All About PASS Summit 2017

Here are the things you must/should probably know about PASS Summit 2017, as told by me.

Update: And here is a list of things I recommend you do in Seattle with your free time, should you have any.

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First Timers

 

Schedule at a glance, prioritized

Here’s the PASS Schedule at a Glance.  Mine is prioritized, though!

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

  • There’s a a 6am #SQLRun before the conference day starts. See my PASS Summit #SQLRun 2017 blog for details. The run is about 3 miles, fast or slow, from the conference center down to the waterfront and back.
  • Keynote comes first.
  • The PASS Community Zone is open all week, check it out.
  • So is the Exhibit Hall; that’s where we’ll be, and it’s where to get all the conference swag!
  • The Birds of a Feather lunch is today, 11:30-1:30. Go talk to experts in your area of interest.
  • The Exhibitor Reception happens 6-8pm; go and get some food and prizes.
  • There will be a number of community events afterward.

Thursday:

  • Very likely #SQLRun again.
  • Keynote 2, with Rimma Nehme This is the one you definitely should not miss, as Nehme is an outstanding speaker.
  • The Women in Technology Luncheon – same lunch, better content than the dining room (which has none).
  • PASS Summit 2017 Games Night!! 7-10:30pm in the convention center, board games and nerds. I love this event.

Friday:

  • Very likely #SQLRun again.
  • The Birds of a Feather lunch is apparently every day. Today it goes from noon-2pm.

 

Sessions we recommend

This list of sessions will keep growing as the conference gets closer. Submit your recommendations in the comments, or ask my opinion on a session!

The most popular speakers’ sessions may fill up; I’ll mark these with an asterisk (*). Note: I won’t post days and times, as these can change. Check out the Guidebook mobile app to help keep track of schedules and changes.

Support track:

  • Monster Text Manipulation: Regular Expressions for the DBA by Sean McCown, of course. This is an EXCELLENT session!
  • Linux for the SQL Server DBA—Getting Started with a New OS by Joey D’Antoni, if you want to get into SQL/Linux.
  • Understanding and Handling Database Corruption by David Maxwell. Excellent topic.
  • Three Steps to Lasting Encryption by Ed Leighton-Dick…great topic.
  • Using Powershell to Manage Your Azure Databases by Grant Fritchey.

Perform/Build tracks:

  • *Tuning In-Memory Indexes by Kalen Delaney. Great topic, top of the industry speaker.
  • *T-SQL Tips and Tricks by Itzik Ben-Gan.
  • *Anything by Bob Ward is likely to be both good, and popular.
  • Why Did My Clever Index Change Backfire?, by Kendra Little.
  • Linux Clustering for the SQL Server DBA by Allan Hirt, if SQL on Linux is an interest to you.
  • *”But It Worked in Development!” – 3 Hard Performance Problems by Brent Ozar is a 400 level session.
  • Adaptive Query Plans? What’s Up With That? by Gail Shaw, a 400 level session.

Evolve and Innovate tracks:

  • Women’s Voices from the Data Platform by Rie Irish and panel, including me!
  • Mental Health in Tech by Dr. Jennifer Akullian sounds fascinating!
  • Pitch Perfect – Presenting Ideas That Win Executive Support by Kevin Kline. Great speaker, and this is relevant to my interests.

Design track:

  • Data Modeling and Design for New Features in SQL Server and Cosmos DB by Karen Lopez looks quite interesting.
  • Storage for the DBA by Denny Cherry.

Analyze track:

  • Lighting up Big Data Analytics with Apache Spark in Azure, by Jen stirrup. While I’m not a big BI guy, you might be! And Jen is a good speaker.