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RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

DBA Matt — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:29:39 GMT

I attended the London event and thought it was great, not too commercial. One of my favourite sessions, actually, was with the Red Gate development team talking about future products and what we, as DBAs/devs etc..., would want to see in them.I agree with the comment about labelling the sessions in terms of level or difficulty. I may be more tempted to attend a beginner session on a topic I know little about to try and broaden my knowledge, rather than attend an intense session about a subject I already work with (and I know some people would do the opposite).In terms of subject matter, I'd like to see more coverage on Azure, and also on Powershell.HTH.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Mad Hacker — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:06:07 GMT

I'd like to see at an appearance at least one location in the Southeast, maybe Atlanta, Raleigh/Durham, New Orleans, or Jacksonville. I would also be interested in attending presentations geared toward B.I. and Big Data, as well as industry trends and skillsets that will be in future demand.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

mferris 56262 — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:30:29 GMT

SQLSaturday #156 in Providence,RI categorized topics as beginner, intermediate, and advanced - it made for easy scheduling. Hats off to all the presenters, and the planners especially.Categorizing topics by work types would also help in scheduling (ie. BI, admin, development, security etc), especially for those of us looking to gain cross-knowledge.A session on best Aggregation practices, tuning, etc for creation, history/maintenance, and query performance of large Aggregate tables and Lookup tables for BI/development would be great.How about an informal grouping of attendees based on job category - maybe for a coffee break? - to see who has similar responsibilities. This may help trigger more interaction between attendees and increase comfort level and participation in sessions.A special thanks to Jeff Moden for his excellent coverage of Tally, Cross Tabs and Pivot tables for intermediates and newbies as well.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

GilaMonster — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:57:37 GMT

[quote][b]djackson 22568 (11/10/2012)[/b][hr][quote][b]GilaMonster (11/10/2012)[/b][hr][quote][b]djackson 22568 (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]GRIN For all those asking for it in Europe, bah humbug! Keep it here. [/quote]You do know that Red Gate is based in the United Kingdom?[/quote]No, it isn't important to me. I only care that they have great products. I know Steve is based here, so that was where my "joke" stemmed from. I hope the humor was not ill received...[/quote]No, I just found it amusing that an American was asking a UK company to 'keep' their tour to the US only.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

jasona.work — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:18:19 GMT

[quote][b]Mascouche Qc Dba (11/12/2012)[/b][hr]Bonjour!A Canadian tour would be more than welcome (Montréal, Québec, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver,...). TFS integration sesion would be great.Sad I missed to New York session.[/quote]I wouldn't mind going to a session in Toronto!I don't mind the drive, I know of plenty of things to do (the wife and I go there to get away for a weekend occasionally,) the downtown hotels are cheaper...Jason

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Mascouche Qc Dba — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:03:30 GMT

Bonjour!A Canadian tour would be more than welcome (Montréal, Québec, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver,...). TFS integration sesion would be great.Sad I missed to New York session.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

djackson 22568 — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:29:48 GMT

[quote][b]GilaMonster (11/10/2012)[/b][hr][quote][b]djackson 22568 (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]GRIN For all those asking for it in Europe, bah humbug! Keep it here. [/quote]You do know that Red Gate is based in the United Kingdom?[/quote]No, it isn't important to me. I only care that they have great products. I know Steve is based here, so that was where my "joke" stemmed from. I hope the humor was not ill received...

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

GilaMonster — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:10:30 GMT

[quote][b]Bob Roby (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]FYI, Steve Jones and "Gilamonster" Gail Shaw have a new fan.[/quote]:-D

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

GilaMonster — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:09:10 GMT

[quote][b]djackson 22568 (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]GRIN For all those asking for it in Europe, bah humbug! Keep it here. [/quote]You do know that Red Gate is based in the United Kingdom?

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Doctor Who 2 — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:39:52 GMT

I don't know what I want for one of these. I've never been to one. Never been to a SQL Saturday, either, as there has never been one near me. That's about to change, though, because in February 2013, we're going to have our first, ever SQL Saturday in the Albuquerque, NM area!! YEAH!!! So, here's my promotion for SQL Saturday in Albuquerque, in February 2013!! If you're in the area, I look forward to finally meeting you.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

WayneS — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:26:39 GMT

Something that I'd like to see more of (PASS, SQL Saturdays, and SQL In The city) is more hands-on training, in a lab type environment, where people can do things to learn. I think some appropriate subjects to cover in this manner would be backup/restore, powershell, and Extended Events.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Peter Schott — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:27:03 GMT

[quote][b]chrisn-585491 (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]In Texas come to the Dallas area, not Austin.[/quote]+1 for this. Just couldn't justify heading down to Austin this time around, though thought about it. Bonus if you can manage a semi-central location - Irving, Grapevine or something in between Dallas and Fort Worth. :)As for the rest - power is nice to have. If the venue has space to allow for laptops and such, that's a bonus, though I imagine I'd mostly be there to learn and take a handful of notes as applicable. I'm interested in learning things that help me with my job. It's great to see how Red Gate (or other vendor) products can do that, but I'm even more interested in how to handle those tasks without the tools if possible. I appreciate that the tools make the tasks easier, but if all I see is how my job can be easier by using the vendor's tools, that's not a great use of my time. (For the record - I don't think that's what you're doing, just saying that I prefer learning something new and the thoughts/processes behind it over seeing how a toolset can help me.)Topics - best practices, development, how new features can enhance or replace old behaviors, debugging, version control and release management

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

jasona.work — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:58:59 GMT

I was at the Chicago event, and I don't feel it was a "commercial" in the sessions. I also like that the Red Gate reps in the hall weren't "pushy" about the products they were demoing.As for what I would like, I feel I'm still a bit of an "accidental DBA," albeit one with a bit more knowledge that there are things I don't know that I don't know them. I think maybe a few sessions aimed more at the novice / accidental DBAs would be helpful. Of the sessions I attended, The ones I took away the most from were:Database Maintenance Essentials (click the Script button, click the Script button, click the Script button)Prepare for when Disaster StrikesSix Scary SQL SurprisesI sat in on the Automated deployment and Proactive data growth, but for the size of company and DBs that I deal with, these weren't as helpful.As for the venue, the Field Museum was decent, and the lack of tables for laptops wasn't really noticed (by me) as I was using a small tablet to take notes on.As for suggestions on other venues, while I'd like an event in / near Detroit (it'd make it SO much easier for me to get to, and get the bosses to let other staff attend,) Chicago is fairly central (just a long drive / train ride / flight)Jason A.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Koen Verbeeck — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:53:18 GMT

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:19:06 GMT

[quote][b]djackson 22568 (11/9/2012)[/b][hr][quote][b]Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]The "where" votes are nice, and we are looking at new locations, but we're also interested in knowing what you want to learn. What is helpful to you? What types of topics, sessions, information, problems do you struggle with.[/quote]I know this may sound overly basic, but since this group really focuses on helping the accidental DBA, I have a suggestion:...[/quote]Great ideas, Dave. I've been thinking along these lines for a talk.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:18:21 GMT

[quote][b]NULLgarity (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]Steve - Regarding topics... I'm becoming more of a fan of case-study style material. Something that walks through a story; the type of problem faced, how the problem was noticed, how the troubleshooting proceeded, and what ended up working and why versus what didn't and why not. It doesn't have to be a production issue - also works for a problem in the form of a new requirement.Just a thought. I'm speaking generally as I did not attend any of the SQL in the City events.[/quote]That's fine, and I like that. I would like to build more of these, and publish more.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Uripedes Pants — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:47:03 GMT

I enjoyed the session in Austin this year. I hope you're planning on coming again. I could see that there was a ton of time and effort put into it!BTW - whoever did the graphic seems to think Austin (the southern most blip) is in Lousiana ;-)

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

djackson 22568 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:31:11 GMT

[quote][b]Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]The "where" votes are nice, and we are looking at new locations, but we're also interested in knowing what you want to learn. What is helpful to you? What types of topics, sessions, information, problems do you struggle with.[/quote]I know this may sound overly basic, but since this group really focuses on helping the accidental DBA, I have a suggestion:In SQL Server 2000 I discovered that you had to back up the database and logs a certain way. That changed in 2005. I believe 2008 is the same as 2005. However since I use maintenance plans, and I bet a lot of people do, I find I have less control. What I do "works" but I still do not have the level of understanding I did in 2000.There are other basic maintenance examples.So, I suggest continual content on the basics. Maybe one session each day. Cover things like this:[center]OK, you have a basic instance with a 2GB database, here is one good example of how to configure maintenance...[/center][center]OK, for a larger database, maybe 20GB, here is what I would change...[/center][center]OK, now when you get above (some size) you have to start thinking about how the maintenance will affect users.[/center][center]Reindexing can no longer be done how I showed you, backups should be changed to use (differntials?), integrity checks can be done on a test server....[/center]Focus on explaining the very basic options, and why they are a good idea. Explain how this is not the best option when things get larger, or whatever. Maybe point to examples from Kimberly Tripp and Paul Randall on how to do reindexing on larger systems, but just enough to let us know we have to consider more advanced methods at some point.Essentially, you would be providing entry level, maybe a little higher, content for those who don't have time to dig into the details and really understand things. I have been working with SQL for more than 15 years, but while I know what to do, and how to do it, I have gaps in my understanding of why. To me the why is important, but unfortunately budget constraints, lack of resources and other issues prevent me from spending time. The courses I have attended at some large education retailers have been ridiculous in the quality. I actually had one guy answer my backup question in class with "go back to the office and ask your DBA how she does it, and do that". Um, I was taking over for that person because what they did was NOT working! I attended the class to learn, and all you can tell me is to ask someone who doesn't know? You can imagine how pissed I was, and I don't mean the British version! By the way, that person was a DB2 trained DBA teaching a Microsoft course. I refuse to take any courses from that company ever again.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

NULLgarity — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:15:41 GMT

Steve - Regarding topics... I'm becoming more of a fan of case-study style material. Something that walks through a story; the type of problem faced, how the problem was noticed, how the troubleshooting proceeded, and what ended up working and why versus what didn't and why not. It doesn't have to be a production issue - also works for a problem in the form of a new requirement.Just a thought. I'm speaking generally as I did not attend any of the SQL in the City events.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:59:35 GMT

The "where" votes are nice, and we are looking at new locations, but we're also interested in knowing what you want to learn. What is helpful to you? What types of topics, sessions, information, problems do you struggle with.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:57:29 GMT

[quote][b]Bob Roby (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]FYI, Steve Jones and "Gilamonster" Gail Shaw have a new fan.[/quote]Thanks

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:56:46 GMT

[quote][b]Chris93147 (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]Don't get me wrong, I love RedGate and the tools they bring to the table are awesome. However, the Chicago SQL in the City felt like a day long commercial for their products. I work for a smaller software company that has a front end to SQL Server and also plays the accidental DBA for numerous clients and I need real world advise not just "go and buy such and such a product." Because of our size we don't have the budget for large bundles of software and the licenses to go with them. I came away with some interesting ideas and am all the better for it, but would like to see some good topic discussions and not just product placement.Chris[/quote]I'd love to hear more, as would many of us here are Red Gate. I'm not sure I think it was a day long commercial, and we worked hard to have products a part of the event, but not the focus. If you found any mention of a product "commercial", then we agree to disagree. I think commercial is not giving any information on how to accomplish x without product y. I think we did that to a large extent. Please let us know which sessions you think didn't provide information on how to do something better in your job.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:54:18 GMT

[quote][b]NULLgarity (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]My Vote: SQL in the City Virginia Beach... Steve Jones comes home. :-)[/quote]:), high on my list

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Chris Metzger — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:17:48 GMT

I was shocked that the only event in the South was in Austin - Atlanta would have been really nice and is far easier to get to for a lot of people.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Bob Roby — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:16:12 GMT

I attended the Seattle event earlier this week. I was concerned that it would be a day-long commercial for Red Gate, and due to pressures at work, I almost blew it off. I'm so glad that I didn't! I found the sessions I attended to be very informative, and have already started applying many of my learnings here at the office. While some (not all!) sessions appropriately demoed applicable Red Gate tools (they did buy lunch [this is an understatement], after all), the sessions were still full of good information. There were some sessions that were obviously oriented toward Red Gate tools, but these were flanked by two other choices, enabling me to choose the events that were more applicable to my needs. I can't say that I'd change a thing. I will definitely attend any other events that come through within driving distance; already looking into the SQL Saturday event coming soon to Olympia.FYI, Steve Jones and "Gilamonster" Gail Shaw have a new fan.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

djackson 22568 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:38:24 GMT

GRIN For all those asking for it in Europe, bah humbug! Keep it here. Do all of them in Chicago, maybe I can convince my boss to let me go! GRINSeriously, though, knowing as far in advance as possible would help a lot of people. In my case, I found out a few weeks ahead of time. I was heavily into a project (ok 12 projects, really) and couldn't do it. Had it been on my calendar when the projects got scheduled, it wouldn't have mattered. Taking a day once we schedule or start the project is harder. We schedule major projects by end of first quarter, but if I knew by say May, I could probably arrange things. I assume a lot of others have similar constraints.And I guess it is OK to take care of our friends in Europe. Sigh. Those SQL people are pretty nice :-)PS I once worked with someone from South Afica, one of the nicest, most intelligent people I have ever worked with. So I will support a vote for you to travel there as well. As an alternative, and I am not sure if my friend is back in his country or not, but he could teach it for you. Maybe hosting foreign events taught by natives would be workable.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Chris93147 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:28:29 GMT

Don't get me wrong, I love RedGate and the tools they bring to the table are awesome. However, the Chicago SQL in the City felt like a day long commercial for their products. I work for a smaller software company that has a front end to SQL Server and also plays the accidental DBA for numerous clients and I need real world advise not just "go and buy such and such a product." Because of our size we don't have the budget for large bundles of software and the licenses to go with them. I came away with some interesting ideas and am all the better for it, but would like to see some good topic discussions and not just product placement.Chris

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

GeorgeCopeland — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:04:32 GMT

Like any other business transaction, I am willing to go to a training event and even pay for it if it brings value. I need hyper-valuable information and I need valuable software tools. I think that Microsoft sets a good example in this area. I have been to a ton of their events, and they always give me lots of things that make me more valuable to my employer and help me do my job better.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Henry_Lee — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:53:45 GMT

Regarding topics I'm interested in...After working with SS for almost 10 years, I find myself in the middle of my career, knowing enough to solve the problems I face and knowing where to look when I stumble on something unfamiliar.So, while I'll always love technical content, I find I'm more and more interested in hearing where the top folks in the industry see us headed? Where should I be focusing my efforts? What do I need to learn next to stay relevant?

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

sburcombe — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:42:29 GMT

Smaller events in more cities works for me! Specifically [b]Edmonton, Alberta, Canada[/b]. But maybe wait for the spring; we'll be snowed under until then!

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

chrisn-585491 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:06:51 GMT

In Texas come to the Dallas area, not Austin.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

djacob 65569 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 06:18:32 GMT

Sql in the City came to Boston on October 8th. I wanted to attend. However October 8th was Columbus Day and the schools and daycare were both closed. It is easier to take a day off of work than to try to find a nanny for the day. I will try to attend next year. Thanks!

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

NULLgarity — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 06:09:42 GMT

My Vote: SQL in the City Virginia Beach... Steve Jones comes home. :-)

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

anthony.green — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:27:15 GMT

Somewhere up the north of England, Manchester prefered, London was just to tricky to get to this time around.

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Koen Verbeeck — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:23:24 GMT

[quote][b]D.Oc (11/9/2012)[/b][hr]DR and DB Maintenance is always good, Köln or Düsseldorf would be nice :-)[/quote]Both are a good 2 hour drive from Brussels.Case dismissed. :-D

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

D.Oc — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 05:04:31 GMT

DR and DB Maintenance is always good, Köln or Düsseldorf would be nice :-)

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Koen Verbeeck — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:35:52 GMT

I'd like SQL in the City to come to Europe, preferably Brussels :-)

RE: What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

jumpin — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:04:56 GMT

I want SQL in the City to come to South Africa.

What Do You Want from SQL in the City?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:57:35 GMT

Comments posted to this topic are about the item [B]What Do You Want from SQL in the City?[/B]