Unfortunately, I couldn’t be in two places at one time, there were two tracks dedicated to the SQL Server DBA and the topics were equally appealing in both tracks. To start I chose Performance Enhancements in SQL Server 2008. The speaker Bob Beauchemin, A SQL Server developer from Portland, Oregon who works for SQLSKills.com – a company I had heard of through the likes of Paul Randal and Kimberley Tripp – but this third member of the team was equally adept in his field.

Whenever a new version of SQL Server gets released, the majority of DBAs will look to see what it offers in terms of enhancing performance.

By the way – when I woke up this morning in my hotel room. I’d only managed to bank 4 hours sleep (that’s just me and hotel bed pillows not getting on !), so the fact that Bob managed to keep my attention for an hour an half was testament to his excellent presentation skills and the way he was able to describe the functionality he was featuring. This included offerings such as Table Valued Parameters & Functions, Plan Guides, T-SQL enhancements and query processor enhancements.

What I was missing on the other track was ‘Building an SSIS management framework’ – I’ll be getting hold of those slides too, as Integration Services offer so much and I should be tapping into its capability ! Comment about SSIS management framework

And that’s the beauty of this conference, it doesn’t concentrate on particulars, it covers a wide spectrum of topics. The afternoon saw me go from understanding what the Report Builder of SSRS could do to SQL Server Connection Management.

I’ve been trying to push SSRS in my workplace for many months now, the possibilities for its use are endless and William Vaughn session of Report Builder only helped strengthen my case.

To finish, what was already a very productive day, I got to learn the insides out of SQL Server Connection Manager, again expertly delivered by William Vaughn.

Plus – anyone still debating whether its worth attending this event – one of the sponsors Sybase kindly sponsored a drinks reception for us after the first days proceedings. Free beer is a positive in my books anyday !

A note on the sponsors now I’ve mentioned it – events such as these wouldn’t be possible without them – and big players such as Windows Azure, Redgate, GreyMatter Sybase, Rock Solid Knowledge and Solid Quality were all present.

Blog posts on Days 2 & 3 to follow………