In the past, and still today, SQLServerCentral.com has been a strong supporter of the PASS Community Summit. But because of the lack of overlap among those who attend each conference, we felt that we had been missing out on those DBAs and developers who chose to attend the SQL Server Connections event. Because of this, starting last year, SQLServerCentral.com began to offer a SQLServerCentral.com track at SQL Server Connections.

SQL Server Connections (which is a part of the larger DevConnections conference), will be held November 1-5 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Conference Center, and will follow this schedule:

Monday, November 1, 2010: Two SQL Server pre-conference workshops:

• “Database Best Practices for the Involuntary DBA” with Paul Randal and Kimberly L Tripp
• “Plumbing the Depths of SQL Server / PowerShell Integration” with Bob Beauchemin

Tuesday, November 2, 2010: Microsoft Day

• There will be three different tracks (DBA, DEV, BI), all presented by members of the Microsoft SQL Server Team

Wednesday and Thursday, November 3-4: SQL Server Connections and SQLServerCentral.com tracks:

• There will be three DBA tracks that are managed by Paul Randal and Kimberly L. Tripp, which includes a wide variety of speakers
• There will be a single SQLServerCentral.Com track, that is managed by Brad M. McGehee, which includes four different speakers
• Attendees will be able to attend any of the sessions in these four concurrent SQL Server tracks.

Friday, November 5, 2010: One SQL Server post-conference workshop:

• “Indexing Strategies and Analysis” with Paul Randal and Kimberly L Tripp

For a list of all the speakers, you can visit this webpage, and for a list of all the sessions, you can visit this webpage.

The SQLServerCentral.com track includes four speakers presenting a total of nine different session over two days. If you recognize any of the speakers, that is because you have probably seen their contributions at SQLServerCentral.com or Simple-Talk.com.

Glenn (blog | twitter) works as a Database Architect at NewsGator Technologies in Denver, CO. He is a SQL Server MVP, and he has a large collection of Microsoft certifications, including MCITP, MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD, and MCTS, which proves that he likes to take tests. His expertise includes DMVs, high availability, hardware selection, full text search, and SQL Azure. Glenn is also an adjunct faculty member at University College – University of Denver, where has been teaching since 2000, and also where he recently completed the Master Teacher Program. He is the author of two chapters in the book SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, and blogs regularly.

Brad (blog | twitter) is the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software, and is an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 15 years SQL Server experience. He is a frequent speaker at SQL PASS, European PASS, SQL Server Connections, SQLTeach, devLINK, SQLBits, SQL Saturdays, TechFests, Code Camps, and SQL Server user groups. Brad is the author or co-author of more than 15 technical books and over 250 published articles. His most recent books include How to Become an Exceptional DBA (2nd Edition), Mastering SQL Server Profiler, and Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server Maintenance Plans. His website is at http://www.bradmcgehee.com.

Allen (blog | twitter) is a consultant and mentor for Upsearch Technology Services in Northeast Ohio. He’s spent over 35 years in IT and has been using SQL Server since 1992, and is certified as both a SQL Server MCITP and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). Allen has been awarded Microsoft’s MVP Award for the last three years. He’s active in the Ohio North SQL Server User’s Group and contributes in the MSDN Forums, answering questions about SMO and PowerShell, and blogs regularly.

Buck (blog | twitter) is a SQL Server Senior Technical Specialist for Microsoft, working with enterprise-level clients to develop data platform architecture solutions within their organizations. He has over twenty years professional and practical experience in computer networks and database design. He is a popular speaker at TechEd, PASS and many other conferences; the author of over 400 articles and five books on SQL Server; and he teaches a Database Design course at the University of Washington.

If you plan to attend SQL Server Connections this year, be sure to stop by and meet our speakers, if you don’t already know them.

The SQLServerCentral.com track was one of four educational tracks held at SQL Server Connections, which is part of the greater DevConnections Conference, which drew about 2,500 attendees overall. While there were no official number provided, it appeared that there were about 300-400 DBAs attending the SQL Server Connections part of the larger conference.

Joe Celko, author of many books, including SQL for Smarties, made three presentations focusing on database design and SQL fundamentals; including “Darling, Your SQL is Sooo Last Season”, “Database Scales, Measurements, and Data Encoding Schemes”, and “Naming and Modeling Data Objects.”

Grant Fritchey, SQL Server MVP and book author, including SQL Server Execution Plans (download it free); focused on performance tuning, presenting sessions on “Scouting Out Execution Plans”, “MUQT: More Unnecessary Query Tuning”, and “DMVs for Performance Tuning”.

Brad McGehee, SQL Server MVP, and Director of Education of Red Gate Software, spoke on “Optimizing temdb Performance”, “Introduction to the SQL Server 2008 Performance Data Collector”, and “Free Software for SQL Server DBAs”. You can download the presentations from Brad’s sessions here.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM—Joe Celko: Darling, Your SQL is Sooo Last Season!

9:30 AM – 10:45—Grant Fritchey: Scouting Out Execution Plans

11:45 AM – 1:00 PM—Brad M McGehee: Optimizing tempdb Performance

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM—Brad M McGehee: Introduction to the SQL Server 2008 Performance Data Collector

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM—Joe Celko: Database Scales, Measurements and Data Encoding Schemes

Thursday, November 12, 2009

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM—Grant Fritchey: MUQT: More Unnecessary Query Tuning

9:30 AM – 10:45 AM—Joe Celko: Naming and Modeling Data Objects

11:45 AM – 1:00 PM—Grant Fritchey: DMVs for Performance Tuning

2:45 PM – 4:00 PM—Brad M McGehee: Free Software for SQL Server DBAs

If you will be attending either the 2009 PASS Community Summit in Seattle, WA, from November 2-5; or the SQL Server Connections Conference in Las Vegas, NV, November 9-12, please stop by and say hello.

I will be making two presentations at both events, and I hope that you can attend them.

At PASS, my presentations include:

• “Manage Your Career: Don’t Let It Manage You”, Tuesday, November 3rd
• “How to Use SQL Trace”, Wednesday, November 4th

At SQL Server Connections, my presentations include:

• “Optimizing tempdb Performance”, Wednesday, November 11th
• “Free Software for SQL Server DBAs”, Thursday, November 12th

On November 9-12, SQL Server Connections, as part of the larger DevConnections conference, will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Monday, November 9, 2009 offers two full-day sessions: SQL Server 2005/2008: Database Maintenance Best Practices, taught by Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal; and Advanced T-SQL for SQL Server 2005 and 2008, taught by Itzik Ben-Gan.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 is Microsoft Day, which means the entire day will be devoted to sessions on SQL Server taught by product managers and developers from Microsoft.

Wednesday and Thursday, November 11 and 12, 2009, are devoted to break-out sessions on SQL Server in four different tracks, including DBA, Development, Business Intelligence, and one track offered by SQLServerCentral.Com, that will include such speakers as Brad M McGehee, Steve Jones, K. Brian Kelley, Grant Fritchey, and Joe Celko.

For more information on this event, check out this website.

In the past, and still today, SQLServerCentral.Com is a strong supporter of the PASS Community Summit. But because of the lack of overlap between these two conferences, we feel that we have been missing out on supporting those DBA and developers who choose to attend the SQL Server Connections conference. Because it is our goal at SQLServerCentral.Com is to be as inclusive as possible, SQLServerCentral.Com has now teamed up with SQL Server Connections to present our own SQL Server track at the conference. This will give us the opportunity to reach out to an entirely different group of DBAs and developers who we don’t normally interact with.

If you are not familiar with SQL Server Connections, it is part of a larger conference called DevConnections that is put on twice a year by Penton Media (they same people who publish SQL Server Magazine.) The annual spring event is held in Orlando, FL, and the annual fall event is held in Las Vegas.

The umbrella DevConnections conference include multiple, simultaneous break-out conferences, which include ASP.NET Connections, SharePoint Connections, Visual Studio & .NET Connections, and of course, SQL Server Connections. When you sign up for one event, you can attend any of the sessions among these concurrent conferences, which give attendees a rich learning experience.

The next SQL Server Connections is going to be held November 9-12, 2009, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Conference Center in Las Vegas, NV, and will follow this schedule:

Monday, November 9, 2009: Two SQL Server pre-conference workshops:

• Advanced T-SQL for SQL Server 2005 and 2008 with Itzik Ben-Gan
• SQL Server 2005/2008 Database Maintenance Best Practices with Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: Microsoft Day:

• There will be three different tracks (DBA, DEV, BI), all presented by members of the Microsoft SQL Server Product Team

Wednesday & Thursday, November 11-12 2009: SQL Server Connections and SQLServerCentral.Com Tracks

• There will be three DBA tracks that are managed by Paul S. Randal and Kimberly L. Tripp, which includes a wide variety of speakers.
• There will be a single SQLServerCentral.Com track, that is managed by Brad M. McGehee, which includes five different speakers.
• Attendees will be able to attend any of the sessions in these four concurrent tracks.

Friday, November 13, 2009: One SQL Server post-conference workshop:

• SQL Server 2005/2008 Indexing for Performance with Kimberly L. Tripp

For a list of all the speakers, you can visit this webpage, and for a list of all the sessions, you can visit this webpage.

The SQLServerCentral.Com track includes five speakers presenting a total of nine different sessions. If you recognize any of the speakers, that is because you have probably seen their contributions to the SQLServerCentral.Com and Simple-Talk websites. They include:

Joe Celko

Joe Celko served 10 years on the ANSI/ISO SQL Standards Committee and contributed to the SQL-89 and SQL-92 Standards. He has written over 800 columns in the computer trade and academic press, mostly dealing with data and databases. He is author of seven books on SQL for Morgan-Kaufmann: SQL FOR SMARTIES (1995, second edition 1999, third edition 2005), SQL PUZZLES & ANSWERS (1997), DATA & DATABASES (1999) and TREES & HIERARCHIES IN SQL (2004), SQL PROGRAMMING STYLE (2005) and ANALYTICS & OLAP IN SQL (2005) and THINKING IN SETS (2008). Joe will be presenting two session: Darling, Your SQL is Sooo Last Season! and Naming and Modeling Data Objects.

Grant Fritchey

Grant Fritchey, Microsoft SQL Server MVP, works for an industry-leading engineering and insurance company as a principal DBA. He’s done development of large-scale applications in languages such as Visual Basic, C#, and Java, and has worked with SQL Server since version 6.0. Grant spends a lot of time involved in the SQL Server community, including speaking, blogging, and he is an active participant in the SQLServerCentral.Com forums. He is the author of SQL Server Execution Plans (Simple Talk Publishing, 2008) and SQL Server Query Performance Tuning Distilled (Apress, 2008). Grant will be presenting two session: Scouting Out Execution Plans and MUQT: More Unnecessary Query Tuning.

K. Brian Kelley

Brian is a SQL Server author, columnist, and Microsoft MVP, focusing primarily on SQL Server security and administration. He currently serves as a database administrator / architect for a large bank where he can concentrate on his passion: SQL Server. He is a contributing author to How to Cheat at Securing SQL Server 2005 (Syngress) and Professional SQL Server 2008 Administration (Wrox). In the technical community, Brian is president of the Midlands PASS Chapter. Not only is Brian an active blogger at SQLServerCentral.Com, he is a prolific forum participant and is one of the top forum posters on the website. Brian will be presenting two sessions: Keeping on Top of Your SQL Server Using Dynamic Management Objects and Catalog Views and Best Practices in SQL Server 2008 Configuration Management.

Steve Jones
Steve Jones, Microsoft SQL Server MVP, is the founder and editor of SQLServerCentral.Com. He has been working with SQL Server for 18 years as a DBA at a variety of large and small companies. He is a frequent speaker at user groups and SQL Server conferences and has written hundreds of articles on SQL Server. He is well known for his prolific blogging, editorials, and podcasts at SQLServerCentral.Com. Steve will be making one presentation: The Modern Resume: Building Your Brand.

Brad M. McGehee
Brad M. McGehee is an MCSE+I, MCSD, and MCT (former) with a Bachelors degree in Economics and an MBA. Currently the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software, Brad is an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 14 years of SQL Server experience, over six years of training experience, and has been involved in the industry since 1982. Brad is a frequent speaker at SQL PASS, European PASS, SQL Connections, SQLTeach, SQLBits, SQL Saturdays, TechFests, Code Camps, SQL Server user groups, and other industry seminars. Brad is the author or co-author of more than 14 technical books and over 100 published articles. His most recent books include, How to Become an Exceptional DBA, Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server 2008: The Top Ten New Features for DBAs, and Mastering SQL Server Profiler. Brad will be presenting two sessions: Optimizing tempdb Performance and Free Software for SQL Server DBAs.