SQLSaturday #714 - Philadelphia 2018

Event Date: 04/21/2018 00:00:00

Event Location:

Montgomery County Community College
340 Dekalb Pike
Blue Bell, PA

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: Big data architectures and the data lake

Abstract: With so many new technologies it can get confusing on the best approach to building a big data architecture. The data lake is a great new concept, usually built in Hadoop, but what exactly is it and how does it fit in? In this presentation I’ll discuss the four most common patterns in big data production implementations, the top-down vs bottoms-up approach to analytics, and how you can use a data lake and a RDBMS data warehouse together. We will go into detail on the characteristics of a data lake and its benefits, and how you still need to perform the same data governance tasks in a data lake as you do in a data warehouse. Come to this presentation to make sure your data lake does not turn into a data swamp!

Speaker(s):

James Serra

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - C

Title: Reducing The Surface Area Of Risk in Data Security

Abstract: Data obfuscation, also known as data masking, is soon a new legal requirement. Masking is the solution for non-production systems (i.e. DEV, TEST, etc) to greatly reduce the surface area of risk for data breach in your organization. Masking should not be confused with encryption, which is an appropriate solution for production applications. Those who believe that encryption solves all security problems are misled.

When done properly, masked data is not noticeable unless you look closely. Masking data well might still be usable for analytic reporting and aggregation, yet utterly useless for revealing confidential data. Masking is important enough that sophisticated software packages have become available.

Come learn about the right way to mask non-production data in order to allow the organization to limit possible exposure only to production. Learn what techniques can be used, why, and what factors should be considered when deciding to secure confidential data.

Speaker(s):

Tim Gorman

Track and Room: Information Delivery - K

Title: I lost my job! Now what?!? A survival guide for the unemployed

Abstract: You’ve just been told by HR that you are no longer a part of their organization. You’ve been kicked to the curb. You are now living in the no-man’s land called unemployment.

Unemployment is a scary situation. You’re dealing with emotions and uncertainty. You don’t know if you’ll be out of work for days, weeks, or months.

Fortunately, unemployment is survivable. In this session, I’ll share my own experiences (and perhaps we’ll talk about some of yours) with unemployment, and how I managed to get through the tough times. We’ll discuss emotional impact, the job hunt, and things you can do to get yourself through this tough time. Hopefully, you’ll land on your feet once again before long!

Speaker(s):

Ray Kim

Track and Room: Professional Development - F

Title: Choosing technologies for a big data solution in the cloud

Abstract: Has your company been building data warehouses for years using SQL Server? And are you now tasked with creating or moving your data warehouse to the cloud and modernizing it to support “Big Data”? What technologies and tools should use? That is what this presentation will help you answer. First we will level-set what big data is and other definitions, cover questions to ask to help decide which technologies to use, go over the new technologies to choose from, and then compare the pros and cons of the technologies. Finally we will show you common big data architecture solutions and help you to answer questions such as: Where do I store the data? Should I use a data lake? Do I still need a cube? Do I need the power of MPP? Should I build a “logical data warehouse”? And we’ll close with showing some architectures of real-world customer big data solutions. Come to this session to get started down the path to making the proper technology choices in moving to the cloud.

Speaker(s):

James Serra

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - D

Title: Controlling Competing Workloads with SQL Server Resource Governor

Abstract: With heavily consolidated instances and competing workloads, the Enterprise only Resource Governor feature is an incredibly useful tool for any DBA to have in their toolbox. It allows for the effective throttling and control of CPU, memory and I/O consumed by multiple workloads running on a single SQL Server instance. In this session, we will cover the fundamental concepts of the SQL Server Resource Governor and provide demonstrations of practical scenarios where Resource Governor can control resources for specific workloads. Some of these demonstrations include how to limit the amount of memory consumed by memory-optimized tables and how to prevent poorly-written queries from overwhelming your storage subsystem. We will also discuss cases where Resource Governor can mitigate parameter sniffing problems. Finally, we will look at ways to leverage the useful information contained in the Resource Governor DMVs for monitoring and reporting.

Speaker(s):

Brian Carrig

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - B

Title: Collecting Performance Metrics

Abstract: Have you ever had a manager standing over your shoulder, wanting to know why a server is running slowly? Or whether or not a server can handle additional workload? What information would you use to answer these questions? How would you share this information with your manager? The answer is baseline metrics.

Only if you have baseline performance information can you answer these questions and form a plan to address the issues at hand. In this session, we will be discussing several open source tools you can combine into an inexpensive baselining system you can use to troubleshoot issues and answer important questions.

Attendees in this session will learn how to collect important metric data, what data to collect, and how to interpret that data and develop a plan of action to address any issues.

Speaker(s):

Tracy Boggiano

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - H

Title: Power BI Implementation: A Guide to the Other 90%

Abstract: When learning about Power BI, the part you learn first is all the powerful visuals. But like an iceberg, that’s just the 10% everyone sees. If you are asking yourself “what’s next?”, this training will teach your the other 90%.

In the first half of the day, we will focus on data manipulation. Often times, the hardest part of making a report is shaping the data. We will cover applied database theory, data cleansing with PowerQuery and data modelling with DAX. We’ll show you what each tool is good at and when to use it. We’ll also cover some internals so you understand at a deeper level how these tools really work.

The second half of the day is all about deployment and administration. Do you have a data governance plan in place? We’ll show how to access your on-premises data with data gateways. We’ll cover options for securing and protecting your data, including row-level security and auditing. Finally, we’ll go over the ways you can share and distribute these reports.

Speaker(s):

Eugene Meidinger

Track and Room: PreCon (Friday) - ATC201

Title: Effective Data Warehouse Storage Patterns

Abstract: Abstract:

Many companies start off with a simple data mart for reporting. As the company grows, users become dependent on the data mart for monitoring and making decisions on Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

Unexpected information growth in your data mart may lead to a performance impacted reporting system. In short, your users will be lining up at your cube for their daily reports.

How do you reduce the size of your data mart and speed up data retrieval?

This presentation will review the following techniques to fix your woes.

Coverage:

1 – What is horizontal partitioning? 2 – Database sharding for daily information. 3 – Working with files and file groups. 3 – Partitioned views for performance. 4 – Table and Index partitions. 5 – Row Data Compression. 6 – Page Data Compression. 7 – Programming a sliding window. 8 – What is different in Azure SQL database?

Speaker(s):

John Miner

Track and Room: Application Database Development - D

Title: 5 Minute No Sweat SQL Security Audits

Abstract: Security audits such as PCI, STIG, or HIPAA, are important and can be complicated. Depending on the requirements it may take considerable time to gather the information you will need. In this session, you will get scripts that I use for compliance audits that help to collect the information required for many different audits quickly. Even when you have multiple SQL Servers, you can quickly and easily identify where to focus your efforts to ensure you pass security audits. Through demonstration and discussion of what and why certain items get reviewed you will leave with a better understanding of how to be compliant within you SQL Server environment.

Speaker(s):

Chris Bell

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - A

Title: New features in Management Studio and Showplan – Performance Troubleshooting made easier!

Abstract: SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is now updated each month with the latest version of the SQL Client Tools. Which enabled rapid enhancement to Execution Plan.

Do you know that you can now see how many pages are spilled to disk for a sort, as well as the memory statistics for the operator? Are you aware that you can see the top 10 waits for an execution and what trace flags were active during compilation and which ones influenced compilation? Have you ever analyzed a big plan and wish you could search for table name, index name or column name without opening XML plan? When you see a clustered index was used do you know for sure which statistics were used by the Query Optimizer to estimate the number of rows?

In this demo intensive session, I will show you how to find and use new features introduced into SSMS and Showplan. You will walk out of this session equipped to make Query Performance Troubleshooting easier and ready to tackle those nasty, hard to solve query plans.

Speaker(s):

Taiob Ali

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - G

Title: Microsoft and Big Data - An Overview of the Power Tools and more!

Abstract: Come see Microsoft’s Power tools demonstrated for advanced analytics and hear about Microsoft’s embrace of Open Source and the Hadoop platform. We’ll also present on Microsoft’s tools for handling Big Data, such as the Parallel Data Warehouse and HDInsights.

Speaker(s):

David Patrick

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - B

Title: Deploying SQL Server using Desired State Configuration

Abstract: Automation and configuration management are essential tools in the belt of all IT practitioners. In this session you’ll learn about Microsoft’s Desired State Configuration tool, and how you can leverage it to automagically deploy SQL Server in a consistent and repeatable way. You’ll also see how DSC can be used to make changes or correct the dreaded configuration drift.

There will be demos! No death by PowerPoint.

Speaker(s):

Ned Bellavance

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - G

Title: Statistics and Cardinality – How they work together

Abstract: Are your statistics up to date? Yes, it’s that dreaded phrase you hear all the time when it comes to performance tuning your SQL Server. What does it matter? Why should I care about statistics? Aren’t they automatic or something like that? In this session we will go over why statistics matter, how they are generated, how they impact performance, and even how to maintain them. Once we have that all settled, we will take a quick look at how the cardinality estimator uses statistics to determine a ‘good enough’ plan to use. We will close out the session by taking a look at the performance impact a simple upgrade of your SQL Server to 2014 and the new cardinality estimator can have.

Speaker(s):

Chris Bell

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - G

Title: DevOps Database administration.

Abstract: How outsource administrative tasks to your end user groups in a safe, secure, and repeatable pattern. Now you no longer have to pause and stop what you are doing to create that new login, and replicate it to your Disaster Recovery. You do not have to stop and perform a backup/restore to refresh the development environment. Empower your end users, let them do this on their own without compromising your security.

There will be a demo!

Speaker(s):

Stephen Mokszycki

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - E

Title: Data Landscape on Azure

Abstract: There are many Data Platform offerings available on Azure and new ones are introduced regularly and evolved. In this session we will cover various offering and what scenarios are most suitable for. We will also discuss whether it makes sense to make use of this services or roll your own on-premise or hybrid solutions

Speaker(s):

Sepand Gojgini

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - H

Title: Deploy AlwaysOn on Google Cloud in Real Life

Abstract: We will discuss all details of deploying SQL Server 2016 AlwasyOn on Google Cloud in real life. There are already white paper and google official document on creating AlwaysOn. However those are not ready for real production environment. I will show you all missing parts to deploy in real life on GCP

Speaker(s):

Zhen Zhang

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - A

Title: Writing Advanced Functions in PowerShell

Abstract: A lot of DBAs use Powershell to help automate complex tasks or apply configuration changes to multiple servers. Many are writing their own functions, and some may even have packaged them up into a custom module. What about more advanced features? How many are using verbose output, pipeline parameters, or parameter validation? These are just some of the features of something called “Advanced Functions” in PowerShell. In this session, we will discuss these topics and more as we work through all the components of a sample Advanced PowerShell function.

This session will be geared towards DBAs but will be useful for anyone wanting to learn more about PowerShell. Experience writing basic PowerShell functions is not a requirement, but will definitely make it easier to follow along. I highly recommend bringing a laptop with PowerShell 5.1 installed so attendees can follow along.

Speaker(s):

Mark Wilkinson

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - E

Title: The Phenomenal IT Consultant - A Blueprint to Getting New Clients, Charging More, and Working Less

Abstract: Whether you are just starting out or have been in business as an IT consultant for a while, if you wonder how to get more clients, you are not alone. You are probably spending many hours chasing after opportunities, but somehow, you just can’t get enough to say yes. Now, imagine having potential clients call you instead. Imagine getting enough inquiries to be able to pick and chose (while increasing your prices working less). Discover how in this unique session where Sebastian Meine, Ph.D. will introduce a simple way to attract new clients to your business: The NICER Client Attraction Method™.

learn why your current way of finding clients is driving them away
find out how to stop feeling like the best-kept secret in your field
identify the five steps every client has to take before they will ever pay you So, if you feel like you are treading water when it comes to growing your client base, join this session and get started on your way to becoming a Phenomenal IT Consultant.

Speaker(s):

Sebastian Meine

Track and Room: Professional Development - G

Title: Extending DevOps to SQL Server

Abstract: Most organizations are under pressure to speed up the software delivery cycle, whether that’s to respond more quickly to the needs of the business, the needs of your customers or just to keep up with the competition. Unfortunately, the database is commonly considered a bottleneck. Without the right processes in place, database change management can slow things down, adding risk, uncertainty, and getting in the way of development and operations working together to deliver. Any organization that wants to fully benefit from a DevOps approach is going to have to overcome some specific challenges presented by the database. This session will teach you how to take DevOps principles and practices and apply them to SQL Server so that you can speed up the database delivery cycle at the same time you protect the information contained within.

Speaker(s):

Grant Fritchey

Track and Room: Application Database Development - I

Title: Entrepreneurship - Are you ready to make it on your own?

Abstract: There’s no doubt about it, being an entrepreneur can be very rewarding. However, it is far from easy. So, before you embark on that journey, you have to ask yourself if this is the right thing for you to do. But, how do you know?

Attend this inspiring session by Prof Joe Wehr of the MCCC and discover the good and the bad of becoming an entrepreneur.

This includes the things everyone needs to know, like

how to strategize and create a business plan
how to secure financing
what to look out for before hiring (hiring mistakes are very costly)

And the less obvious, including

knowing when and how to get out (retirement, anybody?)
the not so subtle difference between a consultant and an entrepreneur (this is an eye-opener)
how to legally extend the reach of your cash (ever heard of multitasking your money?)

If you have been thinking about “it” but aren’t sure if you’re ready, you need to attend this session. You might be surprised what you learn about yourself.

Speaker(s):

Joe Wehr

Track and Room: Professional Development - D

Title: XML and JSON deep dive

Abstract: In the modern world of information technology, keeping data stored and manipulated reliably and efficiently is one of the top priorities. Within the last decade, SQL Server has evolved into a sophisticated Enterprise RDBMS tool, and it is still growing by providing more functionalities to store and manipulate data reliably. eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is one of the technologies that SQL Server implements not only for data manipulation but also for internal usage, such as Execution Plans, Extended Events, DDL trigger Eventdata() function, and behind-the- scenes construction for SQL Server Business Intelligence Tools (SSIS, SSRS, SSAS). XML skills often appear in SQL Server DBA job requirements because the ability to work with XML allow the DBA to be faster and more efficient when solving different types of problems.

Speaker(s):

Alex Grinberg

Track and Room: PreCon (Friday) - ATC216

Title: Self Service Business Intelligence: Model for High Efficiency

Abstract: The goal of business intelligence is to get the right information to the right people at the right time. Historically, the long-standing model for this process was completely IT owned. Business users had issues with the speed of delivery with this approach, along with the lack of flexibility. The self-service business intelligence model is a methodology that addresses these problems, and gives the end users more freedom with their data.

In this discussion, Zack Fanelle will be covering the intricacies of why the self-service business model drives high levels of efficiency and productivity. This requires a new approach to collaboration with the business and IT. In addition, he will be covering technical examples of what the model would look like in 2018 and how to take advantage of it using modern products.

Speaker(s):

Zachary Fanelle

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - I

Title: HA/DR Solutions Using Distributed Availability Groups

Abstract: No need to be afraid of availability groups. No more multi-subnet clusters. Use DAG to implement cross cluster replication. Learn how to expand your replication using the distributed availability groups using virtual and physical servers. Configure solutions to provide high availability and disaster recovery to any degree.

Speaker(s):

Jennifer Brocato

Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - A

Title: Protecting SQL Server on Linux!

Abstract: Are you curious about SQL Server on Linux? Join the session to learn all about the next generation of SQL Server on the Linux Operating System. Learn about deployment, configuration, storage, scale and more. Options for High Availability can seem boundless. Learn how to select the best option for you and how SANless clustering makes it simple.

Speaker(s):

Michael Traudt

Track and Room: Technical Vendor Session - K

Title: REST Easy - Instant APIs for Your Database

Abstract: SQL Server provides database technology built with industry-leading performance, top-notch security and compliance, mission-critical availability, and a consistent experience across platforms and devices.

API-driven data consumption platforms and services highlight the need for RESTful access to SQL server data. The existing options for REST access to SQL Server data or using web development frameworks to convert relational data to JSON objects soak up time, resources, and energy on software development and maintenance that enterprises could be using to drive business.

With the CData API Server, users can rapidly create RESTful APIs for SQL Server data using a point-and-click interface. API Server includes everything needed to create, run, manage, and secure APIs for your SQL Server data. In this talk, we will walk through creating an OData API for SQL Server data and demonstrate connectivity using modern web development frameworks.

Speaker(s):

Jerod Johnson

Track and Room: Technical Vendor Session - B

Title: Women’s Mental Toughness in the Tech Industry

Abstract: As a woman in tech, you enjoy the work and you want to contribute, yet chances are there are times you feel like quitting. Let’s face it, it gets tiring to step up every day when you’re always dealing with how to fit in with all the guys, being respected, and getting your voice heard. Add in juggling work and home, along with that nagging voice in your head, “Am I good enough?” – it’s no wonder that educated, highly trained women are leaving tech in droves.

Mental Toughness coach Bobbi-Jo Brighton, CST, LCI, helps us take a critical and insightful look at challenges that women professionals face in building their tech careers and becoming effective, influential leaders. Bobbi-Jo shares her expertise on empowering women through mental toughness to objectively look at workplace dissatisfaction, as well as the vital importance of strengthening your mindset to shift from frustration, doubt, and confusion within yourself to stay in the game and thrive in your life and tech career. (7 mi

Speaker(s):

Bobbi-Jo Brighton, CST, LCI

Track and Room: Professional Development - H

Title: Remember what it’s like to be a Beginner?

Abstract: As an educator, I have seen such a wide demographic of people being attracted to databases and SQL. Wanting to understand how it all works and eager to learn this technology. From students majoring in computer science, business, and marketing to working professionals like developers, business analyst, marketing analyst and business managers.

This is the new crop of beginners I see every day that are attracted to you and what you do as a professional in database technology!

The thing is, as attractive as we are; to someone who wishes to enter this field; the actual steps they must take to become part of this profession can seem daunting.

In this session, I will walk us down memory lane back to the place we all started, as a beginner. I will raise your awareness of just how influential you already are and how you can use that influence to help those starting on their journey to understanding databases and SQL.

Speaker(s):

Walter Shields

Track and Room: Professional Development - G

Title: SQL Automation – In the Cloud, On-Premise, and Hybrid

Abstract: They’re all SQL jobs, but some of your critical jobs run on local SQL Servers, while others run on Azure SQL. Still others execute across both environments. Will you maintain separate SQL Agents or other schedulers to automate these jobs? Or, will you will leverage a centralized solution? JAMS gives you complete control over every aspect of your SQL jobs – their source, their schedule, their history, their status – regardless of environment.

In this working session, we will walk through defining, executing, monitoring, and logging SQL jobs with JAMS. Then, we’ll show you how to leverage one centralized automation solution to manage all your SQL jobs, and combine them into powerful business workflows that span on-premise, cloud, and hybrid instances.

Speaker(s):

Louis Diaz-Delgado

Track and Room: Technical Vendor Session - K

Title: Table Partitioning 101

Abstract: As of SQL 2016/SP1, Table Partitioning is available in all editions of SQL Server!

In this entry-level session, we’ll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of deploying this often misunderstood feature. Is it designed to improve performance, or to ease administration?

Only one way to find out!

Speaker(s):

Ned Otter

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - A

Title: #GetModern With Dell EMC

Abstract: Consistent and predictable performance is critical for any successful deployment of Microsoft SQL Server. All-Flash arrays have been available for years and sub-millisecond response times should be the expectation. Maximize the performance and agility of your environment and learn how to automate and leverage self-service for snapshots of your databases for protection and re-purposing. Test/Dev infrastructures can be refreshed from production DBs in minutes rather than hours or days. Stop working harder and slower than you need to be, learn how you can leverage Dell EMC. Whether storage, servers, networking, data protection, converged or hyper-converged… we have you covered.

Speaker(s):

Michael Wells

Track and Room: Technical Vendor Session - K

Title: SQL Server 2017 and Python… Perfect Together

Abstract: SQL Server 2017 included Python support for advanced in-database analytics and machine learning, allowing businesses to turn their data into knowledge. Python is one of the most popular languages for data science and features a robust collection of external libraries to shorten development time.

This session explores how the basics of Python, how it is integrated within SQL Server, and demonstrates some code in the context of a potential use case.

Speaker(s):

Tracey Kroll

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - H

Title: Simple Modeling Solutions to Complex Measure Problems

Abstract: With examples of real problems and (attempted) solutions, this presentation will examine dimensional modeling techniques which simplify and speed up measure evaluation. A fast-paced and language/tool-agnostic look at some common and uncommon reporting scenarios, including:

All manner of date calculations and comparisons Slowly changing dimensions Events in progress Conditional evaluation of measures

By the end of this talk, you should have a stronger understanding of the right questions to ask that will make your BI solution simpler for end users and more performant at run-time.

Speaker(s):

Greg Baldini

Track and Room: Technical Vendor Session - C

Title: SQL Server Tools for Query Tuning

Abstract: Query tuning within SQL Server can be a tough skill to master. The new tooling released with SQL Server 2016 and 2017 changes how you identify poorly performing queries, troubleshoot their behavior, and tune the queries, all a little easier. This workshop teaches new techniques for tuning queries using all the new tools introduced in SQL Server 2016 and 2017. You’ll be able to put this knowledge to work immediately, not only in your 2016 or better instances but also in your Azure SQL Database databases. You will be tuning your queries faster and more accurately using the new tools available.

Speaker(s):

Grant Fritchey

Track and Room: PreCon (Friday) - ATC218

Title: DAX More Than Measures: An Introduction to DAX as a Query Language

Abstract: DAX is the native formula language for Power BI and SSAS Tabular. At least, that’s how most of us have experienced it.

DAX is actually a query language, with rich semantics to represent all manner of analytical queries. Join us for a deep dive into using DAX to its full potential to answer complex queries using Tabular’s in-memory model for lightning speed.

Speaker(s):

Greg Baldini

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - C

Title: Move Your SQLServer Database to the cloud

Abstract: Clear the clouds on (pun intended)

What’s “The Cloud”? Why Should I Move to The Cloud? When Should I Move to The Cloud? What Should I Move to The Cloud? How Do I Move to The Cloud?

Speaker(s):

Clay Jackson

Track and Room: Technical Vendor Session - K

Title: Power Query Deep Dive

Abstract: Power Query is a great tool for extracting, transforming, and loading data. It has an intuitive interface that allows you to create queries without having to worry about writing code. Under the covers Power Query is creating the M code that gets executed. In this session we will pull back the covers to reveal and understand the M code that is being created. This will give you greater insight into how to debug your queries. In addition, we will look at creating advance queries that go beyond what is available using the Power Query user interface.

Speaker(s):

Dan Clark

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - C

Title: How to Ace Your Job Interview

Abstract: Aside from your technical abilities, the impression you make on the interview will be the reason you do or do not get a job offer. In this session, Sarah Hutchins, a successful national IT recruiter will highlight her top tips for phone, video conference, and onsite interviews. In addition, she will provide industry information about salary negotiation that employers don’t want you to know, to help you leverage the best possible offer. The session will include information about preparation, dress, and presentation. It will also incorporate role-playing the most common interview questions, and all attendees will be provided an interview prep guide with typical behavioral questions.

Speaker(s):

Sarah Hutchins

Track and Room: Professional Development - I

Title: So you want to Present: Tips and Tricks of the trade

Abstract: So you’ve decided to take the leap into presenting. Maybe it’s at your local user group, maybe it’s at SQLSaturday. This talk will guide you through the process of selecting a topic, preparing for it and actually giving it.

We’ll talk about what can go wrong and how to handle that. We’ll also talk about what can be done to prevent something from going wrong in the first place.

What are some good guidelines to follow and when can, or even should, you break them.

This will be partly interactive so come with questions and be prepared to be asked some.

Speaker(s):

Greg Moore

Track and Room: Professional Development - F

Title: 7 Steps to Starting Your Own Business

Abstract: TBD

Speaker(s):

Ivan Carter

Track and Room: Professional Development - D

Title: XML and JSON, does the DBA need it

Abstract: This session explains internal SQL Server XML processes and demonstrates how XML shredding could help to solve issues, speed up daily performance monitoring and detect problems. The difference between XML and JSON will be demonstrated, with an in-depth look at the SQL Server - JSON integration. During the session, the audience will be provided with plenty of code examples. As a bonus, a lucky winner will receive my most recent book, “XML and JSON Recipes for SQL Server”.

Speaker(s):

Alex Grinberg

Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - A

Title: Azure SQL Data Warehouse - Migrate on-premises to cloud: How to and Best Practice

Abstract: Azure SQL Data Warehouse - Migrate on-premises to cloud: How to and Best Practice We will discuss what is Azure SQL DW and ways to build it and migrate to it. Azure SQL DW is a SQL-based, fully managed, petabyte-scale cloud data warehouse, that is highly elastic and enables you to set up in minutes and scale capacity in seconds.

Speaker(s):

Linda Zhang

Track and Room: Cloud Application Development Deployment - E

Title: Mom Rules for Managing Enterprise Database Environments

Abstract: Have you ever looked at an environment and wondered how the heck they ever got anything done because it is so disorganized? The first thing I do for newly inherited environments is implement some organization and do some database clean up. Not only does organization make the environment easier to maintain, it can help speed up trouble shooting. Good organization can even help with some performance issues.

Speaker(s):

Marsha Pierce

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - E

Title: Successfully Running SQL Server in AWS

Abstract: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s largest public cloud hosting provider, with many companies successfully running SQL server on AWS infrastructure, but trying to make sense of the available options can be daunting. In this session, we will explore the options available for running SQL server in AWS, either as a managed service or using dedicated EC2 instances. We will document the different storage options, High Availability strategies, as well as important security and maintenance caveats. We will also cover various licensing approaches available when running SQL server in AWS.

Speaker(s):

Brian Carrig

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - B

Title: T-SQL Window Function Performance

Abstract: Window functions were first introduced with SQL Server 2005 and enhanced with SQL Server 2012. They enable easy development and great performance…well, sometimes. Learn what you need to know to take full advantage of these features. What you don’t know can hurt you when you are using window functions.

Speaker(s):

Kathi Kellenberger

Track and Room: Application Database Development - B

Title: Healthcare Analytics using Machine Learning Services with Python in SQL Server 2017

Abstract: Take advantage of Python-based analytics in SQL Server 2017. This session will cover setting up Python Machine Learning in SQL Server 2017 and exploring data models through analytics using publicly available healthcare claims data. You won’t need to know Python to get value from this session, but an understanding of programming will be very helpful.

Speaker(s):

Rick Wargo

Track and Room: Analytics and Visualization - I

Title: Innovation or Extinction: Reimagining the Role of IT

Abstract: While nearly every organization believes that they want to capture “innovation” as the silver bullet to survivability and growth, very few have learned the best practices to create an “innovative culture”, and even fewer execute those plans well. Beverly Prohaska, Consultant and former CIO, presents a model for understanding and initiating a culture that can actually innovate at differing levels. This discussion will include key definitions, do’s and don’ts, as well as best practices, examples, and observations on Innovation across several large companies.

Speaker(s):

Beverly Prohaska

Track and Room: Professional Development - E

Title: Power Query ETL: Let’s talk about data integration with Power Query

Abstract: Power Query is developing fast and gaining exponential popularity. Integration into SSAS is a strong statement from Microsoft that Power Query graduated from self-service BI to production. This session will focus on advanced topics in data connectivity and data transformation within Power BI environment. Some key topics include:

Parameterized queries
Custom connectors
Data generation
Data transformation
Query grouping

Speaker(s):

Nick Chobotar

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - F

Title: Data Governance and Master Data Management

Abstract: With system implementation and data sourcing being more widely distributed than ever, from on premise to cloud and cloud services to self-service BI, challenges to manage your enterprise data has only grown exponentially harder. We will review options and scenarios for implementing Master Data Management (MDM), and discuss how a Data Governance framework to support the entire process becomes very critical to the success of your business. We will look at design patterns available to support your MDM effort, tools, such as SQL Server Master Data Services, and the setup of the organization oversight as an integral part of the overall picture.

Speaker(s):

Vince Napoli

Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - H

Title: Implementing Data Warehouse Patterns with the Microsoft Data Plat

Abstract: You’ve read some of the content of well-known Data Warehousing books – now what? How do you take the structures and disciplines inside such books as the Ralph Kimball series and implement them? This session will take several of the key concepts in Data Warehousing and demonstrate some implementations using SQL Server Integration Services and Analysis Services. We’ll look at items such as Type 2 Changing Dimensions, Confirmed Dimensions, Dimension Outriggers, Role-Playing Relationships, Many-to-Many Bridge table relationships, Factless Fact tables, Handling of NULL foreign key values, ETL patterns, and more

Speaker(s):

Kevin Goff

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - C

Title: Power BI Security

Abstract: How secure is Power BI and how do I apply user security? Come to this session to learn two things:

How secure Power BI really is in the cloud? We will go over what architecture Power BI uses to secure the data.
How does user security work Power BI? We will cover “who can see what” from a user point of view.

Speaker(s):

Ravi Kumar

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - F

Title: Azure Machine Learning 101

Abstract: You have probably heard the buzz about Azure Machine Learning, aka Azure ML, over the past few years. It is a surprisingly easy to use predictive analytic tool that you can learn for free. Attend this session to learn how to get started with Azure ML.

Speaker(s):

Kathi Kellenberger

Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - D

Title: Tips on Managing Lots of SQL Servers

Abstract: When managing a single server it is easy to keep track of the configuration of that server, but what about when you have more than ten servers to manage or a hundred? How do you know they are setup correctly? How do you maintain the databases on each server? How do you take care of patching? How do you know when your server is on fire?

In this talk we will answer these questions and more as we discuss technologies and approaches you can use to make sure your environment is configured and performing at its best.

Speaker(s):

Tracy Boggiano

Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - F

Speakers

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

Tracey Kroll

Tracey has worked with SQL Server since version 6.5, which means she is either experienced or just old – depending on how many gray hairs she found that morning. Tracey is a board member of the Philadelphia SQL Server Users Group (PSSUG). Whether profiling data for analytics, creating predictive models, or creating compelling visualizations, she is passionate about delivering data in a way that is understandable and actionable to the business. Her current position at an IoT company is an analytics role working directly with clients to help them use their current machine data to predict the future. She also enjoys writing, in both personal and professional capacities.

Greg Moore

Twitter: - @stridergdm

LinkedIn: Greg Moore

Contact: https://blog.greenms.com

Greg Moore is a graduate of RPI. There, he majored in CompSci, but probably spent as much time hiking, canoeing, caving and rock-climbing as he did studying. He started working with SQL Server 4.21a in 1995 and has survived numerous upgrades. He’s been a Director and later VP of IT at several startups including PowerOne Media, TownNews and Traffiq and now consults. These days, when he’s not busy with playing with SQL Server or spending time with his family, he can often be found underground caving or teaching cave rescue with the NCRC. While his focus is on the operations side of DBA, his interests include DR, performance and general IT problem solving. He is the author of: IT Disaster Response: Lessons Learned in the Field.

Sebastian Meine

Twitter: - @sqlity

LinkedIn: Sebastian Meine

Contact: http://sqlity.net/en/blog/

Sebastian Meine, Ph.D. is the SQL Stylist behind sqlity.net llc. In 2010 he founded sqlity.net to fully engage in his passion for SQL Server. Armed with a Ph.D. in Computer Science and years of experience in architecting DBs for a global Fortune 50 company, Sebastian now provides training and consulting services for his clients, specializing in SQL Server Security, Test Driven Development and Performance. Sebastian is an experienced public speaker, published author, president of the Philly PASS Chapter, PASS Regional Mentor and coauthor lead developer of tSQLt.

Ned Bellavance

Twitter: - https://twitter.com/Ned1313

LinkedIn: Ned Bellavance

Contact: https://nedinthecloud.com

Ned Bellavance is an IT professional with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Starting as a humble helpdesk operator, Ned has worked up through the ranks of systems administration and infrastructure architecture, and in the process developed an expansive understanding of IT infrastructure and the applications it supports. Currently, Ned works as the Director of Cloud Solutions for a premier IT consulting company in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, specializing in Enterprise Architecture both on-premise and in the cloud. Ned is also Microsoft MVP in Cloud and Datacenter management, and an author for Pluralsight.

Jennifer Brocato

LinkedIn: Jennifer Brocato

Microsoft Certified in SQL Server. Leads a groups of DBAs providing support of operations and implementing the latest SQL technologies. 25+ years experience in enterprise development and passionate about SQL Server. When I am not engrossed in SQL Server, I am judging USA Gymnastics in Maryland.

Michael Wells

Twitter: - @SqlTechMike

LinkedIn: Michael Wells

Contact: http://sqltechmike.com

Michael Wells is a Microsoft Specialist at Dell EMC covering enterprise customers. He has worked in IT since 2000 and has supported all versions of SQL Server from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2014. Michael has been presenting since 2007 for local user groups, CodeCamps, SQLSaturday events, IT Pro Camps, and large conferences like PASS Summit and Oracle OpenWorld.

Tracy Boggiano

Twitter: - TracyBoggiano

LinkedIn: Tracy Boggiano

Contact: http://databasesuperhero.com

Tracy Boggiano is a Senior Database Administrator for DocuSIgn. She has spent over 20 years in IT, using SQL Server since 1999, and is currently certified as an MCSE Data Platform. Tracy has worked on SQL Server since 6.5. She has spoken at local user groups and numerous SQLSaturdays. She is currently a co-leader of a TriPASS Local Group in Raleigh, NC.

Tracy also tinkered with databases in middle school to keep her sports card collection organized. She blogs at databasesuperhero.com.

Her passion outside of SQL Server is volunteering with foster children as their advocate in court through volunteerforgal.org and being a mental health advocate as part of the PAIMI NC Advisory Council.

Ned Otter

Twitter: - @NedOtter

LinkedIn: Ned Otter

Contact: http://www.nedotter.com

DBA with vast experience administering Microsoft SQL Server since version 4.21 to the present.

Certifications:
MCSE SQL Server 2012 Data Platform MCTS SQL Server 2008 Overall computer experience: 25 years SQL Server experience: 23 years

Currently obsessed with In-Memory technology.

Please see LinkedIn profile for more details.

Greg Baldini

Contact: http://www.nihilentinc.com

Greg Baldini is a Solutions Architect with Nihilent Technologies, Inc. He leads the data practice for the east coast and business analyst practice nationally. His primary experience lies in delivering effective and scalable analytical solutions for customers starting from the ideation phases and following through to rollout, training, and adoption. His goal is to always deliver on the promise of analytics, to make better decisions through data. An expert in data modeling engineering, systems architecture, and the Microsoft Data Platform, he has delivered solutions in many spaces including manufacturing, healthcare, fraud analysis, marketing pipelines, and sales performance.

Marsha Pierce

Twitter: - MarshaPierceDBA

LinkedIn: Marsha Pierce

Marsha Pierce lives in Nashville, TN. She studied Computer Science, Mathematics, and French at Belmont University. She has 23 years of experience as a DBA, which means she has broken and fixed a lot of stuff. Before joining Pure Storage, she was an architect at HCA and Asurion. She is passionate about DevOps, Storage, Performance Tuning, and Standardization.

Tim Gorman

Twitter: - @TimGormanTech

LinkedIn: Tim Gorman

Contact: http://evdbt.com

Tim Gorman is a senior technical consultant for Delphix who securely enables masked data virtualization to increase the agility of IT development and testing while ending decades of security risk in SDLC.

Tim has co-authored six books on data warehousing and database administration, has performed technical review on eight more books, and has an author#39;s page on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Tim-Gorman/e/B00BKCTO5E).

Jerod Johnson

Twitter: - jeRodimusPrime

LinkedIn: Jerod Johnson

Contact: https://www.cdata.com/blog/

Jerod started his career as a teacher, teaching high school math and computer science for 6 years before transitioning to a career in the software industry. Originally hired as a member of the developer support team at CData Software, a leading provider of standards-based connectivity solutions for SaaS, Big Data and NoSQL sources (think ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET, etc.). He spent some time as a developer, but eventually found himself in his current role as a Technology Evangelist, writing about, demo-ing, and presenting the same products he supported and developed.

In the wild, you’ll find Jerod at home with his wife and kids, climbing some rocks (or plastic holds), or gathered around a table with friends playing board games.

Vince Napoli

Twitter: - @Napoli_V

LinkedIn: Vince Napoli

Vince is a Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Architect and has been his area of focus from 1996 to present. From the start of his career in 1987, he has been in Mainframe development and MVS technical support, System Testing, Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence architecture and development, and a SQL Server DBA / ETL developer / and database developer. He is a member of Professional Association of SQL Server(PASS), former president of the Philadelphia SQL Server User group (PSSUG), part of the PSSUG leadership since 2003 to the present, and was a member of the PASS program committee for the DW/BI track from 2003 to 2006. Vince has been a frequent presenter at local user group meetings, and SQLSaturday events.

Greg Baldini

Contact: http://www.nihilentinc.com

Zhen Zhang

Twitter: - mssqlranger

LinkedIn: Zhen Zhang

Contact: http://sqlwarrior.wordpress.com

Expert on SQL Server storage engine internals.

15+ years of full time DBA on SQL SERVER and other DBMS platforms

SQL Server High Availability Design and Implementation SQL Server Disaster Recovery Design and Implementation SQL Server Performance Tuning Amazon AWS Certified Solution Architect since 2014

Bobbi-Jo Brighton, CST, LCI

Bobbi-Jo Brighton, CST, LCI is a partner, speaker and coach with Mental Toughness University which has been providing the mindset performance edge for over 20 years to companies such as Johnson Johnson, Coca-Cola, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merrill Lynch to increase employee performance, exceed sales goals, develop leaders, and embrace and thrive through change.

Bobbi-Jo is the developer of Women’s Mental Toughness® (www.Boldful.Life) which addresses the key issues that limit women’s workplace performance and inhibit women from advancing in their careers and becoming effective, influential leaders.

James Serra

Twitter: - www.twitter.com/JamesSerra

LinkedIn: James Serra

Contact: http://www.JamesSerra.com

James Serra is a big data and data warehousing solution architect at Microsoft. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics. Previously, James was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. James is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker. He is the author of the book “Reporting with Microsoft SQL Server 2012”.

Tracy Boggiano

Twitter: - TracyBoggiano

LinkedIn: Tracy Boggiano

Contact: http://databasesuperhero.com

Tracy also tinkered with databases in middle school to keep her sports card collection organized. She blogs at databasesuperhero.com.

Sarah Hutchins

LinkedIn: Sarah Hutchins

Sarah is a huge fan of business analytics and data science. Professionally, she works at Method3, where she enjoys meeting and speaking with local professionals to provide career guidance and offer opportunities for career growth. Other areas of focus include sourcing and screening candidates, providing administrative assistance, contract review and coordination, and additional support of day to day operations. Additionally, she attends conferences, meetings, and industry events, maintains relationships with existing clients, researches the needs of companies, and contacts potential clients.

Mark Wilkinson

Twitter: - http://twitter.com/m82labs

Contact: http://www.m82labs.com

I am a father of 4, and live in Raleigh North Carolina. I love fixing problems, and learning new technologies that can help me fix those problems faster and better than I did the time before.

In my spare time I like to read, speak, and learn new things. I currently work as a Database Administrator at ChannelAdvisor where I solve fairly interesting problems on fairly large databases.

You can often find me on Twitter where I talk about SQL, beer, and anything else I find interesting.

Louis Diaz-Delgado

Louis Diaz is a Customer Success Engineer who works with MVP Systems Software, Inc. Louis’ key role at MVP is to ensure the successful onboarding and implementation of JAMS Enterprise Scheduler to customers who are either migrating from existing applications or those entirely new to batch scheduling. Louis holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering at the University of Hartford.

James Serra

Twitter: - www.twitter.com/JamesSerra

LinkedIn: James Serra

Contact: http://www.JamesSerra.com

Taiob Ali

Twitter: - https://twitter.com/SqlWorldWide

LinkedIn: Taiob Ali

Contact: http://www.sqlworldwide.com

Taiob Ali, MVP Data Platform, is an accomplished technical leader with a proven record of success. For 14 years, he has worked with the Microsoft Data Platform and MongoDB both on-premise and cloud. His experience includes all three major business sectors: finance, e-commerce, and healthcare. Taiob has hands-on experience in managing large database projects, massive data migration, intricate process design, testing and deployment, performance tuning, long term capacity planning. Taiob is currently working at “GMO LLC” as a Database Solution Manager, focusing on cloud migration, automation, improving, and streamlining operational workflow. He is a regular speaker at local and virtual PASS chapters, SQLSaturdays, and Azure conferences.

Walter Shields

Twitter: - @waaltah

LinkedIn: Walter Shields

Contact: http://www.sqltrainingwheels.com

My personal road to mastery of SQL began in the late nineties. At the time, opportunities to learn SQL in a formal, institutional setting were quite scarce, as the phenomenon of big data had not come to maturity. In lieu of any real scholastic alternative, I matriculated into the school of hard knocks—I learned SQL by trial and error, mostly error. It took 18 years, a few degrees, and more than a few lucky breaks before I succeeded in acquiring an authoritative, professional-level command over the language and applications of SQL.

Here is the good news: it does not have to be as difficult for you as it was for me.

Rick Wargo

Twitter: - @rickwargo

LinkedIn: Rick Wargo

Contact: https://www.rickwargo.com/

Rick Wargo is an innovative and cross-functional technology leader and architect with extensive experience in full lifecycle software development, data warehousing and analytics, business strategy, and process improvement in professional services, legal, and healthcare verticals. Rick played integral roles in developing, building, and delivering successful solution architectures in Microsoft and Open Source technologies leading up to 10x performance increases in execution and cost savings. He is currently serving as president of the Philadelphia Business Intelligence User Group. Rick is also an Alexa Champion. Find out more by visiting www.rickwargo.com.

Ravi Kumar

Twitter: - @sqlravi

I have over 12 years of experience working with SQL Server and Business Intelligence Technology. My current focus is cloud technologies: Power BI, Azure Analysis Services, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Data Factory. As a PFE at Microsoft, I regularly deliver 2 - 4 day training workshops.

Ray Kim

Twitter: - PianoRayK

LinkedIn: Ray Kim

Contact: https://pianorayk.wordpress.com/

Ray Kim is an advocate for documentation and technical communication. He is a co-founder of the Albany, NY SQL group (CASSUG), a member of the AlbanyUX user group, and has spoken at numerous SQLSaturdays and at PASS Summit. He has worked various positions in technology, including as a developer, webmaster, analyst, technical writer, and instructor. He holds an MS in technical communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS in computer science from Syracuse University.

A musician in his spare time, Ray plays four different instruments. He also enjoys going to ball games and doing CrossFit, and is a two-time SQLServerCentral.com fantasy football champion. He lives in Troy, NY with his wife, Lianne, and their two cats.

Stephen Mokszycki

Twitter: - mokszs

LinkedIn: Stephen Mokszycki

Stephen.Mokszycki@outlook.com DBA for ~4+years, IT Professional for 7.5 years. Currently I am a Data Architect Worked with SQL 2000/2005/2008/2012/2014 I’m currently working on a small environments: 5 instances, 60 databases, 1TB of data
Previously I worked on a large environment: 300+ Instances, ~6000 databases, 10s TBs of data. Automation is my favorite tool.

Linda Zhang

Linda Zhang-Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft. Founder of Central New Jersey SQL User Group. Over 10 years experiences in data platform management, architecture, engineering On-Premises and Cloud.

Kathi Kellenberger

Twitter: - auntkathi

LinkedIn: Kathi Kellenberger

Contact: http://auntkathisql.com

Kathi Kellenberger is the editor of Simple Talk at Redgate and a Data Platform MVP. She has worked with SQL Server for over 20 years and has authored, co-authored, or tech edited over a dozen technical books. Kathi is the co-leader of the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group and a volunteer at LaunchCode. When Kathi isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cycling, singing, and climbing the stairs of tall buildings. Be sure to check out her courses on Pluralsight.

Joe Wehr

Joe Wehr is a financial professional and educator with 40 years of experience. He is currently a Financial Educator at Clarifi and Instructor of Business and Entrepreneurial Initiatives at Montgomery County Community College. Previously Joe served as Director of Finance and Administration for Nike, Controller for Memorex Telex, and Sales Operations Manager for Western Digital.

Alex Grinberg

LinkedIn: Alex Grinberg

I have more than 20 years of IT experience. My primary focus is with the latest Microsoft technologies including .NET (VB and C#), SSRS and SSIS. I provide services in tuning, optimization, analysis and development for the creation of new applications, converting legacy technologies (SQL Server, VB.NET and C# ) and site training. I have worked for CSC, VerticalNet, IDP, LSAC , and TMNAS (to name a few) and I am currently employed with Cox Automotive. I am Apress author book “XML and JSON Recipes for SQL Server”, also wrote number of articles for Simple-Talk and SQLServerCentral.com

Sepand Gojgini

Twitter: - @SwissArmySQL

LinkedIn: Sepand Gojgini

Product Director at Datateam Services, 10+ years of experience designing data warehouse model and ETL engines used globally. Had a chance of working on world biggest relational Data Warehouse at Amazon managing 5+ PetaByte of data with growth 7+ TeraByte daily. Seeking to apply best software development practices to ETL development and streamlining development process.

John Miner

Twitter: - https://twitter.com/JohnMiner3

LinkedIn: John Miner

Contact: https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlserverauthor/154/john-miner/

John Miner is currently a Data Architect at BlueMetal advising corporations on how to solve their business needs with data platform solutions.

He has over twenty five years of data processing experience, and his architecture expertise encompasses all phases of the software project life cycle, including design, development, implementation, and maintenance of systems.

He has an undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science from the University of Rhode Island. Other credentials include an up to date MCSE certificate and currently taking the Data Science program from EDX.

Before joining BlueMetal, John won the Data Platform MVP award in 2014 and 2015 for his outstanding contributions to the SQL Server community.

Brian Carrig

Twitter: - @briancarrig

Brian Carrig is a Microsoft Certified Master of SQL Server and is currently a Senior Program Manager on the SQL Server Tiger Team at Microsoft focusing primarily on persistent memory technology and replication. In a previous life, Brian spent some time as an academic and holds a PhD in Computer Science. He is a native of Dublin, Ireland but now lives with his wife and two daughters in Redmond, Washington. If he is not talking about, thinking about or working with technology you will usually find him watching Chelsea FC.

Kevin Goff

Contact: http://www.kevinsgoff.net

SQL Server/Data Platform MVP Microsoft MVP since 2005 Database Developer/Consultant/Writer/Speaker Regular columnist, CODE Magazine

Brian Carrig

Twitter: - @briancarrig

Clay Jackson

Twitter: - n7qnm

Clay Jackson is a Database Sales Engineer for Quest, specializing in Database Performance Management and Replication Tools. Prior to joining Quest, Jackson was the DBA Manager at Darigold. He also spent over 10 years managing Oracle, SQLServer and DB2 databases and DBAs at Washington Mutual and was employee number 66 at Microsoft, spending time in Product Support, MIS and OS/2 Development. While at WaMu, Jackson was the Enterprise Database Compliance Officer, with responsibility for Database Security and Disaster Recovery. He also worked at Microsoft and Starbucks, is a CISM, and has a Masters in Software Engineering from Seattle University.

Michael Traudt

Michael Traudt, SIOS Senior Solutions Architect, brings 16 years of experience in high availability, DR, and backup and recovery. Focused on tier one application use cases he has hands-on experience building environments from the ground up based on needs to demonstrate applied features, run performance and scalability testing, or collect competitive analysis metrics

Chris Bell

Twitter: - @cbelldba

LinkedIn: Chris Bell

Contact: https://www.wateroxconsulting.com/

Chris Bell offers a unique view of how we live and work with data, both now and as we head into the future. Having braved many roles, lifecycles, and battles in the IT world, he has honed his DBA (Database Administration or Do ‘Bout Anything) skills in Information Systems and development, focusing on SQL Server. Currently, he serves as the lead DBA at The Motley Fool. You can keep up with Chris’ thoughts and technical community activities at WaterOxConsulting.com.

Grant Fritchey

Twitter: - @gfritchey

LinkedIn: Grant Fritchey

Contact: http://scarydba.com

Grant Fritchey is a Data Platform MVP with over 20 years’ experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0 back in 1995. He has also developed in VB, VB.NET, C#, and Java. Grant has written books for Apress and Simple-Talk. Grant presents at conferences and user groups, large and small, all over the world. He joined Redgate Software as a product evangelist in January 2011.

Grant Fritchey

Twitter: - @gfritchey

LinkedIn: Grant Fritchey

Contact: http://scarydba.com

Beverly Prohaska

Twitter: - BAProhaska

LinkedIn: Beverly Prohaska

Beverly Prohaska is a career CIO-turned IT consultant who is also a board trustee, angel investor, and speaker on current trends in technology. She is a passionate supporter of furthering women’s careers in Science and Technology (STEM) and mentoring future female leaders. She serves as the Program Chair for WCXO, a networking group for women executives and on the Board of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Society of Information Management (SIM). Ms. Prohaska holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Syracuse University, and an Executive M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh as well as numerous industry awards.

Alex Grinberg

LinkedIn: Alex Grinberg

Nick Chobotar

Twitter: - NickChobotar

Business Intelligence Developer. I specialize in the development and implementation of business intelligence solutions using Microsoft BI stack in combination with dimensional data modeling techniques. My experience includes design and development of data warehouses and data marts, ETL and standardization of data from various conventional and unconventional data sources, design and development of tabular SSAS semantic solutions as well as dashboards and end-user reporting.

Eugene Meidinger

Twitter: - @sqlgene

Contact: http://www.sqlgene.com

Eugene Meidinger works as a BI consultant and full time Pluralsight author. He currently focuses on content on Power BI and related products. He also leads the Pittsburgh Power BI User Group. He is certified in querying and administering SQL Server.

David Patrick

Twitter: - DavidEPatrick

LinkedIn: David Patrick

Contact: http://www.madsharepoint.com

Dave has been developing database applications for over 25 years. An MCT since 2001, he has taught many classes from Intro to Visual Interdev to Advanced SharePoint Development. Dave runs two user groups, the Maryland and Pennsylvania Microsoft Developers User Group, www.mapamdug.com, and MAD SharePoint, www.madsharepoint.com. Dave does SharePoint training and development for DSA, Inc., a DoD contractor that does great work for the Army over at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Dave is also an MVP.

Dan Clark

LinkedIn: Dan Clark

Contact: http://drclarkblog.wordpress.com/

Dan Clark is a senior data analytics consultant. He is focused on all things data analytics and training others how to get value from their data. Dan has published several books and numerous articles on .NET programming and data analytics. He is a regular speaker at various developer and database conferences and user group meetings and enjoys interacting with the Microsoft developer and database communities. His latest book Beginning Power BI published by Apress is a will get you up and running with self-service data analytics on the Power BI platform in no time.

Zachary Fanelle

Zack Fanelle is a graduate of Villanova University with a BS in Computer Science and a MS from Boston University in CIS with a concentration in Business Intelligence and Database Management. His past experience includes devops, business intelligence implementations, database development, data modeling, and cloud architecture in financial and healthcare institutions.

His fulltime job is a cloud computing consultant. He is passionate about business intelligence implementations and cloud computing solutions. The most overlooked and important part in BI for organizations is the quality of the implementation and integration within the organization.

Kathi Kellenberger

Twitter: - auntkathi

LinkedIn: Kathi Kellenberger

Contact: http://auntkathisql.com

Chris Bell

Twitter: - @cbelldba

LinkedIn: Chris Bell

Contact: https://www.wateroxconsulting.com/

Ivan Carter

LinkedIn: Ivan Carter

Ivan is a Branding Specialist at SimpleFastMarketing. In his role he works to simplify complex problems with compelling design story telling. He thinks strategically and systematically to capture a clear and concise idea that can engage clients at every level. He problem solves by utilizing research, insight by making the complex simple. He brings projects from conception to implementation, while thinking about how they apply in the real-world. Ivan guides his clients to find their own visual language, so they can express their goals to customers quickly.

Ivan is currently serving on the board of PSSUG (http://pssug.org/), a nonprofit that is dedicated to further the education of the local data community.

SQLSaturday #714 - Philadelphia 2018

Sessions

Title: Big data architectures and the data lake

Title: Reducing The Surface Area Of Risk in Data Security

Title: I lost my job! Now what?!? A survival guide for the unemployed

Title: Choosing technologies for a big data solution in the cloud

Title: Controlling Competing Workloads with SQL Server Resource Governor

Title: Collecting Performance Metrics

Title: Power BI Implementation: A Guide to the Other 90%

Title: Effective Data Warehouse Storage Patterns

Title: 5 Minute No Sweat SQL Security Audits

Title: New features in Management Studio and Showplan – Performance Troubleshooting made easier!

Title: Microsoft and Big Data - An Overview of the Power Tools and more!

Title: Deploying SQL Server using Desired State Configuration

Title: Statistics and Cardinality – How they work together

Title: DevOps Database administration.

Title: Data Landscape on Azure

Title: Deploy AlwaysOn on Google Cloud in Real Life

Title: Writing Advanced Functions in PowerShell

Title: The Phenomenal IT Consultant - A Blueprint to Getting New Clients, Charging More, and Working Less

Title: Extending DevOps to SQL Server

Title: Entrepreneurship - Are you ready to make it on your own?

Title: XML and JSON deep dive

Title: Self Service Business Intelligence: Model for High Efficiency

Title: HA/DR Solutions Using Distributed Availability Groups

Title: Protecting SQL Server on Linux!

Title: REST Easy - Instant APIs for Your Database

Title: Women’s Mental Toughness in the Tech Industry

Title: Remember what it’s like to be a Beginner?

Title: SQL Automation – In the Cloud, On-Premise, and Hybrid

Title: Table Partitioning 101

Title: #GetModern With Dell EMC

Title: SQL Server 2017 and Python… Perfect Together

Title: Simple Modeling Solutions to Complex Measure Problems

Title: SQL Server Tools for Query Tuning

Title: DAX More Than Measures: An Introduction to DAX as a Query Language

Title: Move Your SQLServer Database to the cloud

Title: Power Query Deep Dive

Title: How to Ace Your Job Interview

Title: So you want to Present: Tips and Tricks of the trade

Title: 7 Steps to Starting Your Own Business

Title: XML and JSON, does the DBA need it

Title: Azure SQL Data Warehouse - Migrate on-premises to cloud: How to and Best Practice

Title: Mom Rules for Managing Enterprise Database Environments

Title: Successfully Running SQL Server in AWS

Title: T-SQL Window Function Performance

Title: Healthcare Analytics using Machine Learning Services with Python in SQL Server 2017

Title: Innovation or Extinction: Reimagining the Role of IT

Title: Power Query ETL: Let’s talk about data integration with Power Query

Title: Data Governance and Master Data Management

Title: Implementing Data Warehouse Patterns with the Microsoft Data Plat

Title: Power BI Security

Title: Azure Machine Learning 101

Title: Tips on Managing Lots of SQL Servers

Speakers

Sponsors