DevTeach/SQLTeach Vancouver

Further to my mention last week that I was presenting at DevTeach/SQLTeach in Vancouver in June, here's the whole scoop...

DevTeach/SQLTeach Vancouver 2009
DevTeach/SQLTeach looks like a content-packed three day marvel.  There are 136 sessions rougly categorized into eight tracks - Agile Development, Web Development, .Net, Silverlight 2.0, Architecture, Application Life-Cycle, SQL Development, and SQL IT.  The speakers list is littered with MVPs and other distinguished speakers such as Kevin Kline, Joe Webb, Jessica Moss, Brad McGehee, Oren Eini, James Kovacs, David Laribee, Don Kiely, Richard Campbell, ... (let me catch my breath...)  The bad news is that if you haven't registered already, you've missed out on the screaming early-bird deal.  Even at that, though, CAD$1250 is a good price for this level of content - especially if you live within commute distance of Vancouver.  Mind you, I haven't yet had the pleasure of being there in person, but those whom I've talked to about it say that it's a very casual and "accessible" conference.  I'll do my part to help foster that - I will take as much time one-on-one with anyone that happens to run into me with a question as I possibly can.  Seeing as though a support call to Microsoft might run close to that cost... how can you pass this up?

My Sessions!
As I mentioned, I'll be presenting a session introducing SQL Server Integration Services - an eyes-on "real" demo of building a complete SSIS package from scratch.  That session is currently set for Wednesday, June 10th at 9:30am.  I've also been able to torture Jean-Rene enough to let me present another session - a little more advanced in SSIS content.  "Reusing your SSIS Scripts in Custom Tasks and Components" will show you how you can take the contents of a Script Task or Script Component and make it a drop-and-go Task or Data Flow Component that's infinitely easier to maintain.  That session is on Thursday, June 11th at 3:00pm.  Well, at least that's what I hope I'll be showing... time to make the slide deck and demo!  This will form the basis of the series of blog posts I mentioned earlier as well - I'll put all the details right here!

Pre- and Post-Conference Training
On top of all that, there's a pre- and post-conference set of hands-on labs and training.  Full-day content on Silverlight 2.0, Agile Development, F# Development, ADO.Net Entity Framework, Modular Architecture, and End-to-End Security. 

More Free Fun
But wait... there's MORE.  And all this stuff's free![1]
* Beth Massi from Microsoft will be doing a presentation on where C# and VB.Net are going, and demo Visual Studio 2010.  It's on Monday, June 8th at 6pm at the Four Seasons - RSVP here.
* The Vancouver IT Community Party - right after Beth's presentation, we'll walk over to SOHO Billiards and take over the joint for some free beer!  You will need to RSVP here (I did that twice to make sure they'll have a sufficient quantity of the barley based refreshment.)
* Alt.Net "Get Ready" event - Tuesday at 6pm (don't know any more yet).
* DotNetRocks talk show - Wednesday night at 6pm at the Four Seasons.
* Alt.Net's "Open Spaces" conference - June 12-14 - All you need to know about Agile, Lean, TDD, BDD, DDD, ...

I really hope to see you there - it's a great value for "locals" (even those of us on the Island).

[1] For Vancouver User Group members, that is... but registration for any of them is also free (and easy).  Quick! Register with VanSPUG, VanSBS, VanPass, VanPass-BI, VanTUG, or .net BC.

Work, work, work, ...

Apologies for the fact there's been no "content" here for a while.  I have a few articles half-done, but haven't been able to polish them off yet - one on inserting rows and retrieving the identity of the inserted rows, and and about how to build 2005 and 2008 components for side-by-side usage (as for Issue #2389 on the Kimball SCD component over at CodePlex).  I am also planning a series on "converting" Script Tasks and Components to Custom Tasks and Components - so that you can reuse them easily.

I'm currently not able to spend much time on SSIS, coding or designing - at least nowhere near what I'd like.  I've finally gotten tapped to help with some COBOL work, which will hopefully (but not realistically) pass by quickly.  On top of the morass of Access "applications" I have to maintain constantly, I don't seem to have much time left over anymore.  And that's a shame - there's a lot of cool things I want to put into v1.5 of the Kimball SCD component.  Version 1.4 is being received very well - and that just makes me feel good, plain and simple.

And many thanks to Scott Stauffer, president of the Vancouver BI PASS chapter.  After I presented there (in a pinch), Scott gave up his spot at Jean-Rene's DevTeach/SQLTeach event in Vancouver to me!  It will be a cool experience, I have no doubt.  I had been eyeing that conference as a "cheap" way to get some more training since it's real close to home - but even with that I didn't think I'd have been able to sneak it by my boss.  Now I have a great excuse to go pester some of the awesome presenters that will be there (specifically Jessica Moss, Joe Webb, Kevin Kline, ...)  I'll be doing an Intro to SSIS session which will be very similar to my PASS presentation - but altered a little bit to address the time problem I had.  I'm hoping to get another session in on a more advanced SSIS topic - but no word on that yet.  Here's hoping I do a decent job and get invited to other conferences.

I've also installed Windows 7 RC x64, braving the waters for my primary machine.  Everything has worked GREAT for the last week, lending some proof to the validity of Microsoft dogfooding it to their own devs for the past year or so.  It's snappy - but doesn't tweak itself for my SSD out-of-the-box as I've seen claimed.  Perhaps it doesn't recognize my drive as an SSD, or perhaps the claims are false... but a few service and registry changes shine it up nicely.

I'll have some "real" posts up soon...