that morning and helped me carefully tweak the sequence of scripts. I had the 4th most well attended session of the 186 sessions at the PASS Summit on the official scoring list I was sent! My scores were nothing short of amazing considering I had never spoken on a stage this large before. Even if you leave the whole first-time-at-Summit-speaker thing out I still scored just above the midpoint for all speakers at the Summit. Not half bad for a n00b <—Literally!

I am not a professional speaker. In fact I have been speaking for less than a year still. I had a time budget in preparation and I had to make trade offs. I decided to focus vastly more time on demos and script flow than slides or things like inserting jokes in the session. I’ll definitely work to improve the things that people comment on and I’ll share those in a later post (short on time today).

The Scores:

Time allotted: Based on the comments from people who came up and talked to me afterwards at the Summit, they would have loved for me to have kept going for another 20 minutes. I don’t think Adam Machanic ( blog | twitter ) would have appreciated that much but I sure had the material for it!

Presentation skills:I will definitely work on upping my presentation skills but this is the toughest competition I’ve ever been up against so not half bad!

Quality of the materials: This may have been lowered because of the many A/V related comments I received. Or maybe refining my presentation skills will help this too.

Usefulness in your day-to-day environment: is the entire reason I put the presentation together in the first place. My goal for this particular score is not a number but a note from the organizers mentioning the shocking number of people who scratched out the choices and wrote in a number above the range. I will not let people down the next time

Accuracy of title: I have some ideas on how to tweak the abstract a little but I’m happy with this score.

Speaker’s knowledge: I’m happy with this score. I’m sure Adam (who was speaking right after me) got nothing but 5s on this score. Considering the company, my score was stellar. I will not spend any time thinking about let alone trying to improve this score.

I’ll post the comments I received in a separate post. Gotta run.

Oh btw… that table up there. Generated if off of an Excel spreadsheet using a single line of PowerShell code! (I’ll blog that soon, promise.)

Understanding Join Operators

SQL Server implements three different physical operators to perform joins. In this session, we will examine how each of these operators works, including its advantages and challenges. Using real life examples, we will better understand the logic behind the optimizer’s decisions on which operator to use for various joins. Finally, we will learn how to avoid some common join related pitfalls and how to get better performance from our queries.

Ami Levin
Ami is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP, with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. For the past 12 years, he has been consulting, teaching and speaking on SQL Server worldwide. He manages the Israeli SQL Server user group, leads the local support forum, and is a regular speaker at Microsoft conferences. Ami is the CTO and co-founder of DBSophic, a company that develops workload tuning solutions for SQL Server applications.

How do I attend?  Live Meeting link

SQL Server 2005 introduced Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) that allow you to see exactly what is happening inside your SQL Server instances and databases with much more detail than ever before. SQL Server 2008 R2 adds even more capability in this area. You can discover your top wait types, most CPU intensive stored procedures, find missing indexes, and identify unused indexes, to name just a few examples. This session (which is applicable to both 2005, 2008 and 2008 R2), presents and explains over thirty DMV queries that you can quickly and easily use to detect and diagnose performance issues in your environment.

Glenn Berry

Glenn works as a Database Architect at NewsGator Technologies in Denver, CO. He is a SQL Server MVP, and he has a whole collection of Microsoft certifications, including MCITP, MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD, and MCTS, which proves that he likes to take tests. His expertise includes DMVs, high availability, full text search, and SQL Azure.

How do I attend?  Live Meeting link

In complex Predictive Analytics (PA) scenarios where it is being applied to a complex system or the players involved are actually trying to undermine the predictions (ex: credit card fraud), the sophistication of the PA must be taken up a notch or two. In this Webcast I will describe techniques for building sophisticated PA systems on the Microsoft BI Stack by using OLAP to:
• Analyze, validate, and optimize PA models.
• Manage and Monitor the performance of the PA models in a Performance Management style.
• Surface PA results to end users in a manner that allows them to work through the ambiguity that remains around predictions.

Eugene Asahara
Eugene specializes in high-end Analysis Services implementation and performance tuning, predictive analytics, and overall BI architecture. He has thirteen years of experience on the Microsoft BI stack; including one year on the SSAS product team and seven years as a Lead DB/BI Architect at Microsoft Consulting Services. Aside from consulting on BI engagements by day Eugene develops bleeding-edge BI software by night. Many of his thoughts around BI and that bleeding-edge space can be found at www.softcodedlogic.com.

How do I attend?  Live Meeting link

Resources:
I mentioned during the session that my code and slides were available in yesterday’s blog post.
I also pointed out the posts that Chad Miller, myself, and Sean McCown put together last week on the Hey Scripting Guy blog. Here are a list all 5 of those posts and also the link to the SQLPSX project.
Oh, and please take a look at the PowerShell Virtual Chapter of PASS.

Use PowerShell to Collect Server Data and Write to SQL
Posted Mon, Nov 1 2010

Use PowerShell to obtain SQL Server database sizes
Posted Tue, Nov 2 2010

Use PowerShell to Change SQL Server Service Accounts
Posted Wed, Nov 3 2010

Use PowerShell to Script SQL Database Objects
Posted Thu, Nov 4 2010

Using PowerShell to Add a Group of Users to a SQL Database
Posted Fri, Nov 5 2010

Applied MDX
Refactoring SQL Applications
Implementing SQL Server in a utility model
WIT Monthly Conference-Call
_____________________________________________________________

Applied MDX
Monday October 25th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4)
Kevin Geoff

Learning the basics of MDX is one thing – learning how to incorporate MDX into custom OLAP applications is another.  In this presentation, I’ll show several examples of MDX inside SSRS reports, PerformancePoint Services dashboards, and even inside of Excel.   We’ll also look at using MDX inside of OLAP calculated members and data-driven KPIs.  The attendee will come away with different perspectives on how MDX is necessary to create flexible OLAP reporting.

Kevin Geoff
Kevin is a 2010 SQL Server MVP ,2005-2008 .NET/C# MVP ,SQL Server/Business Intelligence senior instructor and courseware author – SetFocus, LLC ,Columnist for CoDe Magazine (Baker’s Dozen Productivity Series), and a Developer/consultant in the industry since 1987

How do I attend? Live Meeting link

_____________________________________________________________Refactoring Refactoring SQL Applications
Tuesday October 26th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4)
Jeremiah Peschka

Refactoring SQL is not like refactoring application code. This talk will demonstrate proven SQL refactoring techniques that will help you identify where performance gains can be made, apply quick fixes, improve readability, and help you quickly locate places to make sweeping performance improvements. Jeremiah Peschka has years of hands on experience tuning SQL applications for performance, throughput, and concurrency.

Jeremiah is involved in the Professional Association for SQL Server. When he is not volunteering with the development community, Jeremiah can be found blogging about data storage, relational databases, and software development at http://facility9.com. He can also be found on Twitter as @peschkaj.

How do I attend? Live Meeting link

_____________________________________________________________

Implementing SQL Server in a utility model
Wednesday October 27th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4)
Jason Massie

A SQL Server as a Service(SQLaaS) in a utility computing model can be a robust platform providing self service provisioning, better utilization of hardware and power, lower administrative overhead and chargeback capabilities. It can allow your internal and external customers to forget about the database and focus on developing and deploying apps that add value to your core business. In this session, we will cover key benefits of offering the DB in a utility computing model which could be part of your larger SOA strategy. Next, we will look at some key considerations from the DBA and IT decision maker’s perspective that will drive the infrastructure design. Several different architectures will be discussed along with their business driven considerations. We will look at SQL Server 2008 r2 features that are well suited for a utility model as well as SQL Server vNext and 3rd party tools. Lastly, we will look at areas that may require custom development to meet your specific needs.

Jason Massie
Jason has 10 years experience as a DBA and currently manages the Oracle and SQL Server DBA teams for Terremark. He is a SQL Server MVP. Jason has spoken at the Professional Association of SQL Server Conference, the North Texas SQL Server Users Group, SQL Connections and TechED. You can read more about him at http://jasonmassie.com and contact him at jmassie at terremark.com

How do I attend? Live Meeting link

_____________________________________________________________

Women In Technology Conference Call
Wednesday October 27th 3pm CDT/1pm PDT (GMT-5/GMT-7)

Please email Wendy Pastrick ( email | twitter ) for dial in information

• This will be our final call before the PASS Summit.
• Final planning for our PASS presence: Welcome Reception,  WIT Luncheon, Chapter Lunch
• Discussion about roles in the chapter
• At the end of the meeting, we offer Open Mic time for people to share news or ask open ended questions

Introduction to PowerShell
Wednesday October 20th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4)
Chad Miller

Chad will get us started with an introduction to PowerShell as a command line for one-off tasks or automation in the DBA world. Basic PS principles and syntax will be covered. Get your proverbial DBA feet wet with a tool that can make your database and sysadmin life better than it was before! Bigger, stronger, faster. (Cue Bionic Man theme)

Chad Miller
Chad hails from the land of rocket launches, oranges, and alligators where he started the Tampa PowerShell User Group. Chad is the DBA for SQL Server and Manager of Database Administration for a shop supporting SQL Server, Oracle, and Informix, acts as coordinator for the SQL Server PowerShell Extensions CodePlex project, and maintains an active blog at http://sev17.com/author/chad-miller/ .

How do I attend? Registration for the event is now open.
*When you register you’ll get a calendar reminder for the event.
_____________________________________________________________

Getting started with Steam Insight and Complex Event Processing Applications
Wednesday October 20th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4)
Chris Coneybeer

Today we find our systems and users need to be able to quickly collect, analyze, and act upon data that is being streamed from an unlimited number of devices or systems in our enterprises. Frequently, this raw data is being collected from many different sources such as sensors on production lines, usage events from a website, or even just consumption data from a power meter. Generally this raw data goes through a time consuming process of collection, aggregation, and then querying before it can be used for business process decisions. SteamInsight is a new platform included with SQL Server 2008 R2 that is used to build Complex Event Processing (CEP) applications that are used to monitor these raw data streams. Using StreamInisght your applications will have the ability to analyze, correlate, and use the data contained in streams while it is in-flight. This is done by creating adapters that are responsible for monitoring streams and then writing queries against the adapters. During this session we will discuss what StreamInsight is, what stories it addresses in system architectures, and then we will look at some examples of using the Stream Insight platform and getting started with your own queries.

Chris Coneybeer
Chris is a C#/SQL developer with over 10 years of development experience working with Microsoft stack. Currently Chris works as an independent developer for small business and working in the banking industry as a contractor. Since his move the Phoenix area Chris has discovered the value and rich experience that community provides by sharing ideas and having open discussions. Chris enjoys working on connected systems and finding ways to leverage data for technology workers. During the years he has worked with VB6, VB.NET, C#.NET, ASP/ASP.NET, AJAX, XML, WCF, SSRS, SSIS, T-SQL, and other assorted technologies. His current interests include WCF, EF and WF improvements in the 4.0 framework along with SQL2008R2. Chris is the Vice-President of the Southeast Valley .NET User Group (SEVDNUG) in Chandler Arizona which supports local .NET developers through regular meetings and events. Recently he also gotten more involved with the Phoenix Connected Systems User Group(PCSUG) as Membership Director and is working with the leadership to grow the reach of the group.

How do I attend? Live Meeting link

_____________________________________________________________

Using Microsoft BI Tools to Access Oracle Applications Data
Wednesday October 20th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4) 

Daryl Orts

One of the challenges in using Microsoft’s BI tools (Reporting Services, Analysis Services, Excel, PowerPivot) to access Oracle applications data lies in building metadata models to make sense of the data.  Whether you’re accessing the data directly in the transaction database or building a data warehouse, you’ll need data models that make sense of the Oracle database schema.

This beginner to intermediate level presentation will discuss design approaches for building these models, including commercial products available from the presenter,  Noetix Corporation

How do I attend? Live Meeting link

What will the new PowerShell Virtual Chapter do?  Our primary mission is holding Live Meetings every month featuring free training from around the world.  We plan to archive the presentations for you to watch on demand and highlight articles and blogs that will interest our members.  This Virtual Chapter is headed up by top professionals from around the US: Ben Miller ( blog | twitter ), Chad Miller [no relation that I’m aware of] ( blog | twitter ), Lars Rasmussen ( blog | twitter ), Peter Schott ( blog | twitter ), and Aaron Nelson ( blog | twitter ).

 We will start things off next Wednesday with our first presentation. Here is the schedule through the end of the year.   We are currently looking for speakers for next year.

Wednesday October 20th 12 pm EDT (GMT-4) – Presenter Chad Miller
Wednesday November 17th 1 pm EST (GMT -5) – Presenter Aaron Nelson
Wednesday December 15th 1 pm EST (GMT -5) – Presenter Peter Schott

Chad Miller will get us started with an introduction to PowerShell as a command line for one-off tasks or automation in the DBA world. Basic PS principles and syntax will be covered. Get your proverbial DBA feet wet with a tool that can make your database and sysadmin life better than it was before! Bigger, stronger, faster. (Cue Bionic Man theme)

Chad Miller
Chad hails from the land of rocket launches, oranges, and alligators where he started the Tampa PowerShell User Group. Chad is the DBA for SQL Server and Manager of Database Administration for a shop supporting SQL Server, Oracle, and Informix, acts as coordinator for the SQL Server PowerShell Extensions CodePlex project, and maintains an active blog at http://sev17.com/author/chad-miller/ .

How do I attend? Registration for the event is now open.
*When you register you’ll get a calendar reminder for the event.

Ensure Business Continuity with SQL Server, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Live Migration
October 12th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Ross Mistry

See ways to reduce deployment time and adapt to changes in hardware utilization or capacity requirements quickly, with minimal downtime, using SQL Server and Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration. The session will also focus on SQL Server Virtualization alternatives, high availability strategies within a virtualized environment and a real life demonstration of moving a SQL Server Virtual Machine from one physical host to another with Live Migration. Finally, the session will also include case studies based on designs at the Microsoft Technology Center.

Ross Mistry

Ross Mistry is an Enterprise Architect at Microsoft, bestselling author and a former SQL Server MVP. Ross focuses on designing and implementing SQL Server solutions for Microsoft’s largest customers at the Microsoft Technology Center in Silicon Valley. Ross is a frequent speaker at SQL Server community events such as SQL PASS, SQL Europe PASS, Connections and SQL Bits. His recent books include; Introducing SQL Server 2008 R2 (MSPress), Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed (SAMS) and SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration (SAMS). You can follow him on twitter @RossMistry.

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL:  Live Meeting link

_____________________________________________________________

Maps Integration into Reporting Services
October 12th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Matt Smith

The purpose of this presentation is to display the functionality of Bing maps integration into SSRS on SQL 2008 R2. Topics include how to use geospatial data, create map layers, and drill through actions to enhance usability of reporting.

Matt Smith

A Technology professional with over 5 years experience in various areas of software from database development and architecture to application development . Primary focus is on Business Intelligence. Industries include automotive, finance, healthcare, hospitality, education and real estate.  Matt takes pride in thinking outside the box, building customer relationships, and his liaison abilities between the technical and business worlds. Personal interests include anything sports or outdoor related, photography, salt water aquariums, and family.

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL: Live Meeting Link
_____________________________________________________________

Use PowerShell to Get the Most out of SQL Server
October 13th 12:00 PM MDT (GMT -6)
Presenter: Allen White

PowerShell is the new scripting environment from Microsoft for managing server environments.  Because PowerShell supports the .Net Framework, accessing SQL Server in a scripting environment is easier than ever before.  Whether you need to access data or manage SQL Server, PowerShell makes it possible.  This session will give an introduction to PowerShell, explain the basic ADO.Net objects required to connect with SQL Server, and demonstrate accessing SQL Server from PowerShell scripts, both from a data and a management perspective.

Allen White

Allen is a consultant and mentor for Upsearch Technology Services in Northeast Ohio. He’s spent over 35 years in IT and has been using SQL Server since 1992 and is certified MCITP in SQL Server and MCT.  Allen has been awarded Microsoft’s MVP Award for the last four years. He’s active in the Ohio North SQL Server User’s Group and contributes in the MSDN Forums, answering questions about SMO and PowerShell, and maintains a blog at sqlbolg.com

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL: Live Meeting Link
_____________________________________________________________

Women in Technology discussion at SQL Saturday #49
October 16th 4:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Kathi Kellenberger

This is a general round table discussion about women in technology. This presentation is open to men as well.

Kathi Kellenberger

Kathi, former SQL Server MVP, is a Data Technology Specialist with Microsoft in St. Louis. She is author of “Beginning T-SQL 2008″ (Apress) and co-author of “Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services” (Wrox) and “SQL Server MVP Deep Dives” (Manning) as well as over two dozen technical articles. Before joining Microsoft, Kathi was a DBA for Bryan Cave LLP, an international law firm. She has involved with the PASS community for several years, winning the PASSion award in 2008.

How do I view the presentation?
Sign up to attend SQL Saturday #49

Next-Level SQLCLR: Parallel Processing and Bulk Load
September 28nd 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Adam Machanic

The power of SQLCLR as a performance tool has been well-documented at this point; certain queries, when re-written the right way using SQLCLR components, can run an order of magnitude more quickly. If you’re already using SQLCLR, or need that extra push, attend this session to discover how to take things one step further using advanced techniques and a custom SQLCLR component that will help you leverage the power of parallelism to burn through your rows more quickly than you ever thought possible. This session includes some of the material that will be covered in Adam Machanic’s full-day PASS Summit post-conference seminar, “A Day of Doing Many Things at Once: Multitasking, Parallelism, and Process Distribution.” More information on the seminar is available here: http://sqlpass.eventpoint.com/topic/details/AD311P

Adam Machanic

Adam is a Boston-based independent database consultant, writer, and speaker. He has been involved in dozens of SQL Server implementations for both high-availability OLTP and large-scale data warehouse applications, and has optimized data access layer performance for several data-intensive applications. Adam has written for numerous web sites and magazines, including SQLblog, Simple Talk, Search SQL Server, SQL Server Professional, CoDe, and VSJ. He has also contributed to several books on SQL Server, including “SQL Server 2008 Internals” (Microsoft Press, 2009) and “Expert SQL Server 2005 Development” (Apress, 2007). Adam regularly speaks at user groups, community events, and conferences on a variety of SQL Server and .NET-related topics. He is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for SQL Server, Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP), and a member of the INETA North American Speakers Bureau.

How do I attend?
Attendee URL: LiveMeeting Link
_____________________________________________________________

SSRS R2: The New Stuff
September 29th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Mike Davis

In this session Mike shows you the new features in Reporting Services 2008 R2. You will learn how to use the Map control, Sparkline, Indicator, and Data Bars. See the new report builder 3.0. Learn about shared Data sets and report parts. Learn how to drill down from the US level to the state level using the map controls.

Mike Davis

Mike is a MCTS, MCITP, Senior BI consultant, and Trainer at Pragmatic Works.  He is an author of two Business intelligence books.  Mike is an experienced speaker and has presented at many events such as several SQL Server User Groups, Code Camps, SQL Server Launches, and SQL Saturday events. Mike is an active member at his local user group (JSSUG) in Jacksonville, FL.

URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=H2JWQQ&role=attend&pw=tS3%24Gtj%60z

Top 10 SQL Server Mistakes and Mis-steps
September 22nd 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Tim Ford

From Tim Ford’s (@SQLAgentMan’s) continuing blog series on the same topic comes a presentation in which we’ll go over common mistakes made by new and seasoned SQL Server Professionals alike. Learn how to avoid these issues before they happen and correct matters after you’ve seen them in your environments.

Tim Ford
Tim is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP and SQL Server Professional with Next Wave Logistics, has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He is also an author of SQL-centric articles for MSSQLTips.com, SQLServerCentral, and Simple-Talk.com and just completed a book on the topic of SQL Server DMVs with Louis Davidson. He is the host for the annual Quizbowl at the PASS Summit each Fall. 

Live Meeting Link:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=5B3JGF&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

Storage and Virtualization for the DBA
September 23rd 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -7)
Presenter: Denny Cherry

This is a preview of Denny’s full day PASS Summit pre-conference session in which Denny disccusses how storage can be one of the biggest bottlenecks when it comes to database perfomance and how to troubleshoot storage performance issues and tie the virtual platforms to the storage array so that you can maximize the storage performance for your SQL Servers and the virtual environment.

Denny Cherry
Denny has over a decade of experience managing SQL Server, including MySpace.com’s over 175 million user installation, one of the largest in the world.  Denny’s areas of technical expertise include system architecture, performance tuning, replication and troubleshooting.  Denny currently holds several Microsoft Certifications related to SQL Server as well as being a Microsoft MVP.  Denny is a longtime member of PASS and Quest Software’s Association of SQL Server Experts and has written numerous technical articles on SQL Server management.

Live Meeting Link:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=J8RZQ8&role=attend&pw=RFxB5D%2FsM

Indexes and Other Free Performance Boosts
September 14th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Jeremiah Peschka

The database is often viewed as a major performance bottleneck. There are a number of quick, easy, painless techniques that can increase the performance of an application not just by a small amount, but by orders of magnitude. These techniques include simple indexing techniques, T-SQL techniques, and general database application design patterns that give great gains in performance. In this session, you will learn how to look at a database to identify these problem areas and how to resolve common issues that you will encounter.

Jeremiah Peschka

Jeremiah (blog|twitter) is a Database Expert with Quest Software. He is a SQL Server MVP, user group leader, and PASS Director at Large. Jeremiah has a passion for spreading knowledge and writing about himself in the third person. When not using a computer, Jeremiah can be found playing guitar, reading, writing, wandering around central Ohio, or speaking at various SQL Server events.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=DJ8WK2&role=attend
_____________________________________________________________

Building your 1st Performance Point Dashboard in SharePoint 2010
September 14th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Adam Jorgensen

Many of you have seen the coolness that is PerformancePoint in SharePoint 2010. Come get hands on with Adam as we go through the ins and outs of creating your first dashboard.  See some of the cool visualizations you can use and how they work together to create a cool user experience.

Adam Jorgensen

Adam, MBA, MCDBA, MCITP: BI has over a decade of experience leading organizations around the world in developing and implementing enterprise solutions. His passion is finding new and innovative avenues for clients and the community to embrace business intelligence and lower barriers to implementation. Adam is also very involved in the community as a featured author on SQLServerCentral, SQLShare, as well as a regular contributor to the SQLPASS Virtual User Groups for Business Intelligence and other organizations. He regularly speaks at industry group events, major conferences, Code Camps, and SQLSaturday events on strategic and technical topics.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=K5S9BK&role=attend&pw=B%3B4%2F%7D38%3Br
_____________________________________________________________

One more quick note.  There’s this little online event going on the following day called the 24 Hours of PASS and this time it’s been rearranged to be timed better for the massive amount of Data Professionals in the Eastern half of the US [and Canada, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Virgin Islands, Netherland Antilles, & Brazil, etc… yeah them places too]

24 Hours of PASS: Summit Preview

Join an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts from around the world as they present a sneak peek of PASS Summit 2010 in 24 free live webcasts September 15-16.

This installment of 24 Hours of PASS delivers the hottest SQL Server and BI content directly to your computer – with a twist. Instead of running continuously for 24 hours, the September event divides the webcasts across 2 days, with each day beginning at 12:00 GMT (UTC). Check out what time it starts in your neck of the woods.

Dig into data warehousing, MDX, KPIs, and DTS-to-SSIS migration. Learn best practices for sizing database hardware and performance tuning. Get an in-depth look at PowerShell, storage for the DBA, and the latest T-SQL enhancements. And see how to manage teams, make your presentations rock, prepare for your next job, and more.

Tune in to hear your favorite MVPs and PASS Summit speakers, including Kalen Delaney, Andy Leonard, Kevin Kline, Brad McGehee, Allen White, and many more.

Register today for your top picks – or plan to attend them all!

Introduction to SQL Server Statistics
September 7th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Andy Warren

This beginner to intermediate level session will introduce you to statistics, including how to create, manage, troubleshoot, and more! Statistics are a key part of getting solid and repeatable performance and is easily just as important as having indexes. Whether you’re a DBA or trying to get by without one, this session will give you the information you need to know.

Andy Warren

Andy Warren is a SQL trainer focusing on basic administration and performance tuning, he runs the free SQLShare.com training site, is currently a SQL Server MVP, blogs daily at SQLAndy.com, started the SQLSaturday franchise, is co-President of the Orlando SQL Server Users Group, serves as a member of the Board of Directors of PASS, and was a founding partner in SQLServerCentral.com. In his remaining free time he’s working on a book for first time managers.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=2CHB5C&role=attend&pw=W%5Dw5%22K45B

_____________________________________________________________

Designing High Performance I/O for SQL Server
September 8th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -6)
Presenter: Jimmy May

This session attempts to describe the “full story” of SQL Server I/O.  We will start at the hardware level working our way up the stack through Windows and into the SQL Server storage engine.  I aim to provide in depth information about all aspects related to the fundamentals of high performance storage design for SQL Server and best practices on this complex subject.

Jimmy May

Jimmy is a Sr. Program Manager for the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team.  He is the manager of the SQL Server Customer Lab where customers from around the world bring the biggest, fastest, & most interesting SQL Server apps for tuning.  He is a founder of both the Indiana Windows User Group (http://www.iwug.net) and Indianapolis Professional Association for SQL Server (http://www.indypass.org).  Jimmy recently moved to Redmond from Indianapolis, Indiana with his lovely bride, Phyllis, and Fannie May the Wonder Dog.  Subscribe to and read his SQL Server performance and personal productivity blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/jimmymay.  Contact him at jimmymay@microsoft.com or aspiringgeek@live.com.  Jimmy is also part of the rich & robust SQL Server community on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/aspiringgeek.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/8000181573/join?id=S29G25&role=attend
_____________________________________________________________

Data Mining with PowerPivot 2010
September 8th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Mark Tabladillo

Excel provides a compelling and ubiquitous interface for Microsoft Data Mining. With new features available through PowerPivot, business users can apply the technology through a well-designed infrastructure of Microsoft technologies. This presentation will welcome any newcomers to data mining, and provide interactive demos which highlight data mining through these technologies.

Mark Tabladillo

Mark provides consulting and training for data mining with Solid Quality Mentors. He has taught statistics at Georgia Tech and for the graduate business school of the University of Phoenix. In addition to his Microsoft certifications (MCAD .NET and MCT), Mark has years of deep experience with the SAS System, and has presented at many local, regional, and national technical conferences.  Mark produces a data mining resource and blog at http://www.marktab.net

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=2J4ZPD&role=attend&pw=8QN%40qdzgQ

I’ve recently learned that if you only have PowerPoint 2007 you’ll need to download this viewer because I built the slides in PowerPoint 2010. Here are the scripts for Columbus and Edmonton.

I think both events went really well and got a lot of people saying: ‘Hey, this PowerShell stuff could work in my environment’. I really hope they catch the fever! I’d love to speak to each of these groups next year and see what questions they come up with and see how much they’re using it. I’ve got a more advanced session that I will be debuting a little later this year so hopefully I’ll get to share it with them too.

Huge thanks to Jonathan Boulineau ( twitter ) and Colin Stasiuk ( blog | twitter ) for all they do for their groups all year long.

Writing a better Where Clause
August 24th 8:00 AM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Scott Gleason

This session will cover the basics of writing optimized query’s with focus on the ‘where clause’ and ‘having clause’ of a select statement. If you have never attended a query performance session before, you’ll learn a lot!

Scott Gleason
Scott has worked in Jacksonville Florida exclusively as DBA for over nine years. He is currently the Vice President of the Jacksonville SQL Server Users Group (JSSUG) and actively speaks about SQL at SQL Saturdays and Code Camps.

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL:  Live Meeting Link
_____________________________________________________________

SQL Storage for Performance: Best Practices
August 25th 12:00 AM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Amy Styers

SQL Storage Planning for Best Performance What are the different storage optimizations available for SQL server? What are some techniques that can be used to determine performance bottlenecks? Amy will discuss tips and tricks from the field on how to answer these questions for planning and designing your SQL infrastructure from disk up!

Amy Styers
Amy is a Microsoft Infrastructure Architect in the EMC Commercial Solutions Advisory Group where she has been engaged for the last three years discussing with customers their options for highly available, highly scalable, high performing Microsoft applications. She regularly addresses customers with regards to their virtualization initiatives and helps customers make decisions regarding architecting their Microsoft infrastructures both in physical and virtual environments.

Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/8000181573/join?id=S2G482&role=attend

Here are all the vital details for you:

Topic: Self-service B/I with PowerPivot
Date: Monday, August 23, 2010
Speaker: Teo Lachev

Meeting Agenda
6:30 – 6:45 – Networking, Announcements
6:45 – 7:15 – Sponsor Presentation(s)
7:15 – 8:15 – Main Presentation(s)
8:15 – 8:30 – Q&A, Discussion

Meeting Place
Matrix Resources
115 Perimeter Center Place
Suite 250 (South Terraces Building)
Atlanta, GA 30346

Directions and parking information

I’ll be speaking at SQL Saturday #51 about PowerShell just before Allen White and our sessions cover completely different content so please come to both!  As soon as I’m done with my session I’m headed straight out the door and to the “World’s Fastest Half Mile”.  That’s right, I’m taking a 230 mile detour on my way to the night race.  There is going to be a freaking amazing amount of great speakers at this event and if you live within a 6 hour drive of Music City I Highly recommend you don’t miss one of the best lineups since SQL Saturday#33 in Charlotte. 

I just wanted to take a quick moment to let everyone know that yesterday I received the great news that I will be speaking about PowerShell at the 2010 PASS Summit!    Here’s what my session will be:

The Dirty Dozen: PowerShell Scripts for the Busy DBA

You’ve heard it said, “If you have to do it twice, automate it.” That’s great advice and PowerShell provides a simple but extremely powerful way to do it. PowerShell is the future of Windows scripting. Cut the learning curve and get a real handle on this powerful automation tool. This session walks you through a dozen scripts to simplify and easily automate time-consuming and tedious elements of your day to day job. This isn’t stuff you’ll use SOMEDAY, these are scripts you can use when you get home tonight.  Harness the power of PowerShell to easily find Servers short on space. Script out tables and constraints across all of your databases at once. Backup databases and restore them to a different environment. These tricks and many others will allow PowerShell to simplify your job like no other tool.

Speaker:

Aaron Nelson
Senior Database Administrator

I owe a huge thanks to everyone who helped me make this a reality and I’ll write a post thanking many of them when I get some time.

Loops, Lookups and Splits: SSIS Beyond the Basics
Managing Teams
Why Should I use Stored Procedures?
_____________________________________________________________

Loops, Lookups and Splits: SSIS Beyond the Basics
July 13th 9:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Tim Mitchell

In this session, we’ll explore some of the useful tasks and data flow components of SSIS. Join in as we review the File System Task and the SSIS looping containers, as well as data flow components including the Lookup Transformation, the Conditional Split, and the Derived Column. This session will include various demonstrations using SSIS 2008.

Tim Mitchell

Tim Mitchell is a Microsoft SQL Server consultant, developer, and speaker. He has been working with SQL Server for over 7 years, working primarily in business intelligence, ETL/SSIS, and reporting. He has earned numerous certifications and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M at Commerce, and is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. Tim is a business intelligence consultant for Artis Consulting in the Dallas, Texas area. See his full profile and blog at www.timmitchell.net.

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL:  Live Meeting link

_____________________________________________________________

Managing Teams
July 13th 1:00 PM EDT (GMT -4) / 10:00 AM PDT (GMT -7)
Presenter: Andy Leonard

Are you a member of a team of database professionals? Are you part of a developer team? Do you manage or lead a team? This presentation is for you. Andy Leonard shares experiences, war stories, and lessons learned from years of managing and leading teams.

Andy Leonard
Andy is an Architect with Molina Medicaid Solutions, SQL Server database and Integration Services developer, SQL Server MVP, PASS Regional Mentor, and engineer. He is a co-author of Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services and SQL Server MVP Deep Dives. Andy blogs for SQLBlog.com. His background includes web application architecture and development, VB, and ASP; SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS); data warehouse development using SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008.

Click here to join the Live Meeting.

_____________________________________________________________

Why Should I use Stored Procedures?
July 14th 12:00 PM MDT (GMT -6)
Presenter: Jack Corbett

With the proliferation of ORM Tools like Linq To SQL, NHibernate, there has been a move to no longer use stored procedures for Data Access, I personally disagree. This will be a professional and polite open discussion starting with why I believe stored procedures are the best way to access data in SQL Server. Alternate view points welcome.

Jack Corbett
Professional who has worked with SQL Server for 10 yrs (6.5-2008) and experience in .NET development as well. Author of several articles for SQLServerCentral and video author for SQLShare.com. Speaker at several SQLSaturday’s and Florida User Groups. Co-President of OPASS. Lover of all things SQL except Analysis Services and MDX.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/8000181573/join?id=7FKD56&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

ETL with PowerShell
June 22nd 9:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Chad Miller

In this session we will look at performing common data loading tasks with PowerShell. A basic understanding of PowerShell is helpful, but not necessary. Specific topics covered include importing structured files, XML, WMI objects and ADO.NET data sources.

Chad Miller
Chad Miller is a Senior Manager of Database Administration at Raymond James Financial. Chad has worked with Microsoft SQL Server since 1999 and has been automating administration tasks using Windows PowerShell since 2007. In his spare time he is the Project Coordinator/Developer of PowerShell-based Codeplex project SQL Server PowerShell Extensions (SQLPSX). Chad leads the Tampa PowerShell User Group and is also a frequent speaker at SQL Server users groups, SQL Saturdays and Code Camps.

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL:  Live Meeting link
_____________________________________________________________

How SQL Server Indexes Work
June 23rd 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Sharon F. Dooley

There are many useful presentations about indexes. Most of these concentrate on tricks and techniques. This presentation will provide the background knowledge of index architectures so that you can understand why techniques work and select the appropriate indexing strategies for your databases. Topics covered include page splits/fragmentation, disk accesses required for different index types, covering indexes and optimization.

Speaker Bio:

Sharon Dooley (MCP, former SQL Server MVP) has worked with SQL Server since its first release. Her major areas of specialization are database design and performance tuning, though she also does a lot of administration. She has a consulting practice and teaches and writes courses for Learning Tree International, where she is SQL Server Curriculum Manager. Ms. Dooley is the author of SQL Server 7.0 Essential Reference (New Riders), the lead author of Professional SQL Server 6.5 Administration (Wrox). Sharon is an active member of PASS (The Professional Organization for SQL Server) and has presented at numerous conferences. She was named a Microsoft MVP in 2001 and was an MVP for SQL Server until 2004. In her spare time, she enjoys being bossed around by her cats.

Attendee URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/8000181573/join?id=7DJZ27&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

Reporting Services for the DBA
June 23rd 12:00 PM CDT (GMT -5)
Presenter: Ef Romero

Reporting Services for the DBA: Using Reporting Services to monitor and affect changes to SQL Server.

Ef Romero:
Ef Romero is a Senior Consultant at Hitachi Consulting where he specializes in business intelligence development with SQL Server. His work with SQL Server is concentrated in ETL, data warehouse development, database optimization, and reporting. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in pure mathematics, from UTEP and has worked as a mathematician and BI developer for the past four years. He is a collaborator on the recently published book SQL Server Reporting Services Recipes: for Designing Expert Reports.

Attendee URL: Join the meeting

_____________________________________________________________

“You Got XML In My Database? What’s Up With That?”
May 11th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Add to Calendar
Presenter: Stuart Ainsworth

A brief presentation exploring the marriage of XML and relational databases, including when it works and when it doesn’t. Coverage will include various use case scenarios, and some tips on how to improve performance using design techniques.

Stuart Ainsworth:

Stuart I Ainsworth, MA, Med is a Database Architect working in the realm of Financial Information Security; over the last 15 years, he’s worked as a Research Analyst, a report writer, a DBA, a programmer, and a public speaking professor. He’s one of the chapter leaders for AtlantaMDF, the Atlanta chapter of PASS. A master of air guitar, he has yet to understand the point of Rock Band (“You push buttons? What’s that all about?”).

How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL:  Live Meeting link
_____________________________________________________________

Indexing Guidelines
May 12, 2010 Noon Mountain Time (-6 GMT)
Presenter: Greg Larsen

This session will discuss indexing guidelines. During this discussion there will be information about how developers and DBA’s should approach the indexing development lifecycle. This lifecycle will help attendees understand that you shouldn’t just develop some indexes while you are developing your applications and then forget about them. In addition some indexing guidelines will be discussed. These guidelines will help you make better choices on which columns to select for your indexes and how those columns should be ordered in multi-column indexes. There will be number of demonstrations to support this discussion. Lastly an indexing toolkit (a set of scripts) that you can use to help manage your indexes will be provided.

Greg Larsen:

Greg Larsen has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He has authored over 125 articles related to SQL Server. He holds a MCITP Database Administrator and Developer certification for SQL Server 2005 and is a SQL Server MVP. Greg also hosts the www.sqlserverexamples.com website which contains a number of T-SQL examples to help you manage your SQL Server environment and application T-SQL code. Greg has a full-time DBA gig, but also provides SQL Server consulting services in his spare time.

Door Prize: There will be a drawing for a $50.00 Amazon Gift Certificate
Registration: You can attend the meeting without registering but if you want to be entered in the drawing, you must register at https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=jhh2nc28185sd034 no later than 5:00 PM Eastern on May 11th.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=CPN75W&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

12 Key Development Areas
May 13th 1:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Andy Warren

A good professional development plan has to go far beyond ‘learning more technology’, it has to encompass the wide variety of skills you need to build the next step in your career, and it has to include a variety of learning methods. We’ll discuss how much time and money you should budget when building your plan, and how the distribution of time and money changes as your career evolves. We’ll look at the growth phases you’ll encounter, learning how you learn best, how to keep up with new technology without burning out, and even how things like blogging and Twitter can be an interesting part of your plan.

Andy Warren
Andy Warren (@SQLAndy) is a SQL trainer focusing on basic administration and performance tuning, he runs the free SQLShare.com training site, is currently a SQL Server MVP, blogs daily at SQLAndy.com, started the SQLSaturday franchise,  is co-President of the Orlando SQL Server Users Group, serves as a member of the Board of Directors of PASS, and was a founding partner in SQLServerCentral.com.  In his remaining free time he’s working on a book for first time managers and squeezes in some woodworking for relaxation.

Live Meeting Link: https://www323.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=5233Z9&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

Extract, Transform, and Load your Data Warehouse
May 14, 2010 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4) Add to calendar
Presenter: Jessica M. Moss

One data warehouse buzzword that often gets used is “ETL”, also known as extract, transform, and load.  But what does this really mean from a data warehousing perspective and how do we use SQL Server Integration Services to perform these ETL functions?  This session will answer these questions and show solutions to common ETL problems.

Jessica M. Moss

Jessica M. Moss, an architect with Ironworks Consulting and a Microsoft SQL Server MVP, is a well-known practitioner, author, and speaker in Microsoft SQL Server business intelligence.  Jessica has created numerous data warehousing solutions for companies in the retail, internet, health services, finance, and energy industries and authored technical content for multiple magazines, websites, and the book “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services Problem-Design-Solution”.  Jessica enjoys working with the central Virginia community and speaks regularly at user groups, code camps, and conferences.  You can read about her work on her blog, http://www.jessicammoss.com.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=CPPC3S&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

Have you ever been about to take a trip somewhere new and thought ‘hey, I wonder if I’m close enough to a PASS Chapter to catch their meeting’ or for speakers, ‘if I can speak at their meeting’?  Well guess what, I’ve had the same question.  So I went to the PASS website and tried to figure out if Abilene was close to Houston.  Unfortunately there was no easy way for me to figure that out because the chapters were all listed on separate pages and there is no map.

So I did what I’m sure everyone does, I sent an email to Blythe Morrow ( twitter ) saying hey Blythe, “we need a map off all the PASS chapters around the world”.  Blythe said “That’s a great idea Aaron!!  When can you have it done?”

Doh!  I didn’t realize that I was volunteering myself for this but I figure hey this is our PASS so I smiled and said “I don’t know, send me the data and we’ll see”.  I built out a map, and we ran into some issues with chapters not having quite the right address the software could recognize. Fun stuff like that. 

Along the way I realized Rob Farley ( blog | twitter ) not only knows how to do this stuff, but can even do it with Silverlight.  I roped him into my little guerilla-community-service project, but we quickly noticed a problem:  quite a few of the chapters have addresses that are not where the group actually meets but  instead where the chapter leader lives or works.  That being said, we quickly realized that we now need all 211 chapters to give us their meeting addresses, not their mailing address.

Right now all we can show you is a static map of the chapters in the US.  If we can get all of the addresses from all of the chapter leaders verified, we can give you a zoom-able map of all the chapters in the world sometime soon (*that soon part is completely up to the chapter leaders). 

What needs to be done?  We have sent out an email to all chapter leaders asking for at the very least their meeting address and which day of the month the chapter meets.  If they also want to include a twitter handle for the group and/or chapter leaders, a picture of the chapter leader(s), chapter logo, or anything along those lines we can add those as well.  Please send this information as a reply to the email that has been sent out to all of the Chapter Leaders.

[Click on the map for the full size version]

_____________________________________________________________
Understanding SARGability (to make your queries run faster)
April 27th 12:30 PM Adelaide, AUS CST  (GMT +9:30) [April 26th at 8:00 PM PDT (GMT -7)]
Add to Calendar (AUS)
April 27th 8:00 AM EDT (GMT -4)
Add to Calendar
Presenter: Rob Farley

SARGable means Search ARGument able. It relates to the ability to search through an index for a value, but unfortunately, many database professionals don’t really understand it. This can lead to queries which miss out on the potential to run much quicker. This is a talk involving lots of demos, showing plenty of queries and execution plans. Any time I’m not typing on the screen, I’ll be waving my hands around to explain things, with apologies to those tuned in through Live Meeting.

Rob Farley:

Rob Farley runs LobsterPot Solutions, a consultancy based in Adelaide, Australia. He has been consulting in IT since completing a Computer Science degree with first class honours in 1997 and using SQL Server since 1998. He is a regular presenter at conferences such as TechEd Australia, heads up the Adelaide SQL Server User Group and holds many Microsoft certifications. He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and is a recipient of the Microsoft MVP Award for SQL Server. Rob has also helped create several exams for Microsoft Learning, and has recently written two chapters for the book SQL Server MVP Deep Dives. Rob’s blog can be read at http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rob_farley/

How do I view the presentation?

Attendee URL (AUS):  Live Meeting link

Attendee URL: Live Meeting Link
_____________________________________________________________

SQL Server 2008 Audit
April 28, Noon Eastern Time (GMT -4)
Presenter: Thomas LaRock

With SQL Server 2008 you now have the ability to set up auditing with SQL Server Audit. Attend this session for an overview of SQL Server Audit, learn how to initially configure an audit for your server or databases, and examine the audit logs to report on the information that is captured.

Thomas LaRock:

Thomas LaRock is a seasoned IT professional with over a decade of technical and management experience. Thomas is a member of Quest Software’s Association of SQL Server Experts, currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS), and is a SQL Server MVP. Thomas can also be found blogging at http://thomaslarock.com and is the author of DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA.

Door Prize: There will be a drawing for a $50.00 Amazon Gift Certificate
Registration: You can attend the meeting without registering but if you want to be entered in the drawing, you must register at https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=fmxpl8tdzwcrc6z0 no later than 5:00 PM Eastern on April 27th.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/8000181573/join?id=6K8GPR&role=attend

_____________________________________________________________

Intro to Speaking At PASS: Creating a Winning Abstract (If I Can Do It, Anyone Can!)
April 28, Noon Central Time (GMT -5)
Presenter: Chuck Heinzelman

Have you ever attended a conference (such as PASS) and thought to yourself, “Wow, I wish I could speak at something like this!” Speaking at a conference like PASS is not something reserved for the superstar speakers. Each year PASS actively calls out for presentation proposals from members of the SQL Server community. During this session we’ll talk about what goes into creating a submission for the call for speakers with the goal of reducing the fear and anxiety that can go along with the process.

Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/0000000379_116/Registration.aspx?pageName=nk4md836r0tzp94j

______________________________________________________

Coming in May…

Stuart Ainsworth presents “You Got XML In My Database? What’s Up With That?”

and

Patrick LeBlanc presents “Introduction to SQL Server Profiler”