SQLSaturday #621 - Silicon Valley 2017

Event Date: 04/22/2017 00:00:00

Event Location:

Microsoft Technology Center
1065 La Avenida
Mountain View, California

This event has completed. All data shown below is from the historical XML public data available.

Sessions
Speakers
Sponsors

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Sessions

This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.

Title: The New Revolution in Data Science, R integrated into SQL Server

Abstract: Data Science is an ever increasing topic in the Data Analytics space and the R language is at the center of most conversations. R is an open source statistical language that is rapidly gaining popularity due to a robust set of machine learning functionality and a never-ending set of R packages.

The R language is run as a desktop application and was not built with performance and scale required to accommodate Big Data. Revolution Analytics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, has solved the performance and scaling issues of a desktop application by creating a more robust enterprise architecture. SQL Server 2016 brings the power of R and Revolution Analytics into the industry leading relational database.

This session will introduce R and demonstrate the functionality and power of using R within SQL Server.

This presentation is ideally suited for Business Intelligence professionals that are interested in understanding the new R Service that is being added to SQL Server.

Speaker(s):

Reeves Smith

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Nebula / 40

Title: SQL Server Integration Services for Data Science

Abstract: Data science is the new buzz word in the IT community. How many times have you heard the term in recent meetings with your management or development teams? Businesses are looking to data science and advanced analytics to increase their competitive advantage. What does this mean to the Integration Services developer?

ETL developers play a key role in the success of a data science project. With your overall knowledge of the data integration architecture within your enterprise, you are in an excellent position to help with the next advanced analytics project at your company.

What are the additional skills needed to improve your role in the next data science project? In this presentation, we’ll discuss the data preparation and integration considerations that you will need.

Some of the topics that will be covered in this session include: • Data Cleansing • Data Normalization/Discretization • Missing Values • Noisy Data • Data Reduction • Model Integration

Speaker(s):

Reeves Smith

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Nebula / 40

Title: SQL Server 2016 Always On Availability Groups Perf Internals

Abstract: Always On Availability Groups (AGs) were introduced in SQL Server 2012. AGs significantly expanded our HA/DR options. However, in both SQL 2012 and SQL 2014 two limitations were extant in the code—both Network Transport and Log Redo significantly compromised performance. In SQL Server 2016, these limitations have been significantly improved.

Our work shows enhancements of 7x – 10x, allowing over 1/2GB/s (4Gb/s) across the wire. These improvements expand solutions options for Tier 1 OLTP and Data Warehouse workloads, Tier 1 and Tier 2 consolidation, and more. This presentation explains the improvements, characterizes the new solutions, and shows commodity servers and modern non-shared in-server flash storage showing the profound contrast between SQL Server 2014 vs. 2016. Doing so moves the performance bottleneck from the SQL Server codebase to the CPU where it belongs.

Speaker(s):

J May

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - Jupiter / 81

Title: The Next Frontier- Opportunities When Migrating to the Cloud with Virtualization

Abstract: Cloud is everywhere and the database administrator is caught in the middle. How do you know where to start and what to migrate first? How do you perform consolidation planning and ensure data security? This session builds on a full demonstration, along with tips and tricks to show how the DBA can secure their environment to allow a self-service option so they no longer are the constraints to projects! The attendee will leave with a clear understanding of:

Principles of virtualization and why it’s the answer to so many challenges we face today.
How easy it is to secure data in the cloud using data masking features.
The ease of connecting to the cloud and migrating environments.
How to troubleshoot when issues arise and the tools available to diagnose issues.

Speaker(s):

Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter / 81

Title: Execution Plans for Mere Mortals

Abstract: For beginning database professionals, execution plans can be intimidating. This 1-hour session takes you through the basics of reading graphical execution plans and drills into key operators, warnings, and properties. Learn how, why, and when an execution plan is created and saved to plan cache.

Reading execution plans becomes much less intimidating as we walk through the flow and process of a graphical execution plan. After looking at the key operators, you will be able to analyze the operators of your execution plans, view the operator properties, and identify common performance-tuning opportunities. Finally, you will be able to capture the execution plan and save it for analysis and comparison after modifications.

Speaker(s):

Mike Lawell

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Nebula / 40

Title: Consolidated Essential Performance Health Check using PowerShell

Abstract: Standardizing essential performance health check is the key in responding quickly to production issues and can cut down initial evaluation phase to 1/3rd of the time, whether you have been requested to do health check or you may want to run these due to an alert. These sets of essential checks can be the first major checkpoint for a DBA, they can look quickly on consolidated email stats first to decide if any further action is required to fix an issue or is it feasible to jump into in-depth troubleshooting. This will cut down on time and effort while responding to Production issues.

First part of the email shares some key observations about SQL Server performance which can be the key to quick resolution of the issue. Rest of the email shows different set of stats regarding CPU/Disk IO/Disk Space/Memory/Network/Blocking and database performance which could lead to the slowness observed in the application. This consolidated email can be shared with technical stakeholders to give a snaps

Speaker(s):

Prakash Heda

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Nebula / 40

Title: DBA 101 – Let’s Get Started

Abstract: Administering SQL Server environments can seem like a daunting task for any DBA. In this session, we’ll provide some guidelines and tips to help new DBAs get started on the right foot. Backups/restores, integrity checks, index maintenance, documentation, security and alerting will be some of the topics covered in this session. We’ll also be covering some of the online resources that are available. Bring your questions!

Speaker(s):

Lori Edwards

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter / 81

Title: Smart Re-Indexing - The quest of ultimate automation

Abstract: How many times you have been called on weekends to handle a nightmare caused by Re-Indexing job? One of the most common aspect of performance tuning is a well-design dynamic index optimization process. If you ever wonder what it takes to design an efficient re-indexing process, which perform selective re-indexing, handles blocking automatically, avoid system downtime due to log disk full, automatically stop itself beyond a threshold, can be implemented across all sql servers regardless of application type or data size, in other words, fewer headaches. This session is for you!!

Speaker(s):

Prakash Heda

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Exec Conf Room / 30

Title: Where did I put my (primary) keys?

Abstract: In this session we will revisit some of the fundamental design principals of relational databases: normalization rules, key selection, and the controversies associated with these issues from a practical perspective. We will consider the benefits and challenges of using different types of keys - natural, surrogates, artificial (and others?) from multiple aspects: data consistency, application development, maintenance, portability and performance.

Speaker(s):

Ami Levin

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Jupiter / 81

Title: Programming in Power Query: An Introduction to M

Abstract: While the DAX language gets all of the Power BI attention and love, its partner M is nonetheless a powerful workhorse that can be harnessed to do amazing things. We will begin by introducing ourselves to the functional language by building a calendar – absolutely necessary for all of those lovely DAX time intelligence functions to work. From establishing the time period in question to deciding on what information we need and how we want it presented, our understanding of M will grow as we progress through this construction.

We then look at what to do when the information you get is incomplete and contradictory. Cleaning up data and handling errors and missing data will be our focus in an example of combining multiple data sources into a single data set. We consider this crucial step in the ETL cycle.

Our examination will conclude with a discussion of best practices, centering on coding style and deciding on when to solve a problem with M versus when to rely on DAX.

Speaker(s):

Ursula and Parkerson

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - Mercury / 81

Title: What’s new in SQL Server 2017

Abstract: This special session with Ross Mistry and Jarek Kazmierczak will be held in the Galileo Auditorium, from 1:15 to 2:15.

New SQL Server 2017 Azure Data Estate capabilities provide better flexibility, consistency, and performance across all platforms  Data landscape is changing challenging – Microsoft’s Modern Data Warehouse Solution can help you adjust to any language, any platform, any time  Intro of SQL Server 2017 capabilities, including fast performance, mission critical HA, encryption, dynamic reporting, enhanced SSAS, etc.  SQL Server available across all platforms and consistent across on-prem and the cloud  SQL Server can be stretched to Azure, providing scale, performance, machine learning, etc.

Speaker(s):

Jarek Kazmierczak

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - Galileo / 270

Title: Modeling and Analytics Features Coming in Analysis Services vNext

Abstract: Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services Azure Analysis Services help you build comprehensive, enterprise-scale analytic solutions that deliver actionable insights through familiar data visualization tools such as Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Excel. Join this session for a look forward to what’s coming in SQL Server Analysis Services vNext Azure Analysis Services. The demos will cover new features familiar to Power BI Desktop modelers such as Power Query integration. Various modeling enhancements will be included such as Detail Rows allowing users to easily see transactional records, and improved support for ragged hierarchies.

Speaker(s):

Christian Wade

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Mercury / 81

Title: Master Data Management - Getting Started with SQL Server MDS

Abstract: This session will provide an introduction to Master Data Management (MDM). We explore the basic concepts, types of MDM solution, and the basics for a successful MDM Implementation. With a working definition in hand, we’ll discuss strategies for beginning a successful MDM pilot in your organization and look at some of the pitfalls to avoid. We’ll wrap the business discussion up with some tips for selecting the right domains to solve and some tips for managing the politics of MDM. After we’ve set the stage for what, how and why you need MDM, we’ll take a brief look at SQL Server MDS through the Excel add-in and talk about the Architecture of MDS

Speaker(s):

John McAllister

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Saturn / 81

Title: Indexing Guidelines

Abstract: This session will discuss the indexes development lifecycle and some guidelines on how to make good indexing decisions. By understanding the development lifecycle, you will better understand how to build and optimize your indexes over time. We will also be discussing how to decide what columns to consider when building indexes, and how to ensure those indexes are providing value as your application matures. Column selectivity will also be discussed. This session will show how selectivity information can help you determine the best column order when building multi-column indexes. During this session there will be numerous demos to highlight the concepts being discussed. Additionally, an indexing toolkit (a set of scripts) will be provided to help attendees better manage their indexes.

Speaker(s):

Greg Larsen

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Exec Conf Room / 30

Title: Fireside Chat Keynote - Deep Learning Concepts and Experiences

Abstract: This special keynote and Fireside Chat featuring Vijay Narayanan and Ross Mistry will be held in the Galileo Auditorium, from 9:00 to 10:15.

Data and Artificial Intelligence are the deeply woven into the fabric of our Microsoft Data products. Microsoft SQL Server 2016 is the simplest enterprise-grade scale-out deployment platform for data AI applications. It deeply integrates Advanced Analytics and ML through Microsoft R Services and Python. Applications can move AI into the database, making it 100x faster and get unprecedented insights to actions. We will lead you through manifold examples showcasing Artificial Intelligence in SQLServer 2016 on-premise and in Azure . One of the examples we are going to talk about how we now can combine high-volume transactions with Machine Learning Predictive intelligence to perform High Speed Fraud Detection. Another example is showcasing how lung cancer detection can be done inside SQLServer using Deep Neural Networks and Python.

Speaker(s):

Vijay Narayanan

Track and Room: Keynote - Galileo / 270

Title: Power BI: Best Practices from the Field

Abstract: The rapid surge in popularity of the Power BI product has empowered everybody to do more with their data. Come join this session to understand some Power BI best practices to ensure your reports and reporting architecture continue to perform and scale with demand!

Speaker(s):

Joshua Vickery

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Galileo / 270

Title: Microsoft Data Management Hands-on Labs

Abstract: The Hands-on Labs will be available all day, following the Keynote. They are located in the MTC Executive Briefing Suite 2036.

Get hands-on and learn how you can simplify your data management approach with Microsoft SQL Server, a secure, scalable database platform that has everything built in. Experience firsthand, in a live environment, how SQL Server delivers break-through performance, advanced security, integrated analytics and extends your data management to the cloud with Azure Data Services.

Speaker(s):

Mark Ginnebaugh

Track and Room: Other - MTC Exec Briefing Ste 2036 / 20

Title: Branding Yourself for a Dream Job

Abstract: Everyone wants a dream job that they enjoy going to each week. However finding that job, and getting yourself hired can be hard for most people. Steve Jones will give you practical tips and suggestions in this session that show you how to better market yourself, how to get the attention of employers, and help improve the chances that the job you want will get offered to you. Learn about networking, blogging, and more.

Speaker(s):

Steve Jones

Track and Room: Professional Development - Exec Conf Room / 30

Title: Using Dell EMC to Empower Microsoft SQL Server DBAs and Test/Dev Engineers

Abstract: This presentation will empower Microsoft SQL Server DBAs and Test/Dev Engineers to understand the solutions that Dell EMC has to reduce data sprawl and time to deployment.

Speaker(s):

Bryan Walsh

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Jupiter / 81

Title: Why are you still taking backups?

Abstract: Keep doing things the same way because they have always worked in the past is a very comfortable mistake we all make in many areas. That includes backup strategies and service account administration. In this one hour presentation full of demos I will explore many options available in SQL Server 2016 and Azure that can potentially reduce the amount of data and time required for backups and even eliminate the need all together. It sounds scary but it will be really fun.

Speaker(s):

Armando Lacerda

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Saturn / 81

Title: Scalable Deep Learning with Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit

Abstract: This session will discuss core deep learning concepts and introduce basics of Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit. The Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit—previously known as CNTK—empowers you to harness the intelligence within massive datasets through deep learning by providing uncompromised scaling, speed and accuracy with commercial-grade quality and compatibility with the programming languages and algorithms you already use.

Speaker(s):

Jarek Kazmierczak

Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - Mercury / 81

Title: Hybrid Cloud and On-Premise Environment for Model Development and Deployment

Abstract: This session will introduce the model development and deployment capabilities that are integrated between SQL Server and the Microsoft Cloud Platform. We will demonstrate the model development process using Microsoft R Server on the Cloud, discuss some of the key differences between open source R and Microsoft R Server, and finally deploy the finished model into an on-premise instance of SQL Server for scoring and operationalization. No prior background in data science or model development is necessary.

Speaker(s):

Milan Lee

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - Mercury / 81

Title: R in Power BI

Abstract: Learn how you can quickly get started creating your own custom visualizations, leveraging R in Power BI. We’ll cover all four touch points for R in Power BI, demonstrate a variety of scenarios for machine learning and visualization, and teach you everything you need to know to get started.

Speaker(s):

Eric Bragas

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Saturn / 81

Title: An introduction to the magical world of BIML!

Abstract: Ever feel like you are just doing busy work while creating new SSIS packages? Feel like you are doing the same thing over and over while changing the names to protect the innocent? Ever wonder if there is a better way? Well wonder no more. Come learn about the magical world of BIML and how it can help transform your environment by increasing your productivity while reducing the possibility of errors. Come with intrigue and leave with a fundamental understanding of BIML!

Speaker(s):

Jonathan Stewart

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Saturn / 81

Title: Spotlight on SQL Server

Abstract: This session will cover the newest features in Spotlight on SQL Server, Quest’s performance management tool offering real-time notification and rapid diagnostics, along with powerful and intuitive historical workload analysis. We’ll highlight Spotlight’s cloud-enabled features, and its new support for SQL Server on Linux.

Speaker(s):

Trent Mera

Track and Room: Other - Saturn / 81

Title: Data Wrangling for Reporting Analytics

Abstract: This session will review common challenges encountered when preparing new data sets for use in analytics and reporting. We will look at tools for exploring and modifying large CSV/TXT files and discuss design patterns for cleaning and repair.

Speaker(s):

Phil Robinson

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Exec Conf Room / 30

Title: Intro to Azure Data Factory

Abstract: Azure Data Factory is a managed cloud service for building and operating data pipelines for NoSQL and Relational data stores. It can ingest structured and unstructured data sources with ease. Operationalize ADF pipelines with its built-in scheduling and monitoring systems. When combined with Azure Data Lake, it can become a key part of your data processing core. Its never been easier to start with ADF. Come and learn how you can get started.

Speaker(s):

Angel Abundez

Track and Room: Big Data - Saturn / 81

Title: It Isn’t Magic: Make It Happen. Resume Writing and Interviewing Tips

Abstract: Your career is like a game of chess. It requires using multiple skills, simultaneously, while continually improving in all areas. All with one goal — to ‘win’ the current challenge and move on to the next milestone. This Session will look at where you are in your Career Path and focus on three key areas that keep you moving toward the next milestone.

Bring your resume with you (thumb drive or hard copy) for review and edit.

We will … Take a look at your resume, revising content and format. Work on interviewing technique Chart your current Career Path.

Speaker(s):

Harriet Farmer

Track and Room: Professional Development - Nebula / 40

Title: Survey of the Azure Data Landscape

Abstract: Choosing where to store your data is far more difficult than ever. We can be paralyzed with choice! This session seeks to ease that anxiety and provide direction for application developers and DBAs. You’ll learn the differences between DocumentDB, Azure Table Storage, Azure Blob Storage, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL in a VM, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Lake Analytics, Azure Data Lake Store, and more. See demos and review case studies so you’ll have a complete view of how data is stored in Azure and how to choose great between these great tools.

Speaker(s):

Ike Ellis

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - Galileo / 270

Title: But it worked great in Dev! Perfomance for Devs

Abstract: If you’ve ever found yourself stating the above, this session is for you. For many developers, writing T-SQL that works is not the challenge. But too often, functional T-SQL is not the same as good T-SQL. In this session, we will examine why “SQL that works” is not good enough. Understanding indexes, exectuion plans, sargability, and more are all critical to writing good T-SQL. We will also examine several real-world examples of T-SQL that “worked great in dev” but caused major issues when it hit production.

Speaker(s):

Randy Knight

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Exec Conf Room / 30

Title: Physical Join Operators

Abstract: SQL Server implements three different physical operators to perform joins. In this session we will examine how each of these operators work, its advantages and challenges. We will try to understand the logic behind the optimizer’s decisions on which operator to use for various joins using (semi) real life examples and we will see how to avoid common join related pitfalls.

Speaker(s):

Ami Levin

Track and Room: Application Database Development - Jupiter / 81

Title: Power BI: The Streaming Story

Abstract: With the growing need for real-time analytics, organizations are under increasing pressure to adapt to stay relevant. In this live-demo session, we’ll explore different strategies for ingesting real-time data into Power BI and see what plumbing is required to make it all happen!

Speaker(s):

Joshua Vickery

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - Galileo / 270

Title: Power BI SSRS On Premise

Abstract: Walkthrough creating SSRS hosted Power BI with On-Premise Servers.

Basic Setup of SSRS and Power BI preview on a development environment
Creating a Simple Dashboard
Publishing Report to SSRS
Highlight of currently available features and key capabilities not available

Speaker(s):

Alisha Harold

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - Mercury / 81

Title: Bringing DevOps to the Database

Abstract: DevOps is a hot topic in today’s software development world. However most of the knowledge and experience with DevOps is based around application software and ignores the database. We will examine how the concepts and principles of DevOps can be applied to database development by looking at both automated comparison analysis as well as migration script management. Automated building, testing, and deployment of database changes will be shown.

Speaker(s):

Steve Jones

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - Nebula / 40

Title: Unleashing Stretched Databases

Abstract: This is a deep dive session full of demos about SQL 2016 stretched databases feature. It will go from pre-reqs and blocking factor through deployment and disaster recovery. Everything you need to know and when to use this new cloud-based exciting capability.

Speaker(s):

Armando Lacerda

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - Exec Conf Room / 30

Title: Big Data Analytics Apps

Abstract: How to bring big data analytics to your teams through smart apps that revolutionize the way they work  Ziosk case study – leverages big data from customers’ tablet interactions to run analytics apps and optimize the restaurant experience and resources  A powerful toolkit is needed to build big data analytics apps – Microsoft has a great solution with 4 key attributes  To actually build an app, you’ll need some certain functionalities – Microsoft offers a comprehensive platform

Speaker(s):

Rajya Bhaiya

Track and Room: Big Data - Galileo / 270

Speakers

This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.

Steve Jones

Twitter: - way0utwest

LinkedIn: Steve Jones

Contact: http://www.voiceofthedba.com/

Steve Jones is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP and has been working with SQL Server since version 4.2 on OS/2. After working as a DBA and developer for a variety of companies, Steve co-founded the community website SQLServerCentral.com in 2001. Since 2004, Steve has been the full-time editor of the site, ensuring it continues to be a great resource for SQL Server professionals. Over the last decade, Steve has written hundreds of articles about SQL Server for SQLServerCentral.com, SQL Server Standard magazine, SQL Server Magazine, and Database Journal.

Ami Levin

Twitter: - ami_levin

LinkedIn: Ami Levin

Contact: http://www.amilevin.com

Ami is a data nerd that has been designing, consulting, training, writing, and speaking about SQL, relational modeling, and data platform architecture for more than 20 years. Currently works as a freelance consultant, senior SQL instructor at O’Reilly Media, as an author for PluralSight and LinkedIn Learning.

Ursula and Parkerson

LinkedIn: Ursula and Parkerson

Andy works at the leading eCommerce site for luxury outdoor kitchens. He is currently involved in data warehousing and BI development using data to make business decisions. He is active in the community with the Baton Rouge Analytics and Intelligence Network ( gobrain.org ). He enjoys grilling and smoking, and currently owns more grills than his wife approves of.

Ike Ellis

Twitter: - @ike_ellis

LinkedIn: Ike Ellis

Contact: http://blog.ikeellis.com

Ike Ellis is a Senior Data Architect and partner for Crafting Bytes. He has designed and implemented data solutions for many well-known organizations. He has been a Microsoft Data Platform MVP since 2011. He co-authored the book “Developing Azure Solutions,” now in its second edition. He is a popular speaker at SQLBits, PASS Summit, and SQL in the City. He speaks at user groups, code camps, and SQLSaturdays. He has written courses on SQL Server for developers, Power BI, SSRS, SSIS, and SSAS for Wintellect. He has an upcoming course on CosmosDB. He founded the San Diego Tech Immersion Group, a technical book club based in San Diego and is the co-chair of the San Diego Software Architecture Group.

Jonathan Stewart

Twitter: - sqllocks

LinkedIn: Jonathan Stewart

Contact: https://sqllocks.net/

Jonathan Stewart is a Business Intelligence consultant specializing in data visualization, data warehousing, and data management technologies. An advocate for educating others, he is a public speaker, teacher and blogger, continually teaching people about the Microsoft BI Stack. Since 2000, he has been working in the database field with industry leaders in healthcare, manufacturing, financial, insurance and federal, state and local governments.

Jonathan is very active in the community. He has presented on SQL Server, SSIS, Reporting Services, Power BI and Business Intelligence at numerous SQLSaturday events, local user groups, and conferences throughout the United States and around the world. He participates in webcasts, podcasts, and on

Armando Lacerda

Twitter: - arlacerda

LinkedIn: Armando Lacerda

Over 30 years in the computing field as a developer and system integrator; over 20 years working with SQL Server since version 6; cross platform experience with Oracle and IBM SQL/DS and DB2; Microsoft Certified Trainer for over 20 years.

Lori Edwards

Twitter: - www.twitter.com/loriaedwards

LinkedIn: Lori Edwards

Contact: http://www.sqlservertimes2.com

Lori Edwards currently holds the position of Solutions Engineer for SentryOne. Prior to working with SQLSentry, she spent 11 years working as a production DBA. She also has volunteered for PASS since 2009 on the Program Committee, ERC, Nomination Committee and speaking at SQLSaturdays.

Prakash Heda

Twitter: - @prakashheda

LinkedIn: Prakash Heda

Contact: http://www.sqlfeatures.com/

Prakash Heda works as Manager (Data-IT) at SSC Advent. His expertise encompasses the work of automation, performance tuning/troubleshooting, high availability, san configuration and windows administration. Heda has 13+ years of experience managing enterprise-wide data needs in both high volume transactional and data warehouse environments. Heda holds certifications for MCDBA and MCITP. His background includes administration development using VB/ASP/SSIS with SQL server 2000 to 2017. He is an active member of PASS, SQLSaturday, and as well a frequent presenter at user groups, SQLSaturdays, and other community events. He is also an avid tweeter, blogger and runner.

Randy Knight

Twitter: - randy_knight

LinkedIn: Randy Knight

Contact: http://www.sqlsolutionsgroup.com/blog

Randy Knight is a data professional who has worked with Microsoft technology for over 25 years, focusing on SQL Server since 1997. He has worked in a variety of settings, including 6 years as a database architect for match.com. In 2010, he founded SQL Server Solutions Group LLC, a boutique SQL Server consultancy. A Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) in SQL Server, he speaks often at events all over the country including the PASS Summit, SQLIntersections, and numerous SQLSaturday and User Groups.

Joshua Vickery

Joshua Vickery has been with Microsoft for eight years, first as a SQL Premier Field Engineer, and now as a BI Technical Specialist focusing on Visual Analytics. He is based in Oakland, and when not geeking out over data, enjoys exploring the foodie options in the Bay Area and abroad.

Mark Ginnebaugh

Twitter: - @markginnebaugh

LinkedIn: Mark Ginnebaugh

Contact: http://www.designmind.com/blog

I am the CEO of DesignMind, a San Francisco-based consulting firm providing data-related services to enterprises and hyper-growth companies. We consult and develop across the entire data life cycle, including Database Applications, Mobile and web Apps, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence, Big Data, and Data Science.

I am a Microsoft Regional Director and have been a Data Platform MVP since 2011. I lead three PASS Chapters. I served on the PASS Board of Directors in 2011, and am the main organizer for SQLSaturday Silicon Valley.

Steve Jones

Twitter: - way0utwest

LinkedIn: Steve Jones

Contact: http://www.voiceofthedba.com/

Ami Levin

Twitter: - ami_levin

LinkedIn: Ami Levin

Contact: http://www.amilevin.com

Reeves Smith

Twitter: - SQLReeves

LinkedIn: Reeves Smith

Contact: http://reevessmith.wordpress.com

Reeves Smith, owner and principal architect of Macer Consulting, is passionate about applying data technologies that empower organizations. Reeves wields his knowledge and experience to lead, design, architect, and teach, working with both data center and business project teams. He approaches every project by first understanding the organization’s business challenges, and then developing a unique approach that targets those business needs accurately and effectively.

Reeves Smith has more than 20 years of experience working on the SQL Server stack. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Master, and regularly delivers technical presentations at international, regional, and local conferences and user groups.

Alisha Harold

Microsoft Development and BI Stack Consultant for 10 years.

Jonathan Stewart

Twitter: - sqllocks

LinkedIn: Jonathan Stewart

Contact: https://sqllocks.net/

Christian Wade

Twitter: - @_christianwade

Contact: https://christianwade.wordpress.com/

Christian Wade is a Senior Program Manager for Analysis Services. His consulting experience includes data-warehousing, BI and application-development projects for numerous enterprise customers. Christian is the creator of the BISM Normalizer, which is a database comparison tool for Analysis Services tabular models. He is a frequent presenter at Microsoft conferences. You can find his blog at https://christianwade.wordpress.com/.

John McAllister

Twitter: - @jmcallis64

LinkedIn: John McAllister

Contact: http://www.profisee.com

John McAllister co-founded Stratature, an Independent MDM software vendor, in 2001. Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Stratature in 2007 John served as Group Program Manager for MDS and oversaw the incorporation of MDM into SQL Server. John now serves as the Regional Sales Director for Profisee, Inc. which provides enterprise-class MDM Solutions built on top of Microsoft’s MDS offering. John has worked with 100’s of organizations around the world in all phases of MDM projects.

Milan Lee

Twitter: - @MilanCal

LinkedIn: Milan Lee

Milan Lee is part of the Global Black Belt organization within Microsoft that provides deep expertise in Advanced Analytics and Big Data. She leads technical presales in Northern California and Pacific West regions and works directly with Fortune 500 companies in driving their data science strategies and digital transformation. Her primary coverage includes artificial intelligence, machine learning and cognitive services on Microsoft Cloud Platform and on-premises deployment. Milan is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and would be happy to connect on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/milanleecal or by email millee@microsoft.com

Eric Bragas

Twitter: - @ericbragas

LinkedIn: Eric Bragas

Contact: http://ericbragas.io

Business Intelligence Consultant passionate about leveraging new and cutting edge technologies to discover new data insights.

Jarek Kazmierczak

Contact: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mtc/default.aspx

Jarek is a Principal Enterprise Strategist at the Canadian Microsoft Technology Center, focusing on Big Data and Advanced Analytics.

Jarek started his career in the Golden Age of expert systems, lived through the boom and bust years of Artificial Intelligence, and has partaken with the increasing excitement in the emergence and practical adoption of machine learning.

Reeves Smith

Twitter: - SQLReeves

LinkedIn: Reeves Smith

Contact: http://reevessmith.wordpress.com

Armando Lacerda

Twitter: - arlacerda

LinkedIn: Armando Lacerda

Prakash Heda

Twitter: - @prakashheda

LinkedIn: Prakash Heda

Contact: http://www.sqlfeatures.com/

Angel Abundez

Twitter: - AngelStreamline

LinkedIn: Angel Abundez

Contact: http://angelstreamline.com

Angel leads the Solutions Architecture team at DesignMind, helping design and build world class data-related systems. His expertise includes Microsoft SQL Server BI tools, Power BI, Azure-based database services, and Tableau. His team develops Proofs of Concept, Pilots, and highly scalable production systems. Angel co-leads the Bay Area Microsoft Business Intelligence User Group and the San Francisco Power BI User Group. He speaks at Data Analytics events throughout the U.S. and writes for SQL Server Central. He is a graduate of Cal Poly SLO with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Mike Lawell

Twitter: - @sqldiver

LinkedIn: Mike Lawell

Contact: http://sqlserverassociates.com/Blog

Mike Lawell is an 19 year veteran of SQL Server, working with all versions since 6.5. He specializes in performance tuning and high availability as an independent consultant.

He is a Linchpin People Teammate, he also consults with SolidQ, Intellinet and Microsoft Consulting Services.

He is also a certified Scuba instructor with a long bucket list of dive sites.

He resides in Atlanta, GA and you can catch him at many of the SQLSaturdays in the SE region of the United States.

Phil Robinson

Phil Robinson is an independent consultant focused on developing Business Intelligence solutions using Microsoft Reporting Services and Power BI. He is founder of the San Diego SQL Business Intelligence Group and co-founder of SQLSaturday – San Diego.

Vijay Narayanan

LinkedIn: Vijay Narayanan

Vijay K Narayanan heads the Algorithms and Data Science efforts in the Data group in Microsoft, where he works on building and leveraging machine learning platforms, tools and solutions to solve analytic problems in diverse domains. Earlier, he worked as a Principal Scientist at Yahoo! Labs, where he worked on building cloud based machine learning applications in computational advertising.

He received a Bachelor of Technology degree from IIT, Chennai and a PhD in Astronomy from The Ohio State University. Narayanan has authored or coauthored approximately 55 peer-reviewed papers in astrophysics, 10 papers in machine learning and data mining techniques and applications, and 15 patents (filed or granted).

Harriet Farmer

Twitter: - HarrietFarmer16

LinkedIn: Harriet Farmer

For more than 18 years Harriet has helped organizations design and build internal and external training, marketing and sales programs that set them apart from the competition. Harriet attended Queens University of Charlotte and has assisted organizations such as Ernst Young, CibaVision, Bell South Mobility, IBM, Peachtree Software/ADP, Dalton Financial, Accenture Federal Services/SSA and Premier Alliance Group. Her responsibilities included; designing and implementing custom programs that include simulated software training, business development, sales and marketing, workforce development and internal practice build-outs. Harriet has been recognized by Who’s Who in American Women, and volunteers time on various Committees and Boards.

Jarek Kazmierczak

Contact: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mtc/default.aspx

Jarek is a Principal Enterprise Strategist at the Canadian Microsoft Technology Center, focusing on Big Data and Advanced Analytics.

Rajya Bhaiya

Twitter: - @rajyabhaiya

LinkedIn: Rajya Bhaiya

Rajya has more than 14 years of overall IT experience for Fortune 500 companies in various consulting and senior architecture roles. His experiences include; managing IT, sales, pre-sales, account management, program management and deployment providing overall technology solution expertise in the areas of Dynamics CRM, SharePoint, Information Management and Infrastructure Management. He Joins Microsoft after several leadership roles at CMG mortgage, Gradient Vision, Webfortis, Extrateam and OSIsoft. Most recently he was the Engagement Director at Netwoven, where he was responsible for the Dynamics CRM practice where he managed architecture, design and development of Data Structure and xRM solutions for customers using Dynamics CRM and Shar

Trent Mera

Trent Mera has been a database performance Systems Consultant with Quest Software for 11 years. He specializes in showing customers how to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in their SQL Server systems. His experience prior to Quest includes 7 years as a Database Developer and Administrator in the Real Estate, Finance and Defense Industries.

J May

Twitter: - @aspiringgeek

LinkedIn: J May

Contact: http://blogs.msdn.com/jimmymay

Jimmy May is a Microsoft Certified Master (MCM). He’s formerly a Principal Architect at Microsoft as well as Senior Program Manager for the SQL Server Customer Advisory Team (SQL CAT) where he managed the Customer Lab which hosts the biggest, fastest, most interesting SQL Server apps from all over the world. More recently he was a SQL Server Technologist for what was Fusion-io’s Data Propulsion Lab (DPL). He is a founder of the IndyPASS IWUG user groups.

Bryan Walsh

Twitter: - @bryanjwalsh

LinkedIn: Bryan Walsh

Contact: http://none

Bryan Walsh is a Product Solutions Manager in the Storage Division of Dell Technologies, specializing in how our storage portfolio benefits database environments, with a primary focus of Microsoft. He has over 20 years of experience in the in the enterprise technology industry and a deep knowledge of Dell EMC Storage offerings and broad knowledge of Dell Technologies other offerings, including Data Protection, Servers, and VMware.

Greg Larsen

Twitter: - GregoryALarsen

LinkedIn: Greg Larsen

Greg Larsen has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He has authored 100’s of articles related to SQL Server. He holds a MCSE Data Management and Analytics. Greg also a SQL Server Consultant, adjunct professor and technical writer.

Joshua Vickery

Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman

Twitter: - DBAKevlar

LinkedIn: Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman

Contact: http://dbakevlar.com

Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman is a member of the Oak Table Network and an Idera ACE and Oracle ACE Director alumnus. She is a Data Platform Architect in Power BI with AI in the EdTech group at Microsoft. Kellyn is known for her extensive work with multi-database platforms, DevOps, cloud migrations, virtualization, visualizations, scripting, environment optimization tuning, automation, and architecture design.

Kellyn has spoken at numerous technical conferences for Oracle, Big Data, DevOps, testing, and SQL Server. Her blog (http://dbakevlar.com) and social media activity under her handle, DBAKevlar, is well respected for her insight and content.

SQLSaturday #621 - Silicon Valley 2017

Sessions

Title: The New Revolution in Data Science, R integrated into SQL Server

Title: SQL Server Integration Services for Data Science

Title: SQL Server 2016 Always On Availability Groups Perf Internals

Title: The Next Frontier- Opportunities When Migrating to the Cloud with Virtualization

Title: Execution Plans for Mere Mortals

Title: Consolidated Essential Performance Health Check using PowerShell

Title: DBA 101 – Let’s Get Started

Title: Smart Re-Indexing - The quest of ultimate automation

Title: Where did I put my (primary) keys?

Title: Programming in Power Query: An Introduction to M

Title: What’s new in SQL Server 2017

Title: Modeling and Analytics Features Coming in Analysis Services vNext

Title: Master Data Management - Getting Started with SQL Server MDS

Title: Indexing Guidelines

Title: Fireside Chat Keynote - Deep Learning Concepts and Experiences

Title: Power BI: Best Practices from the Field

Title: Microsoft Data Management Hands-on Labs

Title: Branding Yourself for a Dream Job

Title: Using Dell EMC to Empower Microsoft SQL Server DBAs and Test/Dev Engineers

Title: Why are you still taking backups?

Title: Scalable Deep Learning with Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit

Title: Hybrid Cloud and On-Premise Environment for Model Development and Deployment

Title: R in Power BI

Title: An introduction to the magical world of BIML!

Title: Spotlight on SQL Server

Title: Data Wrangling for Reporting Analytics

Title: Intro to Azure Data Factory

Title: It Isn’t Magic: Make It Happen. Resume Writing and Interviewing Tips

Title: Survey of the Azure Data Landscape

Title: But it worked great in Dev! Perfomance for Devs

Title: Physical Join Operators

Title: Power BI: The Streaming Story

Title: Power BI SSRS On Premise

Title: Bringing DevOps to the Database

Title: Unleashing Stretched Databases

Title: Big Data Analytics Apps

Speakers

Sponsors