SQLServerCentral.Com to Offer SQL Server Track at SQL Server Connections

I have spoken at many conferences over the years, including the PASS Community Summit and SQL Server Connections, and one of the things I have noticed is that there is very little overlap between the DBAs and developers who attend each of these conferences. There seems to be a group who likes to attend the PASS Community Summit, and another group who likes to attend the SQL Server Connections conference.

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.