Windows Azure is a platform that allows you to write software, run software, or use software that we've already written. We provide lots of resources to help you do that - many can be found right here in this blog series. There are two primary resources you can use, and it's important to understand what they are and what they do. The Windows ...

I am honored to present “Building Your First SSIS Package in SQL Server 2012” at the NJ SQL Server User Group Tuesday, 21 Feb 2012 starting at 6:00 PM! If you read this blog and will be in the area, please stop by and introduce yourself! I’m the fat guy with a fu. :{>

Not that my preferences really mean a hill of beans to anyone else, but since I've asked for your vote on my sessions, I'd also like to share the list of sessions that I've marked as ''preferred'' so far. Now, since we have no idea what the schedule will be, we can pick and choose the sessions without any concern about who's up against who in the ...

Last weekend I spoke at SQL Saturday #60 in Cleveland, Ohio. I had a great time catching up with some existing friends and colleagues, and met a bunch of new people too. I presented two sessions: What's New in Denali, and T-SQL: Bad Habits to Kick.  Yesterday the organizers passed along the scanned-in speaker evaluations (this was the first ...

Tonight I spoke at the SNESSUG user group meeting in Warwick, RI.  You can download the slide deck here (this is a 3.5 MB PDF with presenter notes):http://sqlblog.com/files/folders/23423/download.aspxIf you attended the talk, please feel free to provide feedback at speakerrate.com: ...

[Sorry I have been a little absent over the past couple of weeks.  Returning from the Olympics just a little over a week ago meant some busy catch-up and a heavy lead-in to today's event.] Today I spoke at SQL Saturday #33 in Charlotte, NC.  My presentation was virtually a rip-off of the one I gave at SQL Saturday #34 in Boston: ...

Today I presented ''Management Studio Tips & Tricks'' at SQL Saturday #34 in Waltham, MA.  I had an audience of close to 100 (my biggest talk yet!), and unless they were stroking my ego, I achieved my primary goal for the session: to make sure that every single person in the room learned at least one new thing about SSMS. I learned some ...