Next week is the 24 Hours of SQL Server 2008 R2 PASS but before we get there the Virtual Chapters of PASS have some free training on tap for us:
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“You Got XML In My Database? What’s Up With That?”
May 11th 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
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Presenter: Stuart Ainsworth
A brief presentation exploring the marriage of XML and relational databases, including when it works and when it doesn’t. Coverage will include various use case scenarios, and some tips on how to improve performance using design techniques.
Stuart Ainsworth:
Stuart I Ainsworth, MA, Med is a Database Architect working in the realm of Financial Information Security; over the last 15 years, he’s worked as a Research Analyst, a report writer, a DBA, a programmer, and a public speaking professor. He’s one of the chapter leaders for AtlantaMDF, the Atlanta chapter of PASS. A master of air guitar, he has yet to understand the point of Rock Band (“You push buttons? What’s that all about?”).
How do I view the presentation?
Attendee URL: Live Meeting link
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Indexing Guidelines
May 12, 2010 Noon Mountain Time (-6 GMT)
Presenter: Greg Larsen
This session will discuss indexing guidelines. During this discussion there will be information about how developers and DBA’s should approach the indexing development lifecycle. This lifecycle will help attendees understand that you shouldn’t just develop some indexes while you are developing your applications and then forget about them. In addition some indexing guidelines will be discussed. These guidelines will help you make better choices on which columns to select for your indexes and how those columns should be ordered in multi-column indexes. There will be number of demonstrations to support this discussion. Lastly an indexing toolkit (a set of scripts) that you can use to help manage your indexes will be provided.
Greg Larsen:
Greg Larsen has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He has authored over 125 articles related to SQL Server. He holds a MCITP Database Administrator and Developer certification for SQL Server 2005 and is a SQL Server MVP. Greg also hosts the www.sqlserverexamples.com website which contains a number of T-SQL examples to help you manage your SQL Server environment and application T-SQL code. Greg has a full-time DBA gig, but also provides SQL Server consulting services in his spare time.
Door Prize: There will be a drawing for a $50.00 Amazon Gift Certificate
Registration: You can attend the meeting without registering but if you want to be entered in the drawing, you must register at https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=jhh2nc28185sd034 no later than 5:00 PM Eastern on May 11th.
Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=CPN75W&role=attend
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12 Key Development Areas
May 13th 1:00 PM EDT (GMT -4)
Presenter: Andy Warren
A good professional development plan has to go far beyond ‘learning more technology’, it has to encompass the wide variety of skills you need to build the next step in your career, and it has to include a variety of learning methods. We’ll discuss how much time and money you should budget when building your plan, and how the distribution of time and money changes as your career evolves. We’ll look at the growth phases you’ll encounter, learning how you learn best, how to keep up with new technology without burning out, and even how things like blogging and Twitter can be an interesting part of your plan.
Andy Warren
Andy Warren (@SQLAndy) is a SQL trainer focusing on basic administration and performance tuning, he runs the free SQLShare.com training site, is currently a SQL Server MVP, blogs daily at SQLAndy.com, started the SQLSaturday franchise, is co-President of the Orlando SQL Server Users Group, serves as a member of the Board of Directors of PASS, and was a founding partner in SQLServerCentral.com. In his remaining free time he’s working on a book for first time managers and squeezes in some woodworking for relaxation.
Live Meeting Link: https://www323.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=5233Z9&role=attend
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Extract, Transform, and Load your Data Warehouse
May 14, 2010 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4) Add to calendar
Presenter: Jessica M. Moss
One data warehouse buzzword that often gets used is “ETL”, also known as extract, transform, and load. But what does this really mean from a data warehousing perspective and how do we use SQL Server Integration Services to perform these ETL functions? This session will answer these questions and show solutions to common ETL problems.
Jessica M. Moss
Jessica M. Moss, an architect with Ironworks Consulting and a Microsoft SQL Server MVP, is a well-known practitioner, author, and speaker in Microsoft SQL Server business intelligence. Jessica has created numerous data warehousing solutions for companies in the retail, internet, health services, finance, and energy industries and authored technical content for multiple magazines, websites, and the book “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services Problem-Design-Solution”. Jessica enjoys working with the central Virginia community and speaks regularly at user groups, code camps, and conferences. You can read about her work on her blog, http://www.jessicammoss.com.
Live Meeting Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=CPPC3S&role=attend
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I’ll be speaking at SQL Saturday #48 this weekend and I am happy to announce I will be unveiling my more advanced PowerShell session to help people customize scripts for their own environment. I will be showing off several new scripts that I built for my session at the PASS Summit this year. Please be ready to give plenty of brutal feedback on these scripts so that I can incorporate that feedback in the final versions that I take to the Summit.
Just a quick glance at the schedule shows experts descending on Columbia from Richmond, Tampa, Orlando & Alabama just to name a few so don’t even think of coming up with some lame excuse that it’s too far to drive. We’ll also be joined by a bunch of SQL Experts from Microsoft’s Charlotte campus so it’s definitely work the trip and I hope to hear you heckle me there!
and take a wild guess what we’ll both be speaking about! It wasn’t really hard to get Ed to join us actually; I sent him a tweet saying something like ‘Hey Ed can you come out and speak to us SQL folks’ and his reply was ‘I’ll submit something tonight’. Might want to keep that in mind the next time that you’re looking for a speaker. 
