Conferences and Classes

Today is the second day of the 2018 PASS Summit, the largest annual gathering of Microsoft data professionals. Yesterday, we got the marketing keynote that caught attendees up with the current state of SQL Server 2019 and Azure services. The attendees I talked to yesterday were impressed with the demo amounts & topics, too. Today is…

Today is the opening day of the 2018 PASS Summit, the largest annual gathering of Microsoft data professionals. Every year, thousands of us gather at the Seattle Convention Center to connect, learn, and share. On this first day of the conference, all the attendees go to the same room to watch the keynote speech. To…

So you’re going to the PASS Summit in Seattle this week, and you’re overwhelmed with the number of session choices. You’re not alone – it overwhelms me too. There are some slots where I wish I could clone myself and attend several sessions at once. Here’s how I do it. First priority: paying back your…

The SQL Server community is known for its welcoming acceptance of everyone, regardless of their experience or background. The SQL Server family actively reach out to help others and bring folks together. A great example of that is the LGBTQ Meetup organized by Andy Mallon (@amtwo.) Whether you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning,…

At Summit, on Wednesday at 1:30PM in room 6C, I’m presenting “Getting Better Query Plans by Improving SQL’s Estimates.” Add to GMail Calendar ICS file for Outlook or other calendar apps Here’s the abstract: Like Books Online, but with jazz hands You’ve been writing T-SQL queries for a few years now, and when you have…

You, dear reader, know a lot of SQL Server community names from their blogs, webcasts, podcasts, presentations, books, etc. It can feel pretty overwhelming – there’s so many sites to keep up with, so much good technical material. But even still, you’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. There are so many wonderful people…

Good morning, folks, and welcome to our annual live blog of the PASS Summit Day 1 keynote. Open the free live video stream at PASSsummit.com in one browser tab, and then refresh this page every couple/few minutes. I’ll be adding my thoughts at the end of the page, in chronological order, for easier reading later. Today’s…

Sure, they look trustworthy Eric and I are doing a PASS Summit pre-con class called Expert Performance Tuning for SQL Server 2016 & 2017. To encourage signups, we’re giving every attendee a free Enterprise/Everything Bundle, plus some other surprises you’ll get during the event. Response has been absolutely bonkers – over 300 of you have…