Want to learn more about SQL Server? Now's a good time to get a full day of inexpensive high-quality training on both the east and west coast, in March and April, respectively. I hope you'll join me for a full-day troubleshooting and performance tuning workshop on the Friday preceding the Richmond, VA SQL Saturday in March. And in April, I'll be on the west coast presenting a full-day high-performance configuration tuning workshop preceding the Huntington Beach, CA SQL Saturday. Here are the other events where I'll be speaking: Mar 04, 2015 - Mar 07, 2015, SQLBits XIV - London, … [Read more...]
Troubleshooting full-day workshop in Richmond (March) and Configuration full-day workshop in Huntington Beach (April)
Four New Slide Decks for SQL Server and IT Pros from the DevLink 2014 Conference
I always enjoy presenting at the DevLink conference, presented each summer in middle Tennessee. This year, I'm trying to be a better social media person and actually post my slides (in their most recent forms) on my SlideShare account for everyone to see and share. If you attended my session(s) and enjoyed them, feel free to download the content here. But it'd be even better if you also left a few words in the Comment section. Skip below to grab the slide decks. Thanks very much! Enjoy, -Kevin -Follow me on Twitter! -Google Author Microsoft SQL Server Internals & … [Read more...]
Join Me at the Ft. Lauderdale SQL Saturday on June 14, 2014!
Join Me at SQLSaturday #288 in Beautiful Ft. Lauderdale, FL SQLSaturday is a training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. This event will be held Jun 14 2014 at 3301 College Avenue, Davie, FL 33314. Admittance to this event is free, all costs are covered by donations and sponsorships. Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleagues know about the event. Where Is It? This event will be held on Jun 14, 2014 at Nova Southeastern University 3301 College Ave, Davie, FL 33314. You need to go to the Carl … [Read more...]
Writing and Delivering a Successful Full-Day Technology Seminar
I was recently chatting with the current President of PASS, Thomas LaRock (Twitter | Blog), and Pieter Vanhove (Twitter | Blog), a prominent SQL Server consultant and expert in Belgium, about how I go about building and presenting a full-day technical seminar. In the SQL Server world, we tend to call these "pre-cons", as in pre-conference seminar, because they're typically offered as paid add-ons occurring prior to a full technical conference. We call them that even when they come at the end of the conference and, heck, when there's no conference at all. Kevin and Kendal Van Dyke … [Read more...]
Interested in Self-Service Analytics at the PASS Business Analytics Conference?
I don’t know if you’re planning to attend the PASS Business Analytics Conference. But you'll be missing a ton of great content especially for data, analytics, and business intelligence professionals. There's still plenty of time to register and, if you use my discount code – BABS2B – you'll get $150 off the conference registration fee. There will be more than 60 sessions at the event by BA/BI experts from Intuit, Microsoft, SurveyMonkey, Wells Fargo, and more. Last year’s inaugural event was quite the shindig, bringing in around 900 business analysts, data scientists, architects, and BI and … [Read more...]
Top 10 DBA Mistakes on SQL Server
Hear one of my most popular session via streaming media at SQLSentry.TV! Microsoft SQL Server is easier to administrate than any other relational database on the market. But “easier than everyone else” doesn’t mean it’s easy. And it doesn’t mean that database administration on SQL Server is problem free. And since SQL Server is constantly growing from small, home-grown applications, many IT professionals end up encountering issues that others had tackled and solved years ago. Why not learn from those who first blazed the trails of database administration, so that we don’t make … [Read more...]
Join Me on March 14 in Silicon Valley for a Full-Day of SQL Server Configuration Tuning Lessons
Join me for a day of Real World Database Configuration and Tuning for Microsoft SQL Server SQL Saturday Silicon Valley 2014 Friday, March 14, 2014 from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (PDT) Mountain View, CA Click HERE to register Now! Seating is very limited! This full-day training event combines a thorough overview of fundamental architectural concepts of the SQL Server relational engine followed by hands-on demos to reinforce each conceptual lesson. Since most technologists learn by doing, this training is designed to maximize the time attendees spend working with SQL Server. … [Read more...]
SQL Intersection!
The best emotion to describe how I'm feeling is 'astounded'. I'm astounded that I'm in such august company to be speaking the SQLIntersection (#iSQL) conference. Read the blog post from my first SQL Server mentor, Kimberly Tripp, which tells you all about SQLintersection. Check out this list of speakers: Aaron Bertrand, Sr. Consultant, SQL Sentry, Inc. [blog | twitter] Andrew J. Kelly, Mentor, SolidQ [blog | twitter] Bob Ward, Principal Architect Escalation Engineer, Microsoft [blog | twitter] Brent Ozar, Brent Ozar Unlimited [blog | twitter] Conor Cunningham, Principal … [Read more...]
Demo Mastery for the Technology Evangelist
In the same way that the finest presentations involve much more than the simple relaying of information, the finest software demos are much more than just presenting features. REMEMBER: The goal of a demo is to INSPIRE the audience to use the software/technology, not to teach them every nuance of software/technology. I've spent the last 10 years learning how to give good presentations and to give good software demonstrations. Here are several tips to take your software demonstration from informative to masterful: 1. Know your audience Whenever you start a demo, make sure you have a good … [Read more...]
What’s It Like on a SQLCruise?
I always seem to get a question or two along the lines of "What's it like on a SQLCruise?" as I present at various conferences, SQL Saturdays, and user group meetings. Since we just finished up the 2013 Miami SQLCruise, I thought it'd be a good time to recap so that you can judge for yourself if you'd ever want to do it yourself. Personally, I think that Tim Ford (Twitter | Blog), together with his wife Amy, are doing better than ever in making the cruise both a top-quality learning experience and fantastic social experience. I've heard from many attendees that they learned enough in the … [Read more...]