No, this isn’t some complaint about PASS or the Summit. This is an announcement that not only will I be speaking at the PASS Summit, but I’m speaking about Azure… a lot.

First up, I’m going to be doing an all-day pre-conference seminar specifically aimed at getting you into Azure. No, I don’t want you to drop your on-premise databases and infrastructure. Are you nuts? No, wait, you think I am. OK, fair point. But what I actually want you to realize is that some pieces of your work are better done in the cloud. There are all kinds of terribly fun and cool things you can get done there, as an addition to your existing infrastructure. There are way, way too many things that are better done locally to ever think you’d move it all away from the iron that you control. No, I want you to learn how to be a better DBA/database developer/developer/architect. That’s what this session is all about. The title is: Thriving as a DBA in the World of Cloud & On-Premise Data.

Then, in a spotlight session, I’ll show how to get into query tuning when you’re working with Windows Azure SQL Database. Things there are just a little different. But, here’s the coolest thing, query tuning is more important than ever. You can literally save your company money by tuning queries. This session is: Query Performance Tuning for Azure SQL Database.

In addition to that, I’m going to co-present with Dandy Weyn in a regular session to try, again, to show you that the hybrid approach is absolutely the best choice for the future. Dandy and I will be having a good time presenting: Being the DBA of the future – a world of on-premise and cloud.

Finally, I’m taking part in a professional development session all about working from home. As cool and wonderful as it sounds, it’s actually not that easy to do and do well. Not only do you have to keep your boss happy and deliver what’s needed to keep your job, but you have to keep your spouse and family happy. You might also want to try to keep yourself (mostly) sane.  Best of all, I’m part of a great team presenting this: Thomas LaRock, Karen Lopez, Steve Jones, Erin Stellato, Kevin Kline, Andy Leonard, Aaron Bertrand

Check out the full listing of sessions for the PASS Summit. It’s going to be a fantastic event. And, we’re going to be on the East Coast this time, so if you’ve been hesitant to go in the past because of the cost & time to travel, this is your opportunity to go in your own back yard.