Events

SQL Server 2008 Launch Event

Bill Graziano — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:32:04 GMT

I attended the SQL Server 2008 launch in Los Angeles for PASS. It was VERY nice to leave sub-freezing Kansas and arrive in warm, sunny Los Angeles.

My pictures of the keynote didn't turn out all that well unfortunately. The ones I took before it started turned out the best. I also ran into Janette from Idera. Idera and Quest were the only two SQL Server tools vendors that I saw there. The keynote presentation was projected onto some type of clear screen. You could see the presentation and see through it. It gave it a neat 3D look.

The walk from the Nokia Theatre over to the convention center was short but unusual.

PASS was in the Microsoft Pavilion and shared a booth with Culminis and INETA. I always forget how hard it is to work in a booth all day. I saw quite a few people I knew including Dinakar who blogs here but didn't have time to talk much.

I managed an invite to Microsoft's party (or maybe AMD's) after the event where they had The Barenaked Ladies playing. That was pretty cool.

Are you attending the SQL Server 2008 Launch in LA?

Bill Graziano — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:27:04 GMT

I'll be in Los Angeles for the launch this week. I'll be the PASS representative at the Heroes Community Booth in the Microsoft Pavilion. When you enter the Microsoft Pavilion we'll be all the way back in the left corner. Come by and say Hi if you get a chance. I arrive Tuesday night and leave Thursday morning. Is anyone else reading going to be there?

Code To Live

Bill Graziano — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:04:32 GMT

The Code To Live video starts with an All-Girl AC/DC cover band. I'm not really sure what else you need to know.

Steve Loethen is a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft here in Kansas City (or some such related job -- I never really remember what he does). We used to work together at this odd little company years ago. I'm certain he would be voted the Microsoft employee most likely to be mistaken for a biker. He and his co-host travel the country talking to developers. With a Harley. Dressed like bikers. I'm not sure who cast Steve in that role but it's sheer brilliance. The other guy is no slouch in the biker category either.

The video after the All-Girl AC/DC cover band is actually pretty cool. The first episode covers gaming and XNA. I'm afraid my game programming skills stop at turning on an XBOX but I certainly appreciate those that write them. I'm kind of curious where this will go. Steve tends to get himself into some interesting predicaments so who knows what will happen.

Did I mention "Hells Bells", the All-Girl AC/DC cover band yet?

Technorati tags: codetolive

Speaking in St. Louis on June 12th

Bill Graziano — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:00:32 GMT

I'll be speaking to the St. Louis SQL Server Users Group on the afternoon of June 12th at the Microsoft offices from 1PM until 4PM. I'll be doing two presentations back to back. The first is What I Wish Developers Knew about SQL Server. The second is Understanding the Procedure Cache: Writing Efficient Reusable Queries. The two presentations flow very well together. The second really builds on the concepts introduced in the first. The event was organized by Kathi Kellenberger through the PASS Star Program. Thanks Kathi!

SQL Server 2005 Query Plan Webcast (UPDATED)

Bill Graziano — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:25:00 GMT

You can download the PowerPoint file and demo script from my webcast here. I'll post a link to the recorded presentation when they post it.

You can view the recorded webcast by registering here. The layout of their site is a little interesting. Follow any one of the links for Java, ColdFunsion or PHP and you'll end up at the list of sessions. On the second page, choose the link for Data Access and I'm listed as “SQL Server 2005 Developement Tips and Tricks”.

SQL Server 2005 Query Plan web cast (UPDATED AGAIN)

Bill Graziano — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 20:19:00 GMT

UPDATED: The content of this presentation has significantly changed. The presentation no longer covers the “What I Wish Developers Knew“ Material. Basically this turns out to be a 45 minute session with 15 minutes of Q&A and I couldn't shoe horn a 75 minute session into that amount of time. This has turned into a session on reading query plans in SQL Server 2005. It's going to start very basic with table scans and work its way up. We'll also cover Profiler and some indexing tips. My presentation is part of a series of sessions geared toward people new to SQL Server and this topic seemed a better fit. Plus it fits in the scheduled time. My apologies for the confusion. We're making plans to turn the What I Wish Developers Knew About SQL Server material into a series of three webcasts.

On March 22nd I'll be presentating a web cast of my PASS presentation “What I Wish Developers Knew About SQL Server”. The presentation is tentatively titled “SQL Server Tips & Tricks” It should last about an hour. All the content will be updated for SQL Server 2005 and the sample code updated to use AdventureWorks. You can register here. (And please register using this link. I get “stuff” if you follow my link to register.)

There are quite a few webcasts scheduled for March on a variety of topics. Many of them focus on the Express editions of SQL Server and the Visual Studio tools. Everything that I'm going to discuss will apply to all editions of SQL Server.

The web site layout of their site is a little interesting. Follow any one of the links for Java, ColdFunsion or PHP and you'll end up at the list of sessions. On the second page, choose the link for Data Access and I'm the last one listed: “SQL Server 2005 Tips and Tricks”.

UPDATE: The recorded session is now available. You'll still need to register using the link above.

PASS in Barcelona

Bill Graziano — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 09:51:00 GMT

Our European Conference kicked off this morning in Barcelona. Ken Henderson, Bob Ward and Bart Duncan are all part of the PSS team. They are doing a day long pre-conference session on SQL Server internals. I think after being in Europe for five days now I'm finally over my jet lag.

The call for speakers for the Seattle Summit is up. You've got until April 28th to submit your abstracts.

Join me at the SQL Server 2005 Launch in Kansas City

Bill Graziano — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:11:00 GMT

I'll be working a booth at the SQL Server 2005 launch event in Kansas City. This is an all day event with developer topics in the morning and DBA topics in the afternoon.

PASS Session: Future Directions in Data and Language Integration

Bill Graziano — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 03:44:00 GMT

Of all the presentations that MS submitted for the PASS Conference, this was the one that intrigued me the most. It's on Wednesday at 1:30PM and is being delivered by Alan Griver. The original abstract was fairly vague. Lots of references to data manipulation on the client side but no real hint as to what it would actually cover. After the PDC it became clear that this was a presentation on LINQ.

Once the information was public Alan updated his abstract and the whole thing makes more sense. I'm really looking forward to this session. I've watched Ander's video on LINQ and was impressed. They've put quite a bit of thought into this. Hopefully they'll demo it more from a DBA perspective than from a pure developer perspective. I'm also curious how this will work when run from inside SQL Server. It should be interesting.

PASS Board of Directors Elections 2005

Bill Graziano — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 03:41:00 GMT

PASS sent out an email tonight with the slate of candidates for the Board of Directors so it's official. I'm running for the Board of Directors for PASS. There are six people running for three slots and it's a great group of candidates. No matter what the results PASS will be in great shape. I certainly would like to ask for your consideration when you cast your ballot. I've been a PASS volunteer for a couple of years and think I'd do a great job. (I've written a little longer bio that they'll hopefully get posted soon.) They are using an electronic ballot this year so watch your email for election information. And you don't need to attend the conference to vote. You just need to be a member of PASS.

My presentation is scheduled for the last slot on Friday. If you can stay that late I'll be presenting “What I Wish Developers Knew About SQL Server”. It's a broad summary of of common problems I see in SQL Server applications. It's more wide than deep but does cover a lot of ground. It's targeted at developers more than database administrators. I've delivered it five times now to various and I've recieved great feedback. Plus I'll give you candy for attending.

I'll also be spending some time in the Supplemental Question Lounge. Many of the MVP's will be there to answer questions and I think some Microsoft folks as well. They've scheduled a series of mini-presentations throughout the conference so be sure to check out the schedule.