SQLSaturday #1017 – Minnesota – Virtual 2020
Event Date: 12/12/2020 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Saint Paul College
- 235 Marshall Avenue
- Saint Paul, Minnesota
This event has completed. All data shown below is from the historical XML public data available.
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: SQL Development in a Developer’s World
Abstract: Database development tooling is evolving to meet the demands of modern application development methods, including automated pipelines, cross-platform environments, and multi-dimensional architectures. Whether you are familiar with SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) or new to SQL projects, the SQL Database Projects extension is worth a look because it combines the Azure Data Studio interface with declarative database development capabilities. Beyond Azure Data Studio, the command line application SqlPackage.exe is a powerful tool for extracting and publishing database schemas. Add in a little magic* and let your imagination run wild with the opportunities to create efficiencies in your development workflow. *= not actual magic
Speaker(s):
- Drew Skwiers-Koballa
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Room 5
Title: Power BI Desktop and AI or “There’s AI in in the Power BI Desktop?”
Abstract: Yes, there is AI built right into the Microsoft Power BI Desktop. This session will guide you through adding more Intelligence to your BI reports!
Power BI is masterful at helping designers create storytelling reports that provide answers to the questions of “What has happened?” and “What is happing right now?” We can even get some insight as to “What will happen?” BUT what if you want to know “Why something happened? Or “How can we alter what will happen?” With the built in AI tools, we can start the journey getting answers to our “Why” and “How” questions answered.
In this session we will review the following Power BI Desktop tools:
QA Tooling
Explain the Increase / Decrease (Insights)
Key Influencers Visual
Decomposition Tree Visual
Speaker(s):
- Belinda Allen
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Room 3
Title: Life Cycle of a Query in SQL Server
Abstract: Many DBA’s and Developers work with SQL Server but don’t fully understand how it really works behind the scenes. Join Deepthi on her dive into the internals of SQL Server to explain why knowing what goes on under the covers will help you make better decisions quickly when solving performance problems in SQL Server. This session will cover ACID properties, key components of the Relational Engine, Storage engine, Cache and the Transaction manager. We will also cover what happens under the covers during read and write operations within SQL Server. Deepthi will show you how the SQL engine thinks – enabling you to think like it!
Speaker(s):
- Deepthi Goguri
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 1
Title: Functional ETL using Python
Abstract: As a Data Engineer, you’re continually tasked with building pipelines to facilitate data movement, imports, and extracts. Each time, the request is different but the operation is similar, but takes you countless hours to build, test, and deploy. By utilizing commonly used modules from the Python ecosystem, we can buildout reusable and scalable code, that will support your Data pipelines On-Premises and in the Cloud.
Speaker(s):
- Joshua Higginbotham
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Room 4
Title: Dynamic SQL: Writing Efficient Queries on the Fly
Abstract: Dynamic SQL is a powerful tool that allows for the creation of fast and efficient queries when the specifics may not be known until run-time. This tool can be used to automate complex processes, facilitate reporting on an unknown number of targets, or perform tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming to develop.
This is an often misunderstood tool that is underused in areas where it can provide immense value or abused by applications that it was never intended for. Well-written dynamic SQL can solve seemingly impossible problems while being easy to read and understand.
Applications that will be demonstrated include: mapping database relationships, schema searching, generating large volumes of TSQL, and much more. Explore the many uses for dynamic SQL as well as best practices for writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining it!
Speaker(s):
- Edward Pollack
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Room 5
Title: Modern T-SQL for Better Performance
Abstract: Once you learn how to write queries, it’s easy to fall back on the same old patterns. You need to get the job done, and using old techniques is often quicker than learning something new. Over the past decade, Microsoft has released several versions of SQL Server with T-SQL enhancements, and many of these enhancements not only let you write queries easier, the queries also run faster.
Join this session to learn how this “new” T-SQL functionality can save you time when writing queries that also perform great.
Speaker(s):
- Kathi Kellenberger
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Room 5
Title: SQL Server Security Features
Abstract: SQL Server provides several several security features for developers and architects. Features such as Dynamic Data Masking (DDM), “Always Encrypted”, and Row-Level Security provide an additional level of security natively through the database server. We’ll explore the implementation of these features on the client/server for data in transmission or at rest. In addition, we’ll examine built-in features and custom implementations.
Speaker(s):
- Sam Nasr
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Room 5
Title: Magnificent 7 - Simple tricks to boost your Power BI development
Abstract: Simple tricks are almost always the most efective. Impress your users with some cool visualizations, using these 7 neat techniques: from taking buttons to the next level, through creating animated tooltips or using basic DAX calculations to enhance regular Power BI experience, this session full of demos will walk you through solutions to different use-case scenarios which can be applied in your day-to-day Power BI development.
Speaker(s):
- Nikola Ilic
Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Room 4
Title: SQL Server Database Administration for the non-DBA
Abstract: Are you a developer or a systems admin and you’ve just been handed a SQL Server database and you’ve got no idea what to do with it? I’ve got some of the answers here in this session for you. During this session, we will cover a variety of topics including backup and restore, recovery models, database maintenance, compression, data corruption, database compatibility levels, and indexing.
While this session won’t teach you everything you need to know, it will give you some insights into the SQL Server database engine and give you the ability to know better what to look for.
Speaker(s):
- Denny Cherry
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 1
Title: SQL Server Configuration with dbatools and dbachecks
Abstract: Automating the configuration of SQL Server instances and being able to check the configuration for standard configuration is an important role for any DBA when you have lots of instances. But how can we automate the configuration easily? How can we check to make sure the proper configuration is in place and hasn’t changed?
In this session, we will look at how to configure your SQL Server Instances using PowerShell and the dbatools module. Then we will look at how to use dbachecks to confirm the configuration of our instances and how to check for changes in the future of the configuration.
Attendees will see how easy it is to use PowerShell via dbatools to configure their SQL Server instances. Attendees will see how easy it is to use PowerShell via dbachecks and PowerBI to see if their servers are configured properly. Attendees will be given a set of scripts that take back to use to configure and test the configuration of their SQL Server instances.
Speaker(s):
- Tracy Boggiano
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 1
Title: Eyes on the Prize: Simple and Effective Dashboard Visualization Techniques
Abstract: When done right, data visualization informs users quickly and efficiently with a minimum of distraction. When done wrong, we end up with spinning 3D pie charts. In this talk, we will look at techniques for effective dashboard design, minimizing noise and clutter (like spinning 3D pie charts) while providing relevant information to the intended audience. We will see how different types of charts work, build out rules of thumb around which charts to use, and integrate visuals to create a coherent dashboard image. When it comes to dashboards, we will compare and contrast dashboards based on their intended uses, such as interactive dashboards versus TV dashboards. Finally, we will take an awful dashboard and turn it into something which end users will appreciate.
Speaker(s):
- Kevin Feasel
Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Room 4
Title: What SQL Server DBAs Need to Know About Docker Containers
Abstract: You have been given new responsibilities to automate deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications – not just SQL Server databases. But you feel stuck and overwhelmed because you have so much to figure out. The available information on the internet isn’t helping and you’re wasting so much time trying to learn things on your own. Even worse, you end up being a stressed, overworked DBA who wished you could focus on the “cool stuff”, but are instead stuck in firefighting mode while juggling the additional workload. In this session, get introduced to SQL Server on containers and what you need to know to start deploying and managing them. You’ll learn the different components that make up the container ecosystem and how to leverage containers for faster SQL Server deployments.
Speaker(s):
- Edwin M Sarmiento
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - Room 5
Title: Data Engineering Brick-by-Brick: An Introduction To Azure Databricks
Abstract: Do you want to be a Data Engineer in the next step on your career path? Maybe you’re just getting started in the rapidly-growing Data Science and Analytics space? Or perhaps you’re already doing on-premises analytics and want to take things to the cloud? Then come to this introductory session and see what Azure Databricks can do for you!
Azure Databricks provides a cloud-based Apache Spark environment that can be scaled up and out to tackle your big data analytics needs. We’ll look at how to set up your first Azure Databricks cluster, how to use shared notebooks in a collaborative environment, and how to leverage the integrated Azure Machine Learning capabilities. We’ll also discuss where Azure Databricks fits in the modern cloud data warehouse.
Speaker(s):
- Chris Hyde
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Room 3
Title: Effective Data Warehouse Storage Patterns
Abstract: Many companies start off with a simple data mart for reporting. As the company grows, users become dependent on the data mart for monitoring and making decisions on Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Unexpected information growth in your data mart may lead to a performance impacted reporting system. In short, your users will be lining up at your cube for their daily reports.
How do you reduce the size of your data mart and speed up data retrieval? This presentation will review the following techniques to fix your woes.
Techniques: 1 – What is horizontal partitioning? 2 – Database sharding for daily information. 3 – Working with files and file groups. 3 – Partitioned views for performance. 4 – Table and Index partitions. 5 – Row Data Compression. 6 – Page Data Compression. 7 – Programming a sliding window. 8 – What is different in Azure SQL database?
Speaker(s):
- John Miner
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Room 3
Title: How Intelligent Query Processing Improves T-SQL Performance
Abstract: Do you write T-SQL for a living and want to improve its performance? Do you wish your 3rd party vendor code would magically go faster? Then you need to learn about Intelligent Query Processing in SQL Server 2019. This collection of new features is a game changer that will improve performance across the board. Come to this overview session to learn more about how these capabilities will benefit you.
Speaker(s):
- Andy Yun
Track and Room: Application Database Development - Room 6
Title: Optimizing Model and Dashboards using DAX Studio
Abstract: Power BI is able to deal with huge amounts of data, but we need to take care with performance. Small differences in the way we build a dashboard can have huge impact on the solution performance.
Power BI has some tools to help us analyse the performance of the solution and when we need to go deeper, DAX Studio can point where the problem is
Speaker(s):
- Dennes Torres
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Room 4
Title: How to build your career
Abstract: In three years I went from a complete unknown to a popular blogger, speaker at PASS Summit, a SQL Server MVP, and then joined Microsoft. Along the way I saw my yearly income triple. Is it because I know some secret? Is it because I am a genius? No! It is just about laying out your career path, setting goals, and doing the work.
I’ll cover tips I learned over my career on everything from interviewing to building your personal brand. I’ll discuss perm positions, consulting, contracting, working for Microsoft or partners, hot fields, in-demand skills, social media, networking, presenting, blogging, salary negotiating, dealing with recruiters, certifications, speaking at major conferences, resume tips, and keys to a high-paying career.
Your first step to enhancing your career will be to attend this session! Let me be your career coach!
Speaker(s):
- James Serra
Track and Room: Professional Development - Room 2
Title: Performance Improvements in SQL Server 2019
Abstract: Microsoft released SQL Server 2019 in November. The latest version contains several improvements and new features that improve reliability and performance. First, Accelerated Database Recovery (ADR) completely redesigns the SQL Server database engine recovery process. This allows the time spent recovering from a crash or rolling back a transaction to be greatly reduced. ADR also prevents the transaction log from growing during a long-running transaction. Second, metadata for temporary tables can be stored in in-memory tables. For tempdb-heavy workloads, this removes a bottleneck and provides an improvement to performance. Finally, SQL Server 2019 supports the use of persistent-memory (PMEM) devices. PMEM can be used to persist the transaction log buffer, effectively removing LOGWRITE waits. Join me for this session to learn about these new features in SQL Server 2019 and how they can make your workload run faster.
Speaker(s):
- Frank Gill
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 6
Title: Big Data Clusters for the Absolute Beginner
Abstract: Are you a DBA or data professional working with out-dated technology or feel your skills are quickly becoming irrelevant? Stay ahead in today’s ever changing tech space and take your career to the next level.
Join Mohammad Darab this session to explore the cutting-edge technology that SQL Server 2019 has to offer: Big Data Clusters.
Topics include: -Big Data Cluster architecture and its components such as: Containers, Kubernetes and the newly enhanced Polybase -Unique advantage of SQL Server Big Data Clusters -Data Virtualization, Scale-out Data Marts, and Data Hub concepts
Speaker(s):
- Mohammad Darab
Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - Room 3
Title: I lost my job! Now what?!? A survival guide for the unemployed
Abstract: You’ve just been told by HR that you are no longer a part of their organization. You’ve been kicked to the curb. You are now living in the no-man’s land called unemployment.
Unemployment is a scary situation. You’re dealing with emotions and uncertainty. You don’t know if you’ll be out of work for days, weeks, or months.
Fortunately, unemployment is survivable. In this session, I’ll share my own experiences (and perhaps we’ll talk about some of yours) with unemployment, and how I managed to get through the tough times. We’ll discuss emotional impact, the job hunt, and things you can do to get yourself through this tough time. Hopefully, you’ll land on your feet once again before long!
Speaker(s):
- Ray Kim
Track and Room: Professional Development - Room 2
Title: How to do a Complete SQL Server Assessment
Abstract: Completing a full assessment on a SQL Server is essential to learning about not only the current state of the server, but also any areas that may be impacting performance or security. During this session we will discuss when assessments are useful, what should be included in the assessment as well as how to interpret the results. We will use a SQL script that will capture all the data needed. This script will more than 88 data points, including fragmentation of indexes, performance counter values, server and database security information, queries that consume the most CPU time including execution plans as well as many other data points. During this session we will cover a number of additional tools that can be used, include the Vulnerability Assessment Tool and a suite of 125 SSRS reports the return key data needed in a manner easier to read and export.
Speaker(s):
- Dave Bland
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 1
Title: Getting Started as a Conference Speaker
Abstract: Conference speaking is a very rewarding way to give back to the community. Just getting on stage is often the most challenging part. We dig into questions that people struggle with.
How do you decide on a topic? How do you get past a phobia in public speaking? What if someone asks a question you don’t know? How do you connect with your audience and get them to engage with you?
I’ll teach you how to construct a successful talk and point out things you need to be aware of each step of the way. You will walk away with the tools to help you squash the butterflies and make your experience a success.
Speaker(s):
- Mark Runyon
Track and Room: Professional Development - Room 2
Title: SQL Server on Containers
Abstract: Do you have a great CI/CD setup on the web side but wish you could do the same on the data side? Installing SQL Server on containers may be the key technology you need to make this wish a reality. In this quick summary we will go over what containers are, differences from VM’s, gotcha’s and things to keep in mind, and talk a bit about newer orchestrators like Kubernetes.
Speaker(s):
- Christopher Wolff
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 1
Title: Quest Gold Sponsor
Abstract: An open room for people to jump on and ask Bo from Quest Software Questions.
Speaker(s):
- Bo Ros
Track and Room: Other - Room 6
Title: Achievement Unlocked: How to Get Promoted
Abstract: Have you ever felt like an extra in Office Space? You’ve got the skills. You’ve got the big brain. You feel like you have a higher calling, but those other guys get picked instead. What’s the deal?
In this session, you’ll learn how to promote yourself, how to speak confidently, how to build your personal brand, how to demonstrate value, and how to interview.
Speaker(s):
- Dave Mattingly
Track and Room: Professional Development - Room 2
Title: Quantum computing explained with demos!
Abstract: This talk is inspired by the quantum revolution we will see in a moment. I would like to introduce the topics:
- reminder why basic linear algebra (matrices and vectors) is important
- qbits, superposition, and quantum logic gates
- Show the simplest problem where a quantum computer outperforms classical methods
If time permits - quantum entanglement
I will do demos implemented in Q# with the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit.
I do not assume any special knowledge, but if you know basic linear algebra (matrices, vectors, matrix multiplication) than the topic will be more easily understand!
Speaker(s):
- Damian Widera
Track and Room: Information Delivery - Room 6
Title: Surviving the work from home burnout
Abstract: After the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 I began the work from home experience. It was a time of uncertainty in the world and I became the lab rat of working from home. It was the beginning of a trend that will eventually culminate in the norm during this 2020 pandemic. I had to reinvent myself without a guide and eventually burned-out. My physical and mental health slowly deteriorated until I decided to learn more about the human body and the way energy is processed. I want to share my experience with others and help them reduce burnout and become highly productive.
Speaker(s):
- Gilda Alvarez
Track and Room: Professional Development - Room 6
Title: Building a Security Dashboard for SQL Server
Abstract: If you have a SQL Server, you need to secure it. However, even the most robust security is useless if you’re not monitoring it. How else would you know whether something has changed? Or whether something isn’t working as expected? And frankly, for monitoring, you need a quick view of the data you’ve collected. Enter dashboards.
In this session, we’ll discuss what information you need to collect from your SQL Servers to effectively monitor security. You’ll also see how to build a simple security dashboard for your own use using Power BI.
Speaker(s):
- Ed Leighton-Dick
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Room 3
Title: Intro to Power BI
Abstract: For anyone new to Power BI, we’ll cover all the main features and walk through getting data into the tool (using both the desktop and online versions), creating visualizations, turning them into reports and adding them to dashboards. When we’re through we’ll have several BI components available to share via the Cloud!
Speaker(s):
- David Patrick
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Room 4
Title: Launch a Cost-Effective Mentoring Program
Abstract: Your technology organization needs a mentoring program!
- It’s easier than you think.
- You can do it now.
- You don’t need special skills.
- It’s inexpensive to start.
- The benefits are measurable and substantial.
The key is to keep the business goals for the program at the forefront. When mentoring and learning become vital, expected parts of work, and when you measure results, you’re headed for success.
I’ll show you how I started and nurtured a mentoring program at SJV Data Solutions. Participants included software developers, managers, and product professionals. In under a year, this program improved products and advanced careers. The positive effect on the bottom line was unmistakable. The program’s benefits far exceeded expectations. Plus, a well-designed mentoring program scales; most weeks, I spent under two hours running the program.
Conducting this mentoring program is the most rewarding thing I have done in my tech career. I can’t wait to share these ideas with you!
Speaker(s):
- Andrew Brobston
Track and Room: Professional Development - Room 2
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Andy Yun
Twitter: - SQLBek
LinkedIn: Andy Yun
Contact: http://sqlbek.wordpress.com
Andy Yun is a SentryOne Principal Solutions Engineer and a former Microsoft MVP. He has been working with SQL Server for nearly 20 years as both a Database Developer and Administrator. Leveraging knowledge of SQL Server Internals and extensive experience in highly transactional environments, he strives to make T-SQL leaner and meaner. Andy is extremely passionate about passing knowledge onto others, regularly speaking at User Groups, SQLSaturdays, and PASS Summit. Andy is a co-founder of the Chicago SQL Association, co-Chapter Leader of the Chicago Suburban User Group, and part of the Chicago SQLSaturday Organizing Committee.
Dennes Torres
Twitter: - Dennes
LinkedIn: Dennes Torres
Contact: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/author/dennes-torres/
Dennes Torres is a Data Platform MVP with more than 25 years of experience in the IT area. He improves Data Platform Architectures and turns data into knowledge. As a Brazilian living in Malta, Dennes works as a software developer and leads the Malta MDP User Group. Having the MCSE Data Platform, Business Intelligence, and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) certifications, Dennes has been in love with database servers since he was introduced to SQL Server 6.5, more years ago than he would like to admit.
Edwin M Sarmiento
Twitter: - EdwinMSarmiento
LinkedIn: Edwin M Sarmiento
Contact: http://www.EdwinMSarmiento.com
Edwin M Sarmiento is the Managing Director of 15C, a consulting and training company that specializes in designing, implementing and supporting SQL Server infrastructures. He is a 12-year former Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Master from Ottawa, Canada (but he’s originally from the Philippines) specializing in high availability, disaster recovery and system infrastructures running on the Microsoft server technology stack. His background in Unix has taken him to the world of DevOps and Docker to containerize SQL Server. He is very passionate about technology but has interests in music, professional and organizational development, leadership and management matters when not working with databases.
Tracy Boggiano
Twitter: - TracyBoggiano
LinkedIn: Tracy Boggiano
Contact: http://databasesuperhero.com
Tracy Boggiano is a Senior Database Administrator for DocuSIgn. She has spent over 20 years in IT, using SQL Server since 1999, and is currently certified as an MCSE Data Platform. Tracy has worked on SQL Server since 6.5. She has spoken at local user groups and numerous SQLSaturdays. She is currently a co-leader of a TriPASS Local Group in Raleigh, NC.
Tracy also tinkered with databases in middle school to keep her sports card collection organized. She blogs at databasesuperhero.com.
Her passion outside of SQL Server is volunteering with foster children as their advocate in court through volunteerforgal.org and being a mental health advocate as part of the PAIMI NC Advisory Council.
John Miner
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/JohnMiner3
LinkedIn: John Miner
Contact: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlserverauthor/154/john-miner/
John Miner is currently a Data Architect at Insight DI (BlueMetal) advising corporations on how to solve their business needs with data platform solutions.
He has over twenty five years of data processing experience, and his architecture expertise encompasses all phases of the software project life cycle, including design, development, implementation, and maintenance of systems.
He has an undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island. Other credentials include an up to date MCSE certificate and currently taking the Data Science program from EDX.
Before joining BlueMetal, John won the Data Platform MVP award in 2014 and 2015 for his outstanding contributions to the SQL Server community.
Kathi Kellenberger
Twitter: - auntkathi
LinkedIn: Kathi Kellenberger
Contact: http://auntkathisql.com
Kathi Kellenberger is the editor of Simple Talk at Redgate and a Data Platform MVP. She has worked with SQL Server for over 20 years and has authored, co-authored, or tech edited over a dozen technical books. Kathi is the co-leader of the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group and a volunteer at LaunchCode. When Kathi isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cycling, singing, and climbing the stairs of tall buildings. Be sure to check out her courses on Pluralsight.
Nikola Ilic
Twitter: - DataMozart
LinkedIn: Nikola Ilic
Contact: https://data-mozart.com
I’m making music from the data!
PowerBI and SQLServer addict, MCT, Pluralsight Author, blogger, speaker…Interested in everything related to data - always eager to extract valuable info from raw data in the most effective way. Multi-year experience working with (predominantly) Microsoft Data Platform (SQL Server, SSAS, SSIS, SSRS, and Power BI). Father of 2 and true football (and Barca) fan!
Denny Cherry
Twitter: - mrdenny
LinkedIn: Denny Cherry
Contact: https://www.dcac.com
Denny Cherry is the owner and principal consultant for Denny Cherry Associates Consulting and has over a decade of experience working with platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Microsoft SQL Server, Hyper-V, vSphere, and Enterprise Storage solutions. Denny’s areas of technical expertise include system architecture, performance tuning, security, replication, and troubleshooting. Denny currently holds several Microsoft Certifications related to SQL Server 2000 through 2019, including being a Microsoft Certified Master, Microsoft MVP and VMware vExpert Award.
Kevin Feasel
Twitter: - feaselkl
LinkedIn: Kevin Feasel
Contact: http://www.catallaxyservices.com
Kevin Feasel is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and CTO at Envizage, where he specializes in data analytics with T-SQL and R, forcing Spark clusters to do his bidding, fighting with Kafka, and pulling rabbits out of hats on demand. He is the lead contributor to Curated SQL (https://curatedsql.com), president of the Triangle Area SQL Server Users Group (https://www.meetup.com/tripass), and author of PolyBase Revealed (https://www.apress.com/us/book/9781484254608). A resident of Durham, North Carolina, he can be found cycling the trails along the triangle whenever the weather’s nice enough.
Deepthi Goguri
Twitter: - dbanuggets
Contact: https://dbanuggets.com/
Deepthi is a SQL Server Database Administrator with 7+ years of experience in administering SQL Servers. She is a Microsoft certified Trainer and professional with an Associate and Expert level certification in Data Management and Analytics. Deepthi completed her Masters in Computer Technology at Eastern Illinois University. She blog for DBANuggets.com.
Joshua Higginbotham
Twitter: - codenamesql
LinkedIn: Joshua Higginbotham
Contact: https://codenamesql.blog/
Joshua Higginbotham, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, is a Data Services Manager at Republic Bank based out of Louisville, KY. He’s worked in various roles including Software Development, Database Administration, and Business Intelligence. He’s an active speaker within the SQL community and the Co-Chapter leader of the Louisville SQL Server and Power BI User Group.
Edward Pollack
Twitter: - EdwardPollack
LinkedIn: Edward Pollack
Contact: https://www.sqlshack.com/author/edward-pollack/
Ed Pollack has over 20 years of experience in database and systems administration, which has developed his passion for performance optimization, database design, and making things go faster. He has spoken at many SQLSaturdays, 24 Hours of PASS, and PASS Summit. This led him to organize SQLSaturday Albany, which has become an annual event for New York’s Capital Region. Sharing these experiences with the community is a top priority, and encouraging everyone to take the leap into public speaking and engaging others, a passion. In his free time, Ed enjoys video games, traveling, cooking exceptionally spicy foods, and hanging out with his amazing wife and sons.
Belinda Allen
Twitter: - MsBelindaAllen
LinkedIn: Belinda Allen
Contact: http://www.BIBelinda.com
Belinda Allen is a (Power BI) Data Platform Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP).
Belinda has just completed her second book, Building Dashboards with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 - Second Edition.
Belinda is also an inaugural member of the Board of Advisors for PBIUG (Power BI User Group.)
Belinda is also well known for her blog, www.BelindaTheGPcsi.com. On her blog, she shares really useful information about the product quickly and succinctly. With followers from all over the globe, she can share knowledge and achieve her mission: “To improve the lives and business success of my followers.”
Frank Gill
Twitter: - skreebydba
LinkedIn: Frank Gill
Contact: http://skreebydba.com/
Frank Gill is a Senior Data Engineer at Concurrency With 21 years of IT experience, the first 8 as a mainframe programmer, he has developed a love of all things internal. Over the past several years, he has worked extensively with SQL Server solution in Azure, including Managed Instance. When not administering databases or geeking out on internals, Frank volunteers at the Art Institute of Chicago and reads voraciously.
Dave Bland
Twitter: - @SQLDave29
LinkedIn: Dave Bland
Contact: https://www.davebland.com
Over 20 years of SQL Server experience that includes being a DBA, BI development and Application development using VB.NET. Dave currently is the Manager of the DBA team at Stericycle. Dave is a Friend of Red-Gate for 2019. He is a frequent presenter at SQLSaturday events and user groups around the country. Has been teaching SQL Server since version 2000 and is the SQL Server instructor at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Current certifications include: • Microsoft Certified Trainer • MCTS: SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance • MCTS: SQL Server 2008, BI Development and Maintenance • MCSA: SQL Server 2008 • MCSA: SQL Server 2016 • MCSE: SQL Server 2016 - BI • MCDBA: SQL Server 2000 • MCSD • MCSE: Data Management and Analytics
Gilda Alvarez
Twitter: - @Latina_DBA
She graduated from the University of Central Florida with MIS and Computer science degrees. She has over a decade of experience in Enterprise Information Technology solutions for several Fortune 500 companies. In depth and applied knowledge of database administration with emphasis on high availability and disaster recovery solutions, security audits, database health checks, capacity planning, resource utilization analysis and enterprise database migrations. She is a big advocate of technical and leadership education in her community. She loves to spend time with her family, friends and dance Latin music.
Mark Runyon
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/aspprogrammer
LinkedIn: Mark Runyon
Contact: http://markrunyon.com
Mark Runyon works as a principal consultant for Improving Atlanta. He focuses on systems architecture and development of enterprise web and mobile applications. As a full stack programmer, he primarily works with Microsoft technologies, leveraging the cloud through Azure and AWS. He is a contributing writer at InformationWeek, The Enterprisers Project and Business2Community.
Christopher Wolff
Twitter: - @tickytong
LinkedIn: Christopher Wolff
Contact: http://sqlred.blogspot.com/
Chris Wolff has been a developer, report writer, and an admin in Microsoft and SQL Server Space since SQL Server 2000 in industries such as telecommunications, green energy, money transfers, and online accounting. He has been an active member of the Denver SQL User Group since 2011 and enjoys learning new things about computers. His interests includes video games, movies, and enjoying time with his wife and 2 kids.
Mohammad Darab
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/mwdarab
LinkedIn: Mohammad Darab
Contact: https://mohammaddarab.com
Mohammad Darab is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Certified Kubernetes Administrator, Certified Kubernetes Application Developer, speaker and blogger with over 19 years of IT professional experience, 10+ years of that working with SQL Server. He is passionate about SQL Server Big Data Clusters, Kubernetes and overall professional development.
Ray Kim
Twitter: - PianoRayK
LinkedIn: Ray Kim
Contact: https://pianorayk.wordpress.com/
Ray Kim is an advocate for documentation and technical communication. He is a co-founder of the Albany, NY SQL group (CASSUG), a member of STC and the AlbanyUX user group, and has spoken at numerous SQLSaturdays and at PASS Summit. He has worked various positions in technology, including as a developer, webmaster, analyst, technical writer, and instructor. He holds an MS in technical communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS in computer science from Syracuse University.
A musician in his spare time, Ray plays four different instruments. He also enjoys going to ball games and doing CrossFit, and is a two-time SQLServerCentral.com fantasy football champion. He lives in Troy, NY with his wife, Lianne, and their two cats.
Andrew Brobston
Twitter: - AndrewBrobston
LinkedIn: Andrew Brobston
Contact: https://brobston.com/
Andrew Brobston is a principal software engineer at Hobsons, developing software to help academic institutions advise their students for success. Previously, he was a lead full-stack software developer at SJV Data Solutions, an Atlanta-area company specializing in background checks. Before SJV, he was a full-stack developer with Stack Overflow. His Microsoft SQL Server experience started with SQL Server 2000, and he has worked with every version since then.
Bo Ros
n/a
Ed Leighton-Dick
Twitter: - eleightondick
LinkedIn: Ed Leighton-Dick
Contact: http://www.edleightondick.com
Ed Leighton-Dick is a Microsoft MVP, SQL Server performance and architecture specialist, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Kingfisher Technologies. He is a frequent volunteer with PASS, including current roles as a Regional Mentor, co-leader of I-380 PASS local group, and co-leader of the HA/DR virtual group. He can often be found teaching sessions at local, regional, and national events, including user groups, SQLSaturday, and PASS Summit.
James Serra
Twitter: - www.twitter.com/JamesSerra
LinkedIn: James Serra
Contact: http://www.JamesSerra.com
James Serra is a big data and data warehousing solution architect at Microsoft. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics. Previously, James was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. James is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker. He is the author of the book “Reporting with Microsoft SQL Server 2012”.
Damian Widera
Twitter: - @DamianWidera
LinkedIn: Damian Widera
Contact: https://codingfamily.net
SQL Server MVP amp; MCT Software engineer with 18+ years of professional experience in all aspects of software development. Damian participated in a number of projects in international environments and possesses practical knowledge of procedures and tools which are necessary for successful implementation of such projects. Now he focuses on building solutions based on Microsoft SQL Server environment (including complex database driven systems, database tuning and optimization).
Sam Nasr
Twitter: - SamNasr
LinkedIn: Sam Nasr
Contact: http://samnasr.blogspot.com/
Sam Nasr has been a software developer since 1995, focusing mostly on Microsoft technologies. He’s a Sr. Software Engineer with NIS Technologies where he consults and teaches clients about the latest .Net technologies. Sam has achieved multiple certifications from Microsoft (MCSA, MCAD, MCTS, MCT), and is the leader of the Cleveland C#/VB.Net User Group since 2003. In addition, he’s the leader of the .Net Study Group, an author for Visual Studio Magazine, and a Microsoft MVP since 2013. When not coding, Sam loves spending time with his family and friends or volunteering at his local church.
David Patrick
Twitter: - DavidEPatrick
LinkedIn: David Patrick
Contact: http://www.madsharepoint.com
Dave has been developing database applications for over 25 years. An MCT since 2001, he has taught many classes from Intro to Visual Interdev to Advanced SharePoint Development. Dave runs two user groups, the Maryland and Pennsylvania Microsoft Developers User Group, www.mapamdug.com, and MAD SharePoint, www.madsharepoint.com. Dave does SharePoint training and development for DSA, Inc., a DoD contractor that does great work for the Army over at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Dave is also an MVP.
Dave Mattingly
Twitter: - @dave_mattingly
LinkedIn: Dave Mattingly
Contact: http://www.davemattingly.net
Dave Mattingly has spent thirty years of designing, developing, databasing, documenting, and directing a variety of projects in many industries. In the past, he’s worked on space travel, fraud prevention, data accuracy, and virtual reality for industries such as games, ecology, health, religion, and money. He also writes, publishes, orates, teaches, and preaches.
Chris Hyde
Twitter: - ChrisHyde325
LinkedIn: Chris Hyde
Chris Hyde is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He works as an independent SQL Server BI and DBA consultant, and is the leader of the Albuquerque PASS local user group. He is also part of the Friends of Redgate program and was a member of the Idera ACE class of 2018. He loves loud music and cricket, but usually not at the same time.
Drew Skwiers-Koballa
Twitter: - SysAdminDrew
LinkedIn: Drew Skwiers-Koballa
Contact: https://www.drewsk.tech/
Drew Skwiers-Koballa is a program manager for SQL tools at Microsoft and an open source advocate. He spent nearly a decade as a database administrator and developer, building several extensions for Azure Data Studio prior to joining Microsoft. He is currently working on experiences for DBAs and database developers.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: