As a developer I think it’s important to keep up with general trends in the computer industry. They have a direct reflection on what we do. I’ve found a nice selection that are not only informative but also entertaining. I think you’ll enjoy them too.

Buzz Out Loud – I start each day off with this daily CNet podcast. A panel of experts discusses the latest industry happenings in a very entertaining manner. It’s available in both audio and video formats.

PCMag Radio – Each week the editors at PCMag (formerly PC Magazine) get together and cover the weeks hottest topics.

Windows Weekly – Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte cover the latest in all things Microsoft in this entertaining and informative podcast.

Tech5 – John C. Dvorak has been around as long as the PC, each day he delivers his wisdom in 5 minute chunks. John also does a weekly video round up of the news called Top 5 Tech 5.

Cranky Geeks – John Dvorak has another show well worth watching in Cranky Geeks. This weekly half hour show gets John and co-crank Sebastian Rupley together with two industry pundits to discuss the weeks big topics.

TWIT (This Week In Tech) – Every week Leo Laporte assembles a panel of industry experts to discuss the events of the week. The discussion is always lively and interesting.

Tekzilla – This weekly video podcast has Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont showing off the latest gadgets and answering viewer questions. Not only is the show informative it’s also very enjoyable to watch, they make it quite fun. In addition to the weekly show there is a daily one minute tips cast you can subscribe to.

Data Security Podcast – Security is important to everyone, this show is a weekly news show that covers the latest in security news and views.

GeekBrief – Cali Lewis is a delightful bundle of energy, each day she does a five minute video to show you the coolest and geekest in gadgets. Just plain fun.

Loaded – Also a daily five minute show, but Natali DelConte brings a bit of a different spin to daily tech news. Natali is very professional in her presentation while also being very personable, a tough balancing act but she does it well.

Buzz Report – Molly Wood does a weekly wrap up of the week’s news that is just plain fun. I probably should put this in to a “Guilty Pleasures” category, which is just the very topic we’ll be looking at tomorrow.

That’s plenty to get you started, with this selection you’ll be able to keep up with what’s happening with the computer business. Tomorrow we’ll have some fun!

If you are a .Net Developer it’s real easy to feed your Podcast addiction and become a Podcast Junkie like me. Here’s my favorites for keeping up with the wonderful world of .Net development.

DotNetRocks – The grand daddy of .Net podcasts, Richard and Carl now have well over 450 shows behind them. One of the oldest, some of the older shows are well worth listening to even now as they talk about practices and principals we still use today, not to mention the current shows delivering up to date news on .Net.

DNRTV – Hand in hand with the audio podcast is the DotNetRocks TV show. When audio is not enough, DNRTV steps in to show what you heard about in DotNetRocks.

DeepFriedBytes – I love this show, Keith and Woody interview folks and do it with a real flare of Southern Hospitality. Not only do they have interviews with interesting people but you get good ideas for new deep fried foods! I also love the “rusty washers” segments.

Hanselminutes – Each week Scott Hanselman does an interesting, creative interview with people all over the coding spectrum. It’s typically half an hour in length so easy for those with a short commute. Scotts style is very relaxed and enjoyable.

The Thirsty Developer – While most of the episodes lean toward .Net occasionally they throw in a show about non Microsoft topics, such as the recent show on HAML. I think it makes a nice balance to see what folks are doing who may be using tools different from mine.

Herding Code – Similar to the previous podcast, this one primarily focuses on .Net but takes occasional forays into other subjects.

Misfit Geek – This is a relatively new podcast with only two episodes under it’s belt. Both have been interesting though so I’m hopeful to see more in the near future.

Channel 9 – The site for Microsoft produced podcasts this is a firehose of information for all .Net developers. No matter what your specialty if you work with Microsoft tools there will be something here for you.

Whiile these ought to keep you busy for a while, I know tomorrow you’ll be eager for more. While keeping up with programming is important, I also think it’s vital to keep up with industry trends. The roll out of new computers and OS’s has a big effect on the life of a developer. In addition I also think it’s valuable to remember there are a lot of folks who work with computers all day who are not coders. Thus tomorrow we’ll take a look at the list of podcasts useful for knowing what’s going on in the computer industry.

OK, I admit it! I am a complete and total Podcast Junkie. I listen or watch hours upon hours of podcasts each week. In large part they are how I keep up with what is going on in the industry, but they are also a great way to relax. I use my Zune and either listen or watch, or hook up my Zune 120 to the big TV and watch there. I have mentioned podcasts before, but it’s been quite a long time so I thought it was time to give an update on my current list of favorites. Hopefully you will find some good ones too.

We’ll start the week out with SQL Server related podcasts. There aren’t many, but they do exist.

SQL Down Under – Hosted by MVP Greg Low, each episode is an interview with someone interesting in the SQL Community. While the show is not regular, the past episodes are well worth listening to.

SQLServerpedia – This is a cornucopia of topics, they vary in length and frequency but are very useful, practical how to videos on a wide variety of SQL Server topics.

Voice of the DBA – Each day MVP Steve Jones brings you an interesting and informative editorial on subjects in the SQL Server world.

RunAs Radio – Strictly speaking this is not a SQL Server show, however Richard Campbell and Greg Hughes do bring SQL Server related episodes on a fairly regular basis. In addition many of the topics covered are of interest to SQL Server DBAs and thus is well worth the listen.

JumpstartTV.com – In the strictest sense the videos at JumpstartTV are not podcasts, since you must view them on their site and cannot download them to a portable media device. However their content is just too good not to pass along. There are a wide variety of short, focused videos, 3 to 5 minutes in length on average. Each video shows how to do one and only one thing, and most focus on the SQL Server realm. (Disclaimer, there is some video content on the site I produced.)

That’s all for today. If you have some suggestions on podcasts related to this subject, please leave a link in the comments below.

Tomorrow we’ll look at some of my favorite podcasts related to .Net development. On Wednesday we’ll look at podcasts about the computer industry in general. Then we’ll take a break and look at podcasts that are simply just for fun. Finally we’ll wrap Podcast Junkie week up with what is not only my favorite podcast but probably the most important one you’ll ever listen to.

I just wanted to take a second to pop my head up and say “Hi!” It’s been a busy few weeks for your humble Arcane Coder. Last week I finished my technical edits for my book chapter for the upcoming “SQL Server MVP Deep Dives” book. My chapter will focus on Full Text Searching.

I then worked on getting ready for the upcoming BSDA LINQ Bootcamp event, which takes place at the end of July. If you’d like to attend this two day, free event see the notice at http://altechevents.com/2009/07/13/bsda-presents-linq-bootcamp/ or you can use the short url of http://tinyurl.com/bsdalinq. Please pass it along to all your friends.

To add to my fun I recently got a new laptop, an Acer Aspire 8730. You may recall lightening hit our house last year and fried many of our computers. Our insurance finally came through and this was the model I selected to replace a fried desktop system. So far I’ve been quite pleased with it, the 18.4 inch screen has been very nice for development. I’ve also been impressed with the battery live, have gotten close to 3 hours which isn’t bad for something this huge. We’ve nick named it “The Beast”. I’ve been busy getting all the software installed and configured.

I’m also looking forward to attending DevLink next month. This three day geek fest looks to be an awesome event, and a steal for the price. If you see me there be sure to say hi!

I’ve got an interesting series of posts lined up for this coming week, hopefully there will be something useful for everyone!

I found out today Microsoft renewed my MVP award for the 2009-2010 year. I am grateful that my efforts to serve the community were recognized. I’m grateful to Microsoft for caring enough about the community to have setup a program to recognize and more importantly enable those who server.

I am also grateful to you, the readers and my friends in the technical community for allowing me in, for reading my blog, and letting me speak at various community events. Your support, encouragement and friendship have been invaluable.

Finally and most importantly I need to thank my lovely wife and two beautiful daughters. They have endured a lot of evenings of me getting home late after an event, or seeing me face down over a hot laptop working on some new presentation or blog post. Without their love and support none of my efforts would have been possible.

At the 2009 CodeStock event I am presenting SQL Server Integration Services for Developers. This class will demonstrate tasks commonly done by VB.Net or C# developers within SQL Server Integration Services.

The sample project and documentation for the lab can be found on the code gallery site at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SSISForDevs .

I’m busy getting ready for CodeStock this week, but wanted to pass a long a little tidbit. I’m a fan of a software program called TeraCopy. TeraCopy is a file copy manager that helps when you are copying mass amounts of files. It is far faster than XP, and while not significantly faster (depends on the files) in Vista SP1 or Win 7, it still offers some nice enhancements. For example when copying you can set it to only overwrite older files, great for taking a quick backup. If the copy fails in the middle no more “oops I failed” and everything just stops, rather it will skip the offending file and go on with the rest and give you a nice dialog at the end clearly letting you know which files were troublesome. For more details see their website.

I mention TeraCopy today for two reasons. First today they released version 2.0 of the product (congrats guys!). Second, for today, June 23rd only they are having a one day special, you can buy the Pro version for half price just ten dollars and fifty cents (US). For that price I was willing to pay just to be able to support the development. This is a very useful tool that I use daily, very handy in making fast backups or moving data between my computers.

While you are on the CodeSector website you also might want to check out their DirectFolders product, I only just downloaded it but it seems to be quite useful.

Standard Disclaimer: I have no financial affiliation with Code Sector, the creators of TeraCopy other than being a customer, nor do I get any compensation from Bits du Jour. I just think it’s a cool product.

Rarely do I post something personal here, but something is bothering me and I have to get it out. This week a good friend, one of my ham radio buddies, Charles /  N4DKE passed away from cancer. I’ve known Charles for almost 10 years, a relatively brief time compared to the many other friendships he had. He was one of my ham “Elmers”. In ham radio lingo an “Elmer” is someone who acts as a mentor.

Charles always had a great story to tell, or joke, or some neat gadget or gizmo to show off. He often gave presentations at ham club and always made them interesting. He was one of those people who knew everybody. During introductions he’d always just say “Ya’ll know who I am.” And everyone did, too.

What made this suck so bad was Charles was only 57 years old. 57. That’s young. During the visitation Wednesday evening all I could keep thinking was “This sucks, we shouldn’t have to be here.” In a way I feel robbed, there were so many more great stories of his to hear, jokes to swap, or gadgets to see. And now we won’t because this insidious disease called cancer took my friend long before he should have gone.

To all my ham, internet, computer friends and family, please, make sure to get check ups. Guys, get your prostates checked, ladies get your mammograms. I want to be able to share in your stories for a long time to come.

Last week I did a presentation at the Birmingham Software Developers Association on generating sample data using Visual Studio Database Edition, often called by it’s code name of “Data Dude” for short.  You can find my original posting, which has links to the code gallery site at http://arcanecode.com/2009/04/02/sql-server-sample-data-the-sql-name-game/ .

During my presentation I was using Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition GDR R2, which you can find here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bb3ad767-5f69-4db9-b1c9-8f55759846ed&displaylang=en 

This update assumes you have Visual Studio Database Edition installed. Most developers with an MSDN license have the Development Edition installed on their PC. When Microsoft announced the Database and Development products would merge in the Visual Studio 2010 product, they made the Development Editions of Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 available via MSDN. Go check your MSDN, and see if you have “Data Dude”. If so download and install it, then download and install the GDR R2 update from the link above. These will add new menus and tools to your Visual Studio environment.

Most notably you’ll look at the Data menu. there are menu options for Schema Compare and Data Compare. These will allow you to setup comparisons between a source and target for schemas or data.

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft. Last week was focused on individuals in the development community, this week will focus on the SQL Server realm.

Rather than “Big Thinker”, I think the label “Big Do-er” may be more accurate when it comes to today’s selection. Andy Warren maintains a blog at SQL Server Central (and was also one of its founders), and runs End to End Training out of Orlando FL. He also had a vision for training videos that were short in duration (roughly five minutes) and very focused on a single subject, hence he created JumpstartTV.

His biggest contribution to the community perhaps centers around SQL Saturday. Andy saw the success around code camps, events where developers could congregate on a Saturday and take free community based training. At the same time he recognized some of the difficulties around them. They tended to be hard to find, without a standard look and feel to their websites. There was also a hurdle for people wanting to put on a code camp for the first time. Andy decided to act.

He created SQL Saturday.com, a centralized website where anyone wishing to put on a SQL Saturday could advertise their event, handle registrations, schedules, and speakers. He created a guide for event planners, to give them a checklist for their event. Speaking from personal experience, I know we followed the guide closely and found it very valuable when our group held SQL Saturday 7 recently. Finally Andy throws himself into the event as well, appearing personally at as many SQL Saturdays as humanly possible.

Truly Andy is the shining example of “one man can make a difference” and I can but hope my own contributions will come anywhere close to Andy’s.

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft. Last week was focused on individuals in the development community, this week will focus on the SQL Server realm.

Brent Ozar is an active blogger and Twitterer, in addition to being Editor-in-chief at SQL Serverpedia. The site hosts many video tutorials, many of which are created by Brent. I very much like his style, it is relaxed, easy going, but informative and right to the point. I find it very easy to learn from these videos, thus enhancing my skills greatly. I find Brent to be a good role model for my public speaking, and I think you will too.

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft. Last week was focused on individuals in the development community, this week will focus on the SQL Server realm. “

Pinal Dave reminds me of that chef who goes “bang” all the time. I first got to know him when I was working on a SQL Server project and doing some things that were new to me. I’d do a web search and “bang”, there came the answer on his blog. Another search and “bang” there was his blog in the top 10 results again. Over and over that day I’d search and “bang” there would be the answer, right on his blog in an easy to read and understand format.

Pinal has to be one of the most prolific writers I’ve seen, his blog SQL Authority is filled with informative, easy to understand articles. I also had the privilege of meeting him at the MVP summit earlier this year, and he has got to be the nicest guy in SQL Server you’ll ever meet. He is also a frequent poster on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pinaldave. To me he is the embodiment of helpful service, and reminds me to remain humble as I work in the SQL community.

Go ahead, give his blog a try. By the end of the day you too may be thinking “Hey, who needs Books on Line when you have Pinal Dave?”

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft. Last week was focused on individuals in the development community, this week will focus on the SQL Server realm.

Today’s pick is actually a two for one special. Perhaps not fair since individually either of them is outstanding in the SQL Server field and have appeared on more podcasts and events than I can count, but since they got married they have become an unstoppable, inseparable duo. I speak of course of Paul Randal and Kimberly Tripp. While most couples argue over paint color, they argue over indexing strategies. As I said they’ve been on more podcasts than I can count, some of my favorites though were Dot Net Rocks Episodes 178, 110, 74, 217, plus RunAsRadio shows 104, 76, 74, 72, and my favorite Episode 36. In addition to podcasts I’ve seen them present live at TechEd.

I like Paul and Kim because they make SQL Server fun. Yes, I said fun. During one of their presentations I feel like a kid being shown a toy catalog a page at a time. When its over I can’t wait to get my hands on the geeky SQL Server toys I’ve just been shown. Take a listen, I believe you’ll find their fun infectious and will soon be ‘playing’ with a new toy called SQL Server.

(And just for the record, I don’t care what Carl Franklin says, Kimberly is the cuter one of the two. )

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft. Last week was focused on individuals in the development community, this week will focus on the SQL Server realm.

Steve began working with SQL Server way back in 1991. One of his earliest DBA jobs was on SQL Server version 4.2 running on OS/2 v1.3. To say Steve is prolific is an understatement; he seems to be all over the web. He does a regular column at SQL Server Central, which he cofounded. Steve also does a regular video podcast called “The Voice of the DBA”. Finally he is very active on Twitter, engaging others in regular conversation.

I think that is what I like most about Steve. His style is very conversational, when ever I read his editorials or watch his video podcasts I always feel like I’m right there with him, having a discussion. A frequent closing line to his videocast is “tell me what you think”. Thinking is what Steve inspires, after he throws out a topic I invariably wind up pondering it for a while. I’ve met Steve, and he is just like what you see in the videos, I never walk away from him without having something fun to mull over in the old gray matter. Check out Steve and see if your brain isn’t buzzing afterward.

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft.

Mark Miller is an insane genius. I can think of no other way to describe his quirky sense of humor, unbridled energy, and extreme coding ability. What he does for me though is make me think deeply about user interfaces, and how they can make or break my application. Not just in vague ways either, Mark can demonstrate in concrete terms what makes a good UI. How many pixels does the mouse have to travel in order to let the user accomplish the task? Are the colors used of a similar hue and shade? How can I use contrast most effectively in my user interface?

Of course in some ways the education I’ve received is a classic double edge sword. Now when I sit down with a new app I began analyzing it in terms of what I know, and immediately thinking of how it could be better. Some might call that hubris, I prefer to think of it as critical thinking based on good UI design methodologies preached by the “Millenator”.

Mark has appeared on Dot Net Rocks numerous times, including Episodes 80, 101, 134, 153, 185, 338, and 395. He has also done a ‘boat load’ of DNR TV episodes, including Episodes 5, 40, 44, 72, and 107. His best work though, can be seen in the two part DNR TV series on “The Science of a Great User Experience”, Episodes 112 and 123. In these episodes Mark actually demonstrates good UI in a way that you can visually see the clear improvements using the techniques he recommends.

I can think of no better way to wrap up Big Thinkers week than to recommend the mad genius that is Mark Miller.

But wait, there’s more! This week I focused on Big Thinkers in the development community. Next week I’ll put on my other hat and focus on Big Thinkers in the SQL Server community!

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft.

“Uncle Bob” Martin has been in the computer industry since 1970. As such he has some great stories to tell, many of which I can relate to having gotten into computers in the late 70’s myself. Uncle Bob is not only concerned with coding, but with the act of coding. He sees coding as a profession and encourages us to take pride in that profession. He is also the inventor of the SOLID principals of coding. Most of all when I listen to him I think about the way I code, the way I architect applications, and stop for a moment to actually think before I start hammering out code.

Uncle Bob has been on many podcasts, including Episode 388 of Dot Net Rocks, Episodes 145 and 150 of Hanselminutes, and Episode 41 of Stack Overflow. I hope you enjoy listening to him as much as I do.

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft.

Richard Campbell is one of those people who, at least to us lowly mortals, appears to be able to do it all. He knows hardware, SQL Server, and .Net fluently. He runs his own company Strangeloop Networks, is a frequent speaker at conventions, and finds the time to do two podcasts a week. In addition to hosting he was also the interviewee, in Dot Net Rocks Episode 300 and more recently Episode 157 of Hanselminutes.

I got to meet Richard at DevLink 2008, and had a fascinating conversation with him in the bar for quite a long time. I can say that he is as friendly and knowledgeable in person as he appears on the show. Richard serves as proof that it is indeed possible to be proficient in multiple technologies, and forces me to think about ways to improve myself and to continually learn and grow. Whenever I hear Richard speak it inspires me to hit the books even harder to work toward the pinnacle of my craft.

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft.

It’s hard to believe anyone would not know who Ted Neward is. I had the pleasure of meeting him at DevLink 2008, then saw him again at the 2009 MVP summit where we had several enjoyable conversations. Ted is truly a renaissance man when it comes to languages. He is best known for his skills in Java and .Net, and more recently F#, but his love for programming languages seems boundless. It’s not about knowing a language though, it’s about understanding how each language solves programming problems. For example, how does language A handle variables versus language B? What advantages or disadvantages does that approach give language A over B?

By attempting to understand how a language solves problems, we can take those techniques and apply them in other languages. F# is a great example, it is a language from Microsoft Research that is functional rather than object based. Recently though I have seen several articles on how to implement functional methods in C#, traditionally an object based language.

Ted has been on Dot Net Rocks probably more times than anyone one else, as well as it’s sister video podcast DNRTV. One of my favorite episodes was a little over a year ago, “Ted Neward on the New Language Renaissance”. Very recently he was on Code Cast, in Episode 21 he was talking about .Net and Java and how Oracles buy out of Sun affects the industry.

The most memorable podcast I have seen him in was an interview he did on F#. I was on my way to DevLink 2008, got about half way there when my poor old truck broke down. As I sat waiting in a local Taco Bell for rescue, I pulled out my laptop and watched some videos I’d downloaded including Ted’s F# interview. If you notice in the video, Ted is wearing a rather snazzy “I Love C#” t-shirt. The next day I get back on the road and once again strike out for DevLink arriving just in time for the last session of the day, a session on F# with Ted and Amanda Laucher. I was quite thrown to see Ted wearing the exact same shirt. I had to pinch myself to ensure I had not fallen asleep in the Taco Bell!

Hopefully Ted’s love of languages, his passion to learn different ways to solve problems will wear off on you too. And who knows, with his new found fame and fortune perhaps he can afford a second t-shirt!

I’m devoting this week to “Big Thinkers”. I want to highlight individuals who challenge my thought processes and cause me to think about my profession, my methodologies, and force me to reflect on my skills. Some of these individuals I have the privilege of knowing personally, others I have only known via Podcasts or Twitter. I’m hoping that by highlighting these Big Thinkers you too will be challenged to grow and evolve in your craft.

The first person I’d like to highlight is someone I consider a friend, fellow MVP Alan Stevens. Alan hails from Knoxville TN and is constantly involved in community activities, such as the upcoming CodeStock and DevLink events. I like Alan for two reasons. First, he is constantly evaluating his skills and seeking to learn from others. His approach to coding strikes me as almost Zen like, in his quest to constantly learn and improve. Alan seems to be on a trip to code enlightenment, but (to borrow an old line) realizes the journey is as important as the destination.

Second, Alan has a deep passion for community. To meet with other developers and share knowledge. Note I did not say teach, although many would consider him an excellent teacher. Instead when Alan is explaining a concept I can see he is learning as much, if not more than the people he is sharing with. Alan is also well known for his evangelism of “open spaces” as a learning platform. If you have never been to an open spaces session, a group of developers get together and post suggestions on what to discuss. The group votes and topics are selected, and then a free flow of ideas ensues. These are truly remarkable, I highly suggest you try and attend at least one open spaces session if you get the opportunity. I honestly think one day Alan will launch a conference that is nothing but a day of “open spaces” discussions.

If you would like to hear more about Alan, I’d suggest you learn directly from him. In February he was featured on episode 420 of Dot Net Rocks:

http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=420

Alan also gave an excellent presentation called “Coding In Public – If You’re Gonna Suck, Do It With Gusto!” which was recorded in video and placed on his blog. (By the way, if you are wondering just what the “Alan Stevens Syndrome” is you’ll have to watch the video!)

http://netcave.org/CodingInPublicSlidesAndVideo.aspx

Whew. It’s finally over. It was a lot of work but well worth it. This was the fourth SQL Saturday I have participated in as a speaker, but the first I helped to organize. Our club president John did the bulk of the work along with his right hand man Morgan. They did an outstanding job with fund raising and organization, and I was proud to be able to contribute what help I could.

Speaking of sponsors I want to take a moment to thank each of them for their support. Without them the event would not have been possible. Their economic aid allowed us to make the event free to all of the attendees, feed everyone lunch, and give out some cool swag at the end of the day. Microsoft, Teksouth, Dasher Technologies, Confio Software,  PASS, End To End Training, JumpstartTV, Redgate, InformIT, CTS, WebBasics, Telerik, TEK Systems, Matrix, and SQL Server Magazine all helped to make this a great event and I want to thank all of them for their support. Also a special additional shout out to Confio for stepping up at the last moment and sponsoring the speakers dinner, and to the folks at Richards BBQ and Grill for working with us to work the dinner event into their schedule (and for a tasty meal).

We had an outstanding group of volunteers as well, helping out the attendees and speakers and keeping everything running smoothly. They took care of handing out food, registration, plus each room had two volunteers to make sure we ended our sessions on time and make sure the speakers had water. An event of this size would not have been possible without their dedicated work. Special thanks to the volunteers in the room during my presentation, Guy and Don, for keeping me on track and make sure everything ran smoothly.

I think my favorite part of the day was during lunch, I got to participate in a speakers panel. The speakers in each track gathered at the front of their track room during lunch to take questions from the audience. I was part of the BI track and the audience did a good job of throwing questions at us and letting the group discuss and give feedback. It was a lot of fun, I’d love to do it again.

We also had some lively banter in the speakers lounge right before lunch. There was an interesting discussion on GUIDs as primary keys in a table. Perhaps the fact I found that interesting should tell you how geeky I am, when I tried to explain to my wife her eyes sort of glazed over and she said “yes dear” a few times. Sort  of the same look I give her when she starts going on about her latest trip to the sewing store.

It was great to see a lot of old friends again. Andy Warren, Kevin Boles, Chris Eargle, Stuart Ainsworth all came from out of town to speak at the event and it was great to hang out with them. I also met a lot of new folks who I hope will soon become “old friends”.

Finally my thanks would not be complete without giving a special thanks to my sweet wife and darling daughters, who put up with me being on the go with this and other community events.

Thanks!