Alaska

Congratulations to Doug Lane (Blog – @DougLane4), the winner of Idera’s SQLVictory contest.  He produced this killer video about a time when he vanquished the SQL beast:

For his efforts, Idera’s sending him on SQLCruise Alaska for free!  Idera also gave two runners-up prizes of $300 Amazon gift cards, plus several runner-up prizes of $100 gift cards.  Check out the list of winners and read their stories.

SQL Cruise Talent Coordinators have locked-in their prime training and development events for the May 29, 2011 cruise from Seattle to Alaska and Canada.  We’ve put together our trademark mix of SQL Server, Professional Development, and Productivity training offerings and put them through the SlapChop of our professional, non-traditional, and sometimes irreverent delivery styles for a fun time aboard the Norwegian Pearl.

Leaving Seattle Aboard SQLCruise

Saturday – Seattle SQLBBQ

The afternoon before we board the ship, we’ll gather together in downtown Seattle to get to know each other.  We’ll already know each other via the private SQLCruise mailing list, but now’s your chance to put names to faces.  Zero presentations – only discussions.  We’ve found that when you know your fellow students and instructors, you’re more open to asking frank, honest questions.  We look at the entire SQLCruise experience as NDA – No Denials Allowed.  We build open relationships across the board, and we’re all equals here.  The location and time will be sent directly to the cruisers as we get closer.

Sunday – Seattle (Embark at 16:00)

Why Are We Here?

Our introductory round-table discussion about why we are here as educators and why you’ve joined us as Cruisers.

Red Gate Software Search the Ship Team-Building Event

It wouldn't be a SQLCruise without prizes!

What originally started as a contest to acquaint Cruisers with their home for the next 7 nights has turned into an event that Cruisers talk about well after their time on board has ended!  Cruisers and their guests are arranged into teams, assigned a list of photos to capture and sent on their way.  The challenge:  the entire team must be in the photos in order to qualify.  This means that not only are teams working together for a common goal (and having an amazing amount of fun in the process) but they’re also including those on board that have nothing to do with SQL Cruise.  This is a great ice-breaker for Cruisers and guests – young and old alike!  Oh, and the winning team’s Cruisers win fabulous prizes which in the past have included netbooks and iPads!  This cruise is no exception: iPad2, 1TB external hard drive, and wireless mice for winners!

Monday – Cruise the Inside Passage

Buck Woody is All Over Your Career!

If you’re on this cruise, you’re paying special attention to your career. Buck Woody, Senior Technical Specialist in Distributed Computing at Microsoft has held jobs from worker to management, in organizations big and small, from consulting firms to NASA. He teaches at the University of Washington, where he counsels his technical students on putting their best business foot forward to get a position and move through to their final desired professional goals. In this in-depth session you’ll learn:

• How to find out what you’re good at
• How to get better at it – what to learn, how to learn it, when to apply it
• How to get people to pay you for your specialty

Whether you’re an independent contractor or consultant or a charter member of the fabric-covered-box fraternity, you’ll find proven ways to chart a career path, adapt that path, and stay on it.

Brent Ozar’s SAN Administrator Lie Detector Test

Your SAN admin is probably lying to you. You’re frustrated because SQL Server is dead slow, you’re seeing all kinds of storage waits, and everything points to the SAN, but the SAN admin says it’s not his problem. It probably is – and Brent will give you the tools to prove it. Strap him to the SAN Admin Lie Detector and learn:

• How to read the hidden SAN signs in Control Panel
• How to test the SAN in 5 minutes
• How to write a report proving it’s the SAN without making enemies

Tim Ford Teaching on SQLCruise

Tim Ford’s Periodic Table of Dynamic Management Objects

No Portal Gun required!  Join Tim as he presents his new tool for organizing and navigating the complex and confusing world of Dynamic Management Objects.  The goal:  getting you using the DMOs to tune your SQL Server instances and minining for valuable metadata.  It’s a dry subject, so Tim will liven it up with group discussions, puppets, and games!  There will be prizes.  There will be learning.  There will be bacon!  There will be FUN WITH SCIENCE!

Quest Software – It’s BINGO Time! Contest

You won’t catch the inside joke until you’re on board, but lets simply say that many cruise ship aficionados L-O-V-E BINGO!  As a SQL Cruiser you’ll get your opportunity to win great prizes from SQL Cruise and Quest Software in our take on the game that young and old alike enjoy (okay, perhaps that only young and old enjoy.)

Orcas near Juneau

Tuesday – Juneau, Alaska

Sunrise Startup –Blogging Panel Discussion

You want to increase your exposure and make yourself more valuable to your company, your brand, and your community?  Many of your fellow Cruisers and the entire training team have established blogs and brands.  Spend this hour with us as we exercise our writing demons in public in hopes of elevating our collective writing skills.

 

Kendra Little In Isolation: (NOLOCK) or YESFUN?  The Right Approach to Transaction Isolation

Understanding transaction isolation is critical if you want to write highly concurrent software, administer databases like a pro, and impress your neighbors. We’ll discuss the benefits and problems of each isolation level in SQL Server. We’ll talk about practical changes you can make to provide the right level of concurrency for your users. We’ll focus in detail on how to identify applications which are good candidates for optimistic locking, and how to plan, execute, and monitor changes in your default isolation level. A broadsheet handout will keep your knowledge fresh after the cruise.

 

Juneau, Alaska

Disembark in our 49th state’s capital and take in the thrilling night life and amazing scenery.  We’re in port from 14:00 –  22:00 so you’ll have plenty of time to relax and enjoy your time ashore.

Downtown Skagway, Alaska

Wednesday – Skagway, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

We are in Skagway, Alaska from 07:00-20:15.  This is our one true day of relaxation (almost).  Take the time on shore to mine for gold, enjoy good frontier food, observe nature in all of it’s rustic spendor, or take on an excursion.  In the past both Brent and I have been able to get up close and (not too) personal with bears, eagles, moose, and a menagerie of some amazing creatures here in Skagway.

Idera Iditarod Contest

One safely on board, we meet up for the second edition of the game sweeping piano bars on cruise ships wherever SQL Server Professionals gather.  Can you stack three golf balls on top of each other?  Can you do it on a moving ship?  When was the last time you played with barrels?  How about Barrels Full of Monkeys?  Those skills and others are required if you want to succeed in this game – a mashup of The Amazing Race and Minute To Win It.  On the Miami 2011 cruise winners walked away with Flip HD Mini video recorders thanks to Idera Software.  Who knows what Idera has in store for you this time around the High Seas!

Tracy Arm Fjord

Thursday – Cruise Glacier Bay, Alaska

Today is a day of relaxation and taking in some of the most amazing scenery anyone will ever see in their lifetime.  However, for SQL Cruisers it means we dig in and get our learnimication on!  Don’t worry, there will a significant break in the training when we arrive in heart of the iceberg field where the  glacier action is high!

Sunrise Startup – Panel Discussion:  Difficult Situations – Difficult People – Easy Does It

When we have an opportunity to work with people we get along with on projects that are central to our skills that is fantastic.  Life doesn’t always work that way though.  Join Brent, Buck, Jeremiah, Kendra, and Tim as they foster an open discussion on how they deal with those situations we find ourselves in frequently: working with difficult people in difficult situations.

Buck Woody:  On Communication

Hand-in-hand with a technical career is the ability to communicate. In fact, the one thing that sets you apart in your chosen area is your ability to communicate about it. In this hands-on session you’ll learn:

• Professional (person-to-person) communication strategies
• Written communications – how to get your point across in e-mail, technical documentation and blogs effectively and professionally
• Oral communications – whether you’re speaking to your team or a room of thousands, you’ll learn the most effective way to get your point across with your own individual style

As an added bonus, one lucky cruiser will be chosen to have their best presentation made even better – real time and live during the session. Bring your best session, slide deck or talking points and we’ll walk through it, pointing out the good and making it great.

Brent Ozar’s Defensive Indexing

Nobody ever gets you involved in schema design AHEAD of time, do they? Oooh, no. They drag you in when the server’s on fire, queries are dragging their feet, and users are screaming for relief. We’ll show you:

• How to look at an execution plan and know with confidence if you should add an index
• Why some indexes shouldn’t be deleted even if they’re not being used
• How to quickly build an index health report for your developers and clients

Grant Fritchey:  Reading Execution Plans, the Deep Dive

It’s one thing to know to look for scans instead of seeks, but if you really want to know what’s going on in an execution plan, you need to dive deep. This session will cover reading execution plans from the basics, but goes way beyond the basics to cover as much of the information available within an execution plan as you might possibly ever need. We’ll cover the basics, like looking for fat pipes, but we’ll also go into how to understand how to interpret parameter sniffing and spot when a join operation is not performing the way you would want. We’ll use the graphical plan and the XML behind to thoroughly explore execution plans.

Confio SQL Cruise Art Auction Contest

Don’t ask us why, but art auctions are a big deal on cruise ships.  We decided that this time around SQL Cruise should hold their own art auction as well.  Ours will be just a wee bit different though.  Each Cruiser will be provided with Cruiser Bucks (including a Mr. Buck Woody on the front) that they will be able to use to buy Red Gate, SQL Server, and SQL Cruise items.  There is only one problem – some of the items will be in our own Mystery Boxes (oooooooooooh).  Yes, you will have to spend your Buck bucks in order to find out what is in the box!  Not all that glitters is gold though.  There will be an ample share of flotsam and jetsam tossed into the mix of items to bid on!

Bear Watching in Alaska

Friday – Ketchikan, Alaska

We are in the port city of Ketchikan, Alaska from 06:00 – 13:30 on Friday.  This is one of my favorite cities.  Not only because it is usually the first port we hit on other itineraries, but because of the mix of fishing, industrial, crafts, and ethnic tradecraft that consitutes the underlying feel of the city.  Ketchikan just feels like Alaska.  Take in the totems, fresh seafood, or one of the other many things to do in Ketchikan.  As for me, I’m going snorkeling (yes, you heard that right!)

Lightning Talks

Lightning talks were all the talk of the 2010 PASS Summit.  The instigator for these fast-paced 5-minute talks was our very own Jeremiah Peschka.  We’re bringing them back here and this is where you as Cruisers are able to participate as speakers.  Submit your abstract and claim your stake in what is always a fun and exciting experience.

SQL Sentry Hairiest Execution Plan Contest

Odds are that unlike the cruises in warmer climes there will not be a Hairiest Chest contest down by the pool!  That’s not stopping us from bringing back our classic contest from cruises past.  Join SQL Sentry’s very own Aaron Bertrand as we use the free tool from SQL Sentry – Plan Explorer – to identify the hairiest and scariest of execution plans submitted by you, the Cruisers!  In this case the winners win – by losing their minds.  Your pain pays off this time around.

Aaron Bertrand’s:  What’s New in SQL Server “Denali”

There will be many new features coming our way in the next major version of SQL Server across the relational engine, setup and tools. From contained databases to high availability to T-SQL enhancements; we will cover the good, the bad, the the ugly, and the missing.  Aaron always puts himself between the SQL Server Community and the newest releases of Microsoft’s core relational database management system.  He’s there for each new service pack and cumulative update.  He’s also here on SQL Cruise Alaska to show us what he’s discovered from extensive review of SQL Server “Denali”.  There will be several demos and no marketing in this session.

Saturday – Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Sunrise Startup – Truth or Dare

You have the opportunity to ask the trainers anything for the next hour.  Watch out though, because you never know what may come of your questions!  Particularly when it comes to Buck, Tim, or Jeremiah!  We also reserve the right to demo stupid SQL Tricks as well so avoid the front row if you don’t want to get any SQL on you!

Jeremiah Peschka – Many Crafts, Many Tools – A Hybrid Approach to Data

There are many different ways to store data, the relational database is just one of them. Before you go and throw out your relational database (or throw out your developers), you should take a look at how you’re using your data; and RDBMS might not be the right choice after all. We’ll take a look at four use cases:

• Data Caching
• Session State
• Flexible Data Models
• Batch Processing

SQL Server Makers Faire

One of the reasons we created SQL Cruise was to foster those discussions we get the most out of while attending traditional training events – the collaboration of like-minded SQL Professionals.  In closing our SQL Cruise Alaska experience we put on our own little Makers Faire.  We’ll work through and explore those One Things we each want you to walk away from this event and implement when you return to your land-based careers on Monday.  The most-successful training experience provide you with tools and ideas you can immediately implement.  This is what we aim for in this final session of SQL Cruise Alaska.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

We go international for our last stop on the SQL Cruise Alaska 2011 when we arrive on Vancouver Island and experience what our neighbors to the North have to offer.  We’re in port from 16:00 – 23:59 and then return for our final night on board the Norwegian Pearl.

SQLCruise Alaska: Alaska-Sized Agenda

We heard one thing over and over from our cruisers: they wanted more of everything.  More port time, more training, more networking.  On our first seven-day cruise, we’re going to deliver, and we think the seven-day cruise length will be our minimum length going forwards.  This will be the biggest and best SQLCruise yet!

It’s probably not a good thing that I use a tagline from the show Lost when discussing a 7-day cruise of Alaska.  Though it’s slightly more likely you’ll encounter polar bears.  Odds are you won’t.  Nor will you need to deal with time vortices back to 1972, smoke monsters, or canned Dahrma provisions.  We’ve successfully confirmed the food is MUCH better on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

One of the additions to SQL Cruise Alaska is not much of a secret.  It was previously announced that Buck Woody, Senior Technical Professional, Windows Azure and Cloud Computing at Microsoft Corporation would also be a lead trainer on the Alaskan SQL Cruise.  It is now confirmed that he will be providing not one, but two sessions on this cruise.

Furthermore, what you will encounter is more SQL Server MVP-ness than you anticipated or expected.  Of course Brent Ozar and Tim Ford be providing training on SQL Cruise Alaska, but so will…

• Jeremiah Peschka, Independent SQL Server and NOSQL Consultant
• Aaron Bertrand, Senior SQL Server Consultant for SQLSentry, Inc.
• Grant Fritchey, SQL Server Product Evangelist for Red Gate Software

Finally, but certainly not least on any list, is Kendra Little; Senior SQL Server Database Administrator and all the talk of the most recent 24 Hours of PASS.

All of these established presenters, trainers, and experts in one place?  (Well, one place that tends to get around for 7 days?)  Yes!  I guess there is another similarity to Lost.  Good thing we’ve got an established captain and crew moving us around – not some prehistoric atomic wooden wheel! 

We’re not done with the news just yet.  We’re also proud to announce that Idera Software will be hosting another contest to offer up travel to-and-from Seattle, a room for two on the Norwegian Pearl, and a seat in the SQL Cruise training for the lucky winner of their SQL Victory contest!  Idera Software provided Mitch Bottell with a seat on the Miami Cruise and they’re back to do it again with a new contest for our Alaskan embarkation.

We’re also welcoming a new sponsor to the Alaskan SQL Cruise:  Confio Software.  Confio is a database performance tuning solutions provider for not just SQL Server, but also Oracle, DB2, Sybase, and VMWare.  Brent and I both are proud to be working with such a fine group of individuals at Confio Software.  Their solutions are comprehensive and their staff is top-notch.

Tomorrow we will be releasing the list of sessions and abstracts for the Alaskan SQL Cruise.  As is our mission, sessions will focus on SQL Server and Professional Development topics and a very granular level.  Expect topics covering SAN configuration, Dynamic Management View Deep Dives, Isolation Levels, NOSQL, Communication and Career Tuning, Denali, and Deep Dives into Execution Plans (among other topics.)  We also will be adding some additional bonus features not found in any previous SQL Cruise so be sure to come back tomorrow when the details are revealed!

(Yes, just like Lost, we needed to keep you waiting for the rest of the secrets.)

If you’ve been thinking about signing up for SQLCruise Alaska on May 29th but you didn’t want to get a whole room by yourself, you’re in luck. One of our cruisers is looking to pair up, and this one’s an interesting setup.  John and Yanni Robel are going on the Alaska cruise along with their kids.  Due to the number of people involved, they need one extra room.  If you’re a guy, you can room with John, or if you’re a woman, you can room with Yanni.  (I suppose if you’re really attractive, you might arrange for some kind of special switching setup, but take that up with them directly.)

You’ll get a big break – the Robels are shouldering a big chunk of the cruise cost, and to help them get the spot filled, we’re knocking $200 off the SQLCruise training cost for whoever joins them.  $200 off your room, plus just $695 for a week of SQL training and fun with Brent Ozar, Buck Woody, and Tim Ford – that’s a heck of a deal.

UPDATE – Sold! Dev Nambi will be joining us on SQLCruise Alaska.