SQLSaturday #901 - Kansas City 2019
Event Date: 09/14/2019 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Rockhurst University
- 1100 Rockhurst Road
- Kansas City, Missouri
This event has completed. All data shown below is from the historical XML public data available.
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: Power BI Datasets: Where Should My Data Live?
Abstract: Power BI provides many options for acquiring and creating datasets. Do you know the difference between an Imported Model, a Live Connection, and DirectQuery? Have you tried Composite Models? Are you aware of the newest features related to Power BI Dataflows and XMLA endpoints? This session will review your options for where to store data and explain the factors that should be used in determining what option is right for you. Obvious requirements such as data size, license costs and management, and desired data latency will be discussed. We’ll also talk about other factors such as the desire for self-service BI and avoiding data model sprawl. Join us for this webcast to learn how to determine the most appropriate type of Power BI dataset for your use case.
Speaker(s):
- Meagan Longoria
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - ARP 116
Title: Using Extended Events for Wait Stats Analysis
Abstract: When troubleshooting overall server performance, wait statistics are a great place to start. But when your SQL Server hosts a complex set of workloads, it can be difficult to narrow down which queries are causing the most wait, and what types of wait they are causing. Fortunately, SQL Server provides easy ways for targeting which queries are causing you the most wait time. In this session, we’ll learn how to use both Extended Events, and Dynamic Management Views for examining wait statistics from the instance level to the database level, all the way down to the individual query level. We’ll analyze poorly performing queries using a combination of methods and show how to quickly narrow down what SQL Server is waiting for, and why.
Speaker(s):
- David Maxwell
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 210
Title: Lessons Learned from a Successful Enterprise Power BI Deployment
Abstract: Power BI is an amazing tool for end-user analytics and reporting, but if you don’t architect for it correctly it may not work right as an enterprise reporting solution. Come to this session to get actual implementation details from a real deployment that was completed for a mid-sized company (1,500+ employees) and is being used daily by more than half of the employees after only a few months of being live in production. Using demos and actual documentation you will see what you need to think of for a project like this. We will be covering architecture, implementation, governance, change control, and support to get a Power BI enterprise deployment working successfully from someone that has done it! Azure Analysis Services, Power BI Pro, and Power BI Premium will be discussed and how each is being used in this solution as well.
Speaker(s):
- Steve Wake
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - ARP 224
Title: Encrypting Data within SQL Server
Abstract: Data breaches abound! Do you want to keep your company out of the headlines? What are some of the data privacy laws affecting you? How will encrypting data affect your database performance? What data fields should you encrypt? What else can you do to protect your sensitive data?
In this session, we will review each option to encrypt data within SQL Server, Transparent Data Encryption, Cell Level Encryption and Always Encrypted. While we look at the encryption options, we will review both on-premise and cloud offerings. This session will deep dive into setting up Always Encrypted encryption and share experiences implementing the encryption. Also, let’s learn how to classify data which should be protected and how to audit sensitive data usage.
You will leave this session with a deeper understanding about SQL Server encryption options and how encryption can affect your performance. Also, you will gather information on how to fully protect and review your sensitive data usage.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas Norman
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 114
Title: Managing ETL Change Using BIMLScript
Abstract: Change is constant, especially with source files. Health care claims data files change at least yearly. You develop an SSIS package to load the source file. You meticulously identify each of the columns and map them to the targets. Your package runs fine for months. Then the file format changes. Again, you tediously select each column, etc. Wouldn’t it be nice to simply document the structure of the file, the file’s metadata, and generate the SSIS from that metadata? Your users demand the documentation anyway. If the file changes, you simply change the metadata.
To demonstrate such an approach, I import some US census data. I create the SSIS package using BIMLScript and metadata. When the format changes, I change the metadata and generate a whole new package. And if your whole ETL approach changes to say Azure Data Factory? I will demonstrate how to generate an Azure Data Factory pipeline from the same metadata.
Speaker(s):
- Russel Loski
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - ARP 212
Title: Innovative Data Modeling: Make Data Warehousing Cool Again Part 1
Abstract: There is much more to life than 3rd normal form and dimensional modeling. Come explore how you can build a data warehouse solution or hybrid solution that is agile in nature with Data Vault. Discover this highly audit-able modeling technique used in international banking, manufacturing, insurance and many more industries. Made a mistake? No worries, own your model. Design changes happen and it can be addressed quickly avoiding pain and project delays and ultimately keeping your business happy. Let us bust the myth that data warehouses take too long to build and are too hard to modify by adding value to your environment and decreasing delivery time.
Speaker(s):
- Leslie Weed
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - ARP 222
Title: Real-World PowerShell for SQL Administration
Abstract: If you’re like me, you’ve attended PowerShell sessions before. However, much of the practical usage of PS comes with rolling back your sleeves and digging into the nuances of syntax and how to get things done. We are going to focus specifically on using PowerShell within the SQL Server Agent to build out everyday jobs.
In this session, I’m assuming that you know the basics of PowerShell. What we’re going to cover are some of the “gotchas” and nuances that I’ve run into when I’ve been working with the language, and particularly with the SQL Agent’s flavor of PowerShell.
And then we’ll spend the balance of our time looking at real-world, practical scripts that I use pretty much every day. PowerShell is an awesome way to automate so many processes and relieve some of the everyday monotony of SQL administration.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Hansen
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 212
Title: Zen and the Art of Baselines
Abstract: If your boss asked you for the list of the five most CPU-hungry databases in your environment six months from now for an upcoming licensing review, do you have an answer? Performance data can be overwhelming, but this session can help you make sense of the mess. Twisting your brain and looking at the data in different ways can help you identify resource bottlenecks that are limiting your SQL Server performance today. Trending this data over time will help you project how much resource consumption you will have months away. Come learn how to extract meaning from your performance trends and how to use it to proactively manage the resource consumption from your SQL Servers.
Speaker(s):
- David Klee
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 210
Title: Graph Databases–How and Why
Abstract: We, as data professionals, are dealing with increasingly larger amounts of data. And, increasingly, we’re asked to generate insights from this data. For that, the relationships between data points matter more than simple aggregations of individual data points. In our interconnected world, interconnected businesses, interconnected applications, graph databases lend themselves to answering relationship questions far more easily than…relational databases.
In this session we’ll look at graph databases for how to model graph databases how to easily express relationships between interconnected data how to efficiently retrieve interrelated data
We’ll look at the MATCH predicate in T-SQL and the MATCH statement in Cypher, the query language for Neo4j.
Speaker(s):
- Kevin Mackey
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 114
Title: HA/DR Solutions Using Distributed Availability Groups (Read-Scalable AGs too!)
Abstract: When designing your HA/DR solution, you need to consider all the possible options SQL Server has to offer to implement what is right for you. You will see how to use Failover Cluster Instances, Standalone Instances, Clusters, Availability Groups and Distributed Availability Groups.
We will walk through how to set up and configure an HA/DR solution from beginning to end, review possible alerts, and how to monitor. We will take a look at the new SQL2017 Read-scale Availability Groups and why to use them. We will architect one of many possible VM solutions to host your HA/DR implementation.
Finally, we will see Automatic Failover and see how to perform a Manual Failover.
Speaker(s):
- Jennifer Brocato
Track and Room: Strategy and Architecture - ARP 114
Title: How to do a Complete SQL Server Assessment
Abstract: Completing a full assessment on a SQL Server is essential to learning about not only the current state of the server, but also any area that may be impacting performance or security. If you have more than one DBA, it is also important to have all the DBA team members review the same areas when completing an assessment. During this session we will discuss when assessments are useful, what should be included in the assessment as well as how to interpret the results. We will use a SQL script that will capture all the data needed. This script will more than 88 data points, including fragmentation of indexes, performance counter values, server and database security information, queries that consume the most CPU time including execution plans as well as many other data points. This session will also cover how to document your findings and recommendations.
Speaker(s):
- Dave Bland
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 224
Title: Principle of Least Privilege: The Key to Strong Security
Abstract: A truly strong security model starts with no permissions and adds what is necessary to allow the user or application to do their assigned task - no more, no less. This is called the Principle of Least Privilege. It’s a simple concept, but it can be quite difficult to implement in practice, especially if the prevailing practice has been much more permissive.
In this session, we’ll talk about the Principle of Least Privilege in more detail, and we’ll discuss ways to implement it for the three primary classes of users - general users, applications, and administrators. Each has their own set of needs that requires a separate approach to allowing the security to meet those needs. You’ll leave with actionable ideas on ways that you can improve your company’s security while minimizing the impact of the changes.
Speaker(s):
- Ed Leighton-Dick
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 210
Title: Always Encrypted - Now with Enclaves!
Abstract: If you took a look at Always Encrypted in SQL Server 2016, you may have had some reservations about it. It was a great concept, but because the database engine could no longer access the data, a lot more of the data processing was pushed to the clients. For many companies, that was far from ideal.
Enter SQL Server 2019. With Always Encrypted with Secure Enclaves, the benefits of Always Encrypted are retained, but the SQL Server engine gains the ability to carry out operations on the data - without the data ever leaving the server, and without decryption. How is this possible? Does it live up to its promises? Come to this session to find out and to see how to use it in your applications.
Speaker(s):
- Ed Leighton-Dick
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 210
Title: SQL Server 2019 - New Features and Enhancements
Abstract: SQL Server 2019 is in Public preview for almost 1 year. Microsoft promises that it is going to be released for consumption this year. Like previous versions, SQL Server 2019 comes with a plethora of new features as well as with enhancements to the existing features. In this session, I will discuss new features such as Accelerated Database Recovery, PMEM (persistent memory device), Hybrid Buffer pool, In-memory Optimized Tempdb, etc. This is an introductory session to introduce you to these new features. There will not be enough time to do any meaningful demo but there will be plenty of time to ask questions. You will leave this session with a solid understanding of some of the best new features of SQL Server 2019 which will help you and your company make decisions such as when and why to upgrade your database platform.
Speaker(s):
- Ameena Lalani
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 116
Title: More Lessons Learned from a Successful Enterprise PBI Deployment
Abstract: Power BI is an amazing tool for end-user analytics and reporting, but if you don’t architect for it correctly it may not work right as an enterprise reporting solution. Come to this session to get actual implementation details from a real deployment that was completed for a mid-sized company (1,500+ employees) and is being used daily by more than half of the employees after only a few months of being live in production. Using demos and actual documentation you will see what you need to think of for a project like this. We will be covering architecture, implementation, governance, change control, and support to get a Power BI enterprise deployment working successfully from someone that has done it! Azure Analysis Services, Power BI Pro, and Power BI Premium will be discussed and how each is being used in this solution as well. Prerequisites: Understanding of reporting/modeling in an enterprise setting is helpful, but not required for this session
Speaker(s):
- Steve Wake
Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - ARP 224
Title: Predicting the NFL with SQL Server 2017 ML Services
Abstract: Every wonder if you could predict the outcome of the Superbowl? Or know the score of any game? The NFL is perfect for predictive analytics: it has a fixed time frame, a set playing field, and rigorous rules. These are characteristics we can only envy in the business world. With the aid of ML Services in SQL Server 2017, we have the strength of statistical languages like R and Python right within the database engine. In this session, John will demonstrate the steps for successfully preparing the data, then run a regression model to predict the scores for the current week’s scheduled NFL game. Want to know if your team is likely to win against the spread? Wanna bet?
Speaker(s):
- John Byrnes
Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - ARP 210
Title: XML? What’s this doing in my database?
Abstract:
As a DBA, we’re responsible for making sure our systems run optimally at all times. We know about Extended Events and how to use XQuery to access them. So what happens when we have XML data in user tables?
In this session, we’ll learn how XML data can be stored in the database, how to index it appropriately for performance, and tips and tricks to make your SQL queries against XML data faster.
Speaker(s):
- Adam Koehler
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 114
Title: Automating Data Integrity Checks- SQL | PBI | Flow
Abstract: Everyone’s had their data pipeline break. The difficulty is often pinpointing which of the many failure points caused the issue. Did the source system not provide data? Was it the ETL? Did the reporting layer fail? Maybe the data really is just weird this month?
This talk is an intermediate level solution to that pain point. We’ll walk through a simple data ecosystem and how to build in testing at each failure point. Then we’ll focus on setting up automated alerts.
Speaker(s):
- Joseph Hobbs
Track and Room: BI Information Delivery - ARP 212
Title: Loading SQL Server Data with Powershell
Abstract: Powershell has become the defacto standard for scripting Microsoft products. However, putting data in text files doesn’t scale. Here I’m going to show you the ins and outs of loading data into SQL Server using Powershell for the purpose of centralizing collections. We’re going to cover RBAR as well as bulk operations and the types of things you need to take into consideration in an enterprise setting. This is a no holds barred session taught by an enterprise SQL Server scripting expert. You can’t afford to miss this session if you do any level of scripting in your shop.
Speaker(s):
- Sean McCown
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 222
Title: Beginning T-SQL
Abstract: If you work with SQL Server at all, you need to know Transact-SQL, the SQL Server programming language. During this session, we’ll design and create our own table to demonstrate key concepts, query syntax, and more. If you’ve been meaning to learn T-SQL, here’s your chance!
Speaker(s):
- Jennifer McCown
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 222
Title: Defense in Depth - Minimizing the Risk of SQL Injection
Abstract: During this session you will be thrust into the role of the DBA hired to fix SQL Server to prevent it from ever getting SQL Injected, or at least minimize the damage that can be done when it does. From bottom to top this session will cover how services should be configured, how SQL Server should be configured, benefits and risks of SQL Server security configurations, and best practices for app development. Come learn how to defend your servers from hackers, or how to become a SQL Injection hacker yourself!
Speaker(s):
- Rob Kraft
Track and Room: Other - ARP 114
Title: Building Web-Apps with R and SQL Server
Abstract: R isn’t well known for enterprise Web Applications. However, recent advancements in the R ecosystem aim to change that. In this presentation, I will introduce what you need to know for building a production-ready web-app in R.
Here are a few topics we’ll address:
- Building and Managing Database Connections
- Error Handling Input Validation
- Load Testing
- Performance Tuning and Optimization
Speaker(s):
- Matthew Sharkey
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 222
Title: What is DevOps and Why Should DBAs Care?
Abstract: You may have heard the term “DevOps” a lot lately, but is this just one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around and means something different depending on who’s talking? While traditional software methodologies pit developers and operations folks like DBAs against each other, DevOps requires that they work together for a common goal. And, ultimately, shouldn’t the software project’s success be everyone’s goal? Attend this session to learn how DevOps is changing the DBAs world for the better.
Speaker(s):
- Kathi Kellenberger
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 116
Title: Ethics, Morals, and Laws for the DBA 101
Abstract: Ethics, Morals, and Laws each govern one aspect of our behavior as people and DBAs. They govern which actions we take and which actions we avoid.
Understanding the basics of these guides and how they coordinate (and sometimes conflict) with each other helps you to make choices you can live with from both a personal and professional perspective.
This session presents basic definitions, ideas, and discussion points. It is intended to be an interactive presentation where the audience contributes to the discussion, so no two presentations are exactly the same!
Speaker(s):
- Pat Phelan
Track and Room: Professional Development - ARP 116
Title: What I Wish Developers Knew About SQL Server
Abstract: As a consultant, I visit many companies that are having performance of configuration problems with SQL Server. This session describes some of the most common problems I see from clients and explains how to avoid them. I cover reading query plans, SQL Profiler, indexing, correlated sub-queries, temporary tables, and user-defined functions, error handling and transactions and show how you can use them together to improve performance.
Speaker(s):
- Bill Graziano
Track and Room: Application Database Development - ARP 212
Title: Rockhurst University Business Intelligence Analytics Programs
Abstract: Come learn about Rockhurst University’s unique certificate and master’s degree programs in Business Intelligence and Analytics. Certain courses are now being offered online for the Spring semester.
Speaker(s):
- Bill Fellows
Track and Room: Other - ARP 116
Title: Inside xVelocity In-Memory Analytics Engine
Abstract: The xVelocity engine used by SQL Server Analysis Services Tabular, Power BI, and Power Pivot, is a columnar database capable of incredible performances, both in speed and compression ratio. In this session, we will perform a deep dive in the internals of the database architecture, discovering how Vertipaq stores information, in order to gain better insights into the engine and understand the best way to model your data warehouse to leverage the features of VertiPaq. We will show common and useful techniques to increase the compression ratio and obtain better performances from your Tabular data model.
Speaker(s):
- Alberto Ferrari
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - ARP 224
Title: Solving Problems with Extended Events.
Abstract: Extended Events has been around since SQL 2008, but still on many systems I look into rarely have anything more than Systems Health or AlwaysOn running. This session will show how to use XE to prepare for upgrades, find problematic queries, as well as how to think differently about XE, not just as a tracing option, but as a solution builder. Also this session will touch on how to write Xquery in a simple format when needing to write queries against your XE sessions.
Speaker(s):
- Daniel Maenle
Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - ARP 224
Title: Table Diaspora - A Tale from the Trenches
Abstract: Have you ever needed to migrate a table from one database to another with zero downtime? Or perhaps needed to do an operation that would normally require an aggressive/long-duration lock? What if you needed to do the same thing to dozens of tables‽
You’ll never believe it - this happened to me! In this session, I’ll outline how I did it. You’ll learn about triggers, computed columns, module signing, SSIS, and just enough BIML to be dangerous.
Speaker(s):
- Ben Thul
Track and Room: Enterprise Database Administration Deployment - ARP 212
Title: PureStorage
Abstract: Learn how Pure Storage solutions can optimize everything
Speaker(s):
- Bill Fellows
Track and Room: Advanced Analysis Techniques - ARP 114
Title: Innovative Data Modeling: Make Data Warehousing Cool Again Part 2
Abstract: This is the advanced part 2 of Innovative Data Modeling. Learn how to leverage Master Data Management and Azure Technologies to extend your model for performance, history and reference unstructured data. We will explore how you can use continuous integration and delivery to further maximize value. Let’s look at platform specific techniques and also explore design options for Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
Speaker(s):
- Jeff Renz
Track and Room: BI Platform Architecture, Development Administration - ARP 222
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Alberto Ferrari
Twitter: - @FerrariAlberto
Contact: http://www.sqlbi.com
Alberto Ferrari started working with SQL Server in 2000 and immediately focused his interest on Business Intelligence. He and Marco Russo created sqlbi.com, where they publish extensive content about Business Intelligence. Alberto published several books about Analysis Services, Power BI, and Power Pivot. He is a Microsoft MVP and he earned the SSAS Maestro title, the highest level of certification on Microsoft Analysis Services technology.
Today, Alberto’s main activities are in the delivery of DAX and data modeling workshops for Power BI and Analysis Services all around the world. Alberto offers consulting services on large and complex data warehouses to provide assessments and validation of project analysis or to perform specific problem-solving activities.
Alberto is a well-known speaker at many international conferences, like PASS Summit, SQLBits, and Microsoft Ignite. He loves to be on stage both at large events and at smaller user groups meetings, exchanging ideas with other SQL and BI fans. When traveling for work, he likes to engage with local user groups to provide evening sessions about his favorite topics. Thus, you can easily meet Alberto by looking up local Power BI user groups during scheduled courses. Outside of SQLBI, most of Alberto’s personal time is spent practicing video games, in the vain hope of eventually beating his son.
Matthew Sharkey
LinkedIn: Matthew Sharkey
Contact: http://www.hinttank.com/
Matthew has ten years of IT experience, primarily working in IT Operations and Analytics. His specialties include T-SQL querying, performance optimization, data analysis, and data visualization. Matt has worked with all major features of the SQL Server Data Platform. Matt holds a Data Platform MCSE and two masters degrees.
Leslie Weed
Twitter: - @weederbug
Leslie Weed is currently a Data and BI Architect with RevGen Partners in Denver, CO. She has been a SQL Professional specializing in Business Intelligence, data analytics, systems implementation, integration, and solutions delivery for the last 20ish years, including a variety of Enterprise Data Warehouses in various industries.
Russel Loski
Twitter: - sqlmovers
LinkedIn: Russel Loski
Contact: http://www.sqlmovers.com
Russ Loski is a SQL Server BI Developer based in Dallas-Fort Worth. He current works as a Data Analytics Engineer for Navisite, a remote managed IT services company. Twenty years ago, he began working with SQL Server 6.5. He has since continued to develop applications connected to all of the versions of SQL Server. He has worked with clients in industries from insurance to healthcare, from movie theaters to American football. Russ is a regular speaker at SQLSaturday events, as well as the SQL Server Users Groups in the North Texas region. Russ likes working with data in various shapes.
Jennifer McCown
Twitter: - http://www.Twitter.com/MidnightDBA
LinkedIn: Jennifer McCown
Contact: http://www.MidnightDBA.com/Jen
Jen McCown is CEO of MinionWare, LLC; a Microsoft Certified Master for SQL Server; and an independent consultant. She is Senior Editor at MidnightDBA.com, where she creates training videos, the DBAs at Midnight webshow, blogs, reviews, and podcasts. Jen is a member, volunteer, and speaker in PASS, and the PASS Women in Technology Virtual Group.
Jeff Renz
Twitter: - jeff_renz
LinkedIn: Jeff Renz
Contact: http://www.revgen.com
Jeff Renz is a Senior Architect at RevGen Partners, currently working as the design architect and implementation lead on several projects for a Fortune Top 50 company. Jeff has worked with SQL Server and BI for 15+ years and has 10 years’ experience with data warehouse design and implementation. In addition to consulting, he is joining the University of Denver adjunct faculty and is expected to begin teaching in the ICT program starting in June. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, his master’s degree in Operations Research from Colorado School of Mines, and will be graduating from the Harvard Business Analytics Program in December.
Dave Bland
Twitter: - @SQLDave29
LinkedIn: Dave Bland
Contact: https://www.davebland.com
Over 20 years of SQL Server experience that includes being a DBA, BI development and Application development using VB.NET. Dave currently is the Manager of the DBA team at Stericycle. Dave is a Friend of Red-Gate for 2019. He is a frequent presenter at SQLSaturday events and user groups around the country. Has been teaching SQL Server since version 2000 and is the SQL Server instructor at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Current certifications include: • Microsoft Certified Trainer • MCTS: SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance • MCTS: SQL Server 2008, BI Development and Maintenance • MCSA: SQL Server 2008 • MCSA: SQL Server 2016 • MCSE: SQL Server 2016 - BI • MCDBA: SQL Server 2000 • MCSD • MCSE: Data Management and Analytics
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.
Steve Wake
Twitter: - stevewake
LinkedIn: Steve Wake
Contact: http://blog.wakebi.com
Steve Wake is currently the Principal BI Developer at Brown and Caldwell and has experience in consulting, advertising, media, manufacturing, retail, charities, telecommunications and financial services organizations using the full on-premises Microsoft BI stack. Recent experience with the Azure services: Analysis Services, Logic Apps, Data Factory, Databricks, Snowflake and Power BI. Steve is also very involved in the SQL community, speaking at events around the world.
Joseph Hobbs
LinkedIn: Joseph Hobbs
Contact: https://www.valoremreply.com/blog/
Hobbs has over 5 years of experience in the BI industry. Combined with a passion for clear communication, he has partnered with Valorem to help companies make insight-driven business decisions by exploring and analyzing their data. Perhaps more importantly, he’s a husband and father of four who spends his little free time enjoying 3D Printing, Krav Maga, and Dungeons Dragons.
Ameena Lalani
Twitter: - SQLHands
LinkedIn: Ameena Lalani
Ameena Lalani is a SQL Server veteran and started her journey with SQL Server 2000. She is a Microsoft Certified Solution Associate on SQL Server 2016 and also hold Azure Administrator Associate certification. Ameena works at Microsoft as a Premier Field engineer. She has implemented numerous High Availability and Disaster Recovery solutions at various companies. Ameena loves to share her technical knowledge and speaks at local user groups and SQLSaturday events throughout the United States.
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.
Thomas Norman
Twitter: - ArmorDba
LinkedIn: Thomas Norman
Contact: https://armordba.com/
Tom Norman is a Database Architect at KPA with a strong fervor to protect data. He works daily to review and improve data protection methodologies while reviewing governing laws affecting finance, healthcare, and personal data. His areas of expertise include encryption, auditing, data identification, and database object deployment. He is the current leader of the PASS Virtualization Group and Vice President of the TRIPASS user group. You can read his blog at https://armordba.com/ and reach him on twitter at @armordba. Tom speaks at a number of SQLSaturday events and SQL Server user groups.
David Klee
Twitter: - kleegeek
LinkedIn: David Klee
Contact: http://davidklee.net
David Klee is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and VMware vExpert with a lifelong passion for technology. David spends his days focusing on the convergence of data and infrastructure as the Founder of Heraflux Technologies. His areas of expertise include cloud, virtualization, performance, and business continuity. David speaks at a number of national and regional technology related events, including PASS Summit, VMware VMworld, SQLBits, SQLSaturday events, and many SQL Server User Groups.
Kevin Mackey
Twitter: - @kevinjmackey
LinkedIn: Kevin Mackey
Contact: https://kjmackey.wordpress.com
Kevin a software architect with a track record of creative and effective delivery of results for organizations who want to translate data into information.
With a background as a trainer Kevin can explain complex technologies and concepts in easy to understand language. By the same token, he can take complex business problems and express them in terms technology teams can use to derive solutions.
Kevin has a focus on automation of data movement, analysis, information delivery, and of the code to accomplish this.
Brian Hansen
Twitter: - tf3604
Contact: http://www.tf3604.com
Brian is a database administrator at Children International in Kansas City. He has been working with SQL Server technologies since 1998, including roles in report development, application development and database administration.
Ed Leighton-Dick
Twitter: - eleightondick
LinkedIn: Ed Leighton-Dick
Contact: http://www.edleightondick.com
Ed Leighton-Dick is a Microsoft MVP, SQL Server performance and architecture specialist, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Kingfisher Technologies. He is a frequent volunteer with PASS, including current roles as a Regional Mentor, co-leader of I-380 PASS local group, and co-leader of the HA/DR virtual group. He can often be found teaching sessions at local, regional, and national events, including user groups, SQLSaturday, and PASS Summit.
Ben Thul
Twitter: - @spartansql
Contact: http://www.spartansql.com
Born naked and defenseless, he overcame these obstacles to become a mender of broken things, seeker of magic rings, and occasional watcher of slow pings.
Bill Graziano
Twitter: - billgraziano
Bio
Rob Kraft
Twitter: - @robkraft
LinkedIn: Rob Kraft
Contact: http://csharpdeveloper.wordpress.com
Rob Kraft is an independent software architect, project manager, and developer from Lee#39;s Summit, MO. He was a certified trainer on SQL Server and co-authored a few books about SQL Server and network security. He has been a full or part-time SQL Server DBA since version 4.2. He runs www.KansasCityUserGroups.com and he blogs occasionally at http://csharpdeveloper.wordpress.com/.
Ed Leighton-Dick
Twitter: - eleightondick
LinkedIn: Ed Leighton-Dick
Contact: http://www.edleightondick.com
Ed Leighton-Dick is a Microsoft MVP, SQL Server performance and architecture specialist, and Founder/Principal Consultant of Kingfisher Technologies. He is a frequent volunteer with PASS, including current roles as a Regional Mentor, co-leader of I-380 PASS local group, and co-leader of the HA/DR virtual group. He can often be found teaching sessions at local, regional, and national events, including user groups, SQLSaturday, and PASS Summit.
Bill Fellows
Twitter: - @billinkc
LinkedIn: Bill Fellows
Contact: http://blog.billfellows.net
Bill Fellows is a SQL Server MVP and has been a database developer for most of his career, with the past 15 years focused on ETL. He is the organizer of Kansas City’s eight SQLSaturdays and a speaker at many other SQLSaturdays, User Groups and the PASS Summit. Bill is the owner of Sterling Data Consulting where he gets to solve interesting data problems.
Pat Phelan
Twitter: - @YetAnotherSQL
LinkedIn: Pat Phelan
Pat Phelan first joined a computer user group (DECUS) in High School, and has joined many more since then. Pat worked many jobs in high school and college, and over twenty years for a major accounting firm. Pat started working for Involta in 2007 and is now the database mentor and a member of the Engineering team. Involta builds, owns and operates world class colocation datacenters and also provides managed services and support staff to clients.
John Byrnes
Twitter: - Riskworks
LinkedIn: John Byrnes
Contact: https://johnbyrnes.wordpress.com/
Sr. BI Developer in Omaha Nebraska. Over twenty years of SQL Server development experience in energy, banking and construction. I am a volunteer data analyst to a D1 Men’s hockey team, where I have created a dimensional database to facilitate NFL style advanced hockey stats. I am a volunteer Alpine ski patroller with National Ski Patrol.
David Maxwell
Twitter: - https://twitter.com/dmmaxwell
LinkedIn: David Maxwell
Contact: https://dmmaxwell.wordpress.com/
David Maxwell has almost 20 years of experience with SQL Server, with a keen interest in performance tuning, monitoring, and troubleshooting. He has experience in environments as diverse as health care institutions, auto manufacturers, and insurance companies. David has been a frequent presenter at SQLSaturday events around the United States since 2012, as well as a presenter for the DBA Fundamentals Virtual Group, the Performance Virtual Group, 24 Hours of PASS, and the annual PASS Summit. David participates in his local Columbus Ohio PASS Local Group, where he serves on the board of directors as SQLSaturday coordinator.
Adam Koehler
Twitter: - sql_geek
LinkedIn: Adam Koehler
Adam Koehler is the Senior Database Administrator for ScriptPro, LLC. He has worked with SQL Server from 7.0 to 2017 in various roles throughout his career with the last 14 years in a DBA role.
Bill Fellows
Twitter: - @billinkc
LinkedIn: Bill Fellows
Contact: http://blog.billfellows.net
Bill Fellows is a SQL Server MVP and has been a database developer for most of his career, with the past 15 years focused on ETL. He is the organizer of Kansas City’s eight SQLSaturdays and a speaker at many other SQLSaturdays, User Groups and the PASS Summit. Bill is the owner of Sterling Data Consulting where he gets to solve interesting data problems.
Daniel Maenle
Twitter: - DanTheSQLMan
LinkedIn: Daniel Maenle
I began working with SQL about 8 years ago and really enjoyed the ease of use. One of my favorite aspects is finding bugs in code and reworking to become more efficient.
I have spoken at KC SQLSaturday, KC Sql server users group and Colorado Springs SQLSaturday. I am president for the KC SQL Server Users Group. I love Extended Events and believe in #teamXE
Sean McCown
Twitter: - @KenpoDBA
Contact: http://www.midnightdba.com/dbarant
Sean McCown is a Certified Master with 23 years of experience in databases. He is also founder and co-owner of the MidnightDBA.com website, where he records free SQL Server training videos. He also writes the popular Minion Maintenance suite, the most configurable maintenance solution on the planet.
Steve Wake
Twitter: - stevewake
LinkedIn: Steve Wake
Contact: http://blog.wakebi.com
Steve Wake is currently the Principal BI Developer at Brown and Caldwell and has experience in consulting, advertising, media, manufacturing, retail, charities, telecommunications and financial services organizations using the full on-premises Microsoft BI stack. Recent experience with the Azure services: Analysis Services, Logic Apps, Data Factory, Databricks, Snowflake and Power BI. Steve is also very involved in the SQL community, speaking at events around the world.
Meagan Longoria
Twitter: - mmarie
LinkedIn: Meagan Longoria
Contact: http://datasavvy.me
Meagan Longoria is a business intelligence consultant with Denny Cherry Associates, and lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Meagan spends a lot of time thinking about how to use data integration, DAX, and data visualization techniques to make data useful for people. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experiences at conferences and user group meetings, as well as through her blog (DataSavvy.me).
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: