The SQL Server community is just awesome. I can’t say that enough. I may sound like a broken record when I keep repeating these things, but I owe a great deal to the community. I’ve worked hard in my career, but I am certain I would not be where I am today were it not for the connections and relationships…
I am excited to share that I will be presenting at the DevConnections conference in Las Vegas in October of this year. This is my fourth (if I remember correctly) time to have spoken at DevConnections, and the first time I will have delivered a full-day workshop there. This year I will present one workshop and two regular presentations: Building…
In just two short months – exactly sixty days from today – the SQL PASS Summit will begin. Although it’s still a couple of months away, this is a great time to start making preparations to ensure that you get the most out of your Summit experience. Download and install the latest SQL Server 2016 CTP bits. Even if you’re…
This week, PASS announced the Best of PASS Summit 2014, a collection of the 10 highest-rated sessions from last fall’s PASS Summit in Seattle. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my session, “Building Bullet-Resistant SSIS Packages”, was among these. All of these sessions (including lots of other content) are available for viewing on the PASS TV channel on YouTube….
It’s that time of the year again – time to make your voice heard as a PASS member. The PASS board elections are upon us, and if you’ were a PASS member as of June of this year, you should receive your ballot via email tomorrow. Remember that this year’s voting window is very narrow – just five days –…
It’s SQL Saturday season again. I found out this morning that I’ll be speaking at next month’s SQL Saturday event in Houston. This will be my second consecutive year to speak at this event. The crew in Houston is great to work with. Nancy Hidy Wilson, Jonathan Gardner, Malik Al-Amin, and the others event planners did a great job last…
This past Saturday, I made the relatively short (3 hour) drive north to Oklahoma City to participate in their first ever SQL Saturday event. I have to say that this was one of the best SQL Saturday events I’ve attended, which is especially notable since it was their first such event. The venue they chose was the Moore Norman Technology…
This year, PASS is taking an extra step to help identify first time summit attendees. Most attendees are given ribbons for various recognitions, including Speaker, MVP, Chapter Leader, and other accolades. This year, attendees who are attending the PASS summit for the first time are recognized with a yellow “First Timer” ribbon on their badge to allow those of us…
Though things have died down a bit since the initial #passvotes backlash, the recent development in the PASS board election process is still the talk of the town. I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a number of folks about this, and have read some excellent blogs and other opinion pieces from those on both sides of the debate. I…
Last weekend I went to Baton Rouge (by way of New Orleans) to attend and speak at the second annual SQL Saturday event there. This event was my third of four scheduled SQL Saturday of the summer. I flew out of Love Field in Dallas with fellow Dallas SQL Server pros Sean McCown and Tim Costello, and we met up…