SQL Relay is returning for its 8th year, and is heading your way in October 2017!

SQL Relay will be in Birmingham on Thursday 12th October, featuring top quality Microsoft Data Platform content from Microsoft, and nationally and internationally renowned speakers.

We will have four tracks; three primary tracks providing in depth tips and tricks for your SQL Server and Azure environment, there is also a morning and afternoon in-depth workshop, spaces are limited on these so make sure you register your place below.

With over 1000 registrations on the last Relay, reserve your place quickly

Agenda: The provisional agenda is shown at the bottom of this page, please note that this is still subject to change.

The day will comprise of a series of 55 minute technical presentations, at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. You can switch tracks at will throughout the day, to select the sessions that are most relevant to you.

The workshop track is pre-book only, and will take the whole morning or afternoon.

Parking: There is parking available. More information can be found here. We are trying to arrange discounted rates, this will be confirmed at a later date.

Taxis: are available from New Street Station.

Address: ODEON Broadway Plaza, 220 Ladywood Middleway, B16 8LP

Registration: Places are on a first come first served basis. On the day, doors will be open from 8:30am with sessions starting at 9.

Competitions: We will provide you with a ticket that also contains competition entry vouchers, which you can put in sponsors' bowls during the day to win some great prizes! Please make sure you cut these out prior to getting to the venue or there will be a big queue for the scissors!

Food: We'll be providing a light lunch, plus tea & coffee at a couple of breaks. We will be catering for vegetarian food, according to your food preferences during registration.

Dress Code: Casual

First Time at These Events? Everyone has a 'first event', including the speakers and organisers of this event. We're lucky to be a part of the UK SQL Server community, one of the most friendly and welcoming tech communities out there. Whether you're in a group or on your own, you'll be made to feel welcome and will learn lots about new and existing technology, as well as a chance to meet your peers and SQL heroes. And if you have any queries, please get in touch here and we'll help you out.

Are all the events the same? No, but there is a consistent theme. A number of speakers will present at multiple events, but the sessions and content will change throughout the tour according to speaker availability and the technical content required at each venue.

Can I register for multiple events? Absolutely, yes. With multiple tracks of content you can't see every session on a single day, so why not join us at multiple venues to make sure you get a full dose of SQL Server awesomeness.

Visas: We welcome all attendees, international and local. However we are unable to provide or support visas for foreign attendees.

Other Questions? Contact us at contact@SQLRelay.co.uk and we'll get back to you as soon as we can

Other Events:

• SQL Relay 2017 - Reading - 9th Oct 2017
  
• SQL Relay 2017 - Nottingham - 10th Oct 2017
  
• SQL Relay 2017 - Leeds - 11th Oct 2017
  
• SQL Relay 2017 - Birmingham - 12th Oct 2017
  
• SQL Relay 2017 - Bristol - 13th Oct 2017
  

Morning Workshop - What’s new in SQL Server 2017 - by Coeo

TBA

Afternoon Workshop - Everyone needs a little science in their data - by Microsoft

At SQL Relay there are great sessions and the Adatis workshop on analytics – but how does that fit in with the data you have and the problems you want to solve?
That is a question that we hope to be able to answer in our data science clinic. We’ll ask you to bring sample data and questions and we'll work the problem together. Of course you need to be happy to share that data so nothing should be personally identifiable or confidential, but even if you show us schemas and logs we can do useful work. If that's not you then you might want to drop in and listen or even offer advice, as we are all experts :)

Andrew Fryer is in Commercial Software Engineering a new division of Microsoft designed to code with entrepreneurial organisations who want to do de-risk the adoption of new Microsoft technologies like data science, bots & blockchain. We do this to feed back to product groups and to show by example that these innovative areas have real value and are enterprise ready.

Agenda: The following is the provisional agenda, please note that this is still subject to change.

8:30 Doors Open

9:00 - 9:30 Keynote

9:35 - 10:30 Session 1

1. Padawan Hour - SQL Server For Absolute Beginners - Andre Melancia
2. Using M for data access in Analysis Services Tabular 2017 - Chris Webb
3. Modern Data Warehousing - A template for Lambda BI in Azure - Terry McCann & Simon Whiteley
   
4. Workshop: What's new in SQL Server 2017 by Coeo

10:30 - 10:45 Break

10:45 - 11:40 Session 2

1. Query Plans Deep Dive - David Morrison
2. New Features in SQL 2017 - Nisha John
3. To SQL or not to SQL, that is the question! - Andrew Fryer
   
4. Workshop: Continued...

11:45 - 12:40 Session 3

1. How Profisee Ensures Data Quality and Drives BI Value for Your Business - Dave Lawrence
   
2. An Introduction to SQL Server & Containers - Andrew Pruski
3. Azure SQL Data Warehouse : 101 - John Martin
   
4. Workshop: Continued...

12:40 - 13:40 Lunch

13:40 - 14:35 Session 4

1. DevOps 101 for the IT Pro - Alex Yates & Rob Sewell
2. Azure Data Lake - The Services. The SQL. The Sharp. - Paul Andrew
3. Introduction to Azure Key Vault - Caroline Eveleigh
   
4. Workshop: Everyone needs a little science in their data by Microsoft

14:40 - 15:35 Session 5

1. Enterprise Power BI - Bent Nissen Pedersen
2. An Introduction to Machine Learning - Alex Whittles
3. Investigate TempDB like Sherlock Holmes - Richard Douglas
   
4. Workshop: Continued...

15:35 - 15:50 Break

15:50 - 16:45 Session 6

1. Database in the Cloud for Early Adopters - Tobiasz Koprowski
2. Building a small data warehouse in a big data world - Helen Gore
3. Maximising SQL Performance - Unleash the I/O - Neil Hambly
4. Workshop: Continued...

16:45 - 17:00 Prizes

* Subject to change