Search results matching tags 'Developer' and 'PASS'

The Year That Was - 2012

KKline — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:31:00 GMT

2012 was, simply stated, a year that kicked my butt. When I wasn't struggling professionally, I was struggling personally. Health issues, culminating in a diagnosis of Type II diabetes, and the passing of my father soon after Thanksgiving marked my biggest struggles. I apologize to those of you who are normally on my Christmas card list for not sending any this year. The wind was not in my sails. On the positive side of the ledger, I made a scary but exciting leap to SQL Sentry midyear. This was a huge shake-up after 10 years with my previous employer, but one which has been met with unbridled enthusiasm everywhere I've gone. Thank you for the handshakes, high-fives, and hugs! We're doing some really exciting things at SQL Sentry (such as SQLPerformance.com and Plan Explorer Pro) and I hope to engage with you more than ever in 2013.

Blogging Activity, Plus Leadership Skills & Professionalism

2012 marked a bit of a shift in my content creation direction. I've seen an uptick in struggles in the non-IT part of our career - communications, leadership, motivation, goal-keeping, all of those sort of things. I feel like I have some wisdom to contribute in that space. So, in addition to technical blog posts, I been putting down more of my experiences and lessons learned on the interpersonal side of the IT career path. My top ten blog posts for the year reflect some of that new direction:

Do You Have One of "the Three W’s" to Sit on a Board of Directors? -- Important tips for any IT pro considering a role in strategy and executive leadership.
Timewarp: What Is a Relational Database? -- With all the talk about NoSQL databases, let's go back to the fundamentals.
Want Another Reason to Hate iTunes? -- A throw-away article that precipitated a maelstrom of comments. Them Apple fanboys are passionate!
Why Do IT Pros Make Awful Managers? -- Not all IT pros make awful managers, but when they're awful it's often for similar reasons.
High-Availability White Papers and Resources for SQL Server -- Read the latest about AlwaysOn Availability Groups, and more.
New White Paper: SQL Server Extended Events and Notifications -- SQL Server 2012 great augments the Extended Events feature set. Find out how.
Build Your Own Microsoft Operations Management Pack -- Resources to build out your own SCOM management pack.
Help Me Update the History of SQL Server -- I started with SQL Server when it was still an OS/2 product. Jeesh! Lots of versions have come out since then.
TIE: Recorded Webcast Available: Extend SCOM to Optimize SQL Server Performance Management and The Expert's Conference (TEC) - For AD, SharePoint, Exchange, PowerShell and Other Admins -- Pointers to a webcast about extending SCOM and the TEC conference.
A Fond Farewell to Quest Software -- I learned so much in 10 years at Quest Software.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph about blogging, I'm putting more energy into best practices for professional growth among IT pros. Along those lines of thought, I started a website called ForITPros.com with my long-time friend Joe Webb (Twitter | Blog) and, in partnership with SSWUG, developed a 2-DVD set and streaming media class called Leadership Skills for IT Professionals containing 14 hours of leadership and soft skills training specifically crafted for IT teams.

I've also been working with PASS on the Professional Development Virtual Chapter (VC), led by Mark Caldwell (Twitter). We've already got a full year of content schedule and are trying to figure out how fit in more sessions. Maybe moving to more than one webcast per month? The PASS Professional Development VC archive has lots of great content for you to review and future sessions are detailed at the PASS Professional Development VC homepage.

In-Person Activity

2012 was busy where I actually appeared in person or put in a big effort to write or create content. Here's a run-down: Articles (2), Conference Spoken (12), Customer Calls (88), Customer Visits (4), Magazine Columns (14) at SQLMag.com and DBTA.com, New Books (1) with Ross Mistry, PASS Chapter Presentations (12), Pre-cons/Full-day Seminars (4), SQL Saturdays (4), SSWUG Sessions (4), TechNet Radio Broadcasts (2), Technical Book Reviews (3), and Webcasts (10).

In 2013, I expect to travel a bit less. But I also expect to do many more webcasts. Let me know if you have some ideas about what you'd like to learn! One business trip that I refuse to give up, though, is SQLCruise. (Register!) I know it sounds like the worst possible way to learn. I mean who'd want to learn on a cruise ship in the Caribbean?!? (I hope you could detect the sarcasm dripping from those two sentences.) But here are two favorite aspects of of SQLCruise that are totally ferreals - 1) You simultaneously can relax and focus on learning. You are disconnected from the mainland. You don't have to worry about the mobile phone going off. 2) You get extended ours in a intimate setting with the top talent in the SQL Server world. It's always a pleasure to attend a conference session from the best in the industry. But you'll get hours of time to talk with these veterans of the industry about your specific problems and situations. It just doesn't get better than that.

Social Media

It's hard to believe that only a year ago, 2011, was my first year on Twitter. By years end, here's where my stats had moved: 5,507 tweets (up from 3,452 tweets), 661 following (up from 531), and 3,720 followers (up from 2,656) . I didn't check my social media numbers last year, so I've got no point of comparison. But I'm currently sitting at 2,327 LinkedIn connections and 1,157 Facebook friends. One of my standing policies on Facebook is that I don't "friend" someone who I haven't personally met. That doesn't help detangle the hopeless mess I've created by having only one identify on Facebook, both personal and public. So, on the one hand, I owe all of my longtime friends a big apology for all of the SQL talk and, on the other hand, a big apology to all of my professional friends for not posting enough news and advice while dilute my status updates with personal minutia. Oh well - it is what it is.

My blogging activity for 2012 was the lowest it's been in many years, down to 44 entries, down from 77 in 2011 and well into the hundreds in 2010. My answer to that sort of doldrums for 2013 is to get sloppy! And by that, I mean less of a perfectionist and more of a content machine that just cranks it out! Most of you, as my readers, have been very forgiving of a misplaced verb, a missing punctuation, or -heck- a totally malformed sentence that makes no sense at all. So I'm going to try much harder to churn through the 700+ nascent blog posts in my notes folder and get those ideas out there!

I hope to see you following me on Twitter soon! Thanks,

-Kevin

Let's Talk Licensing and Virtualization for SQL Server

KKline — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:23:00 GMT

I have two new articles up on Database Trends & Applications magazine. I'd love to get your thoughts and feedback!

Welcome to the Weird, Wild World of SQL Server Licensing

Not long in the past, SQL Server licensing was an easy and straightforward process. You used to take one of a few paths to get your SQL Server licenses. The first and easiest path was to buy your SQL Server license with your hardware. Want to buy a HP Proliant DL380 for a SQL Server application? Why not get your SQL Server Enterprise Edition license with it at the same time? Just pay the hardware vendor for the whole stack, from the bare metal all the way through to the Microsoft OS and SQL Server....

DBTA E-Edition - December 2012 Issue

Virtualization Conquers the Database

I was privileged to deliver a session entitled Managing SQL Server in a Virtual World at the PASS Summit 2012, the largest annual conference for Microsoft SQL Server. It was a packed house, literally at standing-room-only capacity. I delivered the session with my friend David Klee and we were swarmed by attendees after the session wrapped up. With almost 600 people in the room, we conducted one of those informal polls that speakers like to do along the lines of "Raise your hands if …" and the informal findings were very telling. Probably around 90% of the attendees used VMware and SQL Server in some capacity and at least 60% used it in production environments. Another important fact was that only 10% of the attendees were actually able to get information on the performance of the actual VMs themselves. Most had to get all of their information and support from the VM / System administration staff....

DBTA E-Edition - November E-Edition Issue

Follow me on Twitter!

How To Download Free Sessions From PASS

KKline — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:02:00 GMT

For all members of the Professional Association for Server (PASS), are you downloading slides and videos from all sorts of great PASS events? If not, what are you waiting for ... an invitation?

Ok, here it is. I invite you to download like a madman! (How a madman downloads, an almost entirely virtual activity, is not the question here, ok?).

For starters, there's the recent 24 Hours of PASS event. I hope you were able to attend all of the sessions you wanted. But even if you didn't get to see any, you can see them now as long as you're a (free) member of PASS. The session recordings are now available for streaming from the 24 Hours of PASS Archive website. Review your favorites or catch up on some of the sessions you missed, by gum! Questions? Contact us at 24hrs@sqlpass.org

Next on the list for downloads are the PASS Summit 2012 highlights. The navigation is a little weird. But all you have to do is simply click on the keynote that you're interested in. And may I recommend, as always, the excellent session from Dr. David Dewitt. Again, you need to be a PASS member, but it's free. And I'd be remiss not to mention the SQLPASS YouTube Channel.

During and immediately after each PASS Summit, attendees are able to buy the event records for around $175. That's over 150 hours of training, over three weeks of training I say, for under $200!!! I hear that this year, instead of a massive DVD set, we'll be getting a slim 32- or 64Gb thumbdrive. Yeah! But did you know you can also watch sessions from earlier years, free for members, at http://www.sqlpass.org/LearningCenter/SessionRecordings.aspx? That's right, brothers and sisters, if you didn't get to go to older events and didn't buy the DVDs, you don't have to bribe that scruffy mangy dog of a DBA to get your own look at the sessions. And since SQL Server versions don't change enormously from one year to the next, most of the content remains valuable and worthwhile for several years. For example, most recommendations and sessions from the PASS Summit 2008 event are still valuable even if you've upgraded to SQL Server 2012.

Take Another Look at PASS Virtual Chapters

Don’t have a local PASS Chapter near you? Want to learn from your desk? Or are you simply looking for more opportunities for free SQL Server training and learning every month with fellow IT pros from around the world? Virtual Chapters (VCs) are a great way to get involved in the PASS community from your own home or office. Virtual chapters are targeted, online monthly webcasts from top-rated speakers with related subject matter from one month to the next, such as database design, performance, virtualization, etc. Here’s how. But wait - there's more. All of the VC sessions are also recorded and posted online for later viewing, usually within a month of the initial broadcast.

Enjoy!

-Kevin

Follow me on Twitter!

PASS Summit 2012, Slide Decks

KKline — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:02:00 GMT

Ok, I have to admit the painful truth. I'm reliably slow to the finish line. This year, I got my slides into PASS HQ by the skin of my teeth, the weekend before the event was to begin. Although I could say with a straight face "I uploaded my slides!". I have to be honest that I wasn't surprised when many of my attendees said that they weren't available for download by the time my session started. OTOH, I also have to say that I really do prefer for attendees to focus on the presentation while it's being presented and that they should grab the slides afterwards. But that's just my personal preference.

Having said all of that, I'm going to post my three session slide decks here so that you can grab them in case PASS has to take a while longer to get them posted. If you don't mind, the PASS program committee has introduced a new electronic feedback system. PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK!

(Click on the session title to download the zip file of the slide deck).

PASS TV - Gaining Executive Support

This brief session is all about convincing your boss to do something you want - telecommute, make a big purchase of hardware or software, bring in a consultant, and so forth. See the PASS TV schedule for other sessions.

Winning Influence in IT Teams

Abstract: Ever wanted to convince the boss to try something new, but didn't know where to start? Ever tried to lead your peers toward an innovative, fresh idea only to fail to achieve your goals? This session teaches you the eight techniques of influencing IT professionals and the means of communicating your ideas upward to management and out to teammates so that you can innovate and achieve change in your organization. You'll learn the fundamental difference between influence and authority and how you can achieve a high degree of influence without explicit authority. You'll also learn the eight techniques of influencing IT professionals, when to apply them, and how to best use them. And you'll discover the communication and procedural techniques that ensure your ideas get a hearing by bosses and peers, and how to best win support for them.

Evaluate Session

Managing SQL Server in a Virtual World

This session rocked the house! We had standing room only probably at 20 to 30 minutes before start time. Our attendance was over 500, but we probably could've filled the biggest 700+ person room. A special thanks to my friend David Klee (blog | twitter) for tag-teaming with my like mega-nerd luchadors.

Abstract: Why are so many organizations implementing VMware, and what does it mean for SQL Server DBAs? In this deep-dive session, you'll see that when configured and managed properly, SQL Server can run just as well in a virtual environment as a physical one. We'll review the benefits VMware provides, including hardware abstraction, easier failover, and simpler capacity planning. We'll also explore key tips to help administer a SQL Server instance running inside a virtual machine. You'll learn the differences in general administration, disaster recovery, and high availability on VMs; get a better understanding of activity and performance trends on VMs; and learn how to ensure effective capacity planning and optimal performance on VMs. If you’ve ever had a virtual deployment go bad, or if you’re struggling to manage the performance of virtualized SQL Servers, be sure to catch this session.

Evaluate Session

Recap - SQL Saturday 151 in Orlando

KKline — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:19:00 GMT

It's always a feel-good experience for me to return to SQL Saturday in Orlando, the place where SQL Saturdays were started by Andy Warren (Twitter | Blog). On this trip, I delivered a full-day, pre-conference seminar on Troubleshooting and Performance Tuning SQL Server. I also delivered a session on SQL Server Internals and Architecture to a totally packed house. For those of you who emailed me directly, here's the link for the special SQL Sentry offer.

I got to attend the extended events session by Jack Corbett (Twitter | Blog), middle in the photo above. Good stuff, Jack! Jack led the Orlando PASS Chapter for a few years and, although he relocated back up to New England, he enjoys getting back to Orlando when the opportunity presents itself.

I also got a chance to do a podcast with Rodney Landrum (Twitter | Blog), in the SQL Saturday chef's outfit on the right. Rodney, you should get your blog details up at the PASS SQL blogger page, btw. Rodney is also known as "the guy with the Red-Gate tatoo". Ask him why, when you meet him in person. I'll post the direct link to our podcast when I get it from Rodney. But in the meantime, be sure to check out his SQLBeat webcast. There are lots of great speakers and respected authorities to hear on his podcast.

As I mellow with age, I've found that I most enjoy connecting with friends and building relationships. The above picture shows me, Eddie Weurch (Twitter | Blog), and Pam Shaw (Twitter), head of the Tampa PASS Chapter. Pam, Eddie, and I were swapping some hilarious stories about our early years in snowy climates. Pam had the good fortune to be pulled, face first, through the snow by her mom during a trip to the school bus stop on the first big snow of the season. Mom, it seems, wanted to make sure she got to the bus stop safely, but instead fell down two steps from the front door of their home, sliding all the way to the bus stop firmly clutching Pam's hand. ROFL!

I got to spend some time with Ryan Adams (left) and Kendal Van Dyke (right), as well. There may have been some liquor involved. However, the highlight of my evening was definitely when Kendal yelled "FINALLY!" at the waitress bringing our plates out ten minutes after the appetizers were served. Kendal was actually paying no attention to the waitress or the plates and was instead yelling at the TV where the Florida State vs South Florida football game was playing. The waitress, on the other hand, was mortified. Hilarity ensued as he tried to explain that he was not the least bit cross with her. :^)

Ryan is going to be presenting at the upcoming spring 2013 SQLCruise event. You should definitely attend! Ryan Adams has lot more content here (Twitter | Blog). Kendal, by the way, is a standing member of the current PASS Board of Directors. He's written some excellent content and, just recently, moved to Upsearch consultancy where my friend Allen White (Twitter | Blog) works. Kendal Van Dyke has more content here (Twitter | Blog).

I hope you're planning to attend a SQL Saturday event soon. And not just the event, but also the after-event gatherings as well. You can almost always be sure that most of the speakers will be there. It's a great way to enlarge your professional network as well as to make real and lasting friendships!

Enjoy,

-Kev

-Follow me on Twitter

Secure Your Spot at the Nashville SQL Saturday!

KKline — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:50:00 GMT

PASS SQL Saturdays are free 1-day training events for IT professionals interested in Microsoft SQL Server, providing a variety of high-quality technical sessions, all happen through the efforts of local volunteers. The leadership team of the local chapter of PASS here in Nashville (Facebook | LinkedIn) have worked hard to make this year's SQL Saturday a day of great training and networking.

The local NashSQL leadership team includes yours truly (blog | twitter), Joe Webb (Twitter | Blog), Louis "Dr SQL" Davidson (Twitter | Blog), Christina Leo (blog | twitter), and Shelton Dickson (website). We also get a lot of operational help from Matt LeBlank (LinkedIn | Twitter).

We think you'll find it's a great way to spend a Saturday!

Register for the free community day with 5 concurrent tracks of hour-hour technical sessions running all day long: www.sqlsaturday.com/145/eventhome.aspx

Also, we are very pleased to announce the SQLSaturday #145 Pre-con event on Friday, October 12th. We have four paid sessions available from established industry experts. Session details are provided in the links below.

Please be aware that each Pre-con is priced at a staggeringly cheap $129.95 + $8.14 processing fee.

Registrations made by August 31, 2012, will receive an EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION rate of an $99.95 + 6.49 processing fee!!!

Don't miss out on this fantastic offer! Register now: SQL Satuday #145 PreCons

A continental breakfast will be served and tea and coffee will be available throughout the day. Lunch will be provided.

Come See Me. I'll Probably Be Just Down the Street Soon!

KKline — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:02:00 GMT

Even though I've recently changed jobs, I'll still be speaking at a lot of SQL events across the country and internationally. There are still a few trips that I've yet to finalize, in particular with the fine folks in Houston, run by my friend Nancy Hidy (blog | twitter), and my friends in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, run by my friend Mark Ginnebaugh (blog | twitter). Also, do to some missed deadlines, it looks like I won't be speaking at the Nordic SQL Rally this fall. My bad! On the other hand, you can see when checking my roster, that I hardly have time to catch my breath with this travel schedule.

I'll also be doing several on-line events with the PASS Professional Development Virtual Chapter, run by Mark Caldwell (blog | twitter), through out the year.

Here's what's on the docket up through the start of the holiday season:

New York City

SQL Saturday 158, August 4

The Colorado User Group Tour

Boulder PASS user group meeting, August 14

Colorado Springs PASS user group meeting, August 15 (Register here for Colorado Springs PASS user group meeting).

Denver PASS user group meeting, August 16

Comatose, August 17 (Not an actual city in CO).

Orlando

SQL Saturday Performance Tuning Pre-Con, September 28

SQL Saturday 151, September 29

Online

SSWUG 2012 Fall vConference, Oct 2-4, (Please register using code 'VCKEVIN'. I will personally hug you, virtually.)

Lincoln

SQL Saturday Performance Tuning Pre-Con, October 5

SQL Saturday 165, October 6

Cedar Rapids

East Iowa PASS user group meeting, Oct 8 TBD

Quad City PASS user group meeting, Oct 9 TBD

Nashville (Go Titans!)

SQL Saturday Leadership Skills for IT Pros Pre-Con, October 12

SQL Saturday 145, October 13

Seattle

SQL Connections, Las Vegas, Nov 1-4

PASS Summit 2012, Seattle, Nov 6-9

Let me know if you're nearby and if you're coming to any of these events. I'd enjoy seeing you personally and getting a chance to shake your hand!

Hope to see you soon,

-Kevin

-Follow me on Twitter!

-More content at http://KevinEKline.com

Big Data and the Cloud - More Hype or a Real Workload?

BuckWoody — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:57:36 GMT

Last week Microsoft announced several new offerings for “Big Data” - and since I’m a stickler for definitions, I wanted to make sure I understood what that really means. What is “Big Data”? What size hard drive is that? After all, my laptop has 1TB of storage - is my laptop “Big Data”?

There are actually a few definitions for this term, most notably those involving the “Four V’s” Volume, Velocity, Variety and Variability. Others disagree with this definition. I tend to try and get things into their simplest form, so I’m using this definition for myself:

Big data is defined as a large set of computationally expensive data that is worked on simultaneously.

Let me flesh that out a little. To be sure, “Big Data” has a larger size than say a few megabytes. The reason this is important is that it takes special hardware to be able to move large sets of data around, store it, process it and so on. (large set)

If you store a LOT of data, but only use a small portion of it at a time, that really isn’t super-hard to do. It’s mainly a storage issue at that point. But, if you do need to work with a large portion of the data at one time, then the memory, CPU and transfer components of the system have to adapt to be responsive - new ways to work with that data (game theory, knot-algorithms, map-reduce, etc.) need to be brought into play. (computationally expensive)

Once that data is loaded into the processing area (memory or whatever other mechanism is used) it must be worked on in parallel to come back in a reasonable time. You have two options here - you can scale the system up with more internal hardware (CPU’s, memory and so on) or you can scale it out to have multiple systems work on it at the same time using paradigms such as map/reduce and so on. Actually, when you lay this out in an architecture diagram, scale up or out doesn’t actually change the logical structure of the process - in scale out the network becomes the bus, and the nodes become more RAM and computing power. Of course, there are changes in code for how you stitch the workload back together. (worked on simultaneously)

So back to the original question. Is Big Data, as I have defined it here, a workload for Windows and SQL Azure? Absolutely! In fact, it’s probably one of the main workloads, and I believe it represents the latest, and perhaps also the earliest frontier of computing. Jim Gray, a former researcher here at Microsoft and a hero of mine, was working on this very topic. I believe as he did - all computing is simply an interface over data.

Microsoft has multiple offerings on the topic of Big Data. In posts that follow from myself and my co-workers, we’ll explore when and where you use each one. Whether you are a data professional or a developer, this is the new frontier - don’t wait to educate yourself on how to leverage Big Data for your organization.

Hadoop on Windows Azure and SQL Server - Microsoft’s partnership to include Hadoop workloads on Windows Azure and SQL Server/Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW)

LINQ to HPC - Microsoft’s High-Performance Computing SKU of HPC is now in Azure

Windows Azure Table Storage - A key/value pair type storage with full partitioning that is immediately consistent, able to handle huge loads of data and works with any REST-compatible language

Other offerings - Including the new Data Explorer, Project Daytona (with a Big Data Toolkit for Scientists and researchers), Power View and more.

The era of Big Data is here. And you can use Windows and SQL Azure to bring it to your organization.

Education and Career Resources from Microsoft and the Community

KKline — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:49:00 GMT

Sometimes I'm timely in getting the news out on useful resources. And, other times, I'm a bit slower on the draw. As I told my friends back at New Year's Day, "As an official member of the Procrastinators Club, welcome to 2008!" On the other hand, it's always good to remind folks of great resources that are still available and on the shelf. Why? Well, the Internet hits us with such a deluge of constantly new material, that we often forget about the old(ish) stuff that's still really useful.

Darth Doofus, Emporer Palpatine, and Darth Goofus

Quest vConference for SQL Server

One of the most popular teaching sessions I ever engaged in was the Quest vConferences for SQL Server in 2010, with my good friends Buck Woody (blog | twitter) and Brent Ozar (blog | twitter).

These are evergreen favorites for their strong technical content and, perhaps, an outpouring of Brent's faux chest hair in the latter part of the training events. Go to this URL for the code samples, download the slides, and to rate the presentation: http://questkb.com/live and or http://www.vconferenceonline.com/shows/spring10/quest/conference/ondemand.asp. You can also get the full events shipped for free anywhere in North America on a single DVD.

24 Hours of PASS Celebrates Women in Technology

Kalen Delaney, author and expert, and one of the initiators of WiT within PASS

It's always a big thrill for me when a successful initiative launched by PASS goes viral. One such example is the 24Hours of PASS. (See last year's webcasts at http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/2010/). I now see other industry trade groups and technology user groups launching their own 24 Hours type webcast marathons. Kudos - PASS folks thought of it first! (I'd give proper credit, if I could only remember who thought of it. Rick Heiges (blog | twitter), I think).

This year, 24 Hours of PASS is gearing up for an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts in 24 one-hour technical webcasts. This free training event takes place over two 12-hour days March 15-16, with each day beginning at 12:00 GMT (UTC). Click here to get registered: http://www.sqlpass.org/24hours/Spring2011/. And in celebration of Women in Technology, PASS is hosting an all female line-up of speakers.

This is another area in which PASS has prompted many emulators. My memory of the details grow dim, since this was almost ten years ago, but I believe it was then PASS director Kalen Delaney (blog | twitter) and Microsoft liaison to the board Jacqueline Borges who put forward the idea of hosting a special Women in Technology luncheon. Since that time, WiT has gone on to be one of the best parts about the big PASS Summit and something widely emulated by other professional and trade associations.

Microsoft Thrive - Career Planning Insights

I was honored to be a featured speaker on the Microsoft Thrive website about this time last year. What's Thrive? It's a website put together by Microsoft that helps you plan out your career. It has certification and learning resources, career paths, and traditional learning patterns and practices. In other words, it tells you what you need to know to qualify for various kinds of it jobs and then gives you links to dive deeper. Check it out!

http://www.microsoft.com/click/thrive/

Enjoy!

-Kev

Twitter at kekline

SQL Saturday is Coming to Nashville! Won't You?

KKline — Tue, 18 May 2010 02:42:00 GMT

How 'Bout a Little Context?

Let me be direct with you. I love SQL Saturday. If it were a woman, I'd marry it. (Avoiding all extraneous thoughts of what my real wife would say, etc etc).

Check out this fun Flickr Feed from the recent SQL Saturday in Chicago or these picks by Jorge Segara (blog | twitter) to see the sort of fun that's in store. But who can argue with a day of free SQL Server training and a chance to network with great presenters and a wide swath of your peers?

Keynotes are more fun when the put-downs fly!

I've tried to support SQL Saturday as much as I can since Andy Warren (blog | twitter) launched the program a couple years back and have spoken at several. You might say to yourself, "Self, Kevin works for a vendor. Don't they want him to speak at as many SQL Saturdays as is humanly possible?" Well, Mr. Self, you'd be mistaken. You see there's a keyword in the name that might reveal why my employer doesn't provide unlimited enthusiasm for me to speak ... it's the SATURDAY part of the whole thing. Yes, of course, my employer wants me there. But they also recognize that Saturdays are my own and that, if I spend a day or two there on the weekend (including the travel time), then that's a sacrifice of my own choice. I would still need to be at work and on task bright and early on Monday morning. Not that they'd make me, it's just that my job is the sort that work is never simply skipped, it is only ever deferred. So if I took a comp day, which they'd gladly provide, I'd still have to finish the work somehow, someway. All of this goes to say that I really, really love SQL Saturday, the community vibe that it creates, the volunteers who drive it, the folks who attend. So I'm happy to give up a few days throughout the year to support it.

Come to Nashville in August!

Guitar, Cowboy Boots, Cowboy Hat, and Tight Denim NOT Required

My good friends Joe Webb (blog | twitter) and Louis Davidson (blog | twitter) have been angling to host a SQL Saturday here in Nashville for quite a while. As co-leaders of the local PASS chapter in middle Tennessee, it made a lot of sense to host an event like this. I wasn't at all resistant to the idea, I just didn't want to do the work myself. However, they did a great job of getting the ball rolling and even took on the majority of work themselves. Together with other volunteers in our local chapter - Shelton Dickson, Roberto Lopez, and Christina Leo - we've all set to work to host SQL Saturday #51.

The event will be hosted on Saturday, August 21st at the shiny new facility of Nashville State Community College located at 120 White Bridge Rd. Nashville, TN 37209:

If you'd like to attend, check out all the details here. Joe Webb and Christina Leo get all the credit for logistics.

If you'd like to speak, read the details in our call for speakers here. Louis Davidson is running the program selection process.

If you'd like to sponsor, sign up on-line here. This one is my responsibility.

It's free to register, there is a $10 fee if you want us to provide lunch. And remember, seats always fill up fast!

If you're going to attend and you have a twitter account, be sure to tweet using #sqlsat51!

Search results matching tags 'Developer' and 'PASS'

The Year That Was - 2012

Blogging Activity, Plus Leadership Skills & Professionalism

In-Person Activity

Social Media

Let's Talk Licensing and Virtualization for SQL Server

Welcome to the Weird, Wild World of SQL Server Licensing

Virtualization Conquers the Database

How To Download Free Sessions From PASS

Take Another Look at PASS Virtual Chapters

PASS Summit 2012, Slide Decks

PASS TV - Gaining Executive Support

Winning Influence in IT Teams

Managing SQL Server in a Virtual World

Recap - SQL Saturday 151 in Orlando

Secure Your Spot at the Nashville SQL Saturday!

Come See Me. I'll Probably Be Just Down the Street Soon!

New York City

The Colorado User Group Tour

Orlando

Online

Lincoln

Cedar Rapids

Nashville (Go Titans!)

Seattle

Big Data and the Cloud - More Hype or a Real Workload?

Education and Career Resources from Microsoft and the Community

Darth Doofus, Emporer Palpatine, and Darth Goofus Quest vConference for SQL Server

24 Hours of PASS Celebrates Women in Technology

Microsoft Thrive - Career Planning Insights

SQL Saturday is Coming to Nashville! Won't You?

How 'Bout a Little Context?

Come to Nashville in August!

Guitar, Cowboy Boots, Cowboy Hat, and Tight Denim NOT Required

I hope to see you there in August!

Darth Doofus, Emporer Palpatine, and Darth Goofus

Quest vConference for SQL Server