Feedback from the second leg of SQLRelay was very positive indeed. The attendees from my Maidenhead group were very impressed and glad they had a user group near them. Navigate to http://www.sqlserverfaq.com to see if there is a user group near you, if there isn’t we can help you start one!
You can see the lead up to all the action to all six meetings being held tonight by following the twitter hash tag #SQLRelay:
Cambridge
Cardiff
Edinburgh
Essex
Exeter
Southampton
There are still places available and to help you make up your mind here are the agendas:
Cambridgeshire SQL Server User Group’s inaugural meeting
Come along to see the birth! For expanded details of this event please visit sqlcambs.org.uk
Agenda
18:00 – 18:30 – Introduction and Networking
18:30 – 19:30 – Jen Stirrup - iPad and PowerPivot – Mobile Business Intelligence in Action
19:30 – 19:50 – Break
More time to Network and Food
19:50 – 20:50 – Allan Mitchell – Data Quality for Business – What Denali brings
20:50 – 21:00 – Feedback and Close
Location: Red Gate Software Ltd, Newnham House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ
http://www.red-gate.com/our-company/about/directions
Cardiff User Group Meeting with Satya SK Jayanty(MVP)
As part of the SQLRelay events the South Wales SQL Server UG welcomes Satya K Jayanty (MVP)
Satya Shyam K Jayanty is an Independent consultant working as a Principal Architect and Director for D Bi A Solutions Limited based in the UK.
He has a Master’s degree in Economics and Commerce from Osmania University, Hyderabad (India) and an MBA – Systems from the University of the West of England.
Satya started his career in the IT industry in 1992, and he has been working with SQL Server (from version 4.2) for more than 15 years and has been an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP for the last six years.
Satya is a frequent speaker and SME volunteer at Microsoft Tech-Ed, SQL PASS, SQL Bits, Scottish Area SQL Server user group. He maintains a blog at sqlserver-qa.net and sql-server-performance.com.
SQL Server upgrade 2000/2005 to 2008/R2: best practices
Upgrade of the data platform is no simple task, but using best practices you can accomplish the mission!
We will go through the SQL Server 2008 upgrade process, how to identify the issues to resolve and notes from the field. The session will cover the essential phases and steps involved in upgrading SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, and SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2008 R2 by using best practices and available resources.
We will cover the complete upgrade cycle, including the preparation tasks, upgrade tasks, and post-upgrade tasks. This session will also cover notes on upgrading a stand-alone instance; upgrading a clustered instance; upgrading instances involved in mirroring, log shipping, and replication; feature-specific considerations; and recommended tools for a successful upgrade.
SQL Server Integration Services
SSIS has many diverse uses on ETL, take from simple data import/export to advanced techniques on quality/transformation and Integration Services.
In this talk we will go through the best practices which have been developed/implemented/followed over the years. Important areas covered include performance, connectivity, logging and troubleshooting, and deployment.
General Information
On arrival please sign in at the reception desk and wait in the foyer to be taken up to the room.
One of the main objectives of the user groups is to introduce new speakers, and here at Cardiff we’re always looking for to support anyone who has something interesting to share with the SQL Community. We’ll give you all the encouragement and support you need. We’re really flexible so if you only want to speak for a shorter amount of time, say 15 mins then this is perfectly fine. If you’ve be thinking about this, then please get in touch with myself, Adam Morton.
You can keep up to date with the South Wales SQL Server User Group on twitter at twitter.com/SQLServerUG follow this user to hear the latest event news.
Scottish Area SQL Server User Group with Andrew Fryer from Microsoft and Martin Bell(MVP)
We will also have the usual food and prize draws!
Agenda
18:00 – 18:30 – Introduction and Networking
18:30 – 19:30 – BI features in Denali
Denali is the next release of SQL Server. There are some great new features lined up to be delivered and Andrew will look into what enhancements to the BI stack are on the release schedule, such as BISM and Project Crescent
Andrew Fryer
Andrew is a technical evangelist at Microsoft UK. This means that he spends time explaining the future to IT Professionals who do data management and data centre administration. As there are just under a million IT Professionals in the UK, then to reach all of these requires him spending a lot of time on line: updating his blog, doing webcasts, and the usual social media channels. However Andrew loves going to user groups and community events to swap stories and help people get the most out of the Microsoft technologies.
19:30 – 19:50 – Break
More time to Network and Food
19:50 – 20:50 – What’s new for developers in Denali
The next version of SQL Server is shaping up to be a huge release and is going to have some great new features for developers. This include changes to the SQL Server Developer Tools codename Juneau. This session will look at this exciting new release with demos of features available in CTP3.
Martin Bell
Martin is that suave and sophisticated SQL Server User Group leader who runs the SQL Server User Groups in Edinburgh and Leeds. On top of that he is one of the organisers of the biggest SQL Server conference in Europe – SQLBits. This takes place twice a year at different locations in the UK.
20:50 – 21:00 – Feedback, Prize Draw and Close
Location:
Microsoft Office at Waverley Gate
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/about/map-edinburgh.mspx
Registration will be necessary as I have to submit registrations to Microsoft on Thursday morning.
Essex SQL Server User Group’s inaugural meeting with Dave Ballantyne and Chris Testa-O’Neill (MVP)
Come along to see the birth!
Agenda
18:00 – 18:30 – Introduction and Networking
18:30 – 19:30 – Dave Ballantyne
Cursors are evil, and shouldn’t be used
That’s frequent advice given on forums when asking about performance problems. Its correct advice, but how do you go about removing cursors and what do you replace them with? That’s the tricky part! By deconstructing a cursor based routine, Dave will demonstrate a number of TSQL techniques and how they can be applied to generate a new routine with significantly less overhead.
Dave Ballantyne is a freelance SQLServer database developer/designer and has been working in the IT field for over 20 years. Tuning and optimizing SQLServer processes is his particular talent. Dave regularly contributes to online forums and is a regular speaker at UK events such as SQL Bits and user groups. He also is founder of the Kent .NET/SqlServer user group.
19:30 – 19:50 – Break
More time to Network and Food
19:50 – 20:50 – Chris Testa-O’Neill
We have control! – Controlling Resources in SQL Server
Since SQL Server 2008, you can control environments using Policy based management and with the Resource Governor. This session will demonstrate the implementation and workings of Policy based management and with the Resource Governor and provide you compelling reasons why these tools can be used to enforce standards and control SQL Server hardware in your environments
Chris Testa-O’Neill is a SQL Server Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) and a Senior Consultant at Coeo specialising in SQL Server Business Intelligence. He is also a technical author, working on courses for SQL Server 2008 R2 with Microsoft Learning and advising on the SQL Server Denali curriculum. Chris runs the Manchester SQL Server User Group and is an organiser for SQLBits. Chris has spoken at a range of events including user groups in the UK and Adelaide, Australia, SQLBits, the MCT Conference and this year’s SQLPASS. Chris is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), MCDBA, MCTS and MCITP in SQL Server.
20:50 – 21:00 – Feedback and Close
Location: Xchanging, Endeavour Drive, Basildon, SS14 3WF
http://www.xchanging.com/Locations/UK.html
SQLSouthWest User Group Meeting with Tony Rogerson (MVP)
Start : 17:00 (for 17:30 start)
SQLSouthWest User Group Meeting with Tony Rogerson (MVP)
Tony will talk about High Availability in SQL Denali, he will also cover backgrounder HA topics so it will be relevant to other editions too, but all demos will be in SQL Denali and concentrating on the new features. In his second session of the evening he will talk about what SSD’s mean to database professionals and the game changer that they are creating.
http://sqlsouthwest.co.uk/meetings.htm
Southampton – Justin Langford presenting on Denali and Nicholas Colebourn presenting Designing tables for scale.
Network, learn, ask a question, meet other folk, get fed – these are all things that happen at user group events. These events are a really great opportunity to socialise in an informal learning experience.
Remember to tell your friends and the people you work with; make sure you register as soon as you can.
6.00pm – 6.30pm Registration and networking
Meet and greet. (Eat biscuits)
6.30pm – 6.40pm Introduction.
6.40pm – 6.50pm Lightning Speakers
6.50pm – 7.40pm Nicholas Colebourn – Designing tables for scale – data typing, data compression and table partitioning with Nick Coleburn
Good database design is the foundation of building robust, scalable database systems. Optimising your table design can make or break a database. In this session Nick will cover data typing, utilising SQL Server data compression and table partitioning, and how optimising the design of these technologies can substantially reduce disk I/O, memory usage and improve overall system performance.
7.40pm – 8.10pm SQL Supper
Eat Pizza and talk about everything SQL Server.
8.10 pm – 9.00pm Justin Langford talking about the latest release of SQL Server (Denali)
Directions:
Please use the entrance on Alba Road. The signs should point you in the right direction.
The relay so far:
Join in tomorrow as we prepare to handover for the sprint down the final straight!
