Buck Woody, Florida, and SQL Saturday 85

What do Buck Woody (Blog|@BuckWoody) and Florida have in common?  Quite a bit actually, and on September 23^rd , at the Lake Mary Marriot, we will add to that list.  Buck Woody, Mr. “The Cloud”, will be presenting on SQL Server Performance Tuning Using Application Path Analysis and it will be AWESOME!

“So Ball’s”, you say “Who is this Buck Woody fellow?”

Buck along with this Brent Ozar (Blog | @BrentO ) fellow had the number 2 ranked session at the PASS Summit last year, You’re Not Attractive But Your Presentations Can Be.  He was a featured presenter on the Quest Virtual Training for SQL Server Series, he has published 5 different SQL Server Books, had over 400 SQL Articles published, he was the President of the Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group for 5 years, a Microsoft MVP, and if you are on Twitter you see that Buck Woody and the Cloud are often mentioned in the same breath. 

Buck has a deep knowledge that comes from being where we are in the real world as a consumer of software products.  He joined Microsoft in 2006 a year after receiving his MVP award for SQL Server.  He brings the same “Real World” DBA sensibilities with a Dash of Microsoft Gusto that you would expect in one of the top names in the industry.

And by name alone he is a candidate to join Jack Corbett (Blog | @unclebiguns) in our future law firm of Biguns & Balls as a full partner.

So now let’s talks some details.

DETAILS

SQL Server Performance Tuning Using Application Path Analysis

There are a lot of resources, products and features you can use to tune the performance of your SQL Server system. Many assume you’re familiar with 400-level concepts, others don’t consider the whole stack of the client, the network, the operating system, platform and the database server. Buck Woody, Microsoft’s real-world DBA, will explain a simple, repeatable process you can follow to tune your entire application – from the client to the server. All of the tools we’ll cover are included with Windows and SQL Server:

·         Using Windows System Monitoring Tools

·         The SQL Profiler and Server Trace

·         Database Engine Tuning Advisor

·         Management Data Warehouse / Data Collector

·         Performance and Configuration Reports

·         The new Activity Monitor

·         Dynamic Management Views and System Views

·         Query Plans

·         Extended Events

·         Resource Governor

In this pre-conference session you’ll cover not only the process, but also review a real-world evaluation. You’ll take home a system and a spreadsheet you can use to monitor and tune your applications, in a simple, easy-to-understand session.

WHAT ELSE IS INCLUDED

For this full day of training, Coffee & tea during the morning and afternoon, with lunch included as well.  All of this Dear Reader for a very Reasonable $99. 

So you may be asking how do I sign up?  Very simple go over to http://sqlsaturday85precon.eventbrite.com/ all of the information is there.  Hope to see you at the event!  ( And Buck Does Too!)

CALL FOR PRE-CON SPEAKERS

As Awesome as Buck is, there is only so much of him that can go around.  So we wanted to offer 2 Pre-cons for SQL Saturday 85 this year.  I’ll be blogging about this more soon but right now head over to my friend Shawn McGehee’s  (Blog | @SQLShawn) post Pre-Con Speaker Wanted: Apply Within to get some more details ASAP about how you can come and be a Pre-Con Speaker as well!

Thanks,

Brad

I Can Be A Presenter And So Can You!

Last year in October, I went to my first SQL Saturday.  It was my first ever live event that I had attended.  I had heard of PASS I had wanted to attend PASS, but I’d never been.  I had not been to a SSUG, SQL Server User Group for the uninitiated.  I wanted to but the nearest was 1 hour out of the way on a 2 hour one way commute when I lived in DC.  I had watched and viewed the 1^st 24 hours of PASS, which was fantastic, but no live events.  SQL Saturday 49 in Orlando was my first and it was fantastic!

I met a lot of great people that day.  Noel Mckiney (@NoelMcKinney | Blog) we had lunch on the lawn and talked for quite a while at the after event, Patrick Leblanc (@patrickdba| Blog), he was at the same table as me and Noel at the after event he was easy to talk to and we had fun just talking about food and New Orleans, and my friend, and ½ of my Future Law Firm Biguns & Balls,  Jack Corbett (@unclebiguns | Blog).

When I went to the after event I knew no one.  Everyone I had listed I had just met that day.  I walked up to Jack and started talking, I don’t know what it was about him but he just seemed like the kind of guy I would want to hang out with.  It is awkward going to a place where you know no one, but the SQL Community has a way of welcoming you in.  We all have a lot in common, once we get talking the conversations have a way of flowing.

I left that evening and I decided that come next year I wanted to present.  As the days wore on I didn’t want to wait until next year.  I looked at what all the presenters were doing and decided I wanted to get myself ready, so I started a blog, hopped on Twitter, created my Linkedin Page, and started working on abstracts for presentations. 

The first SQL Saturday would be Tampa Numero 62.  I submitted 3 abstracts and one was selected.  I was excited beyond belief!  So over the next 2 months I worked on my presentation, presented it internally to all of the DBA’s I work with, got their feedback, tweaked it and went to 62.  There I met up with Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog ), Andy Warren (@SQLAndy | Blog), and Jack.  We had lunch together and they were talking about SQL Rally, user groups, and the great food they have at Tampa every year.

Kendal had just started MAGICPass, and is the President of the SSUG I now call home, and I asked if they had openings for Speakers, they did and that led to a presentation to MAGICPass in February.  I talked with Jack as well, since he was the President of OPASS, the Orlando SSUG, and that led to a March Presentation for OPASS.  Later that month a speaker had to bow out from presenting to the PASS DBA Virtual Chapter.  Jack had been approached about presenting, and he very graciously suggested me.  It was a great presentation, my first remote, and I loved it!

In April I presented at SQL Saturday 74 in Jacksonville, and had a great SQL Road Trip with Kendal, Dan Taylor (@DBABulldog | Blog), and Karen Lopez (@datachick | Blog).  It was a great SQL Road Trip, and a good chance to talk about the SQL Community and what we can do to make it better.  Also played my first game of SQL Alphabet during the road trip.

I had emailed Jack back in December about the upcoming SQL Rally and he had encouraged me to submit, I owe him a lot for that encouragement.  And in May I made it to my first ever SQL Conference, the Inaugural SQL Rally in Orlando FL.   SQL Rally was my first ever conference for multiple days.  And it was great, I got my first dose of SQL Karaoke, and met a lot of people in person that I had previously only tweeted with.

Fresh off of SQL Rally I thought, why not submit to PASS.  To be honest Dear reader I didn’t expect to get in.  I was realistic about it being the first year that I’m doing this.  And I was floored, the community voted and I got in!  And this year I will be presenting a DEEP DIVE on Compression at PASS!

One year ago today I was still 4 months away from starting a blog, getting on twitter, and attending my 1^st ever SQL Saturday.  So Dear Reader, if you are in the same spot then SUBMIT!  Work up and abstract, email me if you need help.  

There is nothing that I have done, that you cannot achieve.  The hardest part of a journey is often the first step.   So what are you waiting for?   Take the first step click Here to go to the SQL Saturday Page, find one near you and start today! Everyone that you see speaking at events started somewhere, and we would love to see you there.

Thanks,

Brad

I WANT YOU to Present at SQL Saturday 85 Orlando

I WANT YOU to Present at SQL Saturday 85 Orlando

Dear Reader today I want to make a call for action.  I am part of the orginizing team that is putting together SQL Saturday 85 in Orlando on Saturday September 24^th, along with Shawn McGehee (@SQLShawn | Blog), Karla Kay (@karlakay22 | Blog), Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog), and Andy Warren (@SQLAndy | Blog).   I would like to ask you to submit to be a presenter at SQL Saturday 85 in Orlando. 

“But Balls,” you say, “I’d like to but it seems so difficult.  I don’t know what to do?”

No Worries Dear Reader, I know what to do and I’ll walk you through it!  There are a couple steps and it is easy to do.  I’ll even help you write one up with a couple examples!

WRITE AN ABSTRACT

The first step is to write an Abstract of what you want to present on. An abstract is just a description in paragraph form about the topic that you would like to present on. Let’s take a look at my abstract on  Compression and you’ll see how easy this is.

Page and Row Compression How, When, and Why

Page and Row Compression are powerful new tools. Vardecimal shipped with SQL 2005 SP2, Page & Row with SQL 2008 RTM, and Page & Row with Unicode Compression with SQL 2008 R2. Get an overview into how each version of compression works internally. Learn how your Allocation Units will determine if your data is a candidate for compression. Understand how your tables Update and Scan pattern’s affect the compression types you should consider. And what you should you take into consideration for additional overhead.

 I have seen some really cool titles for presentations out there, if this is your first time don’t feel like you have to break the bank.  You don’t need to have the most AWESOME TITLE EVER the first time you present.  Stick with what you know and start out simple.   You Start off with a Title, mine was pretty simple.  I’m presenting on Page & Row Compression, How you do it, When you would want to, and most importantly Why.  That’s all you need.

So let’s come up with three titles for a possible presentation right now.  Maybe you want to present on THE TOP 10 THINGS YOUR DEVELPERS SHOULD KNOW, SURROGATE KEYS VS. NATURAL KEYS –THE GREAT DEBATE, or PARTITIONING FROM BOUNDRY POINT’S TO SLIDING WINDOWS.        

There we go we have 3 titles to choose from, and as you can see they each lend themselves to what we are going to talk about.  Now we come up with a description.   What is it you want to present on?  I would suggest a topic that you like, enjoy, or feel strongly about.  Preferably you would have some experience with it? 

So let’s write out some descriptions

The Top 10 Things Your Developers Should Know

It’s not easy being a DBA, heck it’s not easy being a Developer.  Too often DBA’s and Developers are put at odds, are we two different species, are they from Venus and we’re from Mars, Why Isn’t Green Lantern the movie more successful?  There are a lot of questions and you want Answers!  Come and find out the top 10 things you Developers should know about SQL Server and a friendly way you can present them.

So there we go, we start off with the statement, “It’s not easy being a DBA, heck it’s not easy being a developer.”  We don’t want to alienate anybody you get just as many developers, managers, and other folks at a SQL Saturday as you do DBA’s.  And then the Question Why isn’t the Green Lantern Movie more successful Why do we have such a hard time communicating?  Then present the solution, and suggest a Take-Away-Item that people will get by attending your presentation. “There are a lot of questions and you want Answers!  Come and find out the top 10 things you Developers should know about SQL Server and a friendly way you can present them.”  

Notice I made a couple light hearted jokes in the abstract, you don’t have to do that. My Page & Row Compression Abstract doesn’t have that.  So let’s do one more that is a little more serious.

Surrogate Keys vs. Natural Keys – The Great Debate

An essential part of Database Design is looking at the keys that you’ll have in your tables, You want to make sure that you’ve got a Primary key right?  But do you want that key to be Natural or Surrogate? What is the difference between Natural and Surrogate Keys, What is the Sort order on a Page, and How can they affect performance?  Come find out as we take a step by step process that will build and compare each!

No jokes this time Dear Reader, kind of like an anti-mullet, no Party in the back and all business up front.  

THIS SPEAKER NEEDS AN INTRODUCTION!

So now we get to the second thing you will need, a speaker description.   In my opinion this is the most difficult part because you are describing yourself, that’s not always easy to do.  So let’s take a look at mine.

“Bradley Ball is a MCITP SQL 2005 & MCTS 2008 Database Administrator with over 10 years of IT experience.  Bradley spent 8 years working as a Defense contractor for clients such as the U.S. Army and The Executive Office Of the President of the United States.  He is currently a Sr. SQL Database Administrator for Publix Supermarkets.  He has presented at SQL Saturday 62 in Tampa, for the MAGICPASS and OPASS chapters in FL, and SQL Rally. Bradley can be found blogging on http://www.sqlballs.com/ “

I kept this pretty simple.  I put my name, the certifications I currently have, my job title, and the number of years I have in experience all within one sentence.  Next the I put some of the cool places I’ve worked for, and what I’m currently doing today.  You can add where you have presented, but that sentence is pretty new for me, because I’ve only been doing this 6 months.  And finally I pointed people here, in-case they want to know more about me.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

If you are on Twitter, YAY!  If not you should be, a large part of our SQL Community, MVP’s, Speakers, Authors are all on Twitter and regularly offer free advice to anyone who asks.  There will be a place in the submission form that asks for a Twitter Handle, mine is SQLBalls.

Linkedin is basically a resume/professional version of Facebook.  It is really easy to get started, and before you know it you’ll connect with some awesome people!  Here’s a quick look at my linkedin Page. And if you hop online, send me an invite.  I'll be happy to add you!

SUBMIT

Now here is the best part Dear Reader, once you have your abstraction you Submit it by CLICKING HERE!  I hope to see you in Orlando!

Thanks,

Brad