Painting the US Red

Redgate Software
We are bringing Red Gate, through the free SQL in the City event, to the United States again this year. This event has been hosted in London multiple times, Los Angeles, New York, Austin, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. It's a fun day of training, presentations, and networking, all done the Red Gate way. I'm excited as can be to get to take part in this again. Best of all, we're bringing it to a whole slew of new cities; Atlanta, Pasadena and Charlotte. So if you've missed it in the past because it was too far away, hopefully we'll be closer to you this time and you can make it. We almost always completely fill these events, so please, register early. We'll be talking about all sorts of topics;…
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SQL in the City London 2013

Redgate Software
Wow! You'd think that an event might get a little worn by the third time you're doing it. That maybe it would be just a repetition of what you've done before. And, I guess, in some places, that does happen. But not here. This event was as fresh as it ever was. Maybe it was the beautiful new venue, but I don't think so. I think it was the crowd. We had a ton of great people show up, more than we expected (awesome and wonderful in and of itself), and they were an engaged, enthusiastic group. Presenting in Europe, as an American, can be quite intimidating. There's the language issues and all that. But the main thing is that people across the pond tend to get at information a…
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SQL In The City: Seattle

PASS, Redgate Software
If you missed all the great speakers on the five city tour of SQL in the City, don't despair. Many of the same people will be back at SQL in the City in Seattle. It's scheduled on Monday before the PASS Summit proper starts, so if you're looking to get your learn on early and you can't sign up for a pre-con, this is a great, free, opportunity to pick up some additional instruction. Check out the list of speakers. It's going to be an event worth attending. I've seen the early drafts of the feedback forms from the prior five events. People really seem to enjoy this slightly different approach. In short, Red Gate puts on a heck of a show. During the five city tour, I was able…
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Coming to Your Town

PASS, Professional Development
I can't sing and I can't play and I left the young generation behind a while ago, but I'm still coming to your town, or maybe one near you. Between August and December I'm hitting a substantial portion of the country, so if you want to have a little fun, discuss SQL Server, network, or just chat, here are your chances. Please, ask me questions. Please, walk right up and say hello because we can learn from each other and I love my SQL Family. Here's where I'm going to be: SQL Saturday #125 in Oklahoma City, August 25: Only one presentation here, Top Tips for T-SQL Performance, but it's a fun presentation. Register now because time is running out. SQL Saturday #156 in Providence, RI, September 15: This is…
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SQL In The City: London 2012, Recap

Professional Development, Redgate Software, T-SQL, Tools
Wow! How's that for a recap? The concept for the SQL in the City events is pretty simple. Put on a free event that instructs people on SQL Server, Azure, and related technologies along with a healthy smattering of Red Gate tools. All teaching is done by some of the best people in the business (and me). This was the second event in London. The concept was launched there last year and succeeded quite well. This year the event filled it's registrations so quickly that Red Gate felt obligated to have a second day, which almost completely filled up too. There were more than 350 people in attendance on Friday, and then, on Saturday, a day off, another 250+ people showed up. That's well over 600 attendees over the two…
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Extended Events Data

Uncategorized
I’ve been working quite a bit over the last week or so with extended events in Denali. The sheer magnitude of what you can do with extended events is just becoming clear to me. The interesting thing though is how much the basics are similar to trace. Similar mind you, not the same. For example, the best way to gather trace data is to output it to a file and then read the file into a table for later querying. It’s the same with extended events. There’s even a function that acts as a table: SELECT * FROM sys.fn_xe_file_target_read_file ('C:\APath\Query Performance Tuning*.xel', NULL, NULL, NULL); This can take advantage of roll-over files just like the old function used for traces. You can also provide offsets to read a sub-set of…
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SQL In The City: LA

Professional Development
Just a reminder that there are a few seats left for SQL In The City: LA on the 28th of October. It’s a free event put on by Red Gate Software. I’ll be speaking there. But much better than that, you can listen to, and interact with, Steve Jones, Brad McGehee, Ike Ellis, Aaron Nelson, and ta-da, Denny Cherry, and double-super ta-da, Kalen Delaney (line forms behind me to talk to Kalen), plus the developers and program managers from Red Gate software that will be there. Take a Friday off work and go get your learn-on. Show your boss the agenda. I guarantee they’ll let you go. Click here to register. You know what else? If you pick up a copy of MVP Deep Dives II before the event, I’ll…
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