Hi y’all in internetland. Today we’re at the PASS Summit in Seattle (www.sqlpass.org), and I’ll be live blogging the keynote with Douglas McDowell, Exec VP of PASS. His keynote is titled “A Global Community”.
I believe you can watch the keynote live on PASS TV. Check out www.sqlpass.org/summit for the links for this and other streaming content.
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8:20, we begin. Douglas is talking about the organization’s growth over the last few years; they’re growing quite a lot. We’ve actually been talking about this is a tangential way, as we notice changes in the Summit year over year. Someone mentioned last night that the Summit feels far less organic, less grass roots. I said, any organization goes from a wild and experimental youth into a more cautious middle adulthood. PASS kind of feels like a 30 year old who’s learned some good lessons, settled down, and is starting to think hard about 401(k)s and college plans for the kids. The new wisdom is good, but it sure would be nice to hold on to some of that youthful idealism if we possibly could.
Just introduced the new board members, who start officially serving in January. A position on the BoD is VERY demanding. I know two of the electees personally, and I admire their willingness to get in there.
Now Tom LaRock, who is also a BoD member. He’s announcing the PASSion award winner this year: Jen Stirrup! She’s being recognized for her work with the Women in Technology virtual chapter (wit.sqlpass.org).
Registration is already open for PASS Summit 2013 in Charlotte, NC. Generally speaking, the earlier you register, the less expensive it is.
For those of you folk rolling your eyes at the Women in Technology luncheon: trust me, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Plus? Swag! #sqlpass
Now: Quentin Clark, Corporate VP at Microsoft over SQL Server
Topic: The Data Lifecycle: Turning Data into Business Value
He’s giving examples of ways that we can “rewire the economy around data”. The example of tracking your likes on Facebook so the concierge at a hotel knows to give you tailored information IS pretty creepy.
@BrentO: From politics to big brother hotels to Facebook. Next up: spying in your bedroom. Love that big data. #sqlpass
Demo: Program Manager Julie Strauss
“PASS Cinemas: How can I rethink capacity planning given the availability of new types of data?” The imaginary company is – I think – going to turn social buzz on new movies into data for capacity planning at their theaters.
@BrentO: PDW is ready to just plug in? Funny, I know consultants who make a living “plugging it in.” #sqlpass
@MidnightDBA: This demo isn’t grabbing us so far. I’m seeing few tweets with content, and very little typing.
Now, at least, we’re seeing code (without ZOOMIT, *sigh*). Up till now it’s been mostly glancing at tables and dashboards.
Demo: Discover and Refine
Opening a table from within Excel, pulling data with a storeable query, formatting columns.
@SQLChicken: Even if you’re not using PDW today, gotta be impressed with @SQLServer integration across different platforms like Hadoop #Summit12 #SQLPass
@JenStirrup: #sqlpass keynote: discover and refine data, making relevant data more discoverable. Information Workers can rapidly find what they need.