SQL Server Blogs

Manchester and Leeds SQL Server user group information for 2012

Testas — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:53:00 GMT

Hello ,

We (Martin Bell and Chris Testa-O’Neill) started writing an email and didn’t realise how big it would get so we stuck it on a blog instead

So in summary this blog covers:

Microsoft and the MVPs roll into Manchester on the 22nd May for SQLRelay 2012
Leeds and Manchester User Group Dates for 2012
Workshops in the North from the best SQL Server Experts.
SQLBits – spaces are running out

Microsoft and the MVPs roll into Manchester on the 22nd May for SQLRelay 2012

May 21st – 25th 2012 sees the second instalment of the SQLRelay as user groups across the UK liaise with Microsoft to bring you the best speakers from the UK and Microsoft. Manchester will host a full day/evening event on the 22^nd May at the Coop in Manchester. Microsoft will be speaking as well as recognised MVPs and also members of the local Manchester and Leeds SQL Community. Furthermore, breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided. Whats more the event is free. You can register for the event here before an official announcement comes from Microsoft and SQLServerFAQ next month.

Leeds and Manchester User Group Dates for 2012

We want to thank you all for your support over the years. This has led to what I believe is the best line up so far in 2012. This is not possible without your continued attendance and support You can view the event details and register by clicking on the links

14^th Mar – Manchester: Martin Bell and Tony Rogerson
15^th Mar – Leeds: Chris Testa-O’Neill and speaker TBC

25^th Apr – Leeds: Tony Rogerson and Mark Broadbent
26^th Apr – Manchester: Chris Testa-O’Neill and Mark Broadbent

21^st -25^th May – SQL Relay (Manchester 22^nd May)

4^th Jul – Manchester: Chris Webb and speaker TBC
5^th Jul – Leeds: Chris Webb and speaker TBC

5^th Sep – Leeds: Alex Whittles and speaker TBC
6^th Sep– Manchester : Alex Whittles and speaker TBC

17^th Oct – Manchester: Christian Bolton and speaker TBC
18^th Oct – Leeds: Christian Bolton and speaker TBC

28^th Nov – Leeds: Allan Mitchell and Jenny Stirrup
29^th Nov – Manchester: Allan Mitchell and Jenny Stirrup

Each speakers content will be going up on the site in the due course

There are also chances for people from the User Group to take up the mantle and do a presentation to your fellow attendees. Anyone wishing to put their name down for any of these evenings please let me know. It doesn’t have to be a full 1hr slot, if you want more or less time we can accommodate both! Anyone can bring a question or SQL Nugget to any meeting.

Workshops in the North from the best SQL Server Experts.

You will note that for the first time we have Christian Bolton and Chris Webb speaking in Manchester and Leeds. We have tried to get them over the last couple of years but their calendars are usually full. They will be running workshops around the dates that they speak at the user groups. If you are interested let me know, as soon as I get more details I will send them out to you.

SQLBits – spaces are running out

SQLBits X is the official UK Technical Launch for SQL Server 2012 and is taking place at the London Novotel West hotel in Hammersmith. You may have seen communication about it nearly being full. If you want to attend, I would urge you to sign up in the next week as it will be full very soon

Thanks

Chris and Martin

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Chris Date in Edinburgh

MartinBell — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:48:00 GMT

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Working with SSAS traces and the dreaded Textdata in SSMS

ACALVETT — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:06:01 GMT

For good or bad i regularly work with SSAS traces that i have saved to a table and many years ago i was regularly frustrated by the fact that the contents of the textdata column containing the query is always truncated at 65535 characters. You may think 65535 characters should cover most queries but once Excel gets to work it generates some huge queries! Fortunately i came across a solution by MVP Adam Machanic that uses a very nifty trick to convert the output to XML and this has the benefit that...(read more)

Upcoming SQL Events

NeilHambly — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:17:00 GMT

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Community Voting open for SQLRally Pre-cons

NeilHambly — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:57:00 GMT

As some of you probably know - I do speak a lot of SQL conference's, but getting session submissions picked can be tough @ times (especially for the larger events) Sometimes there are community voting rounds .. for a few precious slots @ these larger events I now have one of those voting rounds for my Pre-Con submission @ the next SQLRally event May 8 th - May 11 th in Dallas, TX (this is one of the largest SQL Conferences) My Pre-Con submission "Performance Trace & Event Collection...(read more)

Script to automate the Stats history

NeilHambly — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:18:00 GMT

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Microsoft Product Managers grace SQLBits X with awesome sessions - Non BI Training Day sessions I would attend

Testas — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:07:00 GMT

SQLBits X is proving to be the most popular SQLBits yet. The team is working very hard to bring the best speakers from around the world. For those who know me you will know my focus is on BI. However I wanted to point out a number of non BI sessions that I would recommend based on my experience of these speakers at the MVP Summit in Seattle or TechED.

Michael Rys

Anyone working with non relational data such as XML or Geospatial data will not want to miss the fact that Michael Rys is in town for SQLBits X.
Michael is a great guy but more importantly he is principal program manager in the SQL Server RDBMS team. He is responsible for the Beyond Relational Data and Services scenario that includes unstructured and semi-structured data management, search, Spatial, XML and others. He has been program manager for the XML features in SQL Server 2000 to 2008 such as FOR XML, the XML data type and XQuery and for Spatial Indexing in SQL Server 2008. He also represents Microsoft Corp. in the W3C XML Query working group and the ANSI SQL standardization effort

Michael is also a senior member of ACM and a member of IEEE and has given many presentations and contributed to several books on XQuery and XML and databases. His weblog can be found at http://sqlblog.com/blogs/michael_rys/default.aspx and can be followed at @SQLServerMike (when he finds time to tweet).
I have seen Michael’s sessions on more than one occasion. It was particularly useful at a time when my head was involved with geospatial data with reporting services. His sessions provided so much clarity that without his insight I would have never have got a project completed. His XML sessions are as equally insightful and delivered with ease.

So if you want insight into these technologies, I would recommend that you sign up for his training day session at www.SQLBits.com His session is Beyond Relational in SQL Server 2012 and SQL Futures with Michael Rys and you would not want to miss this

Tobias Ternstrom

Equally, Tobias Ternstrom gives fantastic presentations. Tobias has been an avid customer of SQL Server since the mid-90s starting out with SQL Server 6. He fell in love with the product and grew into a passionate developer, instructor and architect over the next decade or so. A few years back Tobias joined the program management discipline of the SQL Server Engine. He is currently a Lead Program Manager managing a team of program managers who own the engine-side of the SQL Server & Azure development experience. His areas include T-SQL language, type system, libraries as well as the data-tier application model.
He gives great presentations that I have been privileged to see at the MVP Summits. I would wholly recommend his session that focuses on programmability features that are new to SQL Server 2012. There are exciting features such as the Windowing function, Lead and Lag and iof you want to know more about these I would recommend this session Programmability in SQL Server 2012 and SQL Azure with Tobias Ternstrom.

I am very fortunate that I am given time to go and see these people in action. I work for a company that fully supports my development with the people who are at the cutting edge of SQL Server. The SQLBits committee try to bring these people to the UK for the benefit of the community. SO if you have had thoughts about attending these sessions. I would go for it. It is not often you get to spend a full day with the Program Managers of SQL Server technologies on your doorstep

Oh and someone let the Queen know...... Buck Woody is in town.... I better feed him this time :-)