We have an exciting meeting planned for London in August.

I’m sure you’ve heard of LINQ, LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework, or you might have heard of over ORM solutions such as NHibernate. ORMs are all about being able to have a set of objects which developers can use with out having to worry about data access.

So what do these tools mean for the SQL Server Developer and DBA.

Mike Taulty has volunteered to do a couple of sessions on what LINQ is all about and what LINQ to SQL and the Entity Framework mean to you as a database professional. Is it going to kick you out of a job or provide you more work ???

The Agenda for the evening is.

6pm – 6:30 News and open session

Simon will do a stint on whats going on in the world, betas, release candidates service packs, best practices, training etc.  And then will open up the floor to any one that has something to say.

6:30pm – 7:30 Whats LINQ all about? And how does LINQ fit in with LINQ to SQL and the Entity Framework Part 1

Mike will go through LINQ as  programming feature and how it is used by Linq to SQL and the Entity Framework. He’ll also discuss what LINQ to SQL and the entity framework is.

7:30pm – 7:50 Beer and Pizza

7:50pm – 9pm Whats LINQ all about? And how does LINQ fit in with LINQ to SQL and the Entity Framework Part 2

The discussion, demos and presentation will continue from part 1.

This is cross posted from my SQLBlogcasts blog which can be found here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/August London UG Meeting - All things LINQ

If you didn't know the next SQLBits is going to be on the 13th September 2008.

We have had an overwhelming response for sessions for the next SQLBits buts there is still time for you to get your session in, especially if you fancy doing something on Business Intelligence.

To submit a session its dead easy

1. Go to the submit a session http://www.sqlbits.com/information/SessionSubmission.aspx
2. If you're not registered then register (link available on the page)
3. Create a speaker BIO
4. Submit your session

I look forward to seeing more sessions.

This is cross posted from my SQLBlogcasts blog which can be found here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Get your session in for SQLBits Cubed

Have you got something you've found out that you think others might be interested in. Then submit a session for the next SQLBits on 13th September 2008.

http://www.sqlbits.com/information/SessionSubmission.aspx

You need to be logged in to fill in a BIO and submit a session.

Once we have all the sessions in we will open voting to get the community to decide which sessions they would like to see.

If you're stuck for ideas have a look at the sessions from the previous events.

http://www.sqlbits.com/information/event2/PublicSessions.aspx

http://www.sqlbits.com/information/event1/PublicSessions.aspx

This is cross posted from my SQLBlogcasts blog which can be found here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SQLBits III - Submit your sessions now

Last year we promised more usergroup meetings and hopefully this year we will deliver.

I have now arranged to have a user group meeting every 3rd Thursday of the month. We will be starting off in London on the 21st of February and then alternating between Reading and London every month.

As mentioned the first one is a week on Thursday at Microsofts new London office you can find more details of the event here http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/?eid=108.

As we get the agendas sorted for the following events we will post those on the site as well. There is so much going on this year there is plenty of content to talk about.

If you want to speak at a meeting feel free to contact Tony ormyself

This is cross posted from my SQLBlogcasts blog which can be found here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/UK SQL Usergroup meeting in London - 21st Feb

Yes we're doing it again. SQLBits (www.sqlbits.com) will be back on the 1st March at The Lakeside Conference Centre in Birmingham.

Its a bigger venue than TVP so we shouldbe able to let more people attend.

Registrations aren't open yet but if you register on the site we will let you now when it does open.

In the meantime if you want to submit a session then please do so following the instructions here.

http://www.sqlbits.com/information/SessionSubmission.aspx

This is cross posted from my SQLBlogcasts blog which can be found here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SQLBits 2008 In Birmingham on 1st March Call for speakers

The code and slides from my presentation from today (Service Broker - Asynchronous processing in SQL )are now online.

The code is on codplex http://www.codeplex.com/MultiThreadedSQL,

The slides are on http://sqlblogcasts.com/files/folders/servicebrokerpresentations/entry1885.aspx

and a video of the service broker restaring after I stopped SQL Server is here http://sqlblogcasts.com/files/folders/servicebrokerdemos/entry1884.aspx

This is cross posted from my SQLBlogcasts blog which can be found here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Service Broker - Asynchronous/Multi threaded File Upload