SQLSaturday #305 Dallas Business Analytics Edition

I am excited about being selected to speak and attend the May 3rd SQLSaturday BA Edition in Dallas, TX. There are a number of sessions I want to attend including Eric Mezell’s An Introduction to Hadoop, Andy Egger’s Applied Predictive Analytics, David Browne on Enterprise Business Intelligence (for lunch) and Garrett Edmonson – Measuring Data Warehouse Performance. The full schedule is here - http://www.sqlsaturday.com/305/schedule.aspx.

I hope to create some time to visit with old friends in the Dallas area like Brian Smith (MS) and Tim Costello. I hope this is a precursor for Dallas to host a PASS Business Analytics week long conference in the future. California was a little to far to travel this year even though I should have went.

I am presenting one of my first BI presentations I have ever given – Dimensional Modeling 101. When I move over to Business Intelligence, I had a strong background in Data Normalization. Transitioning to a Dimension Model was quite difficult and I wish I had someone to explain like Warren Thornthwaite did at a pass PASS Summit before I started. He did a great job using PASS registration data to great a simple Data Mart and Analysis Services cube while previewing in Excel. That hooked me.

Thanks to all the sponsors for helping make this a free event for all attendees.

Call for Speakers – SQLSaturday #324 Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge is now on its 6th SQLSaturday and the event grows year after year. It all started with Patrick LeBlanc back in 2009 with #17 http://sqlsaturday.com/17/eventhome.aspx and with help from local User Groups (William Assaf – Sparkhound), it has expanded its topics and attendees. This event is also called Baton Rouge Tech Fest because there are more than just SQL Server related topics. Last year, we had a CIO/Manager track, Windows Phone, SharePoint and .Net.

So, this is a Call for Speakers to the next SQLSaturday August 2dn 2014 in Baton Rouge at the Business Center on LSU’s campus. Most speakers get at least one session, so do not be shy about submitting. If you need help, practice by giving a Lighting Round at the local User Group (SQL and .Net) meeting the 2nd Wednesday of every month. There is even a Java user group meeting at the same time.

Pictures from previous SQLSaturdays in Baton Rouge