PASS Summit 2018 is just 10 days away, which means it is totally around the corner, and I am already getting the shivers of the opportunity to get to see so many good friends from around the world and getting to establish new connections, learning new people and different points of view.
On Monday and Tuesday, I am not planning to attend any of the workshops so far (but if you take a look at them, you might find that you should), hanging out with some good old friends and having some meetings. On Monday evening, the 5th of November, I am planning to attend the networking dinner – because this is how it is started for me, the integration into the PASS Family, a lot of years ago. There are still some slots available, and if you have an opportunity to get to learn new people – this is a wonderful moment during the PASS Summit week.
Regarding the main conference activities during the week – this year I will be back to the invited bloggers table, twitting live about the keynotes on Wednesday and Thursday, meaning that right after the breakfast between 08:15 AM – 09:45 AM you will find me at the bloggers table, in the middle of the keynote room. I will be definitely very busy and it is a very exciting moment of discovering and sharing the news for the Microsoft Data Platform.
UPDATE on 28th of October:
I will also be helping Birds of a Feather Luncheon on Friday, Nov 9, 12:00pm – 1:00pm, feel free to stop by and fire away your Columnstore questions. You will have to find the respective Columnstore table, of course :)
Regarding the sessions, with no absolute commitment or guarantees, :) I am looking to attend the following content:
Introducing Azure SQL Database Hyperscale with Ajay Jagannathan, Xiaochen Wu, Kevin Farlee, Lindsey Allen – this is a very exciting technology that will help to take Azure SQL Database to unseen depth of the Storage level and promises some very exciting further developments (I do suspect some of the things that will become possible later, but that would deserve an its own blog post).
Improving Availability in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database with Perry Skountrianos, Mirek Sztajno – This looks like the ADR (Accelerated Data Recovery) session, the feature that was announced just a couple of weeks ago. We all have our high hopes & expectations and this session not an exception – and knowing Perry & Mirek, I am sure the content and the presentation will be a huge blast!
Architecting for Scalability and Performance in Hybrid Workloads with Kimberly Tripp – should be a very exciting session, the need for the Hybrid workloads performance improvements is growing day by day and getting to know Kimberley’s perspective will be totally worth it.
Four Rules for Columnstore Query Performance by Joe Obbish – Oh yeah, I am looking so much forward in seeing Joe delivering this session live. For the sake of the performance goodness, there are 2 ingredients here: Joe Obbish (ORDERBYSELECTNULL) and the Columnstore Indexes.
Data Overview and Manipulation – T-SQL, R, Python with Dejan Sarka – I am looking forward to learn Dejan’s vision on the current importance and the future impact of the choice of one of above mentioned languages for the Data Manipulation.
Architecting a Highly Available Database Platform with SQL Server with Sourabh Agarwal – I love Sourabh’s sessions, he is always bringing good depth and freshness to his presentations subjects.
What’s New – Query Performance Insights with Pedro Lopes, Joseph Sack – a unmissable session, I am excited to see what’s new Microsoft is bringing for the Query Performance Tuning.
Meet the Modern SQL Server: Graph and Machine Learning Services with Nellie Gustafsson, Shreya Verma – I would love to catch what is new in Graph and Machine Learning Services in the upcoming release, and I will have a very hard time choosing between this session and the QPI one. :(
Inside Columnstore Indexes with Bob Ward, Ryan Stonecipher – the only 500 level session on PASS Summit 2018 on my favourite subject. I am just sad that it collides with Pedro’s & Joe’s session, meaning I will have to do a switch :(
Sequencing Solutions: Comparing IDENTITY, SEQUENCE and Custom Solutions with Itzik Ben-Gan – nuff said. :)
Deep Dive on SQL Server and Big Data with Travis Wright, Mihaela Blendea, Umachandar Jayachandran – recently announced Big Data Clusters is an exciting feature and I am looking very much forward to dive into the details of the implementation.
How it Works – Availability Groups with SQL Server on Linux with Sourabh Agarwal – a deep dive, yes please! I will have to do a tough choice on this one, since it collides with the Big Data Clusters.
Advanced SQL Server Troubleshooting with SQLCallStackResolver with Arvind Shyamsundar – a very deep dive on the SQL Server Troubleshooting with Arvind, sounds very cool!
Columnstore Clustered vs Nonclustered, When to Choose What with Niko Neugebauer – yeah, I might be stopping at my own session, well, you know – to deliver it ;)
Inside SQL Server with Containers with Bob Ward – the containers are getting more importance and Bob Wards take is definitely I am interested in finding out.
This is not the definitive list of the content, but my session choice will be around the above mentioned sessions.
Otherwise you will find me at the SQL Clinic, Sponsors Hall or hanging out with different people in the halls – join me in celebrating the most important event of the year for the Microsoft Data Platform!