Network, learn, ask a question, meet other folk, get fed - these are all things that happen at user group events. These events are a really great opportunity to socialise in an informal learning experience - if you want your own exposure then come and do a 1 - 5 minute nugget in front of your peers.
Remember to tell your friends and the people you work with; make sure you register as soon as you can.
5.30 – 6:00pm Registration and networking
Meet and greet.
6:00 – 6:30pm Round Table discussion and Nuggets - ALL
Take stock and get the latest news in the SQL Server field. This is also a great opportunity to ask any burning questions you have, may be a problem at work.
It's also a great opportunity to share your knowledge and gain exposure in the industry by giving a short 1 - 6 minute "nugget" demo/tip.
6.30 – 7:30pm Atul Thakor - LINQ and what it does
Traditionally DBA's and SQL Developers use T-SQL as their day to day language. With the increasing use of ORM's (Object Relational Mapping) and the introduction of StreamInsight it would be useful to have a basic understanding of LINQ. LINQ is an integrated language (within .NET) which allows you to query XML, Database’s and Objects in a similar way to T-SQL. Using LINQPad Atul will show how similar the 2 languages are, and how easy it is for you to write your own queries, he'll also use SQL profiler to see which queries could potentially cause performance problems.
Atul is an analyst developer who currently works within the financial services industry with a particular interest around data warehousing and data mining. He has been using SQL Server to deliver highly scalable systems which have been in the form of .NET Web, Windows, SSIS solutions, and more recently SSAS.
7:30 – 7:50pm Break: Light refreshments
More time to network, ask questions and eat pizza...
7.50 – 8:50pm David Betteridge – A trip into Index Internals
This will be a journey through the different index structures available to us in SQL Server. Starting with the standard clustered/non clustered indexes, passing through filtered and partitioned indexes and concluding with the new column store indexes. At each stop we will look at the structure behind the index (at a page level) to help us understand when we should use the index and what our best practices should be.
David works for a software company (PROACTIS Group Ltd) based in West Yorkshire. He is the DBA and Technical Architect for their ‘software as a service’ solution and also leads the technical integrations team.
8.50pm – 9.00pm Close
How to find us
By car
Manchester is served by a comprehensive motorway network
and is easily accessible from all areas of the country. The
Co-operative Group buildings are all located in close proximity
to the Arndale Centre, the Printworks and Victoria Station. The
landmark CIS building can be easily identified from most parts
of the city centre.
The most convenient public car parks are located on
Corporation Street and Miller Street. The area is also well
served with short-stay pay and display parking bays.