Category Archives: Events

PASS Summit 2014 Here I Come!

Posted on by jeffprom

PASS_14_Attending_250x250

I am fortunate again this year to have the opportunity to attend the PASS Summit conference. Big huge thanks and shout out to my current employer (Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp) for sending me. This will be my 3rd time attending and coincidentally all three of my visits have been to Seattle, WA which is great because Seattle is a very fun city to visit. If it’s anything like my previous visits, it should be a great conference filled with a lot of great learning and networking opportunities. Hope to see you there!

 

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SQL Saturday #332 – Minnesota 2014

Posted on by jeffprom

sqlsat332_web-white

This year I have been selected to present at SQL Saturday #332 Minnesota on what I consider to be a very fascinating topic; SQL Injections. If left unprotected, your web applications can be severely compromised by SQL Injection attacks. To learn more about SQL Injections, I invite you to attend my session on October 25th, 2014.

SQL Injections and How To Stop Them

SQL injections are a technique where malicious users can inject SQL commands into a SQL statement, through web page input. If left unprotected, SQL injections can cause havoc with web applications by compromising security, manipulating database data, hoarding system resources, retrieving sensitive data, and even removing database objects like the database itself! This session will show how SQL injections work, identify if you are being attacked, and cover various prevention techniques and their effectiveness.

There is a fantastic list of presenters at this event! Secure your spot today by signing up on the SQL Saturday website.

http://sqlsaturday.com/332/eventhome.aspx

 

SQLSaturday #291 – Chicago 2014

Posted on by jeffprom

I am happy to announce that I was selected to speak at SQLSaturday Chicago! This event will be held April, 26 2014 at 1221 N Swift Road, Addison, IL 60101. I will be presenting on Master Data Services.

Master Data Services
Does your company have similar data in multiple locations? Not really sure which set of data is accurate? With MDS, Microsoft gives you the ability to have one accurate source of non-transactional data to use with your applications or send to other databases and ETL processes. Leverage data stewards to help manage the data repository to ensure it is up-to-date and accurate. In this session we will cover MDS from start to finish including installation, creating models/entities, working with data, using the Excel add-in, security, hierarchies, views, versions, and business rules. After this session, you should have a good understanding of what MDS does, how to use it, and how to get started with your own MDS project.

Additional information can be found here:
http://sqlsaturday.com/291/eventhome.aspx

Be sure to register for this event today!

SQL Saturday #238 – Minneapolis, MN

Posted on by jeffprom

SQL Saturday #238

I’m happy to announce that I was selected to speak at the SQL Saturday #238, Minnesota event! This year I thought I would try something different. I recently changed jobs and am working with Ross McNeely. Ross mentioned that he once presented on F# which got me thinking… I know a bit about using PHP with SQL Server. So that is my session this year: ‘When scripting worlds collide: PHP + SQL Server’. This should be a fun presentation. I’ve actually used PHP longer than I have SQL Server. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 years. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that PHP was able to connect with SQL Server, and it makes for a very powerful combination!

Abstract:
PHP is a popular, and free, scripting language. It can be used to create websites, or simply perform a variety of tasks when run from a command prompt. Combine PHP with SQL Server and you have a powerful way to create data driven websites. In this session learn how to install, configure, and use PHP with SQL Server. Learn the basics of connecting to databases, writing queries, and using data to create dynamic, data driven websites.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the event.
http://sqlsaturday.com/238/eventhome.aspx

MN BI User Group – September 10th, 2013

Posted on by jeffprom

MN BI User Group

On Tuesday, September 10th I will be speaking at the Minnesota BI User Group. The topic will be ‘Master Data Management and Microsoft Master Data Services.’ There will also be a 2nd presentation on ‘Recognizing The Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Workload’ presented by Jason Strate and Sanjay Kaul.

The event will be at the Microsoft office:
3601 76th Street West
Suite 600
Edina, MN 55435

For more info, visit the website at http://www.msbiusergroupmn.org

Register today!

SQL Saturday #175 Fargo – Recap

Posted on by jeffprom

Last Saturday was the very first SQL Saturday event in Fargo, ND. It was a great success with about 125 attendees. Thanks to everyone who helped organize the event, the speakers, and to everyone who attended. Also a big thanks to everyone who attended my session. The board room style was a first for me but was kind of cool! I felt like an executive running a meeting. 🙂

This was also a SQL Saturday first because we had a special guest appearance by the man himself, Mr. Bill Gates!!

Bill Gates

Well in all honesty, he was actually in the same building to talk to the Microsoft employees. However, they were kind enough to let us hear him speak. How cool is that?!

The event was held at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center which was extremely nice. The Microsoft employees onsite, such as Kelly Obach, who helped with the event were also super awesome.

Microsoft Executive Briefing Center Fargo, ND

All in all, a fantastic time. There was talk of having it again next year so hopefully I will be back again soon.

SQL Saturday #189 Costa Rica – Recap

Posted on by jeffprom

Last Saturday was the SQL Saturday #189 Costa Rica event and what an awesome event! Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a great event; the organizers, the sponsors, the attendees and the speakers. Being well into April, it was quite a shock to come back to Minnesota and receive another 9 inches of snow. I should have stayed in Costa Rica a bit longer. 😀

Friday night the group went out to a restaurant called Mirador Tiquicia in Escazu. It was a bit of a drive and up a very steep hill, but it was worth it! At the top it had an amazing view of the entire city of San Jose. Here is a glimpse of the view with my wife and I.

city lights of san jose

For dinner we had a delicious buffet of traditaional Costa Rican food. Then, traditional Costa Rican dancers performed in the middle of the restaurant. What a great night!

Costa Rican dancers

On Saturday, it was time for the big event. There were 320 registered, and 257 who attended. The conference took place at the Aurola Holiday Inn in San Jose. Here you can see Eduardo Castro making the welcome announcements. In this picture he’s introducing the speakers for the day. I’m on the bottom of this slide.

sql saturday costa rica welcome

My 2 sessions were in the afternoon so I mingled and attended the morning sessions. Then it was off to lunch which was on an upper floor of the hotel. Again, we were treated to a nice view of San Jose and a great lunch. Here are some pictures of San Jose from the dinning area.

San Jose

San Jose

After a short break, it was then time to get to work. Here is me getting ready for my first session.

Getting ready for my sessions

I first presented on Master Data Services, and then on Data Quality Services. Thank you to everyone who attended my sessions and for being such a great crowd. The questions were good and hopefully everyone left knowing a bit more about MDS and DQS.

presenting on master data services

I had such a great time and met so many fun people; Eduardo Castro, Kenneth Ureña (Thanks for the coffee it was awesome!), Joaquin Zuñiga, Kevin Boles, Luis Carlos Diaz, Alex Vargas, Jesus Gil, Russell Fustino, and many others! Latin America has a great SQL Server community. Thank you for letting me be a part of this event. Hopefully I’ll be able to attend again next year!

SQL Saturday #175 – Fargo, North Dakota

Posted on by jeffprom

SQL Saturday #175

Saturday, April 27th I will be presenting at SQL Saturday #175 in Fargo, North Dakota. This event will be held at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center at 4550 42nd Street South, Fargo ND, 58104.
I will be speaking on the following topic:

Data Quality Services
As the old adage goes, ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’ Stop spending hours manually cleansing your data, and start using DQS! DQS is the new data quality tool provided with SQL Server 2012. By leveraging knowledge bases, you can correct invalid data and improve the quality of your data.

In this session we will cover creating a knowledge base, data cleansing, data matching, and using 3rd party knowledge bases (Reference Data). We will talk about installation, show how to use the DQS tool, and how to integrate DQS into your SSIS packages. After this session you should have a good understanding of what DQS is, how to use it, and how to get started with your own Data Quality initiative.

Check out the SQL Saturday #175 page for more information.

See you at the event!

Bienvenidos al SQL Saturday #189 – Costa Rica

Posted on by jeffprom

SQL Saturday #189

I’m excited to announce that I will be speaking at SQL Saturday #189 in beautiful Costa Rica! This event will be held on April 13th, 2013 at the Aurola Hotel Holiday Inn San Jose Downtown.
I will be presenting on the following two topics:

Master Data Services
Does your company have similar data in multiple locations? Not really sure which set of data is accurate? With MDS, Microsoft gives you the ability to have one accurate source of non-transactional data to use with your applications or send to other databases and ETL processes. Leverage data stewards to help manage the data repository to ensure it is up-to-date and accurate. In this session we will cover MDS from start to finish including installation, creating models/entities, working with data, using the Excel add-in, security, hierarchies, views, versions, and business rules. After this session, you should have a good understanding of what MDS does, how to use it, and how to get started with your own MDS project.

Data Quality Services
As the old adage goes, ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’ Stop spending hours manually cleansing your data, and start using DQS! DQS is the new data quality tool provided with SQL Server 2012. By leveraging knowledge bases, you can correct invalid data and improve the quality of your data.

In this session we will cover creating a knowledge base, data cleansing, data matching, and using 3rd party knowledge bases (Reference Data). We will talk about installation, show how to use the DQS tool, and how to integrate DQS into your SSIS packages. After this session you should have a good understanding of what DQS is, how to use it, and how to get started with your own Data Quality initiative.
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Last November I was fortunate enough to meet several chapter members at the PASS Summit event in Seattle. I look forward to the opportunity to meet again in San Jose this April.

Check out the SQL Saturday #189 for more information.

SQL Saturday #206 – Madison, Wisconsin

Posted on by jeffprom

SQL Saturday #206

Saturday, April 6th I will be presenting at SQL Saturday #206 in Madison, Wisconsin. This event will be held at Madison Area Technical College – Truax Campus, 3550 Anderson St, Madison, WI 53704.
I will be speaking on the following topic:

Master Data Services
Does your company have similar data in multiple locations? Not really sure which set of data is accurate? With MDS, Microsoft gives you the ability to have one accurate source of non-transactional data to use with your applications or send to other databases and ETL processes. Leverage data stewards to help manage the data repository to ensure it is up-to-date and accurate. In this session we will cover MDS from start to finish including installation, creating models/entities, working with data, using the Excel add-in, security, hierarchies, views, versions, and business rules. After this session, you should have a good understanding of what MDS does, how to use it, and how to get started with your own MDS project.

Check out the SQL Saturday #206 page for more information.

Hope to see you there!