Just a quick note to let you know about a few upcoming presentations I’ll be doing. This week I’ll be presenting remotely for the Washington DC PASS User Group, PASSDC (event link). I’ll be presenting “Do More With Less: Consolidate and Virtualize“. Since all the stuff with Prism came up recently, and I’m presenting for a group in DC, I think I’ll be modifying my deck to have some “fun” with it. đ
Next week I’ll also be presenting in person for the Tampa (Pinellas) SQL User Group (event link) where I’ll be presenting my “What is a BI DBA?” talk.
Also, I’m proud to say I’ll be presenting at this year’s PASS Summit conference in Charlotte! I’m honored to have secured a Spotlight (90-minute) session for the conference where I’ll be doing an extended version of “What is a BI DBA?” presentation.
I’m happy to officially announce that I’ll be presenting at this year’s PASS Summit in Charlotte, NC! I’ll be presenting my talk “What is a BI DBA?” as a Spotlight Session (90 minutes). This is the second time I’ll have presented at the Summit and I’m honored and beyond excited to have a Spotlight Session so we can cover more material!
I canât believe it, but I can finally say that Iâm now officially a Microsoft SQL Server MVP! Last week I got the great news from my MVP lead, Ryan Bolz (Twitter) inâŚa peculiar way. Allow me to explain. Typically MVP renewals and new awardees are notified four times a year, once every quarter. This past quarterâs notifications went out on July 1st. Like so many in the community, when the quarterly MVP day rolled around I was guilty of refreshing my inbox every 5 minutes for 24 hours hoping for that magic Wonka ticket into MVP-ville.
Felt a little something like this...
Alas, July 1st came and went with no email. Disappointed turtle was disappointed. Now I say I was disappointed since I knew Iâd been nominated the last few quarters but hadnât heard anything yet. And yes, I know “it’s the award you’re not supposed to want”, but still it’s stressful knowing you’re up for it but not hearing anything one way or the other. This time around I figured âoh well, keep it up and eventuallyâŚmaybeâ. Anywho, last week as I was at the JSSUG meeting when I got a DM from Ryan with the following: âHi Jorge — Congratulations! You are a MVP. Call me so I can explain it all to you.â
Say WHAT?!? I checked and double checked the message to make sure it wasnât some sort of sick prank. As soon as I got out of the meeting I gave Ryan a call to find out what was going on. Iâd heard of folks getting awarded out of cycle before but I was still thoroughly confused as to what was going on! As it turns out, apparently I HAD been awarded MVP status in the July 1st batch but something went wrong with getting me the notification. For those not familiar with the process, Microsoft sends out the MVP emails en-masse to folks which seems to trip every spam filter around. Since this is the case, folks are told to check their spam folders on MVP day just in case. In my peculiar case it wasnât a matter of spam filter black hole but rather an error in my contact information. Near as I can tell they had an invalid email address on file for me so they werenât able to send me my notification!
Fast forward a few weeks and Ryan had gone on vacation and gotten sick during that period, when he finally got back to the office and catching up he somehow discovered that I had no idea I was awarded. Thatâs when he dug around and sent me a DM on Twitter as that was a guaranteed means of getting to me directly.
The Mushy Part
Story aside, I want to let you all know how truly grateful I am for this honor. Itâs been a pleasure and privilege being a part of this amazing SQL community and this award just compels me to keep working even harder to deserve it. I want to thank everyone for the warm congrats and support, it means a LOT! I’d also like to send a special thank you to those who nominated me and sent me words of encouragement every quarter.
Speaking of working harder I got another piece of amazing news last week as well: Iâll be presenting for the first time at PASS Summit this year! What makes THAT even cooler is that the session is a Community Spotlight session, meaning you guys were gracious enough to cast your vote for me so I can bore educate the masses on Policy-Based Management at the Super Bowl/World Cup of SQL Server events! That being said thank you all so SO much for all your love and support and I look forward to continue serving this community for years to come!
I mentioned in my last post that the Turn is the point in the act where the magician executes his illusion, leaving his audience captivated and in wonderment. Sometimes the magician will even make something disappear in to thin air. Funnily enough, this past week I had a little bit of everything I just mentioned!
Well, it’s the final day of PASS Summit and the week’s final keynote! Today’s keynote will be delivered by Dr. David Dewitt! His speaking is the result of a user survey sent out by PASS earlier this year.
You voted, and the results are in: Dr. David DeWitt will be speaking on Query Optimization 101 during the most anticipated keynote of PASS Summit 2010!
âIn two short years, giving a keynote at the PASS Summit has become a highlight of my year,â noted Dr. DeWitt, Technical Fellow with Microsoftâs Jim Gray Systems Lab. âThis year, I am excited to have the opportunity to talk about SQL query optimization, why it is hard to always produce good plans, and new technologies that offer the promise of better plans in future releases of SQL Server.â
Query optimization is the process of compiling a SQL query into an executable plan that is as efficient as possible. While the basic fundamentals for cost-based query optimization were first described in a seminal paper by Pat Selinger of IBM Research in 1979, optimizing complex queries continues to be very challenging 30 years later. In this talk, David DeWitt will describe the fundamentals of query optimization, why it remains a very hard problem today, and present several recent research results that promise to improve the quality of plans produced in the years to come.
David J. DeWitt is a Technical Fellow in the Microsoft Data and Storage Platform Division. DeWittâs role is creating and leading the Microsoft Jim Gray Systems Lab, a new advanced development center in Madison, WI, for Microsoft, in association with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Computer Sciences Department. DeWitt came to Microsoft from the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin, which he joined in September 1976 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He served as department chair from July 1999 to July 2004 and held the title of John P. Morgridge Professor of Computer Sciences when he retired from the University of Wisconsin.
Today Tom Casey will discuss and showcase some of the exciting new and upcoming innovations in Business Intelligence and advances to the data platform, including the expansion into the cloud. Tom will also discuss Microsoft’s progress in the cloud, and the powerful role that SQL Azure and cloud computing will play in enabling the information platform.
Ted Kummert will open Day 1 of PASS Summit 2010 by highlighting continued innovation across Microsoftâs business and information platform. Kummert will explore Microsoftâs key technical investments that help solve the toughest issues for various roles across an organization, from IT Professionals to developers. Kummert will explore Mission Critical applications, getting the most out of your datacenter, and the accessibility of Business Intelligence in an effort to deliver on Microsoftâs vision of enabling data platform customers to be more efficient through integrated tools. Some exciting product announcements will also be shared exclusively with PASS attendees so you wonât want to miss out!
On a side note: I REALLY hope we hear announcement for SQL Server 11 đ
