SQLSaturday #515 - Baton Rouge 2016
Event Date: 08/06/2016 00:00:00
Event Location:
- LSU College of Business - Business Education Complex
- Nicholson Drive Ext
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: The Data Warehouse of the Future
Abstract: So you think you have the ultimate Data Warehouse…well think again. The landscape or should I say the data lake is changing constantly. We are getting data from all over the place. How do we make it available and relevant for the consumers of a data warehouse. Is Kimbell obsolete now, what about unstructured data, how about the gazillioin rows of click data, etc. So the data and BI architects are all on suicide watch. Well its not really that bad. Microsoft has woken up and seen all that is going and has brought functionality to SQL Server to solve some of these issues. This presentation provides an overview of technologies such as Polybase, Temoporal Tables, Columnstore Index, In memory tables, JSON support, etc. that can be utilized to build the data warehouse of the future.
Speaker(s):
- Stan Geiger
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1920 (Executive)
Title: Testing SSIS Packages
Abstract: Senior developer: “How do you test your code?” Junior developer: “I compile it.” It’s an old joke, but too often this reflects the reality of testing. If the code compiles, it has passed its test. Sadly, this principle is sometimes applied to Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processes as well: “When the SSIS package runs without error, testing is complete.”
As in software development, testing of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) packages should not end at when the package executes successfully. You must also confirm that the package does what it was intended to do without placing an undue performance burden on the system.
This session walks through design patterns for testing SSIS packages during and after the development process. The session covers topics such as these:
- Performance testing
- Patterns for validating execution results at runtime
- Validating package metadata before execution
- Design time versus runtime testing
- Making a graceful exit: testing for error
Speaker(s):
- Tim Mitchell
Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 1125 (Business Intelligence)
Title: Unraveling Tangled Code:A Spellbinding Tale of Victory Over Chaos
Abstract: Once upon a time, you inherited an application or a database that was filled with chaos and inconsistencies. The T-SQL code is overly complex and impossible to ken. The architecture is painful to behold, and grueling to code for. One might optimistically say that query performance is “spectacularly mediocre”. If you’re without good documentation or system architects to guide you, how do you break the curse of confusion? In this session you’ll learn several methods for conquering chaotic code, and how to seek and destroy some of the nastier coding mistakes and inefficiencies. We will break complicated queries into key pieces, turn them upside-down, and reform them into something sensible. We will vanquish major issues like data abuse and index negligence. We will restructure joins, tame subqueries, and refactor dynamic SQL. We will emerge victorious!
Speaker(s):
- Jennifer McCown
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1735 (Dev)
Title: Overview of Security Investments in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database
Abstract: Join me for an overview of the most recent security investments for SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database in the areas of encryption, data filtering and data masking. I will showcase a real-life user scenario with examples and demos of Always Encrypted, Row Level Security and Dynamic Data Masking. The demos include a real working .NET application with source code for testing. This is based on the session and demos I co-presented with Microsoft at SQL Summit 2015 so if you missed Summit or the presentation and are interested in learning what Microsoft is doing in the area of security in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL DB then this is the session for you.
Speaker(s):
- Jamey Johnston
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1425 (IT Management)
Title: Strategic Decision Making and Problem Solving
Abstract: The key to finding creative solutions is not just creativity, although that will certainly help. The answer rests in our ability to identify options, research them, and then put things together in a way that works. Having a process to work through can take the anxiety out of problem solving and make decisions easier. That’s what this session is all about. Participants will learn how to: Apply problem solving steps and tools/Analyze information to clearly describe problems/Identify appropriate solutions/ Think creatively and be a contributing member of a problem solving team/ Select the best approach for making decisions/ Create a plan for implementing, evaluating, and following up on decisions/ Avoid common decision-making mistakes
Speaker(s):
- Mechelle Roberthon
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1920 (Executive)
Title: Beauty and the Bits: Why both Left and Right Brain MUST be Engaged
Abstract: Whether you plan to run your own consulting business, be a freelancer, or be a healthy part of a software or design team you will need to understand the importance of engaging both your left- and right-brain in the future. Sure, you are smart and you have a good left-brain, but raw processing power, reasoning, and logic are not enough to compete, provide, or even survive in the coming “Conceptual Age.” Just as manufacturing automation put much of the “human back” out of business in the Industrial Age, certain forces threaten to put the “human brain” out of business in the age to come. This talk will prepare you for its arrival and insulate you for its duration. Learn how to recognize and utilize the value of well-rounded thinking as you progress throughout your career.
Speaker(s):
- Calvin Fabre
Track and Room: Career - 1800 (Design)
Title: PowerShell Desired State Configuration from the Trenches
Abstract: There are lots of things to consider when configuring systems in your on-premises datacenters with Desired State Configuration depending on what the state of your current environment is, whether or not DSC will be configured to apply and monitor or apply and autocorrect configuration drift, and whether or not you’ll be using push or pull configuration mode. During this session, PowerShell MVP Mike F Robbins will share his lessons learned while configuring both physical and virtual production systems in multiple datacenters with DSC during a recent hardware and software refresh cycle. We’ll briefly discuss writing configurations, applying configurations via push and pull mode, and we’ll have a quick discussion about DSC resources. You’ll leave this session with the basic concepts of the end-to-end process. Prior experience with PowerShell is recommended.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Robbins
Track and Room: PowerShell - 1835 (PowerShell/Scripting)
Title: PowerShell Fundamentals for the Absolute Beginner
Abstract: Interested in PowerShell but not sure how to get started? Already have some experience but still having trouble with the basic concepts? This session is for you! Learn to easily figure out what the commands are and how to use those commands without searching the Internet. Extend PowerShell’s functionality to manage products like SQL Server. During this presentation, PowerShell MVP Mike F Robbins will demonstrate several of the core PowerShell cmdlets along with writing one-liners and basics scripts. We’ll discuss how to prevent resume generating events when making changes with PowerShell. Learn what objects, properties, and methods are along with how they’re used in PowerShell. Not a developer? PowerShell is one of those technologies that you can be extremely effective with whether you’re a developer or an IT Pro.
Speaker(s):
- Mike Robbins
Track and Room: PowerShell - 1835 (PowerShell/Scripting)
Title: Creating Cross-Platform Mobile Applications with Xamarin
Abstract: We are quickly moving towards becoming a mobile first world and you don’t want to be left behind. Leverage your vast .NET knowledge and learn how to build mobile apps on the .NET stack with Xamarin. Recently acquired by Microsoft, Xamarin allows you to build native, fast, beautiful cross-platform mobile applications in C# (or even F#). In this session we will go over the basics of creating a mobile application using Xamarin.Forms, utilizing C# to build a real-world application using a single shared codebase. We will also cover the latest from Build and Evolve, looking at the latest changes from Microsoft/Xamarin and what they will mean for you. This session expects that you have an understanding of the C# language and .NET development.
Speaker(s):
- James Alt
Track and Room: Mobile App Dev - 1620 (Mobile Dev)
Title: SS2014/2016 In-Memory Tables –Formula One Performance Unleashed???
Abstract:
Query performance is what it is all about. SQL Server 2014 now has the new in-memory functionality that takes a completely different approach to data access and manipulation. This session will consolidate the relevant information from all these sources so the production DBA/Developer will be able to understand, create, use, maintain, and trouble-shoot in-memory table functionality. This session will also examine several demo scripts showing performance gains using the in-memory tables with and without columnstore indexes over equivalent disk based tables.
This session is all about when and how to apply in-memory tables in a production environment.
After this session you will
- Understand what in-memory tables are and how to create and maintain them including their limitations
- Be able to identify performance gains over equivalent disk back tables
- Comprehend the new data monitoring needed for in-memory table
Speaker(s):
- Mike Byrd
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1220 (Mixed SQL)
Title: SQL Anti-Patterns and when it’s Okay to be Bad
Abstract: Did I really do that? If you didn’t, you probably will. And even if you don’t ever, it’s a good bet that you will still have to deal with others’ legacies of Anti-Patterns. Decades of practice by thousands of software and database developers around the world have produced a large corpus of recognized best practices, Anti-Patterns are the antithesis of best practice - they are recognized as approaches to be avoided. SQL databases including SQL Server are no exception. A number of SQL Anti-Patterns will be described here, along with better practices and exceptions where the Anti-Pattern may actually be a good answer. This presentation ought to be a spectator’s delight - a chance to slow down and admire the train wrecks of others. For nothing is as instructive as mistakes or as fun to dissect.
Speaker(s):
- Ken Clement
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1510 (Main SQL)
Title: Planning Your SharePoint Online Migration Strategy
Abstract: With the advantages of Office365/SharePoint Online, many organizations are evaluating their SharePoint on-prem environments for cloud migration readiness. If you are not sure where to start on the road-map to migration from SharePoint on-prem to SharePoint Online, this session is for you. In this session, we will cover the key points when developing a strategy for migrating to SharePoint Online. Whether you are currently using SharePoint On-Prem for Enterprise Content Management, Team Sites Collaboration, Process Automation, or all of the above, this session will provide tips for developing a migration road-map to make your migration successful.
Speaker(s):
- Cody Gros
Track and Room: SharePoint - 1305 (SharePoint/SQL)
Title: Effective Software Application Logging
Abstract: This session presents an overview of effective methods and strategies for capturing and managing useful information about how your software applications are running, what they are doing (which may or may not be what they are expected to be doing), and most importantly, when, where, and sometimes even why, they are malfunctioning. Software application logging is an often neglected, poorly implemented, and under-appreciated aspect of the software development process. But if implemented wisely, logging can be an invaluable tool for debugging, testing, error handling, and auditing. This session will present a case for a more diligent and rewarding approach to logging, and provide useful tips that can cost very little extra development time, but pay off in the long run, most especially when production issues arise and must be resolved quickly.
Speaker(s):
- Jason Rowlen
Track and Room: Design - 1735 (Dev)
Title: Rx for Demystifying Index Tuning Decisions
Abstract: Indexes are one of the most troubling and mysterious areas for DBAs and developers. Adding, deleting, or modifying them can yield dramatically positive or negative changes in query performance. The mystery is knowing how indexes need to be adjusted and what outcomes will result. This uncertainty often leads to great reluctance to eliminate indexes that are used sparingly or only because the optimal ones are missing. This leads to index proliferation, which ultimately produces inconsistent and poor query performance. Some believe that the SQL Server Database Tuning Advisor will solve all these issues, but it frequently does not. In fact, it often compounds the proliferation problem significantly. This presentation will enable a DBA to make informed decisions regarding what query and index metrics to monitor, determine how indexes are used, and devise appropriate index strategies to improve query performance through index addition, deletion, or modification.
Speaker(s):
- Jeffry Schwartz
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1220 (Mixed SQL)
Title: SQL Server R Services in SQL 2016
Abstract: One of the most exciting new features of SQL Server 2016 is the integration of the R statistical programming language into the platform with the brand-new SQL Server R Services. In this introductory session we’ll briefly introduce the R language and then look at how to install and administer SQL Server R Services. We’ll start to demonstrate the power of R by showing you how to create and run simple R scripts from within T-SQL. We’ll then discuss some of the powerful open source packages that are available to aid your data analyses. Finally, we’ll go through some examples of how to use R to integrate data analytical methods in real-world situations, and wow your customers with the power of statistics!
Speaker(s):
- Chris Hyde
Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 1125 (Business Intelligence)
Title: Actively Proactive – Straightforward Ways to Manage and Diagnose SQL
Abstract: Becoming a proactive DBA is something that most SQL administrators strive to be but many fall short. Meetings, doing non-SQL related tasks, excessive workload and sometimes corporate culture often work against a DBA by creating conditions where it is nearly impossible to pay attention to the tasks involved in taking care of your SQL instances. Our presentation will cover those proactive tasks and alerts that will provide a straightforward method of ensuring that maintenance and monitoring are working for all SQL instances you are responsible for. Additionally, we will cover some ways to identify emergency performance problems that will allow a DBA to quickly resolve issues while making them look like the expert they truly are.
Speaker(s):
- Lori Brown
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1321 (SQL DBA)
Title: Performance Monitoring AlwaysOn Availability Groups
Abstract: Have you deployed Availability Groups in your data center? Are you monitoring your Availability Groups to ensure you can meet your recovery objectives? If you haven’t this is the session for you. We will discuss the importance of monitoring and trending Availability Group Replication, how AGs move data between replicas and the impact replication latency can have on the availability of your systems. We’ll also give you the tools and techniques to go back to the office and get started monitoring and trending right away!
Speaker(s):
- Anthony Nocentino
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1425 (IT Management)
Title: Hi, my name is Powershell, let’s be friends! An Intro to PoSH
Abstract: Powershell wants to be your friend - your very powerful friend. In this session we will go over some Powershell basics that will help get you started as well as some known “gotchas” when working in Powershell. This is a beginner session - no Powershell experience necessary. WARNING: You may get warm-fuzzies about Powershell by attending this session.
Speaker(s):
- Amy Herold
Track and Room: PowerShell - 1835 (PowerShell/Scripting)
Title: Hiding Data from Prying Eyes: Using SQL Server 2016 Always Encrypted
Abstract: Past versions of SQL Server didn’t include many options for encrypting data outside of network traffic and at rest. This is going to change with SQL Server 2016, which has a new feature named “Always Encrypted”. This talk will show the fundamentals of using this technology and a demo of how to configure it and work with the encrypted data.
Speaker(s):
- Mel Lusk
Track and Room: SQL Server Beginner - 1220 (Mixed SQL)
Title: Building a Simple SQL Server Partitioning Solution
Abstract: In this session we will build a partitioning architecture in SQL Server for high volume insert scenarios. We’ll begin with a short discussion of our problem scenario and motivation to partition. Then, we’ll create the partitioned tables and related supporting database objects. Next, we’ll create some data access code to perform crud operations. We’ll finish by creating data retention artifacts to complete a simple, production ready partitioning solution.
Speaker(s):
- Stephen Fulcher
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1220 (Mixed SQL)
Title: Ways SQL Server Lies and the Performance Tuning Headaches It Can Cause.
Abstract: Have you ever tried to tune a query or searched for a performance bottleneck just to have SQL Server lead you down a rabbit hole? In this session we will look at some common performance issues that can occur that might be masked or hidden by misleading information you get from SQL Server. We will also talk about why SQL Server gives you the information it does, and how to see past this information and find the real issues causing your performance problems.
Speaker(s):
- Lance Tidwell
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1125 (Business Intelligence)
Title: Beginning Automation with Powershell
Abstract: This session will cover concepts of automating SQL processes with Powershell - the one tool no DBA should shy away from. If you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon yet now is the time. With some simple demos that you can take and expand upon, you will learn how you can leverage Powershell to not only efficiently meet the needs of your business, but also free up your time for other things.
Speaker(s):
- Amy Herold
Track and Room: PowerShell - 1835 (PowerShell/Scripting)
Title: Hostile Takeover
Abstract: In the spirit of Tim Ford’s year long Entry Level Challenge, what do you do when given a SQL Server to manage? This presentation will walk you through how to gain access to a SQL Server you have never seen before, what are the basic tools to use to collect inventory information, and what scripts I use to best determine the “health” of the server.
Speaker(s):
- Robert Bishop
Track and Room: SQL Server Beginner - 1321 (SQL DBA)
Title: Business Analytics with Microsoft Business Intelligence
Abstract: Microsoft supplies us with many tools to produce business analytics with our company’s data. From health care to financial data, we need a friendly display of this valuable information in order for analyst to find what they are looking for or find new trends to focus in on.
It all starts with formatting your data in a dimensional model. Then, you need to be able to take that model and create a fast database in analysis services. This will consolidate the business rules and give us fast retrieval of the information.
PowerBI and Excel can be used by analysts to view this data and produced fixed dashboards and scorecards. But we also need to be able to create interactive displays for current data.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas LeBlanc
Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 1125 (Business Intelligence)
Title: Should you care about Leadership Skills? A System Engineer’s view
Abstract: As more businesses need technical acumen in their management ranks, acquiring and mastering leadership skills are paramount for a technical professional seeking career growth. Why and how should you approach the leadership discipline? Learn how you can approach your own leadership growth, as Niraj presents a case to view leadership with the lens of a Systems Engineer. You will gain an understanding of a leadership framework that you can start applying right away. Niraj started his career as a programmer, and later served in multiple management roles.
Speaker(s):
- Niraj Kumar
Track and Room: Career - 1425 (IT Management)
Title: Agile Myths and Lessons Learned
Abstract: No Documentation! No plan! those and other myths and lessons learned
Speaker(s):
- Steven McGee
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1735 (Dev)
Title: Use SVG to Bring the Web to Life
Abstract: SVG is more than just an image format. It’s a solution that solves many problems with today’s rapidly growing web, especially in responsive design. SVG also contains many features to enhance the user’s experience: accessibility, resolution independence, and interactivity. We’ll see why we should use SVG, how to style SVG using CSS, how to animate SVG to bring the web to life, and much more.
Speaker(s):
- Quinton Jason Jr
Track and Room: Design - 1700 (Dev 2)
Title: Business Analytics for Cadence Management
Abstract: The secret to running a successful analytics program is knowing which projects to tackle, and how to use those analytics to improve your company’s overall performance. We’ll review how SQL Server and Power BI technologies can play a role in the architecture of Enterprise Performance Management.
Join Patrick Thompson, Sparkhound General Manager Partner and former CIO for several Louisiana Fortune 500 companies, as he highlights proven strategies for selecting the key lead and lag metrics to align IT with business goals, organizing those measurements and forecasts into a cadence management dashboard, and coaching your teams to use that dashboard effectively.
Speaker(s):
- Patrick Thompson
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1920 (Executive)
Title: The Binary Language of Music
Abstract: Take a fascinating and entertaining journey into the binary and mathematical patterns found in music and how they can be used to learn the underlying language of music theory and applied to other disciplines.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Rigsby
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1325 (Career)
Title: Connecting Mobile Apps with an ASP.NET Web API
Abstract: In this talk, we’ll create an ASP.NET Web API from scratch, and then demonstrate how you can communicate with it and manipulate data using a cross-platform (iOS, Android, and Windows Phone) Xamarin Forms app. Because ASP.NET Web API is a RESTful framework, you’ll also be able to use this API with any other platform that can make HTTP calls.
Speaker(s):
- Brandon Cornett
Track and Room: Mobile App Dev - 1620 (Mobile Dev)
Title: From Dev to Deployment: DevOps for Your Mobile App
Abstract: Visual Studio Team Services has some new integrations for your Xamarin mobile apps. We#39;ll be taking an existing mobile app and adding Continuous Integration to ensure your app builds, connecting to build agents, and Continuous Deployment to HockeyApp. We will also discuss another CI/CD service, Bitrise, which has its own build agents. With all of the different platforms and integration points, there#39;s no reason why these steps should be manual. Learn how to leverage your existing Microsoft tools and subscriptions to get your app out faster and with less human interaction.
Speaker(s):
- Seth Valdetero
Track and Room: Mobile App Dev - 1620 (Mobile Dev)
Title: Organizing the Chaos…. Utilizing JIRA Confluence for your project teams
Abstract: Organizing the Chaos Utilizing JIRA Confluence to bring clarity to your projects and teams
Do you have a difficult time keeping your teams organized? Do you struggle with providing real time reporting on your projects? Do you feel like your project tracking system is difficult to customize? We will show you how we have used JIRA and Confluence to organize and increase the visibility of not only our IT projects, but also our non-IT projects. We will also show you how these tools allowed us to improve client communication and satisfaction for a variety of our service lines.
Speaker(s):
- Josh Dicharry
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1920 (Executive)
Title: DIY Performance Reporting
Abstract: Stop relying on vendors to provide you with performance data. Between Windows and SQL Server you’ve already got all you need to collect and report on server performance. And it’s far more flexible than you’ll ever get from a vendor. This is often called a poor man’s method, but it’s so much more than that. I’m going to show you what your options are for collecting performance data for free and you’ll even walk away with a framework you can plug into your own environment and start using tomorrow with very little effort.
Speaker(s):
- Sean McCown
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1220 (Mixed SQL)
Title: Unit Testing in a Team - A Kick Starter
Abstract: I (and a team of people much sharper than me) tried to push unit testing onto established development teams on multiple occasions in the past, and we failed repeatedly… until we figured out the things that we’ll discuss in this session. We will cover a set of rules and guidelines for bringing the practice of unit testing into a team of developers who may or may not be interested in persuing unit testing. We will include patterns and approaches for ensuring that the tests that we write are highly legible, maintainable, and bring genuine value to the team. We will learn to structure our unit testing practices so that our efforts do not fade away in time due to lack of upkeep.
Unlike most of my sessions in the past, we won’t be writing any code or doing demos in this session. This will be more about the patterns and rules. Target audience is anyone interested in bringing unit tests to their development team, or anyone has struggled to keep unit testing efforts afloat in the past.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Schaneville
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1735 (Dev)
Title: User Experience: Empathy for our users (and teammates)
Abstract: At the core of User Experience is Empathy. The ability to be empathetic to your end user can be deceptively challenging. Just because something works does not always mean it is the best and easiest functionality to serve to your audience. In this session, we will review some common areas of practice in the User Experience process to get into the mind of your target user and make design and development decisions based on empathy. As an added bonus, we will also discuss how to achieve empathy for the product team around you in order to build the best possible solution for your client together.
Speaker(s):
- Lynsey Gwin
Track and Room: Design - 1800 (Design)
Title: Ad Hoc Quality Assurance: A Practical Guide
Abstract: In this presentation, I will guide the audience through where and how Quality Assurance can be applied to all phases of a development project as well as practical instructions on how to full test and confirm requirements of a feature using ad hoc testing.
Speaker(s):
- Lizzie Broussard
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1800 (Design)
Title: Simple Steps for Starting Your Business
Abstract: Do you dream about starting a business? You’re not alone—millions of Americans share that dream. And yet, not everyone has the courage to get started. But if you’re reading this, you have already taken the first steps toward turning your dream into reality.
Obviously, dreaming alone isn’t enough. You have to do your homework, create a plan and take action. You will have good days and bad ones. But don’t get discouraged. As Walt Disney said, “If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a dream and a mouse.”
Simple Steps for Starting Your Business is more than just a guide to business ownership. It’s really a blueprint for helping make your dreams a reality.
In this session Bob Breaux from the Baton Rouge SCORE chapter will introduce you to the foundations of starting your own business and give you insight into the resources that are available to you within the state of Louisiana to do so!
Speaker(s):
- Stacy Vicknair
Track and Room: Career - 1325 (Career)
Title: Advanced Topics in F#
Abstract: You know that F# .NET’s functional programming language. You know that it supports default immutability, functions as types, and type inference, and even OOP. But do you know about the other awesome language features like pattern matching, discriminated unions, sequences, mailbox processors, type providers, and a plethora of other awesome tools? Learn how F# can make you productive in your day to day work using these awesome language features.
Speaker(s):
- Jeremy Abbott
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1700 (Dev 2)
Title: Optimizing Backup and Restore Performance in Sql Server
Abstract: Microsoft SQL Server offers the several ways of speeding up backup and restore operations
I will discuss and demonstrate way I took a backup that ran in 279 minutes down to 34 minutes with multiple options. I will also discuss the several backup types (full, differential, and log) to minimize to recovery time.
Speaker(s):
- Robert Canzonire
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1321 (SQL DBA)
Title: Azure SQL Database: 12 Things To Know
Abstract: Up and running with Azure SQL Database already? This session will provide a grab bag of 12 how-to items you’ll need to know to successfully keep your database running. Among those, we’ll cover PowerShell for Azure SQL DB, geo-replica and other disaster recovery features and monitoring.
Speaker(s):
- Sven Aelterman
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1510 (Main SQL)
Title: Building an Awesome UI with React and Redux
Abstract: In this presentation I will give an introduction to building UIs with React and managing application state with Redux. I will also demonstrate some cool tricks such as serverside rendering of react components, time travel debugging, and some general javascript and es6 best practices.
Speaker(s):
- Alex Clavelle
Track and Room: Web Dev - 1800 (Design)
Title: Giving Feedback: How to Effectively Communicate to your Employees
Abstract: As a manager or team leader giving effective feedback is vital to the success of projects. In this session we will discuss soft skills and best practices to give feedback, performance improvement, and even disciplinary actions. Learn how to handle confrontation tactfully.
Speaker(s):
- Christine Assaf
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1425 (IT Management)
Title: Pester the Tester: PowerShell Bugs Beware!
Abstract: So you’ve been developing PowerShell for a while, or perhaps you’re taking over maintenance of an existing set of scripts. It would be great to get extra confidence in your scripts through testing, but how? You’re in luck, there’s a new module in town, Pester!
Pester is a friendly testing framework designed for testing your PowerShells scripts and modules. In this session you’ll be introduced to Pester. You’ll see how to use Pester to uncover bugs, as well as using it for test driven development. Make your own PowerShell more robust through the use of Pester. Kill those PowerShell bugs, dead!
Speaker(s):
- Robert Cain
Track and Room: PowerShell - 1835 (PowerShell/Scripting)
Title: Fun Facts about Availability Groups
Abstract: Discussion regarding “Fun Facts” pertaining to AGs Review of AGs from pre requisites to backups and lots in between. Highlighting differences from everyday DBAdom either recommended for use with or mandated by the use of AGs. For Example “max worker threads” minus 40 or Cross database ownership chaining support in AGs
Speaker(s):
- Joe Hellsten
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1321 (SQL DBA)
Title: Stand and Deliver: Elements of Effective Presentations
Abstract: 75% of U.S. Americans have some level of fear of public speaking. A lot of that fear comes from not understanding the basic elements of effective presentations. In today’s work world, your ability to present with authority and confidence can mean the difference between success and set-back. In this session, trainer Nicole Payne-Jack will bring these elements to help you to stand and deliver effective presentations. Topics include: finding your voice, elements of presentation construction, best visual aids practices, and how to overcome nervousness.
Speaker(s):
- Nicole Payne-Jack
Track and Room: Career - 1425 (IT Management)
Title: The Dirtiest Word in SharePoint - Governance
Abstract: Governance is tricky within any organization no matter its size. This session will highlight best practices for gathering requirements and setting policies in the process of Records Management in SharePoint and what tools are available out of the box to help your organization succeed.
Speaker(s):
- Trace Armstrong
Track and Room: SharePoint - 1305 (SharePoint/SQL)
Title: Digging Into ASP.NET Core 1
Abstract: With the release of ASP.NET Core 1, a slew of major changes have been made to the way ASP.NET applications are built. In this presentation, we will talk about the new structure of ASP.NET projects, covering aspects like project structure, the updated project file, the new request pipeline, dependency injection, and middleware. We will also cover the new features of ASP.NET Core 1 MVC like tag helpers, view components, and bundling changes. This presentation assumes the attendee has some experience with the ASP.NET MVC framework.
Speaker(s):
- Eric Trivette
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1620 (Mobile Dev)
Title: A Database Designer’s Favorite Features in 2016: Security, Privac
Abstract: The launch of SQL Server 2016 means there will be a lot of blog posts and webinars of people talking about all the great administration features that come with this new release. Karen Lopez and Thomas LaRock will be sharing the best features from a database designers point of view – from Always Encrypted to Zombie Datatypes.
We’ll look at the new features, why you should consider them, where they work, where they don’t, who needs to be involved in using them, and what changes, if any, need to be made to applications or tools that you use with SQL Server.
Speaker(s):
- Karen Lopez
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1321 (SQL DBA)
Title: Get addicted to MEF and use it in your architecture.
Abstract: In this session we will go over the benefits of using MEF and how to implemented it in a MVC web application.
Speaker(s):
- Andie Saizan
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1700 (Dev 2)
Title: Cardinality Estimates in Microsoft SQL Server 2014
Abstract: SQL Server 2014 includes a new cardinality estimator. This feature allows for statistics to be updated more frequently than previous versions of SQL Server, resulting in better query performance. Attend this session and understand how, why, and when SQL Server uses statistics and how this new feature will help improve performance.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas LaRock
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1510 (Main SQL)
Title: Scrum: The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu of agile application development
Abstract: Occasionally, something comes along that causes a shift in the way we do things. In modern software development, that shift is agile project methodologies with Scrum leading the way. Though Scrum, organizations learn to focus on the product and embrace change. Adopting the Scrum methodology of software development will increase team performance and decrease development time. During this session, attendees will develop an understanding of agile project management and the basic techniques of Scrum.
Speaker(s):
- James Davis
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1700 (Dev 2)
Title: Advanced SharePoint App Development
Abstract: Are you tired of hearing SharePoint App part working in development environment but not working production ? Do you constantly find your self changing web part details because associated parameters changed ? Then you are ready for creating app part. App part development simply allow you to make web part responsive, light weight and robust. It also provide a user some contemporary features of bootstrap and makes maintenance of the app very easy. This session will also focus belief on JS framework knockout and how developer can benefit from combining that with SharePoint.
Speaker(s):
- Keyur Vadhvana
Track and Room: SharePoint - 1305 (SharePoint/SQL)
Title: CIO Strategy Panel
Abstract: A panel of regional CIO’s gathers to discuss questions for modern IT Leadership and Enterprise Performance Management.
Speaker(s):
- Patrick Thompson
Track and Room: IT Executive - 1920 (Executive)
Title: Simplify ETL with BIML
Abstract: You want to download a file from FTP, process the data into a staging table in your database and archive the file … I’ll show you how to do all that with BIML. I’ll share the code I use and show you just how easy it is to simplify your ETL with BIML.
Speaker(s):
- Tim Costello
Track and Room: Business Intelligence - 1125 (Business Intelligence)
Title: SharePoint 101 for Beginners
Abstract: In this introduction to SharePoint session, attendees will learn about the building blocks of SharePoint, such as: What is a list? What is a library? What is a web part? Should I view/edit documents in the browser or in the client? What is versioning? How do I check out and check in a document? Additionally, attendees will learn how to create, modify, and switch views, as well as set up and manage alerts. This session will include demos in Office 365, but the concepts apply to all versions of SharePoint, from 2003 to 2016.
Speaker(s):
- Theresa Eller
Track and Room: SharePoint - 1305 (SharePoint/SQL)
Title: Everything you ever wanted to know about query tuning in SQL 2016!
Abstract: Learn the new features of SQL 2016 that not only apply to 2016 but can also help manage and tune your older versions! This advanced session covers the query store and many new features of Management Studio, as well as a deep dive into the query plan and optimizer itself. Join me as I cover the noteworthy tuning tools and techniques that every DBA and developer should know!
Speaker(s):
- Daniel Janik
Track and Room: SQL Server Administration - 1510 (Main SQL)
Title: Toastmasters and what it can do for you
Abstract: Introduction to Toastmasters International and what they can do to enhance your Leadership and Speaking abilities.
Speaker(s):
- Jim Brown
Track and Room: Career - 1325 (Career)
Title: SQLSaturday Jeopardy!
Abstract: Do you have what it takes to be a Jeopardy Champion? The first ever SQLSaturday Baton Rouge game show, where we will need 3 volunteers to be our SQLSaturday Jeopardy contestants, picked out of the audience at the start of the session!
Speaker(s):
- William Assaf
Track and Room: Career - 1510 (Main SQL)
Title: History of the web and why even Javascript
Abstract: A beginner-level historical account of how and why the web has arrived at its current state. This includes an examination of the evolution of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, including a discussion of likely future trends.
Speaker(s):
- George Mauer
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1620 (Mobile Dev)
Title: Continuous Integration and Delivery
Abstract: Continuous integration and continuous delivery are two practices that can drastically reduce any software company’s testing and deployment times. In this talk, we will be discussing several tools (including TeamCity and Octopus Deploy) that you can use to streamline these tasks, as well as how you can go from having nothing to a baseline project set up using a template that you’ve previously created on a publicly accessible development environment in less that 5 minutes. The days of copying and pasting files to a server to deploy your code are over.
Speaker(s):
- Brandon Cornett
Track and Room: .NET Dev - 1735 (Dev)
Title: Meet JSON in SQL Server 2016
Abstract: There have been many data lingua franca over the years (EDI, CSV, XML). Let’s meet a new comer JSON (aka Jason). JSON is the web developers new best friend, providing a schema free way to transmit and persist data. SQL Server 2016 has provided new functionality to work with JSON. In this session we will look at how to read a JSON document using the OPENJSON function. We will also look at other methods for extracting information from JSON. Finally, we will look at how to generate JSON documents from TSQL queries.
Speaker(s):
- Russel Loski
Track and Room: SQL Server Development - 1700 (Dev 2)
Title: Rapid Prototyping with Google Spreadsheets and using your DBA budget for bacon
Abstract: I’ll go through the problem (needing a quick and easy way to get a database set up to start developing), the solution (Google Spreadsheets and how to get setup for development) and then I’ll show a couple examples of the projects I’ve developed with it. I’ll also make good on my promise of using your DBA budget allocation for bacon.
Speaker(s):
- Adam Culpepper
Track and Room: Web Dev - 1800 (Design)
Title: Careers in IT
Abstract: Careers in IT will feature a panel of industry leaders and experts who directly interact with participants in a moderated question and answer session. This will allow participants to gain insight into what the IT community sees as valuable (skill-sets, certifications, experience, and etc) so that they can be better prepared for a career transition or to start work in the IT field for the first time.
Speaker(s):
- Michael Viron
Track and Room: Career - 1325 (Career)
Title: Secrets for a Better SharePoint Experience
Abstract: What are the secrets to having a better SharePoint experience? In this session, we will take a look at the secrets, tips, and tricks a large healthcare organization employs to improve their employees’ SharePoint experience. Topics include selecting a browser, granting permissions properly, avoiding prohibited characters in file names, replacing folders with metadata, preparing for the list view threshold, saving your skin with versioning, and more. Demos will be conducted in Office 365 but concepts apply to SharePoint on-premises as well.
Speaker(s):
- Theresa Eller
Track and Room: SharePoint - 1305 (SharePoint/SQL)
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Ken Clement
LinkedIn: Ken Clement
Ken Clement has been an I.T. professional for over three decades in roles including software and database design, development, analysis, architecture, and management. He has successfully applied these technologies to diverse problem domains and in the process acquired a firm practical and theoretical understanding of the often opposing developer and database professional perspectives. While he has worked with several database technologies, the most notable is SQL Server which he has been involved with practically from its inception. He has over the years been a technical presenter at various conferences.
Jamey Johnston
Twitter: - STATCowboy
LinkedIn: Jamey Johnston
Contact: http://STATCowboy.com
Jamey Johnston is a Senior Data Scientist/Engineer for a large independent OG company. For over 25 years, he has worked for Fortune 500 companies architecting successful platforms in the cloud, on the edge, and on-premises for BI reporting, statistical analysis, ML, and AI. Lately, he spends his time in Azure, Python, R, Power BI, MS SQL, and SAS JMP. He holds a BS in Spatial Analysis from LSU and a Masters of Science in Analytics from Texas AM. He is a professor at the Mays Business School at Texas AM in the MS Analytics program. He is active in his PASS Local Group in Houston, co-leader of the local Power BI users group and data analytics group. He regularly speaks and volunteers at PASS events. He is also a Microsoft Data Platform MVP.
Calvin Fabre
Twitter: - @calvinfab
LinkedIn: Calvin Fabre
Contact: http://envoc.com/think/archive/author/39
Serving as the President of Envoc (pronounced “invoke”), Calvin Fabre heads up a stellar team of almost 30 Envoceans aimed at helping businesses and individuals attain “a better reality.” For over 10 years, Envoc has been creating beautiful custom software you can’t “buy off the shelf” and seeing a client’s brand from creation through consumption whether in web design, print, brand strategy corporate dashboards, portals, or mobile applications.
Christine Assaf
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/HRTact
LinkedIn: Christine Assaf
Contact: https://www.hrtact.com
Christine Assaf is an experienced HR pro who is passionate about the mental health of employees, leadership, and organizations. She is a leadership development professional with over 15 years experience in human resources and 20 years in business management. She holds a BS in Business Management, received her HRM certification at LSU, and is finishing up her master’s degree at Colorado State University in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is a certified DDI Trainer, experienced public speaker, and is dedicated to teaching others about ways to support a culture of “expressiveness” in the workplace that creates connectivity.
James Alt
Twitter: - @jimmyalt
LinkedIn: James Alt
Contact: https://jamesalt.com
James is an Enterprise Application Architect with the Office of Technology Services at the State of Louisiana, leading the effort to modernize application development. He also works freelance as a mobile developer at Alterity LLC, building apps for regional clients.
Jeremy Abbott
Twitter: - http://twitter.com/mrjabbott
LinkedIn: Jeremy Abbott
Contact: http://jeremyabbott.github.io
I#39;m a developer at Shreveport development shop, Praeses, where I work as a project architect, developer, and recruiter. I work hard to deliver clean, extensible, and maintanble solutions to customer#39;s business problems. I#39;m passionate about software as a profession and craft, and work to cultivate that mindset in my team members through constant training.
Mechelle Roberthon
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/MRoberthon
LinkedIn: Mechelle Roberthon
A University of Louisiana alumnus and current graduate student in Training and Performance Improvement, Mechelle specializes in creating custom content for role-specific training applications, which ensures relevance and the most impactful ROI for attending students. Mechelle has past experience as a career development instructor, is a member of the Association of Talent Development and serves as the VP of Human Capital for the International Society of Performance Improvement. She has quickly become a top requested facilitator among LANTEC’s clients due to her energetic and engaging teaching style. In January 2016, Mechelle was promoted to a management position of Instructor Supervisor.
Theresa Eller
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SharePointMadam
LinkedIn: Theresa Eller
Contact: http://www.techresa.com
Theresa Eller is a SharePoint and Office 365 Administrator with a passion for customer success. Her diverse background includes degrees in Public Relations and Teaching and Learning with Technology, as well as 20 years of experience providing technical support, training, and project leadership. Theresa is a leader, speaker, and blogger in the SharePoint and Office 365 Community.
George Mauer
Twitter: - @togakangaroo
Contact: https://github.com/togakangaroo/Blog
George Mauer is a software developer, speaker, teacher, writer, and comedian with an interest in the various techniques that can make software simple, extensible, and communicative. He is the owner of Humble Pi Software and currently a senior developer with Surge Consulting. He speaks regularly on Javascript, C#, Agile and other subjects, at usergroups, and to his cat.
Lori Brown
Twitter: - @SQLSupahStah
LinkedIn: Lori Brown
Contact: http://blog.sqlrx.com
Lori is the SQLRx Practice Manager (sqlrx.com) and a Senior Consultant for Integrated Services, Inc., located in Dallas Texas(isi85.com). Lori has more than 18 years of experience with SQL. At ISI, she provides SQL Server expertise in performance tuning, disaster recovery/high availability, SQL upgrades and installation and DBA services. She has taught courses on SQL Server administration and performance tuning for many different companies. Lori has conducted numerous performance studies and has developed the methods and code used in SQLRx’s RemoteDBA offering. Ms. Brown has also published articles in SQL Server Magazine, contributed to SQLServerCentral.com and is a regular blogger on the SQLRx blog (blog.sqlrx.com)
Mike Byrd
Twitter: - ByrdNest_TX
LinkedIn: Mike Byrd
Contact: http://logicalread.solarwinds.com/?s=byrd, www.TSQLMentoring.com and SQLServerCentral.com
Former rocket scientist and USAF Fighter Pilot – now a SQL Server geek (24 years)! Past opportunities include free-lance technical writer for PC Magazine, Senior Software Manager for government sponsored munitions effectiveness committee, and insurance company CTO. Currently senior database engineer consultant for several Austin companies.
Presenter at many SQLSaturdays over last 6 years in United States, Europe, and Australia.
Specialize in SQL Server performance tuning; database (OLTP OLAP) architecture; trouble-shooting; teaching TSQL (Basic through Advanced).
Video presentations (for local SQL Server user groups or SQLSaturdays) can be found at http://usergroup.tv/videos/category/speaker/mike-byrd
Jennifer McCown
Twitter: - http://www.Twitter.com/MidnightDBA
LinkedIn: Jennifer McCown
Contact: http://www.MidnightDBA.com/Jen
Jen McCown is CEO of MinionWare, LLC; a Microsoft Certified Master for SQL Server; and an independent consultant. She is Senior Editor at MidnightDBA.com, where she creates training videos, the DBAs at Midnight webshow, blogs, reviews, and podcasts. Jen is a member, volunteer, and speaker in PASS, and the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group.
Lizzie Broussard
Lizzie is a Quality Assurance and Support Manager with Envoc in Baton Rouge. She#39;s coming up to a decade in the business of software testing and still loves to log bugs!
Robert Cain
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/arcanecode
LinkedIn: Robert Cain
Contact: http://arcanecode.com
Robert C. Cain (http://arcanecode.com) is a Microsoft MVP, MCTS Certified in BI, and is the owner of Arcane Training and Consulting, LLC. He is also a course author for Plurasight, author for Red Gate’s SImple Talk website, and co-author of 4 books. A popular speaker, Robert has presented at events such as the SQL PASS Summit, TechEd, CodeStock, and numerous SQLSaturdays. Robert has over 25 years experience in the IT industry, working in a variety of fields ranging from manufacturing to telecommunications to nuclear power.
Josh Dicharry
10+ years of Project Management experience for IT projects, Non-profit campaigns, amp; Non-IT projects Specializing in project set-up, team management, resource planning, business process improvement, project monitoring amp; controls, and project triage.
Sean McCown
Twitter: - @KenpoDBA
Contact: http://www.midnightdba.com/dbarant
Sean McCown is a Certified Master with 23 years of experience in databases. He is also founder and co-owner of the MidnightDBA.com website, where he records free SQL Server training videos. He also writes the popular Minion Maintenance suite, the most configurable maintenance solution on the planet.
Jeffry Schwartz
Contact: http://www.sqlrx.com
Jeffry Schwartz is the Senior Systems Architect for ISI’s SQL Rx team, a group of professional consultants specializing in performance, optimization, tuning, and capacity planning for Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server systems. Over a 37-year span, he has won numerous awards for the development and delivery of state-of-the-art consulting services, including more than 930 performance and capacity planning studies. Customers include Microsoft, who awarded SQLRx Data Management Solutions Partner of the Year in 2008 for his WinPerf Windows and SQL Server performance analysis software suite.
Niraj Kumar
Twitter: - nirajkumar
LinkedIn: Niraj Kumar
Contact: http://www.leadproje.com
Niraj Kumar currently serves as Director of Business Engineering at Blue Cross amp; Blue Shield of Louisiana, leading a team of Managers, Engineers and Analysts. Prior to this role, He led sales enablement initiatives at Rackspace, a cloud computing and IT hosting company. Previously, he held various management positions in manufacturing, supply chain, operations, business analysis, and product development. Niraj is passionate about business startups and entrepreneurship. He has mentored and judged startup competitions for many years. He also served as a guest lecturer to business students, sharing his knowledge of team building, branding and project management. Niraj blogs abut project leadership at www.leadproje.com.
Mel Lusk
LinkedIn: Mel Lusk
Contact: http://www.melvinlusk.com
Mel Lusk is a technologist specializing in database administration, enterprise software, and IT project management. He has almost 20 years of experience in the IT industry, with almost 15 years working with SQL Server. He is currently the SQL DBA Manager for GCR, Inc.
He holds a Bachelor#39;s of Science degree from Southeastern Louisiana University, as well as the following industry certifications:
Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate: SQL Server 2012 Microsoft Certified IT Professional: DBA Microsoft Certified Database Administrator Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist Microsoft Certified Professional Oracle Certified 11g Database Associate Oracle Certified MySQL 5.0 DBA ATMAE/NAIT Certified Technologist ITIL
Stephen Fulcher
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/crocdigital
LinkedIn: Stephen Fulcher
Contact: http://www.crocodiledigital.net/blog/
Stephen Fulcher is a serial entrepreneur focused on delivering technology products and services that transform business strategies. After working with Microsoft as a Principal Engineer and Regional Director, Stephen founded Crocodile Digital to bring game-changing technology to businesses. Along the way, he has been a speaker at numerous technology conferences, developer meetings and product launches. He can be reached at sf@crocodiledigital.net.
Thomas LeBlanc
Twitter: - TheSmilingDBA
LinkedIn: Thomas LeBlanc
Contact: http://Thomas-LeBlanc.com
Thomas LeBlanc (Microsoft Data Platform MVP) is a Data Warehouse Architect in Baton Rouge, and uses his 30+ years in IT to develop OLTP systems with normalized databases for high-performing T-SQL and dimensional data marts. Development is done in SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, Power BI, and Excel. As a PASS volunteer, he is past chair of Excel BI and Data Arch VCs and is active in the Baton Rouge Analytics and SQL Server User groups, as well as SQLSaturday in Baton Rouge. You can find his blog at TheSmilingDBA.BlogSpot.com and website at Thomas-LeBlanc.com
Andie Saizan
LinkedIn: Andie Saizan
I have an Associates degree in Information Systems and I’ve been writing code for 11+ years. I am also a Microsoft Certified Professional and Microsoft Specialist: Programming in C#. I’m a highly motivated individual, and I’m very passionate about my career. I LOVE programming and the challenges it brings. I enjoy taking business needs and bringing to life solutions that help businesses operate and function more efficiently. It’s a hobby that I get to make a career out of.
Tim Mitchell
Twitter: - @Tim_Mitchell
LinkedIn: Tim Mitchell
Contact: http://www.TimMitchell.net
Tim Mitchell is a business intelligence architect, author, and trainer. He has worked with SQL Server for over a decade, specializing in data warehousing, ETL/SSIS, and reporting. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Texas AM at Commerce, and is recognized as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Tim is a business intelligence consultant and principal at Tyleris Data Solutions.
Tim is an active community speaker and volunteer, having spoken at over 100 events including the PASS Summit, SQLBits, Dev Connections, SQL Intersection, and scores of SQLSaturdays. He blogs at TimMitchell.net, and tweets at @Tim_Mitchell.
Steven McGee
Steven McGee is a highly successful technology leader and innovative problem-solver with extensive experience in project management, enterprise data and systems development and information technology service management. He is currently the Enterprise Agile Coach at Blue Cross Blue Shield of La
- Led multiple software development projects from concept to deployment, with both onshore and offshore teams, and both departmental and global client base.
- Worked through the evolution of project delivery methods from waterfall, spiral, iterative/incremental, time boxed, to agile methods.
- Managed large highly-critical Data, Communications, and Air Traffic Control Centers
- Led several PMOs with Quality Ma
Steve Schaneville
LinkedIn: Steve Schaneville
Steve has 17 years of experience delivering enterprise grade solutions using Microsoft technologies. He served as lead architect at Amedisys for nearly 8 years, and has recently transitioned into consulting at Sparkhound (and I#39;m really liking it! :-). In recent years he#39;s become a strong advocate for unit testing and he actually believes that writing unit tests saves time rather than consumes it.
Jason Rowlen
LinkedIn: Jason Rowlen
Jason was born a long time ago, in a town far, far away…. Rescued as an infant from the cold desolation of the ice-world of Illinois, Jason was raised by his birth parents in the sweltering swamp-land of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He began his career as a software developer in 2002, after graduating from Southeastern Louisiana University with a B.S. in Computer Science. Currently working as a Senior Software Developer at Blue Cross, Jason has previously worked as a developer for Equifax, Amedisys, and as an independent contractor.
Jason enjoys road trips with his family, outdoor activities involving fire and meat, obsessing over Star Wars, and spending way too much time and money at the movies.
Michael Viron
Twitter: - mviron
LinkedIn: Michael Viron
Michael Viron has a wide range of experience as a senior IT manager amp; business owner. As Director of IT amp; Software Engineering at KAMedData, Inc, he has been heavily involved in coordinating numerous product launches amp; both company amp; division startups. A key team member, his main responsibilities include technical operations, project management, security, short and long range technical planning, and development. As owner of General Education Online, he handles both IT and business operations.
Thomas LaRock
Twitter: - @SQLRockstar
LinkedIn: Thomas LaRock
Contact: http://thomaslarock.com
Thomas LaRock is a Head Geek at SolarWinds and a Microsoft Certified Master, Data Platform MVP, VMware vExpert, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer. He has over 15 years’ experience in the IT industry in roles including programmer, developer, analyst, and database administrator.
Amy Herold
Twitter: - @texasamy
LinkedIn: Amy Herold
Contact: http://www.sqlkitten.com/
Amy Herold is currently a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft, specializing in APS. Prior to this, she was a Sr. Database Administrator, focusing on PowerShell and automation. She is also currently the Director of Programs for the North Texas SQL Server User Group (NTSSUG). She frequently speaks at SQLSaturday and user group events across the United States and has also participated in numerous Women in Technology sessions as a panelist. Amy currently blogs at sqlkitten.com.
Joe Hellsten
MS SQL server professional with 15 years experience. MCTS
Theresa Eller
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SharePointMadam
LinkedIn: Theresa Eller
Contact: http://www.techresa.com
Theresa Eller is a SharePoint and Office 365 Administrator with a passion for customer success. Her diverse background includes degrees in Public Relations and Teaching and Learning with Technology, as well as 20 years of experience providing technical support, training, and project leadership. Theresa is a leader, speaker, and blogger in the SharePoint and Office 365 Community.
Sven Aelterman
Twitter: - @svenaelterman
LinkedIn: Sven Aelterman
Contact: https://svenaelterman.wordpress.com
Sven Aelterman is the Director of IT for the Sorrell College of Business at Troy University; a role with a global scope. He is also a lecturer in Information Systems and teaches courses in data warehousing and information security. He continues consulting work through Adduxis, where he assists customers with various Microsoft technology implementations. Co-author of The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM, published by Red Gate; and SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out, published by Microsoft Press. Cloud Software Architect at Sorrell Solutions, L.L.C. developing a Microsoft Azure-hosted Electronic Health Record system.
Alex Clavelle
LinkedIn: Alex Clavelle
Senior in computer science at LSU, currently working as an intern Developer at Envoc. I love to cook and code, oftentimes simultaneously!
Daniel Janik
Twitter: - @SQLSME
LinkedIn: Daniel Janik
Contact: http://www.sqltechblog.com
Daniel Janik has been supporting SQL Server for 18 years. Six of those years were at Microsoft Corporation supporting SQL Server as a Senior Premier Field Engineer (PFE) where he supported over 287 different clients with both reactive and proactive database needs. Daniel has presented at many community events and SQLSaturdays.
Quinton Jason Jr
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/quintonjasonjr
LinkedIn: Quinton Jason Jr
Contact: http://quintonjason.com
Quinton is a Interactive Director at Xdesign. When he’s away from the computer. Quinton enjoys spending time with his family whether it’s going to taekwondo lessons with his daughters or walks in downtown Baton Rouge.
Patrick Thompson
LinkedIn: Patrick Thompson
Patrick Thompson is a Partner and General Manager of Sparkhound, overseeing operations and business development and growing Sparkhound’s footprint in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. With more than 27 years of experience, he has held senior leadership positions at Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, including Accenture, Turner Industries, CBamp;I (formerly the Shaw Group) and Amedisys. In his spare time, he enjoys movie time and hanging on the beach with his family.
Lynsey Gwin
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/lynseydesign
LinkedIn: Lynsey Gwin
As a designer and developer, I am a problem-solver who executes with efficiency and empathy as well as an advocate for the client and user. My professional passion is consult with clients to discover the best solution for their needs then working with them to execute and monitor their direction. My goal is to always be challenged.
Adam Culpepper
Twitter: - adamculpepper
LinkedIn: Adam Culpepper
Contact: http://adamculpepper.net
Front-End Web Developer, JavaScript Dev, #jQuery book author, @refreshbr organizer, runner, kayaker amp; Body Mod enthusiast.
James Davis
LinkedIn: James Davis
Dr. James Davis is an experienced software developer, entrepreneur, combat veteran, and lecturer. He has a PhD in Information Systems Decision Science from Louisiana State University along with the PMP, CSP, and CSM project management certifications. He has been the lead technology partner in multiple successful start-ups and volunteers with Operation Code The Futures Fund. Dr. Davis is the director of the M.S. in Analytics program at LSU and enjoys writing books about using Python for entrepreneurship data science.
Mike Robbins
Twitter: - @mikefrobbins
LinkedIn: Mike Robbins
Contact: http://mikefrobbins.com/
Mike F Robbins is a Microsoft MVP on Windows PowerShell and a SAPIEN Technologies MVP. He is a co-author of Windows PowerShell TFM 4th Edition and is a contributing author of a chapter in the PowerShell Deep Dives book. Mike has written guest blog articles for the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog, PowerShell Magazine, and PowerShell.org. He is the winner of the advanced category in the 2013 PowerShell Scripting Games. Mike is also the leader and co-founder of the Mississippi PowerShell User Group. He blogs at mikefrobbins.com and can be found on twitter @mikefrobbins.
Robert Canzonire
Twitter: - @sqltigers
LinkedIn: Robert Canzonire
Contact: http://www.sqltigers.com
Robert Canzonire is an Advisory Database Administrator for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana. He is the chair leader of the Virtual Chapter of Data Architecture for PASS. He holds several certifications including MCSE, MCSA and MCITP. He started with SQL Server in 1995
Amy Herold
Twitter: - @texasamy
LinkedIn: Amy Herold
Contact: http://www.sqlkitten.com/
Amy Herold is currently a Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft, specializing in APS. Prior to this, she was a Sr. Database Administrator, focusing on PowerShell and automation. She is also currently the Director of Programs for the North Texas SQL Server User Group (NTSSUG). She frequently speaks at SQLSaturday and user group events across the United States and has also participated in numerous Women in Technology sessions as a panelist. Amy currently blogs at sqlkitten.com.
Stan Geiger
Data Architect and BI Architect. Experience building Data Warehouse and ETL platforms, BI Analytics and OLTP systems. He is currently a Director of Product Manager at Idera, responsible for the development of the multi-platform tools.
Chris Hyde
Twitter: - ChrisHyde325
LinkedIn: Chris Hyde
Chris Hyde is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He works as an independent SQL Server BI and DBA consultant, and is the leader of the Albuquerque PASS local user group. He is also part of the Friends of Redgate program and was a member of the Idera ACE class of 2018. He loves loud music and cricket, but usually not at the same time.
Anthony Nocentino
Twitter: - nocentino
LinkedIn: Anthony Nocentino
Contact: http://www.centinosystems.com/blog/
Anthony Nocentino is the founder and President of Centino Systems as well as a Pluralsight author, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Linux expert, and corporate problem solver. Anthony designs solutions, deploys the technology, and provides expertise on business system performance, architecture, and security. Anthony has a Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science with research publications in high performance/low latency data access algorithms and spatial database systems.
Karen Lopez
Twitter: - @datachick
LinkedIn: Karen Lopez
Contact: http://datamodel.com
Karen Lopez is a Sr. Project Manager and Architect for InfoAdvisors. A frequent speaker at conferences and local user groups, she has 20+ years of experience in project and data management on large, multi-project programs. Karen is a chronic volunteer, a Data Platform MVP, and an active advocate for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and data quality.
Karen’s presentations are known for their lively and interactive approach to learning. Her motto: “Love Your Data!”
Stacy Vicknair
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/svickn
LinkedIn: Stacy Vicknair
Contact: http://www.stacyvicknair.com
As the Software Engineering Manager at Netchex, Stacy focuses on two main things: people and process. In both responsibilities Stacy believes that he acts in service to those he works with throughout the organization and hopes that he helps shape an environment that his team members are proud to be a part of.
Stacy is certified as a Professional Scrum Master (PSM-I), Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and has numerous Microsoft certifications for software development and application life cycle management. Stacy was also awarded the Microsoft MVP award six years in a row from 2009 to 2015 based on his contributions to the tech community both locally and online.
Tim Costello
Twitter: - timcost
LinkedIn: Tim Costello
Contact: http://www.timcost.com
Tim Costello is an MCITP, MCTS specializing in etl and data analytics for Interworks Inc. Tim is an international speaker that is always looking for opportunities to share his passion for SQL Server, Tableau and data visualization. Tim is active in the SQL community and leads a data visualization focused user group in the Dallas area.
Keyur Vadhvana
LinkedIn: Keyur Vadhvana
Keyur worked with Microsoft technologies over 8 years. He has deep knowledge of SharePoint architecture and development. He has been working with SharePoint 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 and Office 365. He is also passionate about solving existing problems with SharePoint and providing custom coded solution for client specific requirement.
Patrick Thompson
LinkedIn: Patrick Thompson
Patrick Thompson is a Partner and General Manager of Sparkhound, overseeing operations and business development and growing Sparkhound’s footprint in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. With more than 27 years of experience, he has held senior leadership positions at Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, including Accenture, Turner Industries, CBamp;I (formerly the Shaw Group) and Amedisys. In his spare time, he enjoys movie time and hanging on the beach with his family.
Jim Brown
IT professional for over 20 years specializing in Information Security. Active member in Toastmasters
Robert Bishop
Twitter: - http://twitter.com/sql_padre
Contact: http://sqlpadre.wordpress.com
Robert has been working with databases since SQL Server 2005. After 4 years as a .NET developer using SQL Server, Robert became a DBA out of necessity, a true “Accidental” DBA! Robert has presented at his local SQL Server User group, SQLSaturdays and PASS Virtual Chapters. As a Microsoft MSCA and an Idera ACE, Robert enjoys administrative tasks, configuring SQL Server for optimal performance, troubleshooting problematic SQL queries and making those query run faster than the speed of light. In the event of “free time”, Robert enjoys camping, playing his guitars and spending time with his family.
Russel Loski
Twitter: - sqlmovers
LinkedIn: Russel Loski
Contact: http://www.sqlmovers.com
Russ Loski is a SQL Server BI Developer based in Dallas-Fort Worth. He current works as a Data Analytics Engineer for Navisite, a remote managed IT services company. Twenty years ago, he began working with SQL Server 6.5. He has since continued to develop applications connected to all of the versions of SQL Server. He has worked with clients in industries from insurance to healthcare, from movie theaters to American football. Russ is a regular speaker at SQLSaturday events, as well as the SQL Server Users Groups in the North Texas region. Russ likes working with data in various shapes.
Lance Tidwell
Twitter: - @Lance_LT
Contact: http://lancetidwell.com
Lance Tidwell, from the Austin, TX, area, has worked as a SQL Server DBA for the last 11 years. During his time as a DBA he has found his passion for all things SQL, but specifically for performance tuning. He has a life-long quest to always be learning new things; currently this quest has lead him to explore more about the Data Analytics/ Data Science areas.
Cody Gros
Twitter: - @codygros
LinkedIn: Cody Gros
Contact: http://www.gorogueit.com
Cody Gros has been working with SharePoint for the past 10 years. He has been involved in many SharePoint implementations including Intranet Sites, Enterprise Content Management, Extranet Sites, as well as building custom applications on the SharePoint platform. Heavily involved in the SharePoint community, he’s a leader of the Baton Rouge SharePoint User Group (BRSPUG) and speaks at various user groups and SharePoint Saturdays around the region.
Nicole Payne-Jack
LinkedIn: Nicole Payne-Jack
Nicole is a former Orleans Parish School System teacher where she briefly taught elementary-aged students before realizing her calling was in inspiring adult learners. After receiving a bachelor of arts degree with dual concentrations in Special Education and Elementary Education from Xavier University of Louisiana, she has worked in the field of Organizational Development for the last 16 years, specifically in Human Resources. Education, teaching, and learning are high on her list of priorities, so much so that Nicole is a recent graduate of Nova Southeastern University’s Fischler College of Education, having received a doctorate degree in education (Ed.D) with concentrations in Organizational Leadership and Human Resources Development.
Eric Trivette
Eric Trivette is a software developer at Sparkhound that has been developing software with the Microsoft stack since 2006. A graduate from LSU and Baton Rouge native, Eric got started in programming as a kid with a copy of Visual C++ 6 and has been hooked ever since. When not working, Eric can be found with an alcoholic beverage in his hand while participating in one of his many hobbies which include things like bowling, kickball, homebrewing, and others.
Trace Armstrong
Twitter: - @TraceBArmstrong
LinkedIn: Trace Armstrong
Trace has over eight years in web development experience with a concentration in SharePoint Branding, Site Architecture, Records Management, Workflow development, and Power User solutions. When he is not working he enjoys watching hockey, football, going out to dinner with his wife, and playing with his dog Sadie.
Christine Assaf
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/HRTact
LinkedIn: Christine Assaf
Contact: https://www.hrtact.com
Christine Assaf is an experienced HR pro who is passionate about the mental health of employees, leadership, and organizations. She is a leadership development professional with over 15 years experience in human resources and 20 years in business management. She holds a BS in Business Management, received her HRM certification at LSU, and is finishing up her master’s degree at Colorado State University in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is a certified DDI Trainer, experienced public speaker, and is dedicated to teaching others about ways to support a culture of “expressiveness” in the workplace that creates connectivity.
Brandon Cornett
Twitter: - @brandon_dev
LinkedIn: Brandon Cornett
Brandon is a lead software developer at Turner Industries. He brings years of experience in the consulting field to the enterprise, working on internal projects to help support employees of the business. His stack of choice is .NET, and he’s more recently taken an interest in React for web and mobile applications. Brandon assists with classes at Southeastern Louisiana University, has attended Xamarin conferences, is an active speaker at local .NET user groups, and has spoken at many SQLSaturday conferences in the past.
William Assaf
Twitter: - william_a_dba
LinkedIn: William Assaf
Contact: http://www.sqltact.com
William Assaf, Data Platform MVP, is a principal consultant in Baton Rouge, LA. Initially a .NET developer, and later into database administration and architecture, William currently works with clients on SQL Server and Azure SQL platform optimization, management, disaster recovery and high availability, and leads a crack multi-city team of consulting SQL DBA’s. William has written for Microsoft SQL certification exams since 2011 and was the lead author of the 2017 and 2019 editions of “SQL Server Administration Inside Out” by Microsoft Press. William is a member of the Baton Rouge User Groups board, a regional mentor for PASS, and past lead of the annual SQLSaturday Baton Rouge Planning Committee, having run one of the largest SQLSaturdays.
Brian Rigsby
Twitter: - @ZenDeveloper
Contact: http://zendeveloper.blogspot.com
Brian#39;s formal education is in music, but he is an eighteen year software development veteran. His unorthodox presentation style is both inspirational and entertaining.
Brandon Cornett
Twitter: - @brandon_dev
LinkedIn: Brandon Cornett
Brandon is a lead software developer at Turner Industries. He brings years of experience in the consulting field to the enterprise, working on internal projects to help support employees of the business. His stack of choice is .NET, and he’s more recently taken an interest in React for web and mobile applications. Brandon assists with classes at Southeastern Louisiana University, has attended Xamarin conferences, is an active speaker at local .NET user groups, and has spoken at many SQLSaturday conferences in the past.
Seth Valdetero
Twitter: - @valdetero
LinkedIn: Seth Valdetero
Seth Valdetero is a Senior Developer at Sparkhound. He has been in the mobile app space for several years. He is the president of the Baton Rouge .NET User Group. You can usually hear him speak at user groups or conferences about Xamarin and mobile app development.
Mike Robbins
Twitter: - @mikefrobbins
LinkedIn: Mike Robbins
Contact: http://mikefrobbins.com/
Mike F Robbins is a Microsoft MVP on Windows PowerShell and a SAPIEN Technologies MVP. He is a co-author of Windows PowerShell TFM 4th Edition and is a contributing author of a chapter in the PowerShell Deep Dives book. Mike has written guest blog articles for the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog, PowerShell Magazine, and PowerShell.org. He is the winner of the advanced category in the 2013 PowerShell Scripting Games. Mike is also the leader and co-founder of the Mississippi PowerShell User Group. He blogs at mikefrobbins.com and can be found on twitter @mikefrobbins.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: