Conferences and Classes

This morning, the Professional Association for SQL Server announced that the annual Summit will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina.  For the last 5 years, it’s been held in Seattle, and PASS members have protested.  We wanted the Summit to move around from place to place to make it easier for other people to attend…

The Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) holds a summit every year where thousands of database professionals gather to learn about the latest developments from Microsoft, meet their fellow community members, and drink Jägermeister. This year, there’s a new way to help shape the PASS Summit – you can vote on the sessions you’d like…

You can refresh this page every couple of moments to see what’s happened.  The most recent updates are at the bottom. You can watch the keynote live online too. Tina Turner Onstage at #SQLPASS 8:21AM – Today opened with Tina Turner singing “Simply the Best.”  It’s either that or I drank entirely too much last…

Microsoft just announced major changes to the Microsoft Certified Master of SQL Server program. I’m excited about the new direction of the program, although I’m a little biased – I helped with the program’s changes to reach the right audience. The Original Microsoft Certified Master Program: $18,500 entry fee for 3 weeks of training (and…

Every year, the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) holds a big conference for SQL Server professionals – DBAs, developers, BI people, etc.  Depending on how you look at it, it’s either their North American conference or their global conference – people come from all over the world to attend. This year’s PASS Summit takes…

At big conferences like the Professional Association for SQL Server Summit in Seattle, attendees can pay extra to attend a pre-conference or post-conference session.  Select speakers talk all day on just one topic, so the attendees get really deep coverage on it.  Competition among speakers is tough for these slots because there’s money involved –…

At this year’s PASS Summit, we’re adding a series of sessions called Lightning Talks.  In a normal one-hour time slot, you can sit and watch several presenters give rapid-fire, 5-minute micro-sessions on various topics. My Lightning Talk is “Storage Area Networks Simplified” – I’m covering the two most important things you need to know about…

For the first time this year, the Professional Association for SQL Server will be broadcasting the PASS Summit keynote live on the web! Each day of the Summit, Microsoft staff will open up the day with their keynote speeches: Tuesday – Ted Kummert will be talking about Microsoft’s commitment to mission critical applications and easier…

A little time has passed since we found out PASS didn’t allow Steve Jones (Blog – @Way0utwest) on the ballot for the Board of Directors election, and I’ve heard a lot from friends of mine on both sides.  There’s a lot of passionate disagreement when somebody who’s done all this can’t make the cut: Steve…

The Professional Association for SQL Server holds annual elections for the Board of Directors.  The Board decides things like: Where to hold the annual PASS Summit – for the last couple of years, it’s been in Seattle, and the Board decided to keep it in Seattle for another few years.  I blogged about my frustrations…

Every year, the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) holds an international Summit.  This year it’s Monday, November 8th through Thursday, November 11th in Seattle, Washington. Anyone can submit sessions to present.  If your session is accepted, you get a free registration, saving you around $2,000.  Even if you’re not planning on going to the…

The good news is that the people have spoken. The bad news is there were less than 200 people involved.  I’m hesitant to read too much into a survey with such a small sampling of a big audience, but hey, it’s what we’ve got.  The PASS 2010 Summit survey results are out, and a few…

My flight to the PASS European Summit and the PASS London chapter just got cancelled due to the volcanic ash mess.  We talked about trying to find more ways around it, like flying into other parts of Europe and then hoping to catch a train to Dusseldorf.  Ultimately the alternate routes were too expensive (both…

The Professional Association for SQL Server recently sent its members a survey asking where they should hold their next summit – in Seattle again, or rotate it around the country.  Initially we heard that the results wouldn’t be posted for a variety of reasons, but the PASS Board of Directors heard the community loud and…

This week I’m focusing on books – writing, publishing, and marketing.  So far I’ve covered how to make (or lose) money writing a book and how the Wine Trials might work as a business model, and today I’m talking to a first-time author.  Enjoy! Tom LaRockStar Tom LaRock needs no introduction, but you know that…

John Jones and Ray LaMarca of NetApp came to the Chicago PASS Chapter tonight, and John did a presentation about storage performance.  One of my measures of a good performance is the number of questions asked during the presentation, and John’s presentation was definitely a winner there.  Lots of good questions. John Jones of NetApp…

Eric Humphrey (Blog – @LotsaHelp) asked if I’d help out the Northwest Arkansas PASS chapter tomorrow and present remotely.  Because I know that you, reader, like to watch, here’s the coordinates: Start Time: Weds Jan 13th 11:45 AM Central (17:45 GMT) Attendee URL Meeting ID: ZRW878 Attendee Entry Code: X/~x]ZNH3 Audio: will be through your…

A survey just went out to SQLPASS members and it focuses some attention on where to hold the PASS Summit each year.  In November 2010, it’ll be held in Seattle for the third year in a row, and some folks think it should stay in Seattle permanently. I just don’t agree. Microsoft Doesn’t Have a…

During the Summit, I had the chance to talk to most of the PASS Board of Directors members in hallways, bars, and other off-the-record places.  I didn’t conduct formal interviews with them, but a few things consistently stood out when talking to each of them. These are smart people. I’ve never had a conversation with…

Next up in my PASS Summit interview series is Microsoft’s Val Fontama. Val focused on the new Parallel Data Warehouse Edition of SQL Server 2008R2, formerly known as Project Madison. I was really excited about the prospects of this new edition, and I had a lot of practical implementation questions. Let’s see whether the answers…