I am very excited for this event as I am going to meet my friends Sugesh, Deepak, Vidhya and Madhivanan at this event. All of them are SQL Server MVPs. I have come to know that there are two other SQL Server MVPs – Madhu andVenkatesh are also joining the event as speaker. This is going to be one mega fest as so many of SQL Server MVPs are going to be present at same place. The event is going to be world-class event and there is no doubt about the same.

I am very much looking forward to this event on July 17, 2010. The event venue is  Hotel Palmgrove, Vaishali Banquet Hall, 5, Kodambakkam High Road, Chennai – 600034 Tamil Nadu, INDIA.

I will be speaking on following two sessions at the event. I am very excited as Chennai is one of my favorite city and always love to visit the same. I am very glad that both the sessions which I will be doing are on Indexing and Performance Tuning. I love to talk about Index and Performance Tuning.

Spatial Database & Spatial Indexing

Speaker : Pinal Dave
Event Date : 17th July 2010
Session Time : 09:45 to 10:45

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more.

Good, Bad & Ugly – The other side of Index

Speaker : Pinal Dave
Event Date : 17th July 2010
Session Time : 15:00 to 16:00

Index is often considered as the sure shot tool of improving the performance of any query. Learn the secrets of Indexing with examples and discover the good, bad and ugly sides of Index. This session will help you efficiently write queries in future as well make you go back and defector your earlier code.

I have presented above two sessions earlier as well but for this one specially I have created new demos and they are going to be very interesting. If you are in Chennai, I strongly suggest that you all attend this event, we are really going to do one great event.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

There are few questions that I often receive about the MVP program. Today, I will answer them in brief.

Question: How can I become a Microsoft MVP?

Answer: I suggest you read the official Microsoft FAQs on the subject here. After reading the questions and answers, if you still have any queries, you can send an email to the email address mentioned at the bottom of the FAQ page.

Question: What should I do to become a MVP?

Answer: In fact, I cannot remember anything specific to be done to become an MVP – importantly you should be dedicated to the community and working sincerely for it. MVP nomination will happen when it is the time if all your intentions are in the right place.

Question: What exams do I need to take to become a MVP?

Answer: This is not a certification; it is an award. Work with the community and do your best; you will be surely nominated by vigilant members of this community.

Question: How did you become a MVP? Please give me further details.

Answer: I have list of the community events I conduct. Please read them all at my Community Engagement page. Additionally, I blog on SQL Server; here you can find my list of All Articles.

Question: Are you a Microsoft Employee?

Answer: No, I am not Microsoft Employee or neither do I receive any kind of compensation. However, Microsoft supports you every possible way for spreading your love for technology.

Question: Will you nominate me for the MVP Award?

Answer: You can nominate yourself too. Read the FAQs.

Again, I am very glad that I have received the MVP award. Many thanks to Microsoft for supporting the community.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Bryan is from Solid Quality Mentors, Australia, and pretty much works all over the world. He has a gargantuan experience in SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Data warehousing projects. He is also involved in many large-scale projects. Bryan blogs at http://www.sqlbloke.com and does not hesitate to write on unconventional topics. His writing also covers any SQL-related topic. There are many things one can learn from Bryan.

Bryan is very patient trainer. I have observed that during his training sessions, he never looses his control over the class. He explains things very politely and does not get irritated if someone asks the same question again and again. In fact, I have learned from him how to handle some unexpected queries, which I shall talk about later. Bryan has very interesting style of teaching courses. First, he covers all those points that are slightly dry in the course; in this way, the course always seems to proceed better and effectively holds the interest of the attendees. In his class, there are no frills or dramatic shows. He covers the course very easily without any gimmick. His personality and way of training reminds people of the way they studied when they were in primary school. When I was in grades 1 to 5, I hardly worried about the class, I had no responsibility, and I used to walk in the class without any pressure to study all the time. It was my teacher who took the major responsibility to teach me and make me learn. Bryan teaches the same way; he takes the complete responsibility of teaching on his shoulder and makes sure that everyone learns the technology perfectly.

Bryan and I spent couple of days together discussing various topics. I had great time learning SQL from him. In fact, after meeting him, I was fortunate to know about so many things, which he effortlessly explained to me. If I have to work now with a Data Warehousing project, I can perform much better than I used to do before. I feel like going back to all of my previous customers and requesting them to allow me to have one more look at their system and configuration. May be with newly acquired knowledge, I can work on their system to perform quite better than before.

There is one thing which Bryan and I agree upon equally: Respect for Greg Low, Rushabh Mehta and Itzik Ben-Gan. We both think that these wonderful SolidQ mentors have contributed a lot to the SQL Community and are expected to do so in future. We talked about religion, cultures, life, and kids. I have a daughter and even Bryan also has one; so we could not stop talking about our kids. Bryan gave me few tips on how to raise kids as well. There are a few tips, which are always true irrespective of one’s geographical location. We had a wonderful dinner together at Australian Restaurant, and my journey of learning was not yet over. I again got to learn a lot about food, wine and even world peace!

I must say that the world will be a better place to live in if we are lucky enough to come across more people like Bryan.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I have never talked about Professional Development before. Even if this was my first time to do so, I still accepted the wonderful challenge for the sake of the thousands of audience who were expected to attend this online event. Time is of the essence; I had 15 minutes to deliver the keynote and open the event. The reason why I was nervous was because I had to cover precisely only 15 minutes- no more, no less. If I had an hour, I would have been very confident because I knew I could do a good job for sure. However, I still needed to open the event as great as it can be even if the time was short. I finally created a 6-slide small presentation. In reality, there were only two pages which had the main contents of my keynote, and the remaining slides were just wrappers and decors.

You can download the complete slide deck from here. The image used in the slide deck is a curtsy of blog reader Roger Smith who sent it to me.

The slide in which I spent a good amount of time is the slide which talks about Professional Development. The content of the slide is as follows:

• Today, Technology and You
• Keep your eyes, ears and senses open – Stay Active!
• You are not the first one who faced the problem – Search Online!
• Learn the web – Blogs, Forums and Friends!
• Trust the Technology, Not Print – Test Everything!
• Community and You!

I had a very little time creating the slide deck as I was busy the whole day doing the Advanced SQL Server Training. I had put together these slides during the tea/coffee break of my session. Though it was just a six-bullet point, I had received quite a few emails right after keynote requesting me to talk more about this subject and share the details of my slide deck. I have talked with the event organizer and he will put the keynote online very soon.

The subject of the talk is very simple; it revolves around the community. Time has changed, and Internet has come a long way from where it was many years ago. Now that we are all connected, help via the Internet and useful software is easily available around us. In fact, RSS, Newletters and few other technologies have progressed so much that the help through news is now being delivered to our door steps, instead of going out and seeking them. Sometimes, a simple search online solves a lot of problems of many developers.

The community is now the first stop for any developer when he or she needs help or just wants to hang around and share some thoughts. I strongly suggest everybody to be a part of the Tech Community. Be it online, offline community or just a local user group, I strongly advise all of you to get involved. I am active in the Community, and I must say I recommend getting drawn into it.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Community ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2010/05/20/sqlauthority-news-professional-development-and-community/feed/ 4 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2010/03/02/sqlauthority-news-excellent-event-teched-sri-lanka-feb-8-2010/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2010/03/02/sqlauthority-news-excellent-event-teched-sri-lanka-feb-8-2010/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:30:09 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=8093 ]]> TechEd Sri Lanka was held at Waters Edge, Colombo between Feb 8 and Feb 10, 2010. It was one of the largest successful technical event in Sri Lanka. I was extremely surprised to how technically sound this event was and how excited the TechEd attendees were.

I presented there on two different subject. They were very enthusiastic and had so many interesting questions during the session. One of my session received rating of 8.9. I must thank you to all the attendees for sending their feedback and appreciating my session. Both of my session have received feedback above average.

The Other Side of SQL Server Index : Advanced Solutions to Ancient Problem (Rating 8.9)
SQL Server Index is very powerful tool and when in hand of the less skilled expert, the same tool can be very dangerous for performance and can kill server. This session touches the root base of the how incorrect usage of Index can reduce performance and what is the correct way to implement indexing solution. A problem addressed in the session may be age old but the solutions are looked into with the focus of latest versions of SQL Server.

The history of the Log: Change Data Capture (CDC) (Rating 7.8)
Learn to capture the history of data using CDC. An age old method of writing queries and triggers to capture change in database table is replaced with much powerful asynchronous method of change data capture (CDC). All attendees will learn how to configure CDC in less than 60 seconds.

Selected feedback from both of the sessions

• I got massive knowledge from there Superb
• Brilliant effort taken to educate us~! surely gonna make my life easier at office!!
• The best presenter is this person
• Presentation was very interesting and would be able to gather the points he talk easily
• Great demo and presentation, cool stuffs.

Along with me there will be other two Solid Quality Mentors – Rushabh Mehta and Joy Ratnayake presenting on various topics. During my visit to Sri Lanka I had received the opportunity to meet MVP from Sri Lanka and I was able to attend the Sri Lanka SQL Server User Group Meeting as well.

Sri Lanka is wonderful place and I had great time to visit the country as well attend TechED Event. I am eagerly waiting for TechEd to come again in 2011.

TechEd SriLanka

Pinal at TechEd SriLanka

Keynote at TechEd Sri Lanka

Pinal Presenting at TechEd Sri Lanka

Pinal Presenting at TechEd Sri Lanka

Rushabh Mehta at TechEd Sri Lanka

Pinal Presenting at TechEd Sri Lanka

UG Leaders and MVPs of Sri Lanka - Joy, Chandana, Gogula, Dinesh

Sri Lanka SQL Server User Group

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)



After successful session at Hyderabad User Group, I have presented follow up technical session at online Hyderabad User Group Hyderabad Techies. The title of the session was SQL Server Index Maintenance: Detect, Create, Detect & Rebuild. It was really fun as session was attended by 50+ enthusiasts and had lots of interaction in online community which is a bit unusual.

Hyderabad Techies is a community which is launched exclusively for developers working on Microsoft technologies in Hyderabad which has 1000+ members.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Index, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority News, SQLAuthority Website Review, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2010/02/28/sqlauthority-news-hyderabad-techies-february-fever-feb-11-2010-indexing-for-performance/feed/ 4 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2010/02/25/sqlauthority-news-mugh-microsoft-user-group-hyderabad-feb-2-2010-session-review/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2010/02/25/sqlauthority-news-mugh-microsoft-user-group-hyderabad-feb-2-2010-session-review/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:30:33 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=8046 ]]> Earlier this month, I was very fortunate to visit Microsoft User Group Hyderabad lead by Hima Vindu Vejella. Hima is a very enthusiastic leader and kind person. I had a wonderful time meeting her as well her husband during my visit to Hyderabad. I had presented session on Index, which was well received.

Brief information on this session is given below:

The Other Side of SQL Server Index: Advanced Solutions to Ancient Problem
SQL Server Index is very powerful tool and when in hand of the less skilled expert, the same tool can pose a danger to its performance and kill server. This session touches the root base of the how incorrect usage of Index can reduce performance and what is the correct way to implement the indexing solution. A problem addressed in the session may be age old, but the solutions are looked into with the focus on the latest versions of SQL Server.

I really enjoyed presenting this session to group of people. Special thanks to Harish Ranganthan for arranging the venue in a very short notice. You can read the details of this event on Hima’s blog here.

I really had a great time with UG members in Hyderabad ‑ indeed, a bunch of very enthusiastic attendees.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Besides lots of learning and meeting experts, this event was filled with fun too. The best thing for me was that I went there with my family. I attended the event with my wife – Nupur and my four-month-old daughter Shaivi. Though I was busy meeting my fellow MVPs and Microsoft Experts, I still had quality time to spend with my family. This event was held at Ista Hotel, Hyderabad. Nupur really liked the Spa there. While we were at sessions, she had a great time herself. She even met a couple of film stars at the hotel.

Shaivi, my little one, had great time as well. It was her first tour out of my state. She had never traveled outside our city since she was born; it was also her first air journey. She was such a nice baby and never cried during her whole journey in flight. She was one of the most popular persons at the event and also the most photographed one. Needless to say, I was the one who took most of her photographs!

There were plenty of fun programs scheduled at the event. Every evening at dinner, we had networking and gathering of the MVPs. I think this was the best time of the day as after whole day of technical sessions and techno-talk, all the MVPs and Experts are in a very light mood to have fun. Not to mention that during the same time, we could share the best with them. There was an excellent theme party arranged on one of the nights. The theme was “Qawwali.” During this party, there were loads of singing and dancing – all the MVPs and experts had loads of fun. Allen, my friend from Nepal, helped me join the dancing party.

I must say that every time I meet Windows expert Vijay Raj, I just feel that I met my lost brother. He was the first one to remind me this year that I must visit the MVP Open Day event; and he was the first one to call me on the first day of MVP Open Day asking why I have yet not reached to the Hyderabad. Shaivi indeed had great time at the event as well as she got to see many new things and new people. Abhishek Kant gave her the first piano lessons of her life! I have wonderful photographs of Abhishek teaching her piano. Jacob is quite known for teaching me SQL, but I had learned few tips on how to handle young kid as well. Sanjay Shetty, one of the Regional Directors of MS India, was one of the guys who should not be missed. We had a great time together talking about the community. He even introduced us to few other community leaders.

Suprotim Agrawal and Minal Agrawal are the very first MVP couple of India. Suprotim is great a great person; he is not only an expert in Dotnet, but also very fluent with regard to the SQL Server. We talked about community, blogs and even making money! Minal and Nupur got along very well, and as far as I know, they were busy talking about recipes. I had great pleasure to meet one of the very senior DotNet MVPs. Hima Bindu Vejella, during the event. Hima is the community leader of the Hyderabad User Group; she impressed my family with her efficiency and very polite nature. She was kind enough to share some tips with us on how one can manage home and work efficiently.

Every night, we had late night sessions, where all the “geeks” talked about technology in an extremely light mood; we, in fact, had one of the best arguments on different search engines. On one night, we had a great time learning different SEO tricks from Amit Agrawal. Amit is a great guy and a very down-to-earth person. He openly participated and shared all the knowledge with us. He did not hesitate to answer any questions which we asked. He even gave us tips on how we can improve our blogging skills; Amit took personal interest in SQLAutohrity.com too. I must confess that after meeting him, my respect for him has increased.

I cannot end the review of my event if I forget to mention the video of the Vic. Vic, as usual, is very innovative and to the point. Geetesh Bajaj, who is hails from Hyderabad but the internationally known author of Powerpoint books was as usual very helpful. All the MVPs visited Golkunda Fort and had great fun at the Sound and Light Show. I must mention that I won a portable hard drive using my Karma Points. I enjoyed my interaction with the MVPs of Sri Lanka as well; I even managed to learn a few words from their local language.

I honestly would like to express my huge thanks to all the MVPs whom I met as well as Microsoft for organizing such a great event, where all the leaders of the community came together to meet the simple goal of helping the community.

Pinal @ MVPOpenDay Hyderabad IDC

Pinal, Nupur and Shaivi Dave at Theme Party, Hyderabad

Shaivi Dave and Abhishek Kant

Shaivi, Nupur, Pinal with Rushabh Mehta

Shaivi Dave

Shaivi Dave

Theme Party @ MVP Open Day Hyderabad

Theme Party @ MVP Open Day Hyderabad

Suprotim and Minal Agrawal at Minal's birthday

Party Time at MVP Open Day Hyderabad

Watching Pinal Flying Kites

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

The reason many MVPs attended this event is that they were very keen to know the Product Team Members. We use many different Microsoft Products and a chance to meet the maker of the product is considered to be very important for any technology enthusiast. However, as soon as the euphoria of meeting the person is over, the next round starts about the rave and rants for the product. I think this is the best part of the event, which both parties appreciate the most.

We were blessed with an excellent Key Note session every day. The first day we had Technical Opening Session by SriniKoppolu (MD & VP) for MSIDC. He has made MS IDC possible in India – most of the credit goes to him. It was amazing to listen to a person like him; also, I must say that he is the owner of a very polite as well as down to earth personality. We also managed to click a group photograph with him. This session was followed by technical sessions by many different product group managers.

The second day, we had the Key Note by Rajiv Kumar, GM, MBD, MSIDC, and on the third day, the Key Note was delivered by Chandrasekar Gopalan, Director (Dev Support), GTSC. So many events occur at MS IDC; there is so much to learn from the top leadership of the Microsoft. The best part was the round table meeting with SQL Server Product Team at IDC. We were able to meet people who are behind SQL Server product. We were able to ask them our queries as well as learn few internal tricks from them. I really enjoyed the session on SQL Azure and SQL Server R2. Again, we all MVPs were not willing to leave the round table session wanting for more. Finally, Abhishek Kant managed to bring an end to the session when he saw that SQL Server Team was busy for almost 45 min after the completion of the session. Media session was one of the most interesting sessions where we all learned about how we can be part of media community.

This event had perfect ending for all the SQL Enthusiasts as SQL PASS President Rushabh Mehta himself attended the meeting on last day and addressed MVPs who are excited for SQL Server. He provided his vision for SQL PASS with South Asia as well globally. Rushabh answered so many questions for the community in the last one hour of his session, which mainly comprised of lots of questions and answers. The questions ranged from SQL events organization to SQL Awareness in the community. It was great to listen from PASS President himself about his global vision on SQL Server.

The credit for this successful event goes to SQL Server MVP Lead Abhishek Kant. This event was a very smoothly executed event, and there was not even a single boring incident. I must say that I have immensely enjoyed this event. There were lots of fun stuff at the event as well, and I will cover them in next series of this post.

Professionally, I am taking away a treasure of knowledge. Community is very important and it has no boundaries. Allen from Kathmandu, Nepal, is someone whom I respect for his continuous community efforts. I was very fortunate to learn new methods to help the community and learn tricks, where I can help more people with limited resources. I was able to talk with Jacob Sebastian for more than 6 hours during our journey and was also could enjoy the company of the greatest tech blogger of all the time, Mr. AmitAgrawal and we also discussed about his successful technical blog. Amit Agrawal is one of the most down-to-earth persons I have ever met in my life. Before I met him, I had already heard that he is very polite and helpful; so I was really eager to meet him. After the meeting, I realized that he is like an old friend to almost everyone he meets. Well, we will talk about him more in another blog post. If I could pick one person who is more excited about Windows Technology than MS itself, then it is Vijay Raj; it was great to meet him again. I was also very pleased to meet Hima Bindu Vejella from Hyderabad. Suprotim Agrawal and Minal Agrawal are great usual. Also, I enjoyed meeting many MVPs at this meeting.

In the next series, I will talk more about fun part of this event.

Pinal @ MVPOpenDay Hyderabad IDC

Abhishek Kant, Pinal Dave

Pinal Dave (SQLAuthority), Amit Agrawal (labnol)

Abhishek Kant @ MVPOpenDay Hyderabad IDC

Jacob Sebastian, Pinal Dave

Rushabh Mehta @ MVPOpenDay Hyderabad IDC

Pinal Dave (SQLAuthority), Vijay Raj (MSIGeek)

Pianl Dave, Allen Bailochan Tuladhar

Pinal Dave, Sanjay Shetty

Renuka Prasad, Pinal Dave

SQLAuthority.com

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Today was a big day as PASS announced the executive board members for the term starting on Jan 1, 2010. I would like to express my congratulations to all new executives of PASS. Please read official press note here.

The newly elected board members at executive positions are as following:

• Rushabh Mehta – President
• Bill Graziano – Executive Vice President, Finance
• Rick Heiges – Vice President, Marketing

A little bit more details about executives.

Rushabh Mehta is a Mentor for Solid Quality Mentors’ global Business Intelligence Division and the Managing Director for Solid Quality India. Rushabh has worked with Microsoft SQL Server since 1998 and has designed and developed BI systems on the Microsoft platform since 2001, including a predictive analysis system, a health-care analysis solution, and a multi-terabyte financial decision support system. He has been the lead architect for many large-scale and complex BI solutions for clients such as Publix, Raymond James Financial, Jackson Hewitt, and Checkers. Rushabh has been an active volunteer with PASS since 2000 and has also served on the board  for a number of years. Rushabh is also a SQL Server MVP and a frequent speaker at large conferences and PASS Chapters around the world.

Bill Graziano is an active member of PASS since 2001, Bill currently serves on the Board of Directors, where he is responsible for the overall marketing for PASS and PASS Summit. Bill co-founded SQLTeam.com, a web site for SQL Server developers and database administrators. In addition to managing the site, he writes articles and helps users with their most vexing problems. An involved participant in the SQL Server community for seven years, Bill was recognized as a SQL Server MVP in 2004 and still holds that designation.

Rick Heiges is a Sr. Solutions Consultant with Scalability Experts working with customers on solutions within the SQL Server environment and educating users on SQL Server 2005 by speaking at user groups, conferences, labs, and road shows across the USA, Europe, and Africa. He holds an MBA and a M.S. in MIS as well as a B.S. in Computer Science. In addition, he also has attained MCTS:SQL2005 and MCITP:DBA certifications.

Not only are these three executives experts in their domain, but have been friends for many years. Here are few of their photos from their activities at old PASS events.

Many congratulations to all of you. SQL Server community has lots of expectation from you and we are confident that you will not only satisfy them but will go way beyond our imaginations.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Image courtesy: Rick Heiges, Rushabh Mehta, SQL PASS

Posted in MVP, PASS, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL PASS, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/10/31/sqlauthority-news-new-pass-president-rushabh-mehta/feed/ 13 pinaldave Rushabh and Bill - Archive Photo Rushabh and Rick - Archive Photo Kevin Kline, Rick and Rushabh - Archive Photo http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/10/29/sqlauthority-news-birds-of-a-feather-bof-lunch-sql-pass-summit-seattle-2009/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/10/29/sqlauthority-news-birds-of-a-feather-bof-lunch-sql-pass-summit-seattle-2009/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:30:40 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=7218 ]]> I received few emails regarding where can people meet me at SQL PASS event in Seattle. I am currently in Bellevue attending Itzik Ben-Gan’s class. I am immensely enjoying the class, and I shall post details about the class once it is over.

If you are attending SQL PASS and interested to meet me, I will be present at Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) Lunch. I will be talking on the subject Change Data Capture (CDC). Please note that this lunch is for all of us; moreover, it is not necessary that I will be talking on only subject of Change Data Capture. In fact, I will talk about this subject for few minutes, and then we can discuss on any topic you want to know about. The table will have total of 10 seats (which includes my seating).

We can all have an effective small group conversation on SQL, SQL PASS, and the entire community. You are welcome to join me at lunch. Please read the complete details about the same here.

Thanks a lot Mike Walsh for organizing this event!

Please do join us for lunch!

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

This event was attended by more than 250+ attendees at any moment, and a total of 300+ attendees for the entire day. We were very fortunate to have such a large technical attendance during the long weekend. Another reason for the success of this event was the impressive line-up of prominent speakers. Ahmedabad, a “small” city in terms of technology, has proved two times in a row that we have much larger technology community than many other prominent cities in India, or in fact the world.

During the session, the hall was jam-packed and with no vacant seats. We are thankful to all those volunteers who offered their seats to the attendees. I am also proud of my UG members who have worked day and night to ensure that this event is a successful one. If you want to be part of UG, please leave a comment here or mail me.

The major attraction of this event was the sessions from Vinod Kumar – Microsoft Evangelist, who is known for his famous SQL site http://extremeexperts.com. UG members of Ahmedabad were looking forward for this session from a long time. The entire SQL Community knows Vinod for his top-notch SQL Sessions. However, while we were deciding the agenda, he suggested that as Jacob Sebastian and myself are local SQL Experts, we should conduct the SQL Session in Ahmedabad. Instead of conducting an SQL Session, he decided to conduct a session on Windows 7 and Office 2010.

Well, I must say that it was a great session! Vinod’s session, which was initially planned for 2 hours, had to be continued after the stipulated time because the attendees would not let him go. This excellent session, which went on for 3 hours, was very well received and none of the attendees moved from their seats. In fact, to end the session, Vinod had to promise everyone that he will be visiting Ahmedabad again.

The excellent morning session by Vinod was followed up by two back-to-back SQL sessions. The first Session was conducted by Pinal Dave (myself), and the subject was very well received. I had presented on the subject – ‘SQL Server – The Other Side of Index’; it was really interesting to explain this subject. Professionally, I have been working for SQL Server optimization and query tuning for a long time, and I have created this session from my real world experience. Quite often, I have seen developers with a wrong understanding of an Index and its utilization. I explained four major concepts of the Index in my session.

My session was followed by another most awaited session of the day, which was conducted by Jacob Sebastian, who is an SQL Server MVP and also my friend. He presented the session on a very unique subject. Jacob talked about ‘The Best Practices for Exception Handling and Defensive Programming in Microsoft SQL Server’. This session was the most interactive session of the day. If you have missed this session, then you have surely missed the most interesting session. Jacob talked about so many different myths of proper coding and transaction error handling. He also talked about different techniques that can defend the developer for future errors or improper coding.

This session was followed by very active Prabhjot Singh Bakshi, an MCT. Prabhjot’s session was about .NET Framework 4.0. The .NET Framework 4.0 works side by side with the .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1. Applications that are based on the earlier versions of the .NET Framework will continue to run on that version. Only a subset of functionality is shared by all versions of the .NET Framework.

Usually, for such events, the post-lunch sessions will have fewer crowds than those in morning sessions. Surprisingly, here we had a large number of SQL enthusiasts attending this event throughout the day. At the end of the session, we had more than 300+ attendees. There were many attendees who waited outside the hall in order to converse with the speakers. I am very much thankful to all the attendees who made this event a great success.

I also would like to thank two more people who were not present at the session, but without their continuous support and help, this event would not have materialized: Pradipta Sharma of Microsoft, who was in charge of this event, and Ashwin Kini, who coordinated this event with utmost dedication. Ashwin and Pradipta, thanks a lot for your support!

Overall, this was the biggest and brightest community event in the history of Ahmedabad.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Community Tech Days are here Tomorrow in Ahmedabad on Oct 3, 2009. I will be presenting the session ‘SQL Server 2008 – The Other Side of Index’. I will be available there whole day if you want to meet and discuss SQL. I will be starting my session with following cartoon. You will have to attend the session in person to see what I am going to cover in the session.

I suggest you do not miss session of Vinod Kumar and Jacob Sebastian. They are technology rock stars. You can read about them in following posts.

SQLAuthority News – Community Tech Days – Oct 3, 2009 – SQL Server 2008 – The Other Side of Index

SQLAuthority News – Community Tech Days Oct 3, 2009 – Ahmedabad

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Humor, SQL Index, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/10/02/sqlauthority-news-sql-server-2008-the-other-side-of-index-live-presentation-in-ahmedabad/feed/ 4 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/30/sqlauthority-news-community-tech-days-oct-3-2009-sql-server-2008-the-other-side-of-index/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/30/sqlauthority-news-community-tech-days-oct-3-2009-sql-server-2008-the-other-side-of-index/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:30:48 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=6924 ]]> Microsoft Community Tech Days are here! Dive deep into the world of Microsoft technologies at the Community TechDays and get trained on the latest from Microsoft.

Community Tech Days are coming to Ahmedabad on Oct 3, 2009. I will be presenting the session ‘SQL Server 2008 – The Other Side of Index’. I will be talking about the other side of Index where we will be thinking out of the typical way of creating Indexes. Take a look at the following common conversation.

Person 1: My Query is running slow.
Person 2: How about create an index on it?
Person 1: Good point!

Every time I listen to such conversations, I sense a lack of complete understanding on how the Index affects performance. I will be starting the session with the above mentioned conversation and will continue to explain how index and performance are related. We will not talk about the regular creation of index but will explore the different sides of Index. We will also discuss about common concepts that are related to index, such as deadlock, execution plan, indexed view, and few other issues. I assure you that this whole session will be a two-way interaction between the attendees and me.

Again, we will have a lot of interesting demos, examples and conversations. If you have not registered for this event, I suggest that you do the same right away.

Please note that there is no video recording of this event or live telecast. This event should be attended in person.

I am not only attending this event to deliver my tech session, but also to listen to two of my colleagues.

I am an avid listener of Vinod Kumar’s sessions and I make sure that I do not miss any of them. I always feel that he is capable of instilling his passion in all who listen. He is well known for his community site ExtremeExperts.com and also is the top evangelist from Microsoft. He will be presenting two excellent sessions. I am looking forward to listen both the sessions – Tips and Tricks with Office 2010 and Windows 7 – A Dream Operating System for IT Professionals.

Jacob Sebastian is an SQL Server MVP and also my friend. We work together on all the community-related aspects. We are leaders of Ahmedabad SQL Server User Group and Gandhinagar SQL Server User Group. Jacob is going to speak at PASS Global Summit in November 2009. He will be presenting an excellent session on the Best Practices for Exception Handling and Defensive Programming in Microsoft SQL Server.

I insist all of you to register for this event to make the maximum use of it. We can meet after the session and talk about some good SQL.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I quite often receive request from readers and expert from all over the world if I do any training for SQL Server. Currently I am on Tour of 8 different stats of India and will be training on Business Intelligence Boot Camp.

Here is quick image of the topics, which I am going to cover this boot camp.

Currently, I am schedule to deliver the same course in many of the cities as described below.

Let me know if you are interested in doing similar session at your city or organization and we can arrange one based on my upcoming schedule.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Indias premier online technical event is back again with the 6th Edition of Microsoft Virtual TechDays, scheduled to be held between August 19 -21, 2009. During these three days, you will have an opportunity to deep-dive into latest Microsoft Technologies and get a resolution to your most puzzling technical problems directly from the Technology Experts.

I will be presenting two of the SQL Server Sessions on second day of the event on August 20th, 2009.

SQL Server 2008: High Availability with SQL Server 2008 – “When, what where and how?
Timing: 10:30am-11:45am
Often in implementing High-Availability (HA) options with SQL Server we have seen people confuse it with DR options. This sessions brings out the practical things to consider using HA options and some of the core features introduced with SQL Server 2008 which makes some of the HA options so compelling for Enterprises to use. HA options can be used in various mix-and-match flavors and this session shows how a combination can get compelling architectures one can implement.

SQL Server 2008 – Performance tuning – Learn the techniques of the master for server tuning
Timing: 2:15pm-3:30pm
If your system has a performance problem, how do you know whether the problem lies in the application or the database? You need a tool that will let you view interactions between the application and the database, and that’s where Microsoft SQL Server Profiler and a number of other tools comes in. In this webcast, we’ll take a look at some common problems (with CPU, Memory, Network, Storage etc) and teach you how to analyze those tricky performance problems that lie somewhere between the application and the database but the components that surround them.

Do not wait and register today!

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I really want to thank two people in particular for making the very first TechEd Trivandrum a grand success – 1) Sreejumon – the Founder and the President of Kerala Microsoft User group and 2) Binoy K – the Vice President of K-MUG.

Let us go over few interesting details about the event.

• Pinal Dave explained about PASS Chapters and its benefits. He gave a memorable welcome note to New PASS chapter leaders and the attendees.
• Jacob Sebastian inaugurated K-Mug PASS chapter.
• Pinal Dave commenced the event with the very first SQL Session of ‘SQL Server Best Practices’.
• Jacob Sebastian gave a brilliant session on ‘SQL Logical Query Execution and Optimization Tips’
• Pinal Dave was called again to give a Demo on ‘Windows 7′ – which came as a surprise to everyone including Pinal. But Pinal made it a real fun by making people laugh while he smoothly and quickly covered all the features of Windows 7 unbelievably in 10 mins!
• Jacob Sebastian gave away his book “The art of XSD” to the best participant of the event.
• Some of the renowned speakers from all around India were present at the event.

Swami Vivekanand has always been my inspiration and I have always wanted to go to that place where he practiced meditation. I was lucky enough to visit Vivekanand Rock at Kanya Kumari during this trip to Kerala. One more interesting thing which I managed to do in this trip was reading a very useful book The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities (Rational Guides) (Paperback) by Greg Low..

Here are few more photos of the same event.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I will be at TechEd and will present a session on ‘SQL Server Best Practices’. This session will mainly focus on SQL Server best practices that are not commonly known. There is a huge gamut of information which can drastically enhance the performance of a system, but these are not widely known to users. I will share with you all those brilliant tips through demo to help to develop clear idea.

Jacob Sebastian, my friend and a SQL Server MVP, will also be there to support this event. He will present a session on ‘Logical Query Execution Flow’ where he will discuss how a given T-SQL Query is processed and executed. A comprehensive understanding of the query execution flow will help you solve several common problems and will help you answer a number of baffling questions that you often come across.

Again, those of you who have requested for SQL Server Cheat Sheet, I will have one copy for all of you who will attend this event.

Register for this grand event by clicking here.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Short Review : A Great, one-of-its-kind book for everybody who is interested in building technical user community. There is no other book written on this subject but after this comprehensive book no further reading will be required.

Link to Amazon

Detailed Review :

This is for the first time in my book review, instead of talking about the book or author, I will introduce myself in a couple of lines to explain why and how this book is helpful to those interested in building community. I am a Microsoft MVP and the founder of SQLAuthority.com. I am actively involved with Technical User Group Community  all over the world and have been helping many user groups to start, grow and continuously expand successfully. I am helping user groups in capacity of their mentor to overcome any obstacles they face while running the user group.

Author Greg Low is the most experienced person when it comes to community and people. He is a Microsoft Regional Director as well as mentor for Solid Quality Australia. For over a decade, he organized several Queensland User Groups. Greg is looked upon for guidance when User Groups are in need of the most appropriate advice. He is a very renowned person in technical community and does not need any further introduction.

This book focuses on the most important lessons learned by Greg over decades of involvement in technical communities. It provides practical advice on establishing, sustaining and growing these communities. This books is focused on helping user group leaders to deal with any potential pitfalls and contains workaround as well. The book is not limited to only user group leaders. In fact, this book is for everybody who is interested in community. If you are already a member of a community, this book is a perfect guide to help you get the most out of your membership.

The first chapter, which is appropriately named as – “People, Not Technology,” sets the pace and keeps up the concept live till the end of the book. In community, staying in focus is very important for people as everything revolves around it. No matter how knowledgeable  or renowned a person is in the domain of technology, if he is not a people’s person, he cannot become an integral part of community and can never grow. For any technology to survive, support from people is required. Community provides combined power of people to lend strong support to community.Throughout the book, this key concept is cherished and explored.

Greg talks about two very important challenges for any technical community. 1) Finding Speaker and 2) Finding Operational Funds. If these two things are done appropriately the heart of any community, which is “Finding People,” comes to shape on its own. I run few User Groups and they are growing tremendously. Recently, we have been discussing about lots of legal issues. That was the prime reason why I chose to read this book. After reading this book through and through, I presented the valuable ideas from this book to my fellow leaders , and we all agreed on them right away. The rich experience that Greg  shares with his readers can effectively  solve their problems. Because of this book, we were no longer required to spend money on lawyer and instead we will now divert that fund toward our scholarship program.

Each chapter of this book is build to stand alone and it covers the subject with sufficient breadth. I really liked the real-life examples from Greg, where he talks about his friends, fellow MVPs, SQL Server Groups Leaders and other important people of community. As each chapter is written to have independent read, same topics have been covered  twice. But what I liked about it is that same subject conveys different meaning when it is presented in a different consent. This particular aspect of the book, makes it a genuine must-read book.

One negative aspect of this book is that a very important checklist of the book is only given to those who will register online. If you have a friend who owns this book and has already  registered online, you can ask that friend to pass this important stuff to you. One more thing, I would like to request Greg to include his latest learning from  his experience as a Global Community Development of PASS, in the next version of his book. I am sure that more information about international technical user groups can be now included.

Rating : 5 Stars

Summary : A must-have book for everybody who is involved with technical community in any capacity. This is a unique book on this subject.

PS : I read this book while I was traveling from Kerala to Gujarat after attending a TechEd Event.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

In India, TechEd was held in Hyderabad in the month of May. You can read my TechEd summary article here. A similar event will be organized in 10 major cities in India.

Ahmedabad saw its first TechEd on Road and it was wholeheartedly welcomed by technology enthusiasts. The event was held at Rock regency, in the heart of Ahmedabad on June 20, 2009. We had attendees traveling over 500 miles to attend the event. We had attendees from Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Kerala, Baroda, Himmatnagar, Rajkot, among other cities from India. It was a joyous and overwhelming experience for me to see them travel all the way from different parts of India to participate in TechEd event. Hats Off to you all!

TechEd event was attended by 200+ attendees. One of the reasons why this event had created lots of anticipation, which eventually lead to oversubscribed event, was two back to back SQL sessions by SQL Server MVPs. Pinal Dave and Jacob Sebastian; both are renowned for their technical sessions and their unique style of presentation.

Scroll down at the end of this article for photographs of the event.

Technical Sessions

The Official time to commence the event was at 1:45 PM but we had attendees pouring into the hall since 12:00 PM. We held a special session for attendees who came in early to keep them engaged. We provided them the opportunity to win loads of gifts while they waited for the official sessions to start. I must express special thanks to our event coordinator Dipen Shah, a bright young man who has just graduated as a Computer Engineering from a prestigious engineering collage for his excellent quiz master skills. It’s great to see that next generation has so much passion for technology.

The most awaited event started sharp at 1:45 PM with Keynote where in the beginning Dipen explained what is TechEd and why this event is held. Pinal Dave known for his distinctive humorous style, started the keynote from the history of Microsoft Windows and the history of SQL Server. It was a 15-mins session where everybody thoroughly enjoyed and learned the root of technology and how it evolved with changing times. All the attendees enthusiastically participated during the keynote by Pinal Dave, and lots of gifts were given away. Jacob Sebastian picked up the keynote by Pinal Dave and continued the session. Pinal explained the history while Jacob explained the future. He explained how Microsoft is doing in terms of beyond relations and on other technological fronts. The audience really enjoyed learning about how technology progressed and how is it going and growing.

Jacob’s remark “ SQL Server being now 21 years old and can get married” created a riot of laughter!

The first session was by Pinal Dave on SQL Server Best Practices.

The second session was by Jacob Sebastian on Understanding Query Execution Flow and Optimization Tips.

If you want to know more about the technical details for these two sessions, then do not wait for my blog article. Attend our next user group meeting, which will be announced soon. The same session will be delivered by these two experts on request. Here, I can only say that these two sessions were very well appreciated by the attendees and everybody was extremely happy to be a part of this event.  The event lived up to everybody’s expectations!

Event Sponsors

I must thank all my sponsors for their support – Microsoft, PASS, Solid QualityMentors, Digicorp, Quest and Excellence Infonet. Ahmedabad is fast catching up as a technology hub and growing very fast. We got our registration full in less than 36 hours. We opened up stand by tickets and which were full by 100%.

When I expressed my situation to Rushabh Mehta of Solid Quality India and told him that the event is oversubscribed by 200% on the day prior to the event, he right away told me that he does not want anybody from the community to turn away from door disappointed and miss the wonderful opportunity to learn from this event. Rushabh promised to cover all additional costs to accommodate the additional attendees. Not only this, he sponsored SQL Server Cheat Sheets for all the attendees. Rushabh, special thanks to you! Because of your support we were able to accommodate everybody who wanted to attend this event.

Arya Events did a wonderful job of making this large scale event a very smooth flowing event. There were no queues and no claustrophobic feelings. We hope to have them for all of our future events. All the graphic designs and logistics were provided by Digicorp – a vibrant young company from Ahmedabad. USB drives were provided by Excellence Infonet.

Miscellaneous Details

• Pinal Dave got awarded for being the winner of T-SQL Challenge by Jacob Sebastian.
• New book of Jacob Sebastian – “The Art of XSD” was available in print.
• SQL Server Cheat Sheets were very much in demand.
• We ordered 50 more chairs while the event was going on, as we ran out of them again (this is third time in row – when we needed more chairs)
• .NET MVP Kaushal Parik attended and encouraged every participant.
• Four directors of Digicorp - Abhishek, Nachiket, Kuntal and Sanket were present at the event to give their support.
• Ritesh Shah of SQLHub performed really well and answered almost all the questions and won the highest number of gifts.
• Mahesh Dhola announced his next event.
• Kaushal Bhavsar Microsoft Student Partner was present throughout the event.

Giveaways

This event had so many giveaways that almost all the attendees got something. One of the attendees told me that he received 7 goodies today. Well, undoubtedly it was fun to share some of the nice things with all attendees.

• 18 T-shirts
• 3 Solid Quality Learning Polo Premium Shirts
• 9 USB drives
• 10 stress balls
• 3 technology books
• 33 high quality pens
• 300 SQL Server Cheat Sheets
• 200 Query Execution Flow Chart
• 200+ SQLAuthority.com and BeyondRelations.com Stickers

Photos

TechEd On Road Ahmedabad

Dipen Shah (Microsoft Student Partner)

Pinal (SQLAuthority.com), Aryaman (Arya Events), Jacob (BeyondRelational.com)

Please note: I have a few SQL Server stickers as well as SQL Server Cheat Sheets still left with me. If you want them then please send me email at pinal ‘at’ sqlauthority.com with your name, address and telephone number.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Posted in MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: TechEd, TechEdIn ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/22/sqlauthority-news-teched-on-road-ahmedabad-june-20-2009-an-astounding-success/feed/ 14 pinaldave TechEd On Road Ahmedabad Pinal Dave at TechEd on Road Ahmedabad Pinal and Jacob Pinal Dave from SQLAuthority.com Jacob Sebastian from BeyondRelational.com Pinal Dave at TechEd on Road Ahmedabad Jacob Sebastian at TechEd on Road hmedabad Pinal and Jacob Dipen Shah (Microsoft Student Partner) Pinal and Kaushal (MVP) Pinal and Abhishek (Digicorp) Pinal and Ritesh (SQLHub) Pinal (SQLAuthority.com), Aryaman (Arya Events), Jacob (BeyondRelational.com) Nupur and Pinal - SolidQ and SQLAuthority Crew http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/19/sql-server-why-you-should-attend-pass-summit-unite-2009-seattle/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/19/sql-server-why-you-should-attend-pass-summit-unite-2009-seattle/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:30:29 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=5629 ]]> PASS Summit Unite 2009 – the premier event for SQL Server professionals – will be held in Seattle from November 2 to November 5. It is the largest and the most intensive Microsoft SQL Server conference in the world organized by SQL Server users for SQL Server users. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of PASS Community Summit, making the event even more special. Every year, this event sees a huge number of attendees, as apart from high quality technical sessions it provides unparalleled access to the Microsoft SQL Server development, SQL CAT, and Customer Service and Support teams.

PASS Summit is an ideal conference for people who want to expand their knowledge. Here, sessions are available for all levels of users, from novices to experts. Specialized sessions are organized for SQL Server users who manage and support SQL Server data platforms; design, architect, and implement database solutions; architect and develop SQL Server applications; and architect, develop, and administer business intelligence solutions. So, if you are a database administrator, application developer, business intelligence and IT professional or consultant you will benefit with the latest and comprehensive SQL Server knowledge available through highest-rated technical sessions and speakers. At PASS Summit, you can choose to become a volunteer, Summit Ambassador, or even a Speaker!

Why you should attend PASS Summit

There is not one or two but a number of reasons why you must be a part of PASS Summit. First, it is a good platform to learn the latest skills and strategies through over 160 expert-led technical sessions as well as pre/post-conference sessions, which will include every aspect of SQL Server. Here, you can sharpen your skills and stay up to date with the latest SQL Server topics and technologies. This knowledge will help you optimize SQL Server. It will also let you stay ahead of the curve as you will be among the first to learn about the latest advances, roadmaps, and plans for Microsoft SQL Server.

You will get to learn SQL Server best practices from thousands of SQL Server MVPs, Microsoft team members, authors, experts, and peers who will attend the event. You can even equip yourself with the strategies and skills to improve the ROI of your SQL Server environment such as virtualization technologies, performance tuning and scaling, better hardware utilization, simplified management, need for better business intelligences, to name a few. Further, you can take advantage of the group discount and enhance the knowledge and skills of the entire team; you can send 5 employees and save.

The three-day event will be marked by a lot of learning, sharing, and networking, which will help you grow both your knowledge and contacts. PASS Summit provides you a golden opportunity to build your network as well as identify and meet potential customers or employees. If you are a consultant, vendor, and are looking for better career opportunities, PASS Summit is the perfect platform to meet and show your skills to your potential new customers and employers. And if you are already employed at an organization, here you can get in touch with top-class SQL Server experts who can help you with any future needs. Moreover, breakfasts, lunches, and evening receptions, which are included with registration, are meant to provide more and more networking opportunities.

Apart from gaining knowledge and networking PASS Summit is a good platform to solve high-priority, mission-critical SQL Server issues through Microsoft “Ask the Experts” Lounge and the CSS First Aid Station where you can have direct access to Microsoft developers, service and support, and MVPs.

At PASS Summit, you will not just gain new ideas but will also be inspired from top professionals and experts. Learning new things about SQL Server, interacting with different kinds of professionals, and sharing issues and solutions will improve your understanding and turn you into a better SQL Server professional who can leverage and optimize SQL Server to improve business.

You can find the details of the sessions here:

• PASS Summit 2009 Agenda
• Agenda at a glance
• Pre/Post Conference Sessions
• Spotlight Sessions
• Program Sessions

And last and final reason why you should visit PASS – I will be there. Let us meet and talk SQL.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

I have always enjoyed learning, sharing and helping my community. Through this blog, I have met many wonderful people, made great friends and interacted with diverse readers from across the globe. My heartfelt thanks to my readers for their undeterred support and acceptance of my efforts wholeheartedly.

Yesterday, this blog completed 8 Million views and I am over the moon to find that there are so many regular visitors. Most of the visitors have subscribed to feed using  feedburner feed. You can also receive posts by email subscription.

I have another reason to feel happy and proud. I would like to humbly announce that today I am taking a stepping stone towards fulfilling my passion of sharing on a different platform. I have joined a prestigious organization Solid Quality Mentors as a Mentor. This is a great opportunity for me to work with experienced and talented people of BI fame like Rushabh Mehta at Solid Quality Mentors – India.

I do not want to give my milestone post a stereotyped ending with hundreds of lines revolving around my achievements.  I will end this article with the following quote expressing the importance of this event in my life and career.

“I feel very privileged to be part of Solid Quality Mentors, Sharing my knowledge and experience with other database professionals has been a passion for me and is an integral part of my role as a SQL Server MVP. Now, Solid Quality Mentors is giving me a solid platform from which I can pursue my passion while working alongside such experienced and talented people as Rushabh Mehta. I look forward to my new role as Mentor, helping organizations make the most of their SQL Server technology, and adding value to the Solid Quality team in India.”

Join me at TechEd Ahmedabad on SaturdayJun 20, 2009  at 2 PM.

Press Release 1 : Solid Quality Mentors Says ‘Namaste, India’ as It Opens Operations in Mumbai

Press Release 2 : SQL Server MVP Pinal Dave—the Voice of SQLAuthority.com—Joins Solid Quality Mentors in India

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Competition: Post about this event on your blog, Facebook, Digg, Orkut, Twitter or any social networking site and spread the word for this event. Post your link as comment below and top 3 efforts will win a special gift from SQLAuthority.com

Date and Time:
June 20, 2009 Saturday 1:45 PM

Web : http://techedahmedabad.eventbrite.com/

Agenda:
1:45 – Keynote By Pinal Dave & Jacob Sebastian
2:00 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,Windows Server 2008,Virtualization
2:45 – SQL Server Best Practices by Pinal Dave
3:30 – High Tea, Networking Opportunity and Gift Giveaway
4:00 – Understanding Query Execution Flow and Optimization Tips by Jacob Sebastian
4:45 – Data compression in SQL Server by Pinal Dave and Jacob Sebastian

Location:
Rock Regency
C.G. Road, Lal Bunglow,
Ahmedabad

For more details about this event and to register go to:  http://techedahmedabad.eventbrite.com/

Be sure to tell your friends and colleagues about our upcoming grand event.  The more, the merrier and enriching!

FAQ: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/09/sqlauthority-news-teched-on-road-ahmedabad-india-is-announced-june-20-2009-saturday/

Banner: http://www.pinaldave.com/bimg/techedonroad.jpg

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Register here : http://techedahmedabad.eventbrite.com/

If you are regretting for missing TechEd India 2009 at Hyderabad here’s your chance of catching up with a similar kind of technology event in Ahmedabad, India on Saturday June 20, 2009. TechEd on Road will be held in Ahmedabad at Rock Regency, a prime location in the heart of the city. This prestigious event is going to be the largest event in Ahmedabad with brand TechEd. If you are a technology enthusiast and are interested in meeting experienced, technology experts from all over the state, then this event is an ideal platform for you.

Do show up a little early at this FREE event, preferably around 1:30 PM, if you want good seats and want to meet the two renowned MVPs (Pinal Dave and Jacob Sebastian). Entry is first come and first serve.

Please refer to the flyer below for details on agenda, map of venue, sponsors and giveaway. Yes, there will be lots of gifts and giveaways for all the attendees.  You can be a part of this grand event in various ways – as an attendee, as a volunteer or as a sponsor. Feel free to send email to pinal ‘at ‘ sqlauthority.com if you have any question regarding this event.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can attend this event?
Anyone who is interested in technology can attend this event. This free event is open for all.

What is the entry fee?

This is a FREE event. Register here: http://techedahmedabad.eventbrite.com/

What is attendee’s takeaway?
Knowledge, Friends, Networking, Opportunity, and Free Gifts. Everybody will receive something for attending the event.

Can anybody come from outside of Ahmedabad to attend this event?
Yes, absolutely! As said earlier, this event is open to all.

Can I have access to the recorded event?
No. The event is not recorded. So please attend the event.

When the next TechEd event will be held?
Why not be present in this event instead of waiting for the next one! You have already missed TechEd India 2009 at Hyderabad. So why miss another valuable event.

Can I copy this post and use it to send invitation to my friends?
Absolutely! This post is not protected from copyright. Please blog it, Twit it, Facebook it, Digg it, do whatever you think will give publicity to this event. Do send us link; we will send you some good giveaways.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Rushabh Mehta is a familiar name in SQL Server community and his expertise in the domain of Business Intelligence is commendable. He is a Mentor for Solid Quality Mentors’ global Business Intelligence division, based in USA. He also holds the position of the Managing Director for Solid Quality India Pvt. Ltd. Rushabh has been vigorously working with Microsoft SQL Server platform since 1998. He has been designing and developing large-scale BI systems since 2001, including predictive-analysis systems, healthcare solutions and a multi-terabyte financial decision support system.

We had expected a huge number of people to show up at the event; however, we had made limited arrangements. We had requested the participants to register in advance to get a guaranteed seat. The session commenced with Introduction to SQL Server Energy Event. I gave introduction in my characteristic humorous style and enlivened the event atmosphere. Everybody rolled into laughter when I started introducing Rushabh using images. The introduction ended on a funny note with some of the most hilarious photographs of Rushabh. If you had attended the session you would know what I am talking about. I believe that attending a session physically is far more helpful! It’s actually the whole experience that makes an event special and memorable!

After a short introduction, Rushabh Mehta started his presentation on Navigating through a turbulent economy with Microsoft Business Intelligence, which is a very useful topic in the current economic scenario. Rushabh in his unique interactive style sprinkled with humor kept  the audience engaged throughout his presentation. In the initial minutes of his talk, he brought everybody’s attention to the global problem of recession. Then he directed his talk to the key concepts of Business Intelligence. There were so many things Rushabh covered; however, one thing that was highly appreciated was “Demo of Gemini.” After the demo was over, questions and answers started to flow and it lasted for another hour. Everybody was so curious and wanted to learn from Rushabh as much as possible within the limited timeframe. Jacob Sebastian gave the final thank you note.

We distributed nearly 30 gifts (T-Shirts, Pen, Books, Hats, to name a few.) during presentation. This time all the participants received something. The very much in demand SQL Server Cheet Sheet was the most popular item at this event. You can now download it from here. Organizing such a large event in a very short duration is very arduous and challenging, but I must thank the host of the meeting Digicorp for promptly arranging all the necessary logistics. Directors of Digicorp were applauded for their continuous help to User Group. The event was followed up with delicious Indian delicacies.

This event was not recorded and is not available online. Please keep on reading this blog and user goup website for similar events like this. We hope Rushabh visits us again very soon and gives us another outstanding session. Please read my previous article for complete profile of Rushabh and the abstract of  his session.

I had requested Rushabh to do session in my user group when we met last time in USA. Last but not the least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Rushabh: “Thanks Rushabh for keeping your promise!”

Introduction by Pinal Dave

Rushabh Mehta in Action

Part Audience

MVPs discussing BI

MVP - Pinal, Rushabh, Jacob

Abhishek (Digicorp), Rushabh (SolidQ), Pinal (SQLAuthority)

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Posted in MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: DigiCorp, Gandhinagar SQL Server User Group ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/23/sqlauthority-news-sql-server-energy-event-with-rushabh-mehta-may-20-2009/feed/ 6 pinaldave Introduction by Pinal Dave Rushabh Mehta in Action Part Audience MVP discussing BI MVP - Pinal, Rushabh, Jacob Abhishek (Digicorp), Rushabh (SolidQ), Pinal (SQLAuthority)