13Oct 2011 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

PASS Summit Day 2–Key Notes

PASS
Bill Graziano has come out on stage, looking marvelous, in a traditional kilt and stockings. Thanks Bill. For those who don’t know, Day 2 at the Summit every year is Kilt Day. [8:19]Outstanding volunteers being recognized are Tim Radney and Jack Corbett. These are some outstanding people who work their bottoms off for the PASS Community. If you meet them, thank them. The 2011 PASSion Award goes to Lori Edwards. She’s simply amazing. Congratulations Lori and thank you for all the work you’ve done! [8:23]Time to eat our vegetables. We’re looking at the financials. It’s a slightly painful process, but important to understand where the money goes since this is a non-profit organization managed by volunteers. You should understand where the money comes from and where it goes. [8:25]Quentin Clark…
Read More
13Oct 2011 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PASS Summit So Far

PASS
This is Day 2 of the Summit proper. But for me, this is the fifth day of the Summit and my sixth in Seattle. Sunday was the opening of registration and it was like a high school reunion with people that you really love. Registration itself only takes about three minutes, but I was there for almost two hours talking to people, friends from previous PASS Summits, SQL Saturday’s, SQL Cruise, and SQL In The City. Monday I put on a pre-conference seminar with Gail Shaw. We had 120 attendees. Despite our worries and multiple contingency plans, we had more than enough material for the time (you try coordinating 7 hours of material with someone from South Africa who has less band width than my phone). It went off wonderfully.…
Read More
12Oct 2011 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

PASS Summit 2011 Day #1 Post #1

PASS
Hello again. The PASS Organization has once more allowed me to sit at the bloggers table for the key note. I’ll be posting updates as the information unfolds. [8:06] The crowd is filling in. this looks like one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen at the summit. The organizers have done a great job so far. Thanks for all the hard work guys. [8:10] SQUEEEEE! I just met Dr. David Dewitt and got a picture with him. I’ll post it after I get home and find the cable. [8:22] Watching the videos of different people on the big screen talking about what they like about the PASS Summit is really cool. [8:26] Rushahb Mehta is introducing the board and the Partners of the PASS board. We now have a…
Read More
22Sep 2011 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

SQL Server Execution Plans

PASS, Professional Development, SQL Server
I write quite frequently about SQL Server Execution Plans. I started in that area just because that’s how you figure out what a query is doing and sooner or later, we all have to tune a query. I found I was doing it sooner and more frequently. When the opportunity came up to write a book , I jumped on it. Now I find myself presenting, rather frequently, on execution plans. One of the people I’ve learned from over the last several years is Gail Shaw (blog|twitter). I first saw Gail on stage at the PASS Summit, I think it was 2007. A co-worker of mine was picked, along with Gail, to go on stage for the Quiz Bowl. Gail was answering all the questions. If you go over to…
Read More
06Sep 2011 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Meme Monday: Favorite PASS Memory

PASS
Have to complete my assignment from the Rockstar this month since I’ve missed the last several (he gets all weepy, it’s not pretty). The question this time is to describe your favorite PASS moment… Wow! And this is Tom’s idea of an easy assignment. How do you choose? Lots of stuff flashes through my head, a football helmet with antlers & the song Funky Cold Medina, learning Policy Based Management from Buck Woody (blog|twitter) while simultaneously laughing my ass off, a pile of neatly folded clothes in a bush, friends old & new, speaking for the first time and running out of material 15 minutes early, sessions with great information from really smart and helpful people, Dr. Dewitt nuff said, sitting down to breakfast with people that wrote books I’d…
Read More
03Aug 2011 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

All About Execution Plans

PASS
If you’re attending the PASS Summit this October, I’d like to make a suggestion. The Summit itself is only three days long, Wednesday to Friday. But, if you have to travel any distance to get there, you’re going to miss work on Tuesday as well. Why not take a whole week away and spend Monday with Gail Shaw (blog|twitter) and me? The reason I ask is because Gail and I are putting together 7 hours of information all about execution plans. We’re going to be presenting this information on Monday at the Summit as a pre-conference seminar. Yes, you’ll have to pay extra to attend this session. But if you register for the Summit now, there’s still a discount, which you can put towards to the seminar. And, seriously now,…
Read More
05Jul 2011 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

PASS SQL Rally 2011 Evaluations

PASS, SQL Server, T-SQL
  In keeping with the all my other major speaking engagements, I’m posting the results of my pre-con and session evals at the first-ever SQL Rally. I’m posting this really late and I apologize. The good news, I did a fill-in when someone cancelled and I was placed in the Grab Bag category where I had the highest rated session although it was a far cry from the actual highest rated sessions from the whole Rally. There is no bad news. Query Performance Tuning: Start to Finish I was pretty happy with this considering it’s my first, public, all day training class. I’m even happier with the feedback. I received some excellent constructive criticism that I will attempt to take into account when I present in the future (including at…
Read More
18May 2011 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Summit Preference Voting

PASS
This year the PASS organization is asking us to vote on the PASS Summit 2011 sessions, not as a means of picking them, but rather as a way to tell where there interests that may not be fulfilled. However, we all know it’s down, to a degree, to a popularity contest. I’ve already posted my sessions on this blog and asked you to vote. I’m not even going to link to it. If you’re interested, you will, if not, why bother you. What I am going to suggest is a few sessions by others that you might not have picked. First up, Jes Schultz Borland (blog|twitter) put on this excellent session at SQL Saturday in Chicago called Make Your Voice Heard! She’s put it in at the Summit for a…
Read More
16May 2011 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

SQL Rally

PASS
The first ever SQL Rally was held just last week. It was an excellent time. The event was organized and run by PASS. Which means, in  effect, it was a like a mini-Summit. I’m struggling a bit to come up with the words to describe what the event was like. It was so much more than a long SQL Saturday, but describing it, as I just did, as a mini-Summit mischaracterizes it as well. I guess it must be it’s own critter. Let me just tell you what went on, maybe that will help. The event was held at a very nice hotel, the Marriott World in Orlando, Florida. The Rally proper was two days long, but there was a set of pre-conference seminars held the previous day, making the…
Read More
10May 2011 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

PASS Summit 2011 Abstracts

PASS
I’ve put in several abstracts for the 2011 Summit. This year we’re voting for preferred sessions. If you’re interested in any of the ones I’ve listed below, please consider giving me a vote.I was very kindly invited to submit for a spotlight session (for which I am very grateful and humbled, again) so I put two in for that. I also put in for two regular sessions. This year, for the first time I put in not one, but two abstracts for all day pre/post-conference sessions. One of them was put together as a partnership between Gail Shaw (blog|twitter) and myself. I’m excited by that one. I love speaking and I really hope I make the cut. In the interest of sharing, these are the abstracts I’ve submitted: Spotlight: DMOs…
Read More