Wow, blessed to speaker at another SQL Saturday in Houston #107. The first task of this weekend is Friday. Kalen Delaney will be doing a Pre-Con on SQL Server Query Plans: Tuning and Management which is sold-out. I pre-registered early whether I was going to be able to go or not, cause I knew this was a great opportunity for $88. Kalen is one of the best and I have read 2 of her books.
The sessions I will be presenting are Dimensional Modeling 101 and Execution Plan Basics. Both talks are full of demos rather than slides. The dimensional session is about getting a summary query from management to create a dimensional model and drill down to see how a Kimball Model can help once the query request changes. The Execution Plan is a session I wish someone had demonstrated to me back in the beginning when I started my SQL Server career, except for the graphical display, most is starter level demonstrations on Table Scan, Clustered and Non-clustered index scan and seek, lookups and properties of operators.
The full schedule is packed with great speakers and sessions. Of course, I have to visit with Bill Pearson and sit in at least one of his sessions. He has more data warehouse experience than anyone I have meet. Any real-life experience is better than most teaching, and he has an abundance.
I think I am going to start Saturday at 8:30AM with Tim Mitchell and The 10 New Features of SSIS in 2012. Next at 9:45AM, is my Dimensional Modeling 101 presentation. I might go hang out in the speaker room after that and visit with old and new SQL friends. Hopefully, I can visit with the sponsors to thank them during lunch and talk with attendees at the lunch tables.
At 1:30PM, I will sit in with Bill for Becoming DAX: An Introduction. 2:45PM will be Execution Plan Basics. Last, I look forward to listening to my northern friend John Sterret for Evaluate Your Daily Checklist with PBM and CMS. John is a native Houstonian and a great guy with lots of energy to help the SQL community.
Other speakers I would love to visit with or watch include Sean and Jen McCown (MidnightDBA), Bryan Smith from Microsoft (smart dude), Wesley Brown from Austin, Christina Leo (skied with in Colorado Springs in Jan), Jim Murphy (Always-On), Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA), and many, many more.
If you live in Houston, you should not miss out of this weekend of FREE SQL Server training. Houston did a good job last year with limited resources, so I am expecting a ten-fold improvement this year. 
God Bless, Thomas
