24 Hours of PASS: More free training from experts (and me)

I try not to say I am an expert, I just have some years of experience with some failures that were turned into successes. Experience is a good teacher.

I was an alternate for 24 Hours of PASS (#24HOP twitter hash tag) until Karen Lopez had to cancel because of a flight she was going to be on.

I will be giving a Database Standard Operating Procedure talk as a preview to the 3rd Normal Form: That’s Crazy Talk!!! that I was selected to do at the PASS Summit 2011.

If you have never been to a PASS Summit, I would bet you would leave there more excited about SQL Server than when you arrived. The Summit has some of the most enthusiastic SQL Server professionals I have ever meet.

Most talks are by IT people in the field, not salesman trying to sell you software. You get real world experience. The 24 Hours of PASS will have some of these speakers giving previews of their Summit talks. Some Summit talks are regular sessions like mine(75 minutes), but most are doing either 90 minute Spotlight sessions, 1/2 day sessions or Pre-conference sessions which are Monday and Tuesday of the Summit.

I have been to the PASS Summit 3 of the last 4 years, have gone to pre-conference sessions every year and plan of doing the same this year. I have also watched 24 Hours of PASS the last 2 years when I can at work.

Please join us this Wednesday and Thursday for 24 hours of free training by SQL Server experts and ME!!!

RECAP: Baton Rouge SQLSaturday #64 and TechDay

     

This year I decide to help with volunteering and not speak. Since being selected for SQL PASS Summit

 I decided not to speak and give others, especially local people an opportunity to start their speaking careers. The first time I spoke was at a local user group then SQLSaturday #28. I did my best to pick a topic (RML Utilities) that I thought would impress people. What I realized over time, that the majority of attendees at SQLSaturdays were new to the technology and it would be better to appeal to the newbies.

Execution Plan Basics and 3rd Normal Form: That’s Crazy Talk!!! are the types of talks I concentrate more on lately. The more advanced attendees (including myself) get to criticize the session about the lack of advanced/intermediate topic, but I have to come to accept these comments to only improve the next talk.

I did get to introduce the event at the keynote SQL side which was a basic description of the event and how to read the schedule, visit sponsors and participate in raffles. Serving Jambalaya and tallying speaker evaluations were some of the volunteering I did. Keeping up with speakers and cancelations/replacements were not fun as 1/2 of the speaker coordinator, but it had to be done.

      

There was a wonderfully giving group of volunteers that meet periodically to plan this event. Laurie, Sara, Eric & Beth from Antares and William, Mike & Justin from Sparkhound and Mr. Mike Verret (LSU).

  Proficient (Mike, Ryan & Val) sponsored as a Platinum level with Microsoft (THANKS!!! Zain and Patrick LeBlanc) and HP. There were many Gold and Silver sponsors

We had 35+ attendees pick volunteer when the registered which gave us enough people to monitor each speaker room to help collect close to 1000 speaker evaluations and help with a book giveaway at each session.

I cannot say enough of the speakers who came from all around the country, Steve Jones and Carlos from Colorado, Peter Myers from SolidQ, Sean & Jen from Dallas, Stuart from Atlanta, Rob Vetter (C# MVP), Jose from Tampa, AvePoint and K2 as Sharepoint/Sponsors and filling in for speaker cancellations. Even the late arriving William Pearson from JawJa.

More volunteers (There were probably 20-30 extras helping us).

     

Here is the link to more pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/110051938285440518693/SQLSaturday64?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOSS5LS5l_TkXg&feat=directlink#

Until next year, God Bless!!!

Future Reserved Dates

Here is a quick view of dates and locations that have been reserved for future SQLSaturday events. Click here to reserve a date!

Aug 04, 2012
Taylor Hall, Louisiana State University Campus
Baton Rouge
LA

August 18th Data Arch VC Meeting: John Racer on Data Warehouse Architecture

August 18 Data Arch VC Meeting: John Racer on Data Warehouse Architecture

Subject:
Data Warehouse Architecture

Level:
200 (Intermediate)

Start Time:
Thursday, August 18, 2011 1:00 PM US Central Time (August 18, 2011 6:00 PM GMT)

End Time:
Thursday, August 18, 2011 2:00 PM US Central Time (August 18, 2011 7:00 PM GMT)

Presenter:
John Racer (blog|@SpeedRacer)

Live Meeting Link:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/UserGroups/join?id=TQ6GQT&role=attend&pw=5p_%28%3BB3df

Data Warehouse Architecture
Data Warehousing is a large and often misunderstood concept. Marketers, Authors, and IT Departments all have differing spins and opinions on what is involved and just how to go about building one. In this session we will discuss some of the more common architectures and practices. We will cover various aspects of what goes in to Data Warehouse including the systems, modeling, data storage, data integration and data access.

John Racer
Database Administrator, Business Intelligence Developer and Data Warehouse Designer with strong knowledge of telecommunications, care center, compensation and business operations systems. Experienced with implementation and maintenance of SQL Server and Oracle Multi-Terabyte High-Availability environments. Broad experience with project management through SDLC, RAD and Scrum. Driven by the challenge to understand business and processes and apply this knowledge create innovative applications of technology to improve organization and operational efficiency.

John's blog:
http://speeddba.com

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Business Intelligence Track–SQLSaturday #64 Baton Rouge

Just in case you did not know, the annual Baton Rouge SQLSaturday #64 and Tech Day will be August 6th in Baton Rouge, LA at the LSU campus. Patrick LeBlanc started it all in 2009 and there is wonder group of Technology Geeks keeping the trend going.

If I were not volunteering for #SqlSat64, this is where my but would be all day, except during lunch eating jambalaya and watching with Steve Jones represent RedGate

http://www.sqlsaturday.com/64/schedule.aspx

Business Intelligence for Managers/Decision Makers (1111) - Beginner

BI Track – 8:30-9:30AM

Business Intelligence is an essential component for any business today and a successful BI implementation has the power to change the way your organization functions. In this non-technical session Carlos Bossy will show you what a BI project looks like and how it is different from other IT projects, how to determine the ROI of a BI project, the makeup of a good BI team, how to define the success of a BI implementation, and how to fix a BI project gone bad. You will also learn how to evaluate your BI & Analytical Strategy and you should leave this session with better knowledge of how to plan, build and deploy effective Business Intelligence solutions.

Carlos Bossy (MCTS SQL Server 2008 BI, CBIP) is a Consultant with 25 years of experience in software and database development. Carlos is an independent consultant and focuses on developing Business Intelligence solutions including data warehouses, predictive analytics, data integration and reporting. He has worked with SQL Server for 10 years and is very enthusiastic about its powerful features. Carlos has developed warehouses and BI solutions for a variety of industries and state agencies.

Handling Advanced Data Warehouse Scenarios in SSIS (1111) - Intermediate

BI Track – 9:45-10:45AM

So you’ve used SSIS to populate a simple star schema data mart, and everybody’s happy. But now you have new requirements that require more advanced data warehouse approaches, like late arriving dimensions, bridge tables, parent child dimensions, and Type 3 or Type 6 slowly changing dimensions (SCD). How do you handle those in a scalable, efficient way in SSIS? This session will present some common patterns for handling these scenarios. You’ll learn when to use each advanced approach and the pros and cons associated with each pattern. You will learn how to implement these patterns in SSIS, and how to tune them for high performance

John Welch is BI Architect with Varigence. Varigence builds tools and frameworks that enable the creation and management of end-to-end business intelligence solutions with unprecedented ease and speed. John has been working with business intelligence and data warehousing technologies since 2001, with a focus on Microsoft products in heterogeneous environments. He is a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP), and a frequent presenter on SQL Server BI topics.

Introduction to Analysis Services 2008 R2 Cubes (1111) - Intermediate

BI Track – 11:00-12:00PM

Analysis Service’s OLAP component allows organizations to implement a cube that is designed for rapid ad hoc information retrieval of their data. The cube, as a single version of the truth, can be enriched to encapsulate business rules and calculations, and advanced Business Intelligence features including KPIs and actions. For organizations that have a Standard or Enterprise SQL Server license, Analysis Services is a possible zero-cost opportunity for your organization today. In the session learn how to exploit the capabilities and features, and the basics of best practice design. Be prepared for numerous compelling demonstrations and to leave the session energized by the potential

Peter Myers has 14 years of solid experience working in OLTP database design and Business Intelligence with SQL Server and SharePoint. In April 2010, Peter was re-awarded Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for the fourth time. Peter enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for Microsoft technologies by presenting at SQL Server user group meetings and technical events, including TechEd in North America, Europe and Australia

Designing and Optimizing SSAS Hierarchies (1111) - Advanced

BI Track – 1:30-2:30PM

In this session Jose will do an overview of the different types of hierarchies and how to design user hierarchies in SSAS by defining attribute relationships and key columns the right way. Attendees will learn how to implement natural & unnatural hierarchies, balanced and ragged hierarchies, and Parent-Child hierarchies. Jose will show how to optimize SSAS hierarchies by specifying attribute and dimension types, member uniqueness, and aggregations. Jose will also do quick intro on querying hierarchies with MDX

Jose Chinchilla is a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator and Business Intelligence Developer working as a Sr. BI Consultant and trainer for Pragmatic Works. Jose has12+ years of experience in IT and has focused his career in OLTP and OLAP database design, development and administration and specializes in ETL/ELT using SSIS, Data Warehousing and Multidimensional Analysis using SQL Server 2008 BI tools. He is also the current president of the Tampa Bay Business Intelligence User Group

Visualizing SQL Saturday (1111) - Intermediate

BI Track – 2:45-3:45PM

This session will cover the best practices of dashboard design and data analytics as we explore and create data visualizations from the history of SQL Saturday. This session will focus on analyzing trends over time, categorical trending and dashboard design

Tim Costello is an MCITP, MCTS specializing in etl and data analytics for Interworks Inc. Tim is an international speaker with 25 presentations in the US and Canada since January of 2010. Tim is active in the SQL community and leads a data visualization focused user group in the Dallas area. Tim Started working with data in Access 95 and has worked in every version of SQL from SQL 7 forward

An Overview of PowerPivot (1111) - Beginner

BI Track – 4:00-5:00PM

In this presentation, Microsoft BI Architect and SQL Server MVP Bill Pearson explores “self-service BI” as a concept. We then provide a walkthrough of the primary features of PowerPivot, focusing on how we can exploit its capabilities to offer the benefits of BI to decision makers and analysts throughout our organizations. “There’s no service like self-service …”

Bill Pearson created Island Technologies Inc. in 1997, and has developed a large and diverse customer base since. Bill's background as a CPA, Internal Auditor, Management Accountant and SQL Server MVP (BI) enable him to provide value to clients as a liaison between Accounting / Finance and Information Services. Bill has implemented enterprise business intelligence systems over the years for many Fortune 500 companies, and focuses his practice upon the integrated Microsoft business intelligence solution

SQLSaturday #64 Baton Rouge Edition

AAAAYYYEEE!!! as they say down on the Bayou.

Time to get some free SQL Server, .Net and Sharepoint training in Baton Rouge. This is annual Tech Day in Baton Rouge for the third year. MVPs from all over the south and beyond are gathering to train people through 8 Tracks with 6 sessions each, that is 48 hours of free training plus a Window 7 Phone garage (not sure about this one).

Please register her: http://sqlsaturday.com/64/register.aspx

See the session lineup here: http://sqlsaturday.com/64/schedule.aspx

There are too many presenters to mention, so will not name them because I do not want to miss anyone, but this year the will be 46 different speakers and I will not be one of them. I am concentrating on helping the volunteers put on the show.

Also, I have been accepted as a speaker (and alternate) at the PASS Summit in Seattle October 10-15 2011. Still have to get approval from my new job to attend.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I have a new Job. I now work at Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Louisiana in Baton Rouge in the Enterprise Architecture team, probably to change to Enterprise Architect Data Performance title. I am in New York right now training on Informatica which is an enterprise ETL tool that sorry to say, blows SSIS out of the water.

Maybe Denali will catch up with Informatica, but right now it does not look close.

Well, good night and back to work

God Bless,

Thomas

July 21 Data Arch VC Meeting: Gaurav Aggarwal on Microsoft – Readying on “Hadoop”

July 21 Data Arch VC Meeting: Gaurav Aggarwal on Microsoft – Readying on “Hadoop”

Subject:
Microsoft – Readying on “Hadoop”

Start Time:
Thursday, July 21, 2011 9:00 PM US Eastern Time (July 22, 2011 2:00 AM GMT)

End Time:
Thursday, July 21, 2011 10:00 PM US Eastern Time ( July 22, 2011 3:00 AM GMT)

Presenter:
Gaurav Aggarwal (blog)

Live Meeting Link:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/UserGroups/join?id=R9J5WW&role=attend&pw=Zf%2B-Q%6098k

Microsoft – Readying on “Hadoop”
This session will provide overview of different options on Microsoft platform for Hadoop. Session will cover pro and cons of different options and architecture level coverage of HPC, PDW and Dyrad.

Gaurav Aggarwal
Gaurav Aggarwal is a Senior Architect with 16+ years of experience. He has been working with Microsoft for the past 7+ years. He helps senior management in aligning their IT capabilities to innovate and achieve momentum for their business goals. He has been architecting and delivering solutions using various technologies for nearly 17 years. He has delivered solutions in the areas of Investment Banking, Insurance, HR, Manufacturing, Retail Banking and ITES. These solutions were based on a wide range of technologies including Microsoft and Java platform based solutions.

He is a Microsoft Certified Master (SQL Server), Microsoft Certified Architect (SQL Server), and Microsoft Certified Architect (Solutions), IASA Certified Architect Professional and a practicing Six Sigma and PMP (Project Management Professional) professional.

Gaurav’s blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/gauravagg/

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PASS Data Architect presents Karen Lopez–You’ve just inherited a Data Model: Now What?

 

Please come join the PASS Virtual Chapter for Data Architect on Thursday June 16th at 2PM Eastern for InfoAdvisor's principal consultant  Karen Lopez sharing her experience with inheriting a Data Model.

This is the third month in a row the rebirth of this virtual chapter has hosted. The schedule is booked thru December, Robert, Lorra and I are excited about the presentations and volunteers that have helped this chapter teach SQL People about data architect.

The foundation of data is very important and some loss site of the basics while enjoying all the new stuff in SQL Server.

Subject:
You've Just Inherited a Data Model: Now What?

Start Time:
Thursday, June 16, 2011 2:00 PM US Eastern Time (7:00 PM GMT)

Presenter:
Karen López (blog|@datachick)

Live Meeting Link:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/UserGroups/join?id=T4ZKMM&role=attend&pw=Q%3A%26%24h%28-9m

You've Just Inherited a Data Model: Now What?
The good news is that someone else has done the hard work of architecting a data model and you just have to take on minor maintenance…or is that the bad news? Or have you been tasked with implementing a pattern or industry standard data model? Perhaps a team member has sent the world's best resignation letter and won't be helping you with the model. Learn the 5 steps you MUST take before working with a new data model.

Attendees will also receive a detailed checklist for the 5 steps.

Karen López
Karen López is a principal consultant at InfoAdvisors, Inc., a Toronto-based consulting firm. Karen is a frequent speaker at DAMA, SQLSaturdays and PASS conferences, including 24 Hours of PASS, the PASS Summit and PASS SQLRally. She has 20+ years of experience in project and data management on large, multi-project programs. Karen specializes in the practical application of data management principles.

Karen is also the ListMistress and moderator of the InfoAdvisors Discussion Groups at www.infoadvisors.com.

Karen's blog: http://www.infoadvisors.com/Home/tabid/36/BlogID/1/Default.aspx

Twitter:@datachick

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