Search results matching tags 'Speaking' and 'SQLPASS'

A wee bit exhausted… time to reenergize

drsql — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 02:26:00 GMT

I admit it. I am tired and I have not blogged nearly enough. This has been a crazy year, with the book I finished writing, the pre-cons I have done (teaching is NOT my primary profession so I do a lot more prep than some others probably do), lots of training on Data Warehousing topics (from Ralph Kimball, Bob Becker, and Stacia Misner, to name three of the great teachers I have had), SQL Rally, SQL PASS, SQL Saturdays and I have gotten a lot more regular with my simple-talk blog as well… Add to this the fact that my daughter added a new grandchild to the family, and my mother has started to get so weak she is starting to fall down quite often (I am writing this blog entry from a spare bedroom at my mother-in-law’s house while my mom is in rehab!) and I am getting exhausted.

Am I whining? Probably, but it is my blog! No, seriously I figure that occasionally you have to poke your head out from under the covers and write something and this is my something until after the New Year (other than posting a few already written and edited simple-talk blogs). I am on vacation from work for 2.5 weeks, and I don’t plan to do much with this laptop of mine for those two weeks unless the spirit hits me with an idea for a blog that I just have to write, but usually most of my blogs that have any technical or artistic merit take weeks to complete. On the second of January, I hope to be back at it, analyzing my resolutions from last year, and making good on a few of them, particularly “Blog about my other (computer) love occasionally” and review some of the gadgets I have acquired as they pertain to doing my job as a writer/data architect. (Hint: My mother-in-law does not have Internet access, so some of the devices I have here are instrumental in my ability to work untethered for weeks on end.)

So until next year, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year! I hope your holidays are restful and fun. I know part of mine will be because I intend to replicate this picture at least one or two more times next week, hopefully with a Turkey Leg in the hand that isn’t holding the camera taking the picture (all with my Windows Phone set on Battery Saver Mode, which delightfully turns off all syncing :)

PASS Precon Countdown… See some of you Monday, and others on Tuesday Night

drsql — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:06:58 GMT

As I finish up the plans for Monday’s database design precon, I am getting pretty excited for the day. This is the third time I have done this precon, and where the base slides are very similar, I have a few new twists in mind. One of my big ideas for my Database Design Workshop precon has always been to give people to do some design. So I am even now trying to go through and whittle down the slides and make sure that we have the time for design.

If you are attending, be prepared to be a team player. I have 3 team exercise that you will do in teams. When we reach the first exercise, we will break up into 8 individual teams. Don’t try to figure out who to sit by, because I am going to randomly choose how to split up into teams when I see how the tables are (and I know that there will be at least one person there that I would want on my team :). The teams will be slightly important because the most enthusiastic teams will get the first crack at the pile of swag, of which I have a lot. I have 20 physical and 15 ebooks of my new database design book, 15 8GB SD cards with the PowerPoint and code on them, 3 Joe Celko books, the Apress Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals book and a very nice Lego set and if this blog entices more people to show up than I have giveaways, well, then I will pick up some gift cards to even out the swag.

While the lecture will take up a lot of time, the exercises will be most fun part of the day. The exercises I have planned are of the following genre:

1. Modeling from requirements: Taking a set of written requirements and producing the initial database design (20 minutes)

2. Normalizing a set: Taking a flat file and normalizing it into a set (~20 minutes)

3. Applying what we have discussed: Taking a set of requirements and producing a normalized database design (45 minutes)

The first two exercises, every team will have the same requirements, but the third will see me having 4 separate designs. So we will have 4 different designs to to discuss and review. I am bringing my camera along to use to display to the team’s work on the screen. After I print the requirement packs for the teams, I plan to go through and do my own design for comparison. It will be interesting to see how different each team’s design is, and to see what I might miss when I do the design. I am going to encourage people to go beyond the specific requirements and build the system they think will be awesome while meeting the requirements.

If all works out, my hope is to do a series of blogs next year using the requirements and designs that we produce as a result. I also (finally remembered to) put a request on the slide that students could do one of a couple of design ideas and I would review them (yes, with plans to turn that into a blog someday too.)

So hope to see you Monday… And if I don’t see you in the class Monday, see you Tuesday night when we do our annual Quiz Bowl. Tim has come up with a slew of interesting questions including another round of Before and After questions to blow the mind of several SQL Server professionals…

24 Hours of PASS next week, pre-con preview style

drsql — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:53:47 GMT

I will be doing my Characteristics of a Great Relational Database, which is a session that I haven’t done since last PASS. When I was asked about doing this Summit Preview version of 24 hours of PASS, I decided that I would do this session, largely because it is kind of light and fun, but also because it is either going to be the basis of the end section of my pre-con at the summit or it is going to be the section of the pre-con we don’t get to because we are so involved in working out designs that we forget the time and the next day’s precon people start arriving and kick us out.

The session is basically a discussion about the finishing touches that make a database better than average, something you can rave about, something you can brag to your significant other about, something your company will run a Super Bowl ad just thanking you for… Well, ok, seriously, a database that won’t cause you and your coworkers to ralph each time you use it is a solid step towards the way you will want to develop your databases.

The goal is to be reasonably like at a little bit fun, since I am doing the presentation at 11:00 PM Central Time in the US, and well, that isn’t exactly prime SQL time for most people. In Europe it will be the middle of the night, and in half of the US I will be competing with the national news and the end of the football game between the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers. If the game is close, I will be happy to share your attention, and heck, if my internet connection would support streaming video and the sharing client I would probably be watching the game myself (as it is, I will probably TiVo it and watch it on my phone via SlingBox when we are done…yes, I have a little bit of a football problem.)

If you want to attend my session, click here and register. Even if database design isn’t your thing, 24 hours of PASS has (hold on to your hat) 24 different sessions in a 24 hour period to choose from. So click on over to the 24HOP Speaker/Session list and pick your sessions and register for them. I look forward to seeing you (well your name in the list) at the event.

But db design is your thing (or you want it to be!), and you want to get a full day dose on the Monday before PASS, try my pre-con on Relational Database Design. It is going to be a great day, there will be plenty of learning, lots of swag (including at least 30 copies of my book to give away,) and some practical experience doing a bit of team based design. In any case it will be better than a normal Monday at the office.

And interview, an online session, a long drive and a SQL Saturday… This week!

drsql — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 04:38:03 GMT

Later this week I will be doing an episode of the Greg Low’s excellent SQL Down Under podcast (http://www.sqldownunder.com/Resources/Podcast.aspx), something I did once before back in 2006. If you haven’t listened to any of the previous editions, there are some amazing people who have been on his podcast.

On Thursday at 12:00 Central Time, I will be doing a presentation entitled Designing for Common Problems in SQL Server for the PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter.

Friday I will be driving up to Cleveland, OH for SQL Saturday 164. I will be doing the Designing for Common Problems in SQL Server session, along with the Sequences session that I have done at several SQL Saturdays so far. Saturday I will give away two copies of my brand new book, one in each session, so if you want to be the first person I give one to, be there!

Right now, the biggest issue is that the Designing for Common Problems session is WAY too long. In my prep so far, I have gotten halfway through with the patterns and code in one and a half hours. So who knows what I will do to cut down the time, either limit the patterns, or perhaps split the session? I will figure something out… at least on Saturday when I have real people I can poll the audience to see what they want to see in detail. Online pretty much all you see are people’s names and the clock ticking away.

I have a few other things coming up, including picking speakers for Nashville’s SQL Saturday, shipping out books to my SQL Rally attendees, and Devlink at the end of the month (when I will have a bit longer to the Common Problems session, thankfully), but more on that after this weekend.

Louisville SQL Saturday…

drsql — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 23:31:13 GMT

One more week until we get to SQL Saturday 122 in Louisville KY. I have a couple of sessions on the calendar this time. First, the one on Sequences:

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What Sequence objects are (and are not)

SQL Server 2012 adds a new object to our arsenal called a sequence that can will give us the capability to implement automatically incrementing values. However, it cannot replace a lot of functionality that we have used a numbers table and windowing functions for (though they can be complimentary to one another). In this session I will demonstrate the uses and performance characteristics of sequences, including how they compliment the use of number tables and windowing functions to create surrogate key and sorting values, and more.

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The second session is my professional development session that goes along with my What Counts for a DBA blog series on SimpleTalk. Come with your ideas about what makes a great DBA so we can all get into the conversation (and not just so I won’t have to create too many slides). I will have my topic spinning wheel with me, so who knows exactly what we will discuss, not even I know.

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What Counts For a DBA

The world of a DBA can be daunting for a person, either as a new or old, because not only do they need to keep up with new and emerging technologies, but also with the code and designs of their coworkers. In this highly participation driven session, we will employ a random topic chooser to pick several of these traits for discussion as a group. Possible topics include past blog topics such as Logic, Curiosity, Failure, Humility, Skill and Passion, as well as any other topics that might be added for that day. So come prepared to participate and voice your opinion about what counts for a DBA.

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Hope to see you there! (and if you can’t make it to Louisville, I will be in Cleveland OH for SQL Saturday #164 on August 16, and then in Chattanooga for Devlink the last week of August. Chattanooga, TN.

Speaking at PASS 2012… Exciting and Scary… As usual…

drsql — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 23:03:00 GMT

Edit: As I reread this, I felt I should clarify.. As usual refers mostly to the "Scary" part. I have a lot of stage fright that I have to work through. And it is always exciting to be picked.

I have been selected this year at the PASS Summit 2012 to do two sessions, and they are both going to be interesting.

Pre-Con: Relational Database Design Workshop - Abstract

Triggers: Born Evil or Misunderstood? - Abstract

The pre-con session entitled Relational Database Design Workshop will be (at least) the third time I will have done this pre-con session, and I am pretty excited to take it to a bit larger scale. The one big change that I am forcing this time is a limit on the lecture time. Each of the first two times I have done this session the biggest disappointment has been that we didn't get nearly enough time for the exercises. If people get tired of the exercises, I will certainly have a lot of extra material to do, but the focus will be on getting at least three hours of design time in. Some as a full group on the screen, and some broken up into groups. (Of course, we will adjust the schedule based on the size of the group and whatever they are throwing at me verbally… and physically! I will have material to pad out at least an hour if people start looking bored (or if the group members start screaming at each other…you know, like a real database design session would be like if people weren't concerned with losing their jobs.))

The triggers session is the one that I have been mulling over for years now, and it is going to be minimally interesting, and probably a lot of fun (particularly if Hugo Kornelis (@Hugo_Kornelis) and Tom LaRock (@SQLRockstar) (Tom is not a fan of triggers! http://thomaslarock.com/2009/03/sql-database-triggers/) show up to offer their opinions). Triggers are probably the most controversial of SQL Server objects, and for good reason. There are server and database settings that affect how they work, and it is not trivial to write them in a manner that doesn't harm performance. Worst yet, they can cause side effects that (if not performed correctly) really harm performance, data integrity, and the sanity of the developers who don't realize they exist. But for all of the negatives, there are some tasks that just fit the trigger to a T. I might be trying to do too much in a 1:15 session, but it would not be the first time!

So I hope to see a good number of you there, for the pre- con, and certainly for the Trigger session. Just leave the potential projectiles in your hotel room...

PASS Week/Speaking/Doing Schedule

drsql — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:20:08 GMT

Well, we are finally here at what is the secular version of the holiday season for Microsoft SQL Server nerd types, the week of the SQLPASS Summit. This year, I am speaking 3 times and will also be doing the Quiz Bowl at the Welcome Reception, so I am going to be busy. If you are here and are interested in database design, please do stop by and check out my sessions.

Monday and Tuesday I will be in side sessions that are NDA for much of the day, and that is probably all that I can say. Tuesday night will be the Quiz Bowl where Tim Ford and I will attempt to one up ourselves and attempt to (along with some unwitting (but hopefully full of wit) experts) entertain you with our yearly Jeopardy-esque wanna be game show.

Wednesday, from 1-1:30, a bunch of the writers of the SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 2 book will be signing copies for you (there is a second signing at 7:15 - 8 AM on Friday, if you can stomach the earliness). If you want to see what is in the book, check http://www.manning.com/delaney/. The book will be on sale starting Tuesday afternoon for you if you want is signed or not. Note that all author proceeds of the book are going to charity (this edition’s proceeds going to http://www.operationsmile.org/), so you get a good book with lots of different subjects, and make a donation to a worthy cause. I am almost certain that you get an ebook edition of the book for free with the paper version that you can read on your portable device as well.

At 4:45 - 6 PM, I will be doing my "Characteristics of a Great Relational Database " session that was picked up as an alternate . This needs to be a very interactive session, and my hope is to learn a bit from your ideas as well as the slides I have prepared. The session is fairly light and a bit humorous, so if you are feeling particularly serious and sour, well, my Thursday session is far less fun:

Thursday afternoon, from 3-4:15 PM, I will be presenting "Database Design Fundamentals" which presents a more deep dive on the concepts that go into designing a relational database. My goal here is to present the basics of the process of creating a database from conception until you are ready to start typing CREATE TABLE statements.

Friday, I will be in a panel discussion called "Are you a Linchpin? Career management lessons to help you become indispensible.", representing the corporate developers in the world who like that they have one set of problems to solve that while the basis never varies, can never really be solved because the demand outstrips the realities of the day. Other members of the panel include Jeremiah Peschka, Stacia Misner, Kevin Kline, Brent Ozar, Thomas LaRock, Andy Warren, Andy Leonard

Saturday I go home...