PASS Community Connector

Virtual Chapter Spotlight:
PASS Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Virtual Chapter

By Amy Lewis, Co-Chair

As the Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) stack gained more and more popularity and increased in usage over the past decade, we found many at the PASS Summit looking for a user community beyond the yearly Summit. In 2004, I personally was branching out from being solely a SQL Server DBA/ Developer into the Microsoft BI arena. So, as a volunteer for PASS already, I volunteered to kickoff the PASS Data Warehousing and Business intelligence Virtual Chapter.

I and my wonderful co-chairs, Tim Mitchell, Adam Jorgensen and group of 7 volunteers are excited to provide an arena for fellow Microsoft Data Warehousing and BI professionals to interact and share their experiences, successes, pain points, and lessons learned. Thanks to the many wonderful user community speakers, experts, MVPs, and Microsoft Data Warehousing and BI team members, we host 2-3 Live Meeting presentations a month on topics ranging from dimensional modeling, ETL processing using Integration Services, OLAP processing, Data Mining using Analysis Services, BI development/ delivery using MDX, Reporting Services, Power Pivot and SharePoint. Please check us out at http://bi.sqlpass.org.

Save the Dates: BI Virtual Chapter Meetings in February and March
Join us at our upcoming online meetings, including the "Master Data Services Development with Office 2010" session on Mon., Feb 14 at 12 pm ET, and "Multidimensional Reporting: MDX Essentials for Report Design", Wed., Feb 23 at
12 pm ET. See the BI VC abstracts, bookmark the page, and save the dates!

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Unleashed

Authors: Ray Rankins, Paul T. Bertucci, Chris Gallelli, and Alex T. Silverstein

24 Hours of PASS Registration Now Open: Reserve Your Spots Today

PASS is bringing an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts directly to your computer March 15 and 16 for the free 24 Hours of PASS: Celebrating Women in Technology virtual event. Join some of the most knowledgeable women in the industry as they take an in-depth look at the hottest SQL Server topics.

The LiveMeeting webcasts will begin at 12:00 GMT (8am ET) on March 15 and run for 12 straight hours. They start again on March 16 for another 12 hours. This is your chance to join the elite group of hardcore #24HOP veterans who watch all 24 sessions! Learn more and register today!

Win a Luxurious Alaskan Cruise!
Register for PASS Summit 2011 from today to March 31 and you’ll be automatically entered to win a 7-day 2011 Alaska cruise for two. Register now and save 40% off the Full Summit rate.

From the Blogosphere:

The Decision: PASS Summit 2013, Blog Round-up
PASS: The Budget Process, by Bill Graziano
PASS Update #52 (ERC), by Andy Warren
SQLSaturday Round-Up (Jan. 27-Feb. 2), by Hannes Bez
How to Ask Your Boss for Training Money, by Brent Ozar
Top 5 Reasons to Attend SQLSaturday #47, by Samson Loo

PASS SQLSaturday Colorado Springs
Feb 12, 8am – 5pm MST Colorado Springs, CO

PASS DW/BI VC Presents: Master Data Services Development with Office 2010
Feb 14, 12 – 1pm ET (online)

PASS Prof Dev VC Pesents: Networking to Build Your Professional Connections
Feb 17, 1-2pm ET

PASS SQLSaturday Phoenix Feb 19, 8am – 5pm MT Phoenix, AZ

PASS AppDev VC Presents: Service Broker in the Real World
Feb 22, 8 – 9pm ET

See More Events

Announcing the PASS SQLRally Sessions Chosen by You!

The votes have all been cast and the results are in! See the amazing session line-up that you’ve chosen for the inaugural PASS SQLRally conference, May 11-13, in Orlando, FL. Soak up two full days of technical training with over 40 sessions in the BI, DBA, Developer and Professional Development tracks, plus 4 deep-dive pre-conference seminars. Check out the sessions and
register now to save $100!

Real World SQL Azure: Interview with Xerox

As SQL Azure celebrates its first anniversary, the Microsoft team sat down with Xerox to talk about its innovative new service, Cloud Print. Built using SQL Azure, Cloud Print allows workers to easily print from their mobile devices. By using SQL Azure to store all relational data, Xerox was able to leverage their developers' existing knowledge of SQL Server to get the solution to market in just 4 months. Read the interview.

SQL Azure Free Trial Interested in trying out SQL Azure? Sign up for a 1GB Web Edition Database for 3 months at no charge (additional usage per month will be billed at the standard rate). Learn more on the SQL Azure website.

Planning for PASS SQLRally 2012
PASS is reaching out to chapters to gauge interest in hosting the next PASS SQLRally U.S. event in May 2012. Hosting criteria include geographical location, chapter size, and a proven history of managing events. Expressions of Interest are due Feb 14th. Find out more.

Join the PASS Summit 2011 Program Committee!
The PASS Summit 2011 Program Committee is looking for passionate volunteers to help guide the session content for this October's PASS Summit. Submit your volunteer application by Feb. 22 (closes at 9pm PST). Find out more and apply today!

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