Back from DevConnections 2007

Written by belle
Posted November 12, 2007 at 5:08 pm

Back from DevConnections 2007! This was the first ever conference I attended, and I was more than satisfied with the overall experience. I felt I learned a lot and gained a lot of experience just by attending the sessions (plus the pre- and post- conference SQL DR workshops with Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul Randal — totally totally worth it, and I’m not exaggerating).

Most of the sessions are demo heavy. Some demos were flawless, some were not – but it’s all good. At least we get to see the good and not-so-good sides of working with SQL/Sharepoint. It’s awesome! Plus I got to get Todd Baginski’s business card and Kimberly Tripp’s and Paul Randal’s autographs! (And I took a picture to prove it!) Geeky, ‘no?

I will be blogging more on the tidbits that I’ve learned in the next few days :). For the meantime, here’s the list of SQL Server and Sharepoint sessions I attended!

Monday

Pre-conference session on SQL Server Disaster Recovery with Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul Randal
Keynote from Steve Guggenheimer

Tuesday

Keynote from Steve Riley: Making the Tradeoff: Be Secure or Get Work Done
(Sharepoint) – Sharepoint Governance and Information Architecture Guidance by Joel Oleson
(SQL Server) – SQL Server Reporting Services: Advanced Report Design by Brian Welcker
(SQL Server) – What’s new in SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services? by Brian Welcker
(Sharepoint) – Search in Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007: Customizing and Extending by Thomas Rizzo

Wednesday

(Sharepoint) – Sharepoint Custom Web Part Development – Fundamentals by Veli-Matti Vanamo
(SQL Server) SQL Server Database Design Strategies – Physical Database Design for Performance and Availability by Gert Drapers
(SQL Server) SQL Server Table Strategies – Designing for Performance and Availability by Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal
(SQL Server) Get a Handle on SSIS Data Cleansing Capabilities by Erik Veerman
(SQL Server) SQL Server Indexing Strategies by Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal

Thursday

(SQL Server) Creating Reports with Reporting Services 2005 and Analysis Services 2005 by Stacia Misner
(Sharepoint) Getting the Most Out of the Business Data Catalog by Todd Baginski
(SQL Server) Stored Procedure Performance: Troubleshooting Compiles and Recompiles by Andrew Kelly
(SQL Server) Power to the Command Line by Gert Drapers

Friday

Post-conference hands-on session on SQL Server Disaster Recovery with Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul Randal

The sessions I would have wanted to attend as well are:

SQL Server

Next Generation Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008 by Erik Hanson
Performance Troubleshooting in SQL Server 2005 by Boris Bayshnikov
Best Practices for Implementing High Performance T-SQL Applications by Ganapathy Rishnamoorthy
What’s New in Analysis Services 2008? by Donald Farmer
Security Enhancements in SQL Server 2008 by Il-Sung Lee
SQL Server Migration: What You Really Need to Know to Succeed by Dandy Weyn
SQL Server Indexing for Performance – Finding the Right Balance by Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal
A Gentle Introduction to the SQL Server Health and History Tool by Kat Meadows
Best Practices in Developing SQL-CLR Objects by Gert Drapers
Server Side Trace Queues: Automating, Controlling and Scripting to Minimize the Impact of Profiling by Andrew Kelly
SQL Server Agent: Features in Security and Automation by Andrew Kelly
Follow the Rabbit: Interactive Q&A on Availability by Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal
Follow the Rabbit: Interactive Q&A on Availability on the Storage Engine and Relational Engine by Kimberly L. Tripp and Paul S. Randal
SQL Server Tune Up: Tweaks and Tricks for SQL Server by Chris Shaw

Sharepoint

Designing and Building Sophisticated Composite Applications with Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer 2007 by Jerome Thibaud
Capacity and Performance Planning for Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies 2007 by James Petrosky
High Availability and Disaster Recovery for Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies 2007 by James Petrosky
Customized Site Template and Definition Migration by Richard Taylor
Sharepoint Object Mdel/Web Services Kick Start by Todd Baginski
Forms Authentication: How to Get Your Internet Facing MOSS Site Up and Running by Richard Taylor
Sharepoint Designer: It’s for Developers, Too! by Dustin Miller
Advanced Feature Development by Neil Iversen
Implementing the MOSS SSO Service in Real World Situations by Todd Baginski
Prescriptive Guidance for Developers Building Publishing Sites with WCM in MOSS by Andrew Connell
Developing End-to-End Forms Solutions for Sharepoint Part I by David Gerhardt
Developing End-to-End Forms Solutions for Sharepoint Part II by David Gerhardt
No-Code Workflows in WSS v3 by Dustin Miller
Building and Incorporating Custom Applications in Sharepoint v3 Sites by Andrew Connell
Data View Data Form Web Parts: Deep Dive by Dustin Miller

True, some of these I can read from books or articles or blogs, but it’s still different seeing and hearing it from the speakers. Most of the speakers are MVPs and people who have done real-world SQL and Sharepoint projects. The tidbits they share, I think, are priceless.

My book loot from that week:

Apress. Pro SQL Server 2005 Database Design and Optimization
Microsoft Press. Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Administrator’s Pocket Consultant
SAMS. SQL Server 2005 Management and Administration
Wrox. Real World SharePoint 2007: Indispensable Experiences From 16 MOSS and WSS MVPs (Programmer to Programmer)

DevConnections Links:

SQL Server Connections (http://www.devconnections.com/shows/FALL2007SQL/default.asp?s=106)
Sharepoint Connections (http://www.devconnections.com/shows/FALL2007SQL/default.asp?s=105)