This past Tuesday afternoon I flew to Tucson to take part in the SSWUG vConference. I was away for about 33 hours in total. And enough happened in those 33 hours to make it feel like it was 33 days.

Such is the life of a SQLRockstar, I guess. The afternoon flight got me to Tucson in time for me to get about six hours of “sleep” (I always have trouble sleeping in hotel rooms) before getting up at 4:30AM local time. I needed to get some breakfast and had to be in the studio by 5:45AM. I arrived in time to see the keynote and then we had to quickly switch over for my talks. There was a slight glitch with my slide decks bu thankfully I had a copy of them stored away (I am a DBA, after all, right?)

The talks themselves went well enough. I always think I can do them better. It was interesting to do them live but without an actual audience. I think my recent UStream broadcasts prepared me well for speaking and having to moderate comments at the same time. Fortunately Chris Shaw (blog | twitter) was there to help keep the crackpots away. I forgot to ask him if there was any other feedback on my talk, for example, if someone was asking for their money back.

Before my talks started I remembered to put my phone on mute. And a good thing I dd as I had five different calls during the talks, including one from my dentist! One of the calls was from Kevin Kline (blog | twitter). And when Kevin calls, you answer. Or, in this case, you return his call. He was calling to inform me that I had been elected and to keep my mouth shut until PASS could put out an official announcement at 3PM. OK, he didn’t use the words “mouth” and “shut”, but he did remind me that it would not be good for me to make an announcement prior to the official statement from PASS. So, there I was, staring at a camera with a live audience, and I held my tongue.

When my day with SSWUG was done I found my blackberry full of emails from friends and colleagues saying congrats. I also notced a lot of tweets and re-tweets about the announcement. I was a bit surprised by how many people seemed to be involved at that time.

I sent out a tweet to thank everyone for their support but did not have time (or connectivity) to blog. I wrote a few notes during my flights and finished this today. In short, this is what I want to say:

Thanks.

I truly want thank everyone for their support. Well, everyone except for those four people that voted for Brian but not for me. Seriously, what up? I am elated to serve as a director at large for the next two years, I am. Hopefully I can continue to improve my skills to the point that the next time around those four people feel comfortable including me on their ballots.

I am not certain about the typical turnout for voting in the past, so I do not know if 578 ballots is high or low when compared to previous elections. In 2007 I lost by a total of 13 votes. When Kevin broke the news to me with a mouth full of chicken wings at the Rock Bottom Brewery he asked me a simple question: “Tom, how much campaigning did you do?” I told him that I did little to none, and we agreed that if I was serious about becoming a board member then I would need to raise my profile in the community, and that he would help.

Kevin got me involved in doing some writing for Quest. The first thing I helped to put together was a SQL 2005 poster for system stored procedures. I also was asked to join the Quest Customer Advisory Board. Both of those items help me find some other opportunities, such as speaking at SSWUG in the Spring of 2008. I started blogging a bit more frequently after meeting Brent Ozar (do i seriously need to link to his blog and twitter account?)

I became so involved in extra activities that I was not going to run for the Board in 2008. But then I remembered that all of the good things that happened to me in 2008 were a result of Kevin’s help, which came about because I lost an election. I felt it was my responsibility to run for the Board again, I owed it to Kevin.

And I lost. This time by 20 votes. Things were getting worse.

Well, not entirely. I had a strong showing in the election. Strong enough that I was asked to consider an appointment to the board for the 2009 year to fill a vacant seat. I jumped at the chance because I saw this as the perfect try-buy opportunity. If I didn’t like the board, I could walk away after one year of service. If I did like serving, then I cold run again in the Fall.

Well, I loved it. I don’t know how others feel about me, and I think they appreciate me being involved, but I know that my involvement energizes me, and I look to spend time on things in life that give me energy as opposed to something that drains my energy. The PASS Community energizes me. It’s that simple.

So here we are. Me and 418 other people that think enough of me to represent their concerns at the highest level of pass.

I am honored, truly. These last two years have been wonderful for me in terms of professional growth and experience. I look forward to the next two years and all the challenges they bring.

Let’s get started. But first, I need to do the bacon dance at PASS. Then we can get started.

Another day, another great showing by the folks at the SSWUG vConference. And I am not just saying that because I had eight sessions today! Seriously, because I really dislike watching myself give a presentation. And I especially dislike watching me flub my way through a simple demonstration, especially of something I have done a hundred times. I would love to blame it on something, like the pressure of that big digital clock they had counting down and I was worried I might run out of time, or the fact I had not eaten bacon in about four hours, or that it was the fourth and last talk I recorded that day. Instead, I will blame it on global warming.

Thankfully there were lots of good questions to keep me distracted from listening to myself talk for hours on end. I hope I did a good enough job of answering them all. If I missed anything, just drop me an email or post it to the comments below.

On the lighter side, the funniest thing of the day had to be the twitter explosion for #sqleditions. I am not certain if the silliness started in the discussions taking place inside a certain vendor booth chat session or not, but it does not matter. What it did was put on full display that we are a group of dedicated database professionals that enjoy some good-natured humor. We all need to be professional most of the time, but life is too short to not enjoy some humor along the way.

I will not be involved tomorrow, as I am taking the day off to spend it with my family. I have been doing a lot of work lately, especially a lot of blogging, and I need to make sure I set aside time with them as well. Tomorrow is our day to do something special, as it is the last day of school vacation. If I can I will pass along some twitpics.

The first day of the SSWUG vConference has come and gone. Despite a handful of technical issues, the day must be considered a rousing success. The quality of the content, the quality of the video, and the quality of the live chat sessions was far above average. Now, since I have participated before, I have come to expect great things from this event. So, when I fill out my survey it will say “met expectations”. I guess that is the price they pay for always producing events of such high quality.

What were some of the highlights of the day? I am glad you asked. Here is a brief summary:

• Kevin Kline, TJay Belt, Ted Malone, and Jeremy Lowell gave great presentations
• Stephen Wynkoop and Christopher Shaw hosted a live session where they fielded questions from twitter and from the live chat general room session
• Some tweets were rather silly
• Not everyone was pleased with the silliness
• TJay Belt offered everyone a snack
• The Quest booth was the most lively place to be on Day One

If you want to see the feedback for yourself, go to http://search.twitter.comand search for the hashtag #sswugvc. You can scroll through pages of positive tweets for yourself.

If you have ever dreamed about having me talk to you on all things SQL, then tomorrow is your best chance. You can still register for the conference here. And the discount code you want to use is: SPVTLASP09

If you have ever dreamed about having me talk to you on all things SQL, then your chance starts tomorrow. The SSWUG vConference starts tomorrow morning and I have received a discount code for the. You can register for the conference here. And the code you want to use is: SPVTLASP09

If you have never attended this conference, you should. It is filled with many of the leading experts in MS SQL, making me feel as if I am the dumbest guy in the room. And if you scroll the list of speaker names, you will probably agree.

Check out the sessions that are being offered over the next three days, then go tell your boss you have a discount for the event. Where else are you going to get such quality, spread over three days, giving you plenty of opportunities to catch sessions all day long, for such a low price?

Nowhere.

What are you waiting for? Register now!

There is an upcoming event being hosted by SSWUG on Friday, April 17th. For more details you can click here or go to:

https://www.vconferenceonline.com/shows/spring09/sql/s09event.asp

And this is also a reminder that the SSWUG vConference is going to take place from April 22nd to the 24th. Yours truly will be presenting on the following topics:

SQL 2008 Performance Data Collection

Learn how the Performance Data Collection can help you understand more about the types of activities hitting your SQL 2008 instance. Attend this session and learn how to implement the data collections effectively.

Attendees will learn:

1. Introduction to Performance Data Collection
2. How to create and configure the data collection warehouse
3. How to generate and interpret the data collection reports

Optimizing Backup and Restore Performance

As databases continue to grow in size, the time it takes for backup and recovery grows in length of time. Attend this session and learn methods to minimize the time it takes for your backups to complete, as well as how to minimize the amount of time it takes to recover.

Attendees will learn:

1. Understand the different types of database backups
2. Understand the available options for database backups and restores
3. Help build a proper backup and restore strategy

SQL 2008 Policy Based Management

As the number of instances you are responsible for increase the amount of time you can spend working on any one instance decreases. Attend this session and learn how Policy Based Management (PBM) can cut your administration time and ensure the stability of your enterprise.

Attendees will learn:

1. Understand PBM terms and concepts
2. Understand how to build and deploy policies against one or more instances
3. Troubleshooting policy failures

If you only attend one virtual conference during the fourth week in April this year, make it this one. I even have a promotional code for you to use, worth $10 off your registration. That’s right, you get $10 off just for knowing me and the code you want to use is: SPVTLASP09

Want to know something else? If you have attended a previous SSWUG vConference, you will get another $10 off the registration price. Seriously. What are you waiting for?

It would be the same as if you were going into a nightclub and just said “SQLBatman sent me.” You would cut the line, walk right in, and be escorted to the private room in the back. No, not the one by the bathroom with a couch, or the kitchen. The one with the private bar, the big screen television, the DJ, the dance floor, and a buffet filled with bacon and Jaeger. And if you do not believe such a place exists, come meet me at PASS later this year.

I have received a discount code for the SSWUG Virtual Conference. You can register for the conference here. And the code you want to use is: SPVTLASP09

The discount is for $10 off the registration price of $125, and can be used in conjunction with other discounts, such as the Early Bird ($80). So, if you sign up today, you can get three days worth of content for only $70. Not too shabby. And if you have attended a previous conference, you save an additional $10. So, what are you waiting for?

Once again I will be taking part in the SSWUG Virtual Conference on April 22-24th. I presented three topics last year and managed to make such a fool of myself that they asked me to come back again and do four talks this time. The talks I have on tap are as follows:

SQL 2008 Performance Data Collection

Learn how the Performance Data Collection can help you understand more about the types of activities hitting your SQL 2008 instance. Attend this session and learn how to implement the data collections effectively.

Attendees will learn: 

1. Introduction to Performance Data Collection
2. How to create and configure the data collection warehouse
3. How to generate and interpret the data collection reports

SQL 2008 Maintenance Plans

In SQL 2008, Maintenance Plans create a workflow of tasks to ensure your database is optimized and backed up on a regular schedule. The Maintenance Plan will create an SSIS package that will be scheduled and run with SQL Agent. Attend this session and learn how Maintenance Plans will ease your administrative overhead.

Attendees will learn:

1. How to create Maintenance Plans
2. How to modify Maintenance Plans
3. Understand the options available with Maintenance Plans

Optimizing Backup and Restore Performance

As databases continue to grow in size, the time it takes for backup and recovery grows in length of time. Attend this session and learn methods to minimize the time it takes for your backups to complete, as well as how to minimize the amount of time it takes to recover.

Attendees will learn:

1. Understand the different types of database backups
2. Understand the available options for database backups and restores
3. Help build a proper backup and restore strategy

SQL 2008 Policy Based Management

As the number of instances you are responsible for increase the amount of time you can spend working on any one instance decreases. Attend this session and learn how Policy Based Management (PBM) can cut your administration time and ensure the stability of your enterprise.

Attendees will learn:

1. Understand PBM terms and concepts
2. Understand how to build and deploy policies against one or more instances
3. Troubleshooting policy failures

If you plan on attending I would recommend you make an effort to attend the “live” conference on April 22-24th, as the instructors have been asked to participate in live chat sessions while their talks are being presented. This gives you the opportunity to ask questions. And no, I cannot resize my screen during the talk because it is pre-recorded, but thanks for asking.