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Baton Rouge User Groups Networking Night 2018

posted Jun 15, 2018, 11:58 AM by william assaf   [ updated Jun 18, 2018, 11:12 AM ]

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.  

We need speakers with 7-10 minute talks! Sign up to speak at the event here!  

Who should attend? Everyone should attend free Networking Night! Starting in 2014 and through 2017, each year 50+ IT professionals including many newcomers attended this fun event! 
SQLSatBR SPONSORS: 
Are you a Gold or Platinum sponsor of SQLSaturday Baton Rouge 2018? Part of your sponsorship comes with an official presence at Networking Night! Please join us and fill out the speaker signup form.

Instead of a regular user group meeting, Networking Night is open to everyone in the Baton Rouge IT community, for free! 

Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2018
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

| Attachments: Press Release - SQLSaturday Baton Rouge 2018.pdf

June '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting

posted May 17, 2018, 10:30 AM by william assaf   [ updated May 29, 2018, 11:07 AM by Andy Parkerson ]

When:  Jun 13, 2018 from 5:45 PM to 8:00 PM (CT) 

Location: LA Tech Park - Location Information

Sponsor: Lucid, LLC

Lucid, LLC


Agenda:
 
• 5:45 - 6:15: General Introduction/Food and Drinks
• 6:15 - 7:30: Presentations
• 7:30 - Until: Open forum for questions

Main Presentation:

Yoke Wanneevechasilp from Lucid, LLC

Main Topic:
Demo of a data mart from end-to-end using AWS Redshift as a database, ETLs in Python and Power BI as a front-end for data interaction and visualization 

Bio:
Yoke Wanneevechasilp is a Tech Lead in BI Engineering at Lucid. Yoke has experience working in numerous industries, including fiancial services, market research, construction, healthcare, technology, education, government and manufacturing. Her expertise has included project lifecycle management, data modeling, data integration, and enterprise BI solutions using Microsoft BI Stack (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS), Power BI, Informatica PowerCenter, IDQ, MDM and Python. Yoke loves dogs, gardening, and beach volleyball.

Lightning Round:

Willow Sells from ShoppersChoice.com

Lightning Round Topic:

Google AMP pages for a faster mobile web

Bio:

Willow Sells is a full-stack developer at ShoppersChoice.com. She likes building things and solving problems. Her current position at ShoppersChoice requires her to play with everything from databases to SEO optimization. In her spare time, she builds circuits for fun projects, dances, and goes adventuring.

Baton Rouge User Groups Networking Night 2018

posted May 17, 2018, 9:57 AM by william assaf

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! Starting in 2014 and through 2017, each year 50+ IT professionals including many newcomers attended this fun event! 
SQLSatBR SPONSORS: 
Are you a Gold or Platinum sponsor of SQLSaturday Baton Rouge 2018? Part of your sponsorship comes with an official presence at Networking Night! Please join us and fill out the speaker signup form.

Instead of a regular user group meeting, Networking Night is open to everyone in the Baton Rouge IT community, for free! 

Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2018
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



May '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting at Alliance Safety Council

posted Apr 27, 2018, 8:16 AM by Andy Parkerson   [ updated May 16, 2018, 2:35 PM ]

Date: May 9, 2018

Location:

Alliance Safety Council
Alliance Safety Council
10099 Reiger Rd
Baton Rouge, LA 70809

Directions:
Turn onto North Reiger Rd between the McDonald's and Racetrack on Siegen Lane. We are located in the fancy building next door to Office Depot. Parking is directly in front of the building.

Entrance is the double glass doors in the front of the building under the awning and there will be signs pointing to where the meetings will take place.


Agenda:

• 5:45 - 6:15: General Introduction/Food and Drinks
• 6:15 - 7:30: Presentations
• 7:30 - Until: Open forum for questions

**NEWS: You can now order SQLSaturday Baton Rouge posters online! https://coastalthreads.com/sqlsaturdayposter/

Main Presentation:


SQL Server is often I/O bound - but why? Do you feel lost when talking to your storage administrator? Are your storage subsystems like a mysterious black box where your databases live but you can’t go visit? This session will get you up to speed with the fundamentals of storage subsystems for SQL Server. You will learn about the different types of storage that are available, and how to decide what type of storage to use for different workload types. You will also learn useful tips and techniques for configuring your storage for the best performance and reliability. We’ll cover methods to effectively measure and monitor your storage performance so that you will have valuable information and evidence available the next time you have to discuss IO performance with your storage administrator. Come to this session to learn how to analyze I/Os as well as options to reduce the bottlenecks.

Lightning Round:


In this lightning round, we will go over why it is important to choose your data types wisely. I will show a few different examples of data types, the difference in I/O and why Developers need to stop with the NVARCHAR(MAX) already.

Bios:


 

glenn Glenn BerryGlenn Berry is a Principal Consultant with SQLskills. He has worked as a SQL Server professional for many years in a variety of roles, most recently as Database Architect for Avalara in Parker, CO.

Glenn has been a SQL Server MVP since 2007, and has a whole collection of Microsoft certifications, including MCITP, MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCAD, and MCTS, which proves he likes to take tests. His expertise includes DMVs, high availability, hardware selection and configuration, and performance tuning. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member at University College – University of Denver, where has been teaching since 2000. He has completed the Master Teacher Program at University College.

Glenn is heavily involved in the SQL Server community, and is a frequent speaker at user groups, SQL Saturdays, and the PASS Community Summit. He is the author of the book SQL Server Hardware, and he wrote chapters for SQL Server MVP Deep Dives and SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2 books.

 John Wells John Wells: Originally from Southern California, I am enjoying the slower pace here in Louisiana. I continue my journey with PowerShell and Performance Tuning. If I am not at a SQLSaturday event or a LSU game, I am grilling something or killing some crawfish! Actually I smoke more than grill, but when I say this people look at me funny.

| Attachments: DataTypesMatter.zip Glenn Berry scripts 20180509.zip

The Baton Rouge SQL Server User Group April '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting

posted Apr 19, 2018, 2:41 PM by Andy Parkerson   [ updated Apr 20, 2018, 12:06 PM ]


The Baton Rouge SQL Server User Group
April '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting

Agenda
• 5:45 - 6:15: General Introduction/Food and Drinks
• 6:15 - 7:30: Presentations
• 7:30 - Until: Open forum for questions

Detailed Map Info: http://www.brssug.org/where

 

Main Presentation:

Execution Plans in SQL Server 2017

This session highlights the starting point for using the execution plans from SQL Server to assist in query tuning. Briefly, we will look at the history to get an idea of how Microsoft has improved the display through Graphical Plans, Missing Index suggestion, Live Query Statistics and the Query Store. Then, we will answer questions like the following. What is the difference between a Table and Clustered Index Scan? What is a Lookup? How do you improve performance of Lookups? What are the different types of Loops? How to get more information from the Plan with the properties window?

 

Lightning Round:

Witness the magic that is Power BI custom connectors!

 

A tale of intrigue and wizardry, harkening back to days when men and women of valor roamed the countryside righting wrongs and not just making connections with data, but also making connections with humanity.

 

Join me on a journey, if you will, through the sordid  escapades of “self-service BI” and discover what we all know deep down in our souls: that people are willing to serve themselves as long as the task is made sufficiently easy.


Bios:

Thomas LeBlanc

Thomas LeBlanc (Microsoft Data Platform MVP) is a Data Warehouse Architect in Baton Rouge, and uses his 28+ years in IT to develop OLTP systems with normalized databases for high-performing T-SQL and dimensional data marts using SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, Power BI, and Excel. As a PASS volunteer, he is past chair of Excel BI and Data Arch VCs and is active in the Baton Rouge UG and SQLSaturday. Blog - TheSmilingDBA.BlogSpot.com and Thomas-LeBlanc.com



Andy Parkerson

Web Developer and Wand'ring Minstrel - With a MS in Mathematical Sciences, Andy has spread the joy of business intelligence and analysis wherever he goes. As developer at the leading eCommerce in luxury barbecue grilling, he has worked on automating product rankings to reduce and in some places eliminate the monkey-work of deciding what grill to show where, and what accessory to show with it. He is currently transitioning the reporting workflow to become more automated and more reactive to changes in the business.


March '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting at **DIFFERENT LOCATION**

posted Feb 28, 2018, 5:47 PM by william assaf   [ updated Mar 12, 2018, 8:38 AM ]

IMPORTANT - Please note that the location for this meeting has changed. We've listened to your feedback and are experimenting with different locations. Seigen Lane, get ready for the Baton Rouge User Groups!

Date: March 14, 2018

Location: 
Alliance Safety Council
10099 Reiger Rd
Baton Rouge, LA 70809

Directions:
Turn onto North Reiger Rd between the McDonald's and Racetrack on Siegen Lane. We are located in the fancy building next door to Office Depot. Parking is directly in front of the building.

Entrance is the double glass doors in the front of the building under the awning and there will be signs pointing to where the meetings will take place.

Sponsor: Alliance Safety Council - alliancesafetycouncil.org

Agenda:

• 5:45 - 6:15: General Introduction/Food and Drinks
• 6:15 - 7:30: Presentations
• 7:30 - Until: Open forum for questions

**NEWS: You can now order SQLSaturday Baton Rouge posters online! https://coastalthreads.com/sqlsaturdayposter/

Main Presentation:

What’s new in SQL 2017? - William Assaf
From the lead author of SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out by Microsoft Press, come learn in technical detail what’s new for developers, admins, and users of Microsoft SQL Server 2017, including labs and demos. We'll discuss the new features for the platform, high availability, maintenance, and TSQL syntax.

Lightning Round:

3 Things about Indexing - John Wells
In this lightning round presentation, we will go over 3 common misunderstandings that I keep running into. Upon completion of this demonstration, you will have the knowledge to correct them. Come join me as we discover these 3 issues and improve query performance!

Bios:

William Assaf, MCSE
A principal consultant and DBA Manager at Sparkhound in Baton Rouge, LA. He started off as a .NET developer out of college and moved into database administration and architecture, and has been lead database designer on major application and data warehousing projects for private and public clients. A SQL Server consultant since 2007, he blogs about SQL at sqltact.com and has spoken at various user groups, SQLSaturday and TechFest conferences in the Gulf South region. William is a member of the Baton Rouge User Groups Board, a regional mentor for PASS, and head of the annual SQLSaturday Baton Rouge Planning Committee. William was the lead author of SQL Server 2017 Administration Inside Out by Microsoft Press, published Feb 2018.

John Wells
Originally from Southern California, I am enjoying the slower pace here in Louisiana. I continue my journey with PowerShell and Performance Tuning. If I am not at a SQLSaturday event or a LSU game, I am grilling something or killing some crawfish! Actually I smoke more than grill, but when I say this people look at me funny.

| Attachments: Whats New in SQL 2017 20180314.pdf

February '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting

posted Feb 1, 2018, 5:15 AM by John Wells   [ updated Feb 1, 2018, 5:16 AM ]

IMPORTANT - Please note that the day for this meeting has changed to Thursday, February 15th. Our normal meeting would fall on Ash Wednesday/St. Valentine's day.

Agenda

• 5:45 - 6:15: General Introduction/Food and Drinks
• 6:15 - 7:30: Presentations
• 7:30 - Until: Open forum for questions

Detailed Map Info: http://www.brssug.org/where

Lightning Round!

For February we are hosting an all lightning round meetup with both the .NET and the SQL Server user group. We are aiming to have topics that are interesting to both groups. We have a number so far but are still looking for a few more speakers.

Presentations:

- It's 2018, so what's new SQL Server 2017?
- SQL Server on the AWS Relational Database Service (RDS)
- Getting started with Azure Table Storage
- PowerShell is your friend!
- More TBA

More presentations to come! We will send out updates as we get closer to the meeting time. Again, if you are interested in giving a lightning talk (10-15 minutes), please reach out to any of the officers through meetup and let us know so we can get you on the schedule.

January '18 BRSSUG+BRPBIUG Meeting

posted Dec 20, 2017, 2:44 PM by william assaf   [ updated Jan 11, 2018, 7:32 AM by Andy Parkerson ]

NEXT MEETING Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2018

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

 

Sponsor: TBA


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!

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 - 6:45 pm: User Group business/Lightning Rounds

6:45 - 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!


Lightning Round Presenter: Andy Parkerson, Web Developer and Dreamer of Dreams, ShoppersChoice


Detail: When you want to graph data from various measures with vastly different scales, often the largest scaled data can dwarf the other data, or force it to the edge altogether. In this talk we will discuss the problem and its solution. We will also discuss variations on the theme when the data is in particular structures that make the first solution not work.

Bio: Andy is a PowerBI developer, web developer and digital ad expert for a local ecommerce. He is currently interested in embedded PowerBI, and learning what all the hype about R is about.



Main Presenter: Matthew Tessier

Topic: The DBA Escape Room - No One Leaves Until Production is Back Online 


Detail: This is it, the dreaded all hands on deck call.  The production database is dead in the water and the whole team has been called in to the office to get it back online.  It's a full blown Resume Generating Event if the database cannot be recovered right up to the point of failure.  So brush up on your DBCC commands and prepare to think outside the box.

Bio: Matthew Tessier is a long time computer geek also into Sci-fi and Disney.  While mostly working with the Microsoft databases, he has been known to dabble with Linux and Raspberry Pi single board computers, when the mood strikes him.

| Attachments: BRPIUG - 2018-01-10 - Normalizing Measures.pptx

Baton Rouge User Groups Holiday Social

posted Dec 4, 2017, 2:29 PM by william assaf

Please join us for an everyone-invited social event for the entire Baton Rouge user group community.

Monday, December 18, 2017
6:00 PM

The Smiling Dog (Upstairs at the Londoner)
4215 South Sherwood Forest Boulevard, Baton Rouge, LA 


RSVP: https://www.meetup.com/Baton-Rouge-NET-and-SQL-Server-User-Groups/events/245518340/

November '17 BRSSUG Meeting

posted Nov 6, 2017, 7:58 AM by Adrian Aucoin Jr

NEXT MEETING Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2017

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

 

Sponsor: TBA

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!

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 - 6:45 pm: User Group business/Lightning Rounds

6:45 - 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 Presenter: Eric Peterson, Director of Database Administration @ PayGo Utilities

Topic: Migrating Your SQL Server to the Cloud

Detail: TBA

Bio:
With over 25 years of SQL Server and consulting experience, Eric has designed, implemented, tuned and maintained hundreds of SQL Server systems around the world. 
In his current role he’s currently supporting multiple 24x7 systems within the Amazon (AWS) cloud that were architected as fail-over clusters across multiple subnets along with multi regional high availability and recovery.   
As the former lead architect for Sybase, Eric has been involved with SQL Server from the original port over 25 years ago.
He regularly speaks at SQL Saturdays and was a runner up in the PASS 2016 Speaker Idol competition.

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