What is Networking Night? Many professional organizations have an annual meeting dedicated to career development and professional networking.  Networking Night is a special User Group format where we will have several short-format talks, networking and career development, and an opportunity for Baton Rouge SQL Saturday sponsors to have an official presence to do recruiting, evangelism, etc.   Sign up to speak at the event here!   Who should attend? Everyone should attend free Networking Night! In 2014 and 2015 and 2016, 80+ IT professionals including many newcomers attended this fun event!  Looking for a job? Meet and greet, bring your resume Hiring? Introduce yourself to folks in your needed the field  Current Student? Talk to your future colleagues and managers Happy at your job? Share your experience and contribute to discussion Instead of a regular user group meeting, Networking Night is open to everyone in the Baton Rouge IT community, for free!  Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 Location: The Louisiana Technology Park - http://www.brssug.org/where Agenda: 5:45 - 6:15 pm: Networking and Dinner 6:15 - 6:30 pm: Announcements 6:45 - 8:00 pm: Networking Nights Speakers 8:00 - 8:30 pm: Raffle and Giveaways

Our next meeting will be May 10, 2017 at the Louisiana Technology Park.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!  Thinking of registering for the PASS Summit in October? Use this code for a $150 discount!  LC15BGL5

Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Location: The Louisiana Technology Park - http://www.brssug.org/where

Sponsor: TBA

Agenda:

5:45 - 6:15 pm: Networking and Dinner with the other user groups

6:15 - 6:30 pm: Announcements, Sponsor Message, and Lightning Talks

6:30 - 7:00 pm: User Group business/Lightning Rounds

7:00 - 8:00 pm: Speakers

8:00 - 8:30 pm: Raffle and Giveaways

This will be a joint meeting with the Baton Rouge Power BI User Group (BRPBIUG)

 Please also visit our Meetup.com site and RSVP!

Main Topic: Introduction to Microsoft Analytics – Turning Data into Intelligent Action

Abstract: Data Science, Azure Machine Learning, and Analytics are all becoming core pieces to the success of every business.  As data professionals we need to know how these will affect what we do, and how we can use it to help our business and clients.  In this session we will take a look at these hot topics and learn how it helps us turn data into intelligence that will lead to actions that drive profits.  We will take a look at how Microsoft’s Cortana suite is the central hub for learning and implementing each of these core pieces.  An easy to follow example showing the flow from Data to Data Intelligence and thru to Action will be presented using Cortana Intelligence Suite.

Speaker: Melody Zacharias, Clearsight Solutions

Bio: Melody Zacharias is a Partner at ClearSight Solutions in British Columbia Canada. She is the leader of the Southern Interior Pass (SIP) chapter for the Professional Association of SQL Server (PASS), Regional Mentor for Pass Canada and a Microsoft MVP for the data platform.   Melody has been passionate about SQL Server since version 7.  You can find her on her blog at sqlmelody.blogspot.ca or on Twitter @SQLMelody.

All of our meetings are open to the public, open to students, folks looking to get into the field and those looking to move up! Please spread the word and come prepared to learn and share your knowledge and experience!

Our next meeting will be April 12, 2017 at the Louisiana Technology Park.

The meeting will begin around 6pm, sponsored by Idera! 

Main Topic: You Want Me to Isolate What?

Abstract: Isolation Levels in SQL Server can benefit your application and help control data integrity by managing concurrency effects but can also hurt your application if you are unaware of what they are and how they are used. A review of SQL Concurrency issues and how SQL Isolation Levels can help eliminate them and keep the integrity of your data. This presentation will demonstrate with queries what causes concurrency issues and what isolation levels will prevent them.

Speaker: Robert Bishop, Sparkhound

Bio: Robert has been working with databases since SQL Server 2005.  After 4 years as a .NET developer using SQL Server, Robert became a DBA out of necessity, a true "Accidental" DBA!  After 5 years as a DBA for a local hospital, Robert decided to expand his career by becoming a Senior SQL Server Consultant for Sparkhound. Robert has presented at his local SQL Server User group, SQL Saturdays and PASS Virtual Chapters.  As a Microsoft MSCA and an Idera ACE, Robert enjoys administrative tasks, configuring SQL Server for optimal performance, troubleshooting problematic SQL queries and making those query run faster than the speed of light.  In the event of "free time", Robert enjoys camping, playing his guitars and spending time with his family.

All of our meetings are open to the public, open to students, folks looking to get into the field and those looking to move up! Please spread the word and come prepared to learn and share your knowledge and experience!

Our next meeting will be March 8, 2017 at the Louisiana Technology Park.

The meeting will begin around 6pm, sponsor TBD!

Main Topic: Azure SQL Database for the Production DBA 

Summary: Have you been wondering what Azure SQL Database is and what it means for you as a production DBA? Azure SQL Database has become an Enterprise-worthy database platform that provides relational database-as-a-service. In this session you’ll get a grounding in the fundamentals of Azure SQL Database from a DBA perspective. First we’ll cover how to create an Azure SQL Database using the Azure Portal and an approach for sizing a new Azure SQL Database. Then we’ll cover some of the similarities and differences between on premises SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. Finally, we will cover how monitoring and performance tuning Azure SQL Database differs from on premises SQL Server. If you’ve been considering Azure SQL Database for your organization, this session is for you!

Speakers: Tim Radney

Bio: Tim works as a principal consultant at SQLskills.com.  Tim is a SQL Server MVP. and has presented at PASS, SQLintersection, SQL Saturdays, user groups and numerous webinars. In addition Tim runs the Columbus GA SQL Users Group, is a PASS Regional Mentor and was named a PASS Outstanding Volunteer in 2012. He’s married with three children and has a passion for electronics. He also farms chickens (for eggs), dwarf Nigerian goats, and tilapias in his spare time.

All of our meetings are open to the public, open to students, folks looking to get into the field and those looking to move up! Please spread the word and come prepared to learn and share your knowledge and experience!

Our next meeting will be February 8, 2017 at the Louisiana Technology Park.

The meeting will begin around 6pm, sponsored by Prime Occupational Medicine!

 Lightning Topic: Reporting Methods in PowerBI

Speakers: Andy Parkerson

Summary: Andy recently finished writing a comprehensive wiki explaining his business' reporting methods with PowerBI, in this lightning round he'll share some of that information and how they leverage the PowerBI cloud as a “Single Point of Truth”.

Main Topic: Fun with Dates and Time In SQL 

Speakers: William Assaf

Summary: William will be presenting some new material he's building a presentation around.  As always it'll  probably be amazing so come out, be surprised and enjoy his engaging presentation style.

All of our meetings are open to the public, open to students, folks looking to get into the field and those looking to move up! Please spread the word and come prepared to learn and share your knowledge and experience!

Welcome back everyone! Our next meeting will be January 11, 2017 at the Louisiana Technology Park.

The meeting will begin around 6pm, sponsored by Baton Rouge User Groups!

 Lightning Topic: New Year's Resolutions

Speakers: Matthew Tessier, William Assaf, Jimmy Alt

Summary: In December, we sent out a survey to get some feedback on what you guys would like plan to do new/better in 2017.  Matthew, William, and Jimmy will discuss some of the feedback as a whole before breaking off into our individual groups.

Main Topic: SQL Server User Group Resolutions

Speakers: Group Discussion

Summary: Continuing on the Lightning Round, we’ll have our own roundtable on 2017 resolutions/goals.  Bring ideas on your personal goals and we can discuss as a group how we can help facilitate/support some of these goals.  We will also talk about goals in the group as a whole so bring any ideas you’d like to discuss the group undertaking. Matthew will share a 15 minute or so account reinforcing one of his resolutions for the year as well!

All of our meetings are open to the public, open to students, folks looking to get into the field and those looking to move up! Please spread the word and come prepared to learn and share your knowledge and experience!

Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Location: The Louisiana Technology Park - http://www.brssug.org/where

Sponsor: CGI Federal

Agenda:

5:45 - 6:15 pm: Networking and Dinner with the other user groups

6:15 - 6:30 pm: Announcements, Sponsor Message, and Lightning Talks

6:30 - 7:00 pm: User Group business and Officer Elections

7:00 - 8:00 pm: Speakers

8:00 - 8:30 pm: Raffle and Giveaways

This will be a joint meeting with the Baton Rouge Power BI User Group (BRPBIUG)

Main Topic: Optimizing Backup and Restore Performance in SQL Server           

Speakers: Robert Canzonire, BCBS LA

Summary: Discuss and Demonstrate how Robert was able to take a backup averaging 279 minutes to complete down to 34 minutes by using several options.  Robert will also be discussing several different backup types and how to use them to minimize recovery times.