8 Days, 4 Events, 4 Different Topics
The last 8 days have been a whirlwind of activity. I have had the priviliege of being involved in four different events, both for Microsoft and our partners, and presented on four different topics in the process. This presented a bit of a challenge time-wise since preparing for an event usually takes longer than the event itself, and here I had four events in short order. Judging by some of the feedback I received personally, those that were at the events felt my contribution was valuable and worthwhile - thanks!! So, let's go through the events.
First, last Thursday I presented A Technical Overview of SQL Server 2005 to attendees at the TGO eXchange partner conference. TGO Consulting is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner focusing on the Microsoft Dynamics product line. Since these products are based on SQL Server, attendees were keen to hear all about the new features that can increase database performance and administration, features like online index rebuild, the new Management Studio interface for administering SQL Server, and so on. My session was the last one of the day before drinks and munchies, and I went about 45 minutes over - but people stayed to listen!! I was humbled that folks liked listening to me and were willing to wait until I'm done to get beer!!
The very next day, I presented three Hands-on-Labs to Microsoft partners attending the Microsoft Management Airlift at our Mississauga office. This content is somewhat outside my normal space of the Microsoft Application Platform (SQL Server, BizTalk, Sharepoint, Windows, etc.) but in an area that I am interested in. The labs focused on three products. Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (now released) is our disk-based continuous backup offering allowing quick restores by administrators and end users. Microsoft System Center Capacity Manager allows you to make better decisions about deployments of Exchange 2003 and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, including what-if analysis for bandwidth, server, and storage capacity. Microsoft System Center Reporting Manager allows you to take information from SMS, MOM, Active Directory and other sources and get consolidated reports on your IT infrastructure. Capacity Manager and Reporting Manager are not yet released but you can get more information by clicking on their links. If you attended the Airlift, slides can be downloaded from the partner site here: https://www.microsoft.com/canada/partner/events/management_airlift/default.aspx.
After a few days to prep, I was once again on stage. This time I delivered a presentation on Active Directory Remote Administration at our Microsoft Canada TechNet Monthly event to an enthusiastic group of IT Pros with whom I had a great discussion on do's and don'ts of deploying AD to branch offices and managing replication and other elements once you have done it. We even got into a dialogue on naming AD domains and what to watch out for. The presenation for this session can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/tnt1-159.
Now since the TechNet Monthly is an evening session, what better way to keep things rolling than a morning session the very next day, right? On top of that, let's make the topic something completely different like, oh, I don't know - An Overview of SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence Features. That's exactly what we did. I delivered on this topic to a very keen group of IT Pros from the financial services sector. Another fun session for all. Slides can be found by going to the MS Event site at https://www.microsoft.com/canada/events/presentations_search.aspx and searching for event ID 1032281925 to get the content.
Now that was fun but this week is even more fun with the Technet Innovations Tour stopping in Toronto and me really looking forward to presenting on Windows Vista and Windows Mobility. I hope to see you there!!
P.S. Don't forget to register for the SQL 2005 Launch Tour if you have not already. Spaces are going fast so don't miss out. You can register at the Launch 2005 web site: https://www.microsoft.ca/launch2005.