SQL Saturday #116: The First SQL Saturday in India

SQL Saturday #116, the first SQL Saturday in India, was a huge success. We had a full crowd, with every seat taken and standing room only at the back. The attendees were involved and engaged, and we received a lot of good feedback.

Two Tracks and Six Speakers

Our user group meetings in Bangalore had been a success. So this year we hosted two technical tracks at the same event, to make room for even more people. The plan worked out well, and I heard a lot of supportive comments about it.

With two tracks, we had six speaking slots and a lot of great speakers. Karan Gulati spoke about BI in Denali. Amit Banerjee gave a talk titled "Demystifying SQL Server Memory Dumps". My co-author Vinod Kumar spoke about "Security with SQL Server – Discovering Pitfalls". The talk covered the pitfalls you can come up against.

Vinod’s session was interesting and inspiring. I learned lots of tricks from it, and I wished it would never end.

My Session

I was proud to be asked to speak at this event. I was third in the line-up in the Developer track. My topic was "SQL Server Performance Tips & Tricks", and I started with a Q&A with the audience. Group participation like this is a great way to learn about a subject.

The questions came fast and furious. I answered everyone to the best of my ability, and everyone laughed in the right places. I think the talk went well.

After my talk, Balmukund Lakhani spoke about "Always On Unplugged". Balmukund talked about a new feature coming up in SQL Server called Availability Group. Last was Rick Morelan, who gave a talk called "Basic Performance Tips & Gotchas". Readers of our co-authored book, SQL Wait Stats, know Rick’s name. It was exciting to share the stage with Rick again.

Books, Signatures and Thanks

When all the talks were over, the fun was not finished. A special giveaway at this event was my book, SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers. There was even time for a book signing afterwards, and it felt like everyone wanted a signed copy. Thanks to SQLPASS, the sponsors and Microsoft for making this event a success.

A Satisfying Day

In the end, the conference was a great success. I was pleased with the number of attendees and their participation. I was tired after all that hard work, and I was satisfied with a job well done.

Community members also wrote about the event: Vinod, Lohit, Sudeepta, Manas and Varun.

A good event is not a full room, it is a room full of people who take part.

Published by Pinal Dave on SQLAuthority. More of my work at pinaldave.com.