{"id":552,"date":"2009-03-01T14:17:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-01T14:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/blogs\/kimberly\/post\/Connections-is-3-weeks-away-and-counting!.aspx"},"modified":"2013-01-11T23:11:34","modified_gmt":"2013-01-12T07:11:34","slug":"connections-is-3-weeks-away-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/connections-is-3-weeks-away-and-counting\/","title":{"rendered":"Connections is 3 weeks away and counting!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"\"<\/a>It's an exciting year for us for DevConnections<\/a>! SQL Server 2008 has now been out for a few months and an SP is coming up soon. This is the sign that some customers wait for to migrate over to the new release feeling that an SP indicates a higher level of stability. But, this is also a time when some companies are shying away from upgrades because of the immediate and very quantifiable costs. And so Paul and I really struggled with what to focus on when we put together our Connections line-up.\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat we decided to do is focus on your getting the most from the system that you have now – with best practices that apply to SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008. Personally, Paul and I are going to demo and focus on 2005\/2008 but the concepts work on all 3 versions (and even most of the syntax as well – but, for index fragmentation analysis and maintenance the commands changed between 2000 and 2005\/2008 so that's one minor difference). For the conference itself, we're focusing on upgrade, new features in 2008 and things to be aware of architecturally in all areas of Administration\/Ops, Development and Business Intelligence. And, given that this isn't a "new product year" for SQL, other big conferences are likely to have fewer SQL sessions than usual (and most do…seriously).\n<\/p>\n

So, with SQLConnections<\/strong><\/a> you get 46 *SQL* sessions<\/strong><\/a> and 3 full-day *SQL* workshops<\/strong><\/a> (and workshops on other technologies as well – all of which are spread over 2 pre-con days and 1 post-con day – with none of the SQL ones running concurrently so you could attend all 3). Top it all off with a more intimate event than many others means more interaction to get your tough questions answered! In fact, to help make sure we see as many people as possible, Paul and I usually schedule our sessions before and after lunch so that we can spend the entire lunch gap inside our session room answering even more questions! We even have a session called "Follow the Rabbit" where YOU drive the session with your questions. It's great fun and we've been doing this for the past few years with a lot of success! <\/p>\n

\nIf you want to see a bit of the personality and flair offered at Connections – check out MyConnections<\/a> – it's our conference magazine (note: <\/strong>it's 9.80 MB to download but, it's 84 pages). It's something you get automatically after attending and it's filled with technical articles and all sorts of additional information that comes from Connections. And, here's a link to a fun and fast-paced video with highlights of the conference itself (nothing technical – just fun shots of the event). For example, did you know that EVERY year a Harley is given away at Connections? Here's the quick video: mms:\/\/bcast.sswug.org\/sswugtv\/DevConnectionsFall08.wmv.\n<\/p>\n

\nFinally, did you know that EVERY attendee gets a FREE SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition license with one CAL<\/strong>. That can cover your attendance right there and get you started on development and learning with SQL Server 2008.\n<\/p>\n

\nWe really have a great time at Connections and we hope to see you there!! (And, Florida in March is a nice destination from the winter weather for many of us as well.<\/em> :)\n<\/p>\n

\nWe hope to see you there!!<\/strong>
\nKimberly and Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It's an exciting year for us for DevConnections! SQL Server 2008 has now been out for a few months and an SP is coming up soon. This is the sign that some customers wait for to migrate over to the new release feeling that an SP indicates a higher level of stability. But, this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,27,65,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conferences","category-events","category-sql-server-2005","category-sql-server-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/kimberly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}