Blog

TBA - "Details of our upcoming event are still being ironed out..."
Professional Development - Online Event

Language: English

Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm (Mountain Time)

Cost: Free

HASSUG & H-BI Monthly Meeting
Professional Development - Online Event

Language: English

Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Tentative Schedule:

10:30-10:40 – Announcements
10:40-11:45 – General presentation (Topic 1)
11:45-12:15 – Lunch\Networking – Raffle #1
12:15-1:20 – BI themed presentation (Topic 2)
1:20-1:30 – Recap Announcements – Raffle #2

Time: 10:30 am - 1:30 pm (Mountain Time)

Cost: Free

Robert Davis - Case Study: Designing a Global Scaled-out Architecture Level

Summary: How do you deliver a public-facing website on a global scale? To be truly competitive in a global market, you need to deliver a high performing website no matter what part of the world the user is in. Scaling out websites to multiple locations is easy, but it doesn’t really provide the performance required if the website has to get data from halfway around the world. This session will look at the challenges to scaling out the entire application to meet global performance requirements and how we addressed these challenges for an existing web application.

About Robert: Robert is a SQL Server 2008 Certified Master and an experienced Database Administrator, SQL Server evangelist, speaker, writer, and trainer. He has worked with SQL Server for 13+ years, most recently as Chief SQL Server Evangelist for Idera Software. Previously he served as PM for the SQL Server Certified Master Program at Microsoft Learning, and as a production DBA at Microsoft. Robert helped found the PASS Data Architecture Virtual Chapter and was co-author of Pro SQL Server 2008 Mirroring

Language: English

Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013

Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm (Mountain Time)

Cost: Free

SQL Server Disk I/O
WVPASS - Canada/US

Language: English

Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013

Time: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (Mountain Time)

Cost: Free

Event details >> No registration link provided

HBase and HDInsight Java Script Console
PASS Big Data Virtual Chapter

This session continues on building an understanding on HadoopmEcosystem Components, with a focus on HDinsight Javascript shell and NOSQL DB HBase.

Language: English

Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm (Mountain Time)

Cost: Free

Nate ...

PASS SQL Saturday Events : May 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:14:00 GMT

PASS SQLSaturday is a training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. Please note that in order to attend one of these event, you must register (registration links are provided for each event). Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleagues know about the event. Most events are free, however a nominal fee may be charged so that lunch may be provided (not pizza).

#209 / Rochester, NY

Date: Saturday, May 11, 2013

Time: 8:45 am - 5:00 pm (Check-in @ 8:00 am)

Cost: Free + $5.00 For lunch

#212 / Redmond, WA

Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013

Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Cost: Free, Includes lunch

#216 / Krasnodar, Russia

Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013

Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Cost: Free

#220 / Atlanta, GA

Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Cost: Free, $10 for lunch

#209 / Prishtina, Kosovo

Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013

Time: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Cost: Free

#208 / Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Date: Saturday, May 25, 2013

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

#219 / Kiev, Ukraine

Date: Saturday, May 25, 2013

Time: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Cost: Free

#224 / Sydney, Australia

Date: Saturday, May 25, 2013

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Cost: Free

Tom Norman's LinkedIn Profile

Nate ...

Colorado SQL Events : May 2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 01:41:00 GMT

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Date: Tuesday, May 21st.

Main Presentation:

Converting Unreliable Deployments Into Consistent Releases

Level 100/200

The deployment process is frustrating; an object is missing, an object is deployed in the wrong order or the incorrect version. Each database is made up of a lot of objects in different environments. When you create an object like a table or stored procedure, you need to get this object deployed into each environment. Together we will discover how to separate each object for proper order deployment while releasing only objects which have changed. Deployments can cause you trouble but we will provide a reliable deployment and version control process.

Presenter: Tom Norman, Database Architect / DBA, KPA.

In 1998, Tom changed his career focus to begin working with Sql Server. He has worked in all aspects of Sql Server including Administration, Database Development, BI and Reporting Services. He has worked in the Finance and Car Dealership industry. His experience has included International deployments. Tom is the co-leader of the PASS Virtualization chapter and the past President of the Denver Sql Server User Group.

DenverSQL

The Denver SQL Server User Group is organized to bring professionals of all career levels that work with Microsoft's SQL Server, together to learn and network with others. There is no charge to attend, and you are encouraged to bring guests. Food and refreshments are provided by event sponsors.

Date: Tuesday, May 16th

Time: 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Main Presentation: Capture Change and Apply it With Change Data Capture & SSIS

Whether you are trying to setup a new data warehouse, keep it updated, audit changes to your databases or quickly load changes to another database Change Data Capture (CDC) is a solution for all of these and can now be setup and supported easily with SQL Server & SSIS 2012! Change Data Capture (CDC) has been around since SQL Server 2008, but has been underused because it was difficult to fully implement. SSIS 2012 now provides support for CDC with new components that make consuming the captured data very easy to apply. This session will define what CDC is and with live demos show how it is setup on your databases. Once it has been setup then you need to consume and apply those changes, this will be demonstrated with live demos using SSIS 2012 to create packages that apply the changes.

Presenter: Steve Wake, Sr. BI Consultant

Steve Wake is a Sr. BI Consultant at Pragmatic Works with more than 20 years of experience in various IT organizations. Steve has experience in Manufacturing, Retail, Charities, Telecommunications and Financial Services organizations & switched to Consulting to share/expand/teach on his experiences with Microsoft Business Intelligence. Steve is also very involved in the local community, speaking at events across the country and is currently President of the Denver SQL Server User Group.

Steve Wake's LinkedIn Profile

Follow @SteveWake on Twitter

Start Date/Time:	Thursday, May 16, 2013 5:30 PM
End Date/Time:	Thursday, May 16, 2013 8:00 PM
Location:	7595 Technology Way, Suite 400 Denver, CO 80237 Map/Directions
Description:	5:30 - 6:00 - Food / Socializing 6:00 - 6:10 - User Group Business 6:10 - 6:30 - Open Panel/Q & A ------------------ 6:30 - 7:30 - Main Presentation ------------------ 6:30 - 7:00 - Warm-up Presentation 7:00 - 8:00 - Main Presentation ------------------ Give Away / Wrap-Up to follow presentations

Nate ...

Colorado Springs SQL Server Chapter - October 2012 Meeting

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:40:00 GMT

Colorado Springs SQL Server Chapter

Date: October 17 at 5:30 pm

Location: Hyatt Place - Garden of the Gods, 503 West Garden of the Gods Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Main Session: "The Accidental Programmer"

Presenter: Jason Kassay

Program Summary: Most people in the database world have heard of the term, "The Accidental DBA", those programmers who have to work with databases. How about the other side of the coin? What about DBA's and Dev's who have to write code or have to work closely with programmers? This presentation is a best practices guide for working with SQL Server in a .Net environment. You will learn how to recognize when bad code is written that interacts with the database, how to track it down, and most importantly how to fix it. On top of that you will also receive an introduction to object oriented programming concepts such as data abstraction, encapsulation, tier architecture, and class objects so that you can better communicate with your programmers.

Presenter Bio: Jason has been a software developer for over 10 years and currently works at EZFacility, providing scheduling, management, full-service billing, and membership solutions for the sports, health, and fitness industries. He has worked primarily with .Net (C# and VB) and SQL Server as well as HTML, CSS, and Javascript. When he is not coding or spending time with his awesome family, you will find him either running (to train for the zombie apocalypse) or stopping hockey pucks as a goaltender.

Publisher1 ...

Colorado SQL - September 2012

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:37:00 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS SQL

September 19, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.

Meeting Location: Hyatt Place - Garden of the Gods, 503 West Garden of the Gods Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80909

101: "Are triggers good or evil and when should they be used?"

During the first few minutes of the meeting we will discuss "Are triggers good or evil and when should they be used?" rather than doing a 101 session.

Main Session: "Contained Databases in SQL 2012" with Steve Jones

The idea of keeping all of a databases relevant information inside the database can ease the work of developing for and administering databases. Partially contained databases in SQL Server 2012 are covered in this talk.

Presenter Bio: In 2001, Steve founded SQLServerCentral.com with Brian Knight, Andy Warren, and three other partners that were bought out the next year. In 2002, Steve left his job with Peoplesoft to manage SQLServerCentral full time as editor, publisher, and writer. Andy, Brian, and Steve continued to manage and grow SQLServerCentral until 2007 when it was sold to Red Gate Software along with Database Weekly (then Database Daily). At the time Steve went to work for Red Gate and has continued his work with SQLServerCentral and Red Gate since that time.

DENVER SQL

September 20, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.

Meeting Location: Microsoft (Denver) - 7595 Technology Way, Suite 400, Denver, CO 80237

Using TSQL to Manage SSIS 2012 with Mike Davis

SSIS 2012 added the ability to manage most functions of SSIS 2012 using TSQL. In this session you will see how you can manage SSIS 2012 packages and projects along with Parameters and Environments, all using TSQL

Presenter Bio: Mike Davis, MCITP, is the Managing Project Lead at Pragmatic Works. He is an author of several Business intelligence books. Mike is an experienced speaker and has presented at many events such as several SQL Server User Groups, Code Camps, SQL Server Launches, and SQL Saturday events: Mike is an active member at his local user group (JSSUG) in Jacksonville, Florida. His blog can be found at http://www.MikeDavisSQL.com.

Ninja Data Moves with Office 2012 with Brian Knight

Office 2013 brings with it some amazing business intelligence and data visualization enhancements. Watch how you can improve data cleansing with Excel 2013 and some of the new features integrated into Excel and the other Office tools to visualize data better than ever before.

Presenter Bio: Brian Knight, SQL Server MVP, MCITP, MCSE, MCDBA, is the owner and founder of Pragmatic Works. He is also the co-founder ofSQLServerCentral.com, BIDN.com and SQLShare.com. He runs the local SQL Server users group in Jacksonville (JSSUG). Brian is a contributing columnist at several technical magazines and does regular webcasts at PragmaticWorks.com. He is the author of more than a dozen SQL Server books. Brian has spoken at conferences like PASS, SQL Connections and TechEd and many Code Camps. His blog can be found at http://www.bidn.com.

Publisher1 ...

PASS Virtual Chapter Events - September 2012

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:54:00 GMT

PASS DBA Fundamentals Virtual Chapter

fundamentals.sqlpass.org / Twitter: @DBAFundVC

September 4, 2012 - 11:00 a.m. CST

Introduction to SQL Server Service Broker

Speaker: Adam Belebczuk

In this session, we'll cover the basics of setting up SQL Server Service Broker from the ground up with lots of demos. We'll discuss some pros and cons to using Service Broker, some common problems encountered when using it, and some example use cases. If you've ever been curious about Service Broker, need to send data between databases or instances, or are wondering if Service Broker is right for your organization, then you won't want to miss this session.

Speaker Bio: Adam Belebczuk is a Developer turned Accidental DBA that works for a small SaaS provider in Cleveland, Ohio. Adam is an MCITP DBA 2005/2008 and belongs to the Ohio North SQL Server User Group & Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS). In addition to all things technological, he also loves to make electronic music, cook, go skiing, read, and help educate his fellow geeks whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Contact URL: http://www.SQLDiablo.com

PASS Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Virtual Chapter

Web: http://BI.sqlpass.org / Twitter: @PASSBIVC / Email: PASSDWBIVC@sqlpass.org

September 6, 2012 - 12:00 p.m. EDT

Exploring Your Data with Power View

Speaker: Jessica Moss

URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=4S69WQ&role=attend&pw=X%27_Z35q_g

Exploring your data has never been easier with Power View included in SQL Server 2012. Learn how to analyze and discover new trends in your information by using the intuitive, easy to use, and business-friendly tool. This session will not walk through installation of the tool, but will instead describe the different visualizations provided and when you would use each one.

Speaker Bio: Jessica M. Moss is a well-known architect, speaker, author, and Microsoft MVP of SQL Server business intelligence. Jessica's expertise includes data warehouse modeling, Integration Services ETL's Analysis Services semantic modeling, Reporting Services report design, and helping customers across industries successfully implement and enhance their business intelligence solutions. Jessica enjoys sharing her knowledge with the central Virginia community, speaks regularly at user groups, code camps, and conferences, and has co-authored technical books. You can read more on her website: http://www.jessicammoss.com.

PASS SQL Professional Development Virtual Chapter

September 12, 2012 - 10:00 a.m. PST

The Art of the Question - How can IT Pros be more successful?

Speaker: Brian Moran

www.323livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/webJoin?id=PCGZ5W&role=attend

PASS SQL Performance Virtual Chapter

Web: performance.sqlpass.org

September 27, 2012 - 6:00 p.m. GMT

I feel the need . . . the need for speed

Speaker: Jeff Renz

Every project that I worked on I've always felt that users want everything to be fast . . . really fast. Since we tend to be constrained by time and money we want to best leverage the tools and techniques that make the project successful . . . "fast." With the introduction of SQL 2012 we need to understand what we get by implementing a SQL Server 2012 solution. That led me to these questons:

Is SQL Server 2012 really faster and more efficient than SQL Server 2008 R2 when I load data and query data? Does a SQL Server 2002 Tabular model perform the same as a SQL 2012 Dimensional Model? Are there really any performance differences when loading data using SSIS 2012 compared to other data loading approaches? Does SQL Server 2012 offer me anything specific that would cause me to change how I would design my database to take advantage of new performance features? Find out the answer to these questions and more in my session.

Speaker Bio: Jeff Renz has developed databases using SQL Server for over 13 years, primarily focused on global manufacturing and supply chain data collection and reporting. In the past two years he has implemented two large data warehouses using data vault architecture for Abound Solar. Jeff has a Bachelors degree in computer sciences and a Masters degree in operations research from the Colorado School of Mines. Jeff is a Certified Data Vault Data Modeler by the Genessee Academy.

View the Live Meeting: www323.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/webJoin?id+G2JHM2&pw=W%5Dw5%22K45B&role=attend

Publisher1 ...

PASS SQL Saturday - September 2012

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:28:00 GMT

PASS SQLSaturday is a training event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. Please note that in order to attend one of these event, you must register (registration links are provided for each event). Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleagues know about the event. Most events are free, however a lunch fee of $10.00 may be charged so that lunch may be provided (not pizza).

#162 / Cambridge, MA

Saturday, September 8, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#167 / Columbus, GA

Saturday, September 8, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#170 / Munich

Saturday, September 15, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#156 / Providence

Saturday, September 15, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#157 / San Diego

Saturday, September 15, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#154 / St. Louis, MO

Saturday, September 15, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#169 / Denver, CO

Saturday, September 22, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#155 / Lima, Peru

Saturday, September 22, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#160 / Kalamazoo, MI

Saturday, September 22, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#149 / Minneapolis, MN

Saturday, September 29, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#151 / Orlando, FL

Saturday, September 29, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

#152 / Romania

Saturday, September 29, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Publisher1 ...

Colorado SQL - August 2012

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:08:00 GMT

This month Kevin Kline will be presenting "End to End Troubleshooting" at the Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Denver SQL Meetings

Summary: Learning how to detect, diagnose and resolve performance problems in SQL Server is tough. It often takes years of on-the-job experience to learn how to use the tools and techniques that help you detect when a problem is occurring, diagnose the root-cause of the problem, and then resolve the problem. So strap yourself in to a time machine, because you'll learn in less than two hours what it took Kevin years to figure out through hands-on troubleshooting and problem solving.

Bio: Kevin Kline is the Director of Engineering Services at SQL Sentry. Kevin is a renowned database expert, software industry veteran, Microsoft SQL Server MVP, and long-time blogger. As a noted leader in the IT industry, Kevin's blog covers Microsoft SQL Server features and best practices, third-party software, trends in the IT industry, and professional development for IT professionals.

Boulder SQL

Date: Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: Level 3 Communications, Room 4LA-07, 1025 Eldorado Boulevard, Broomfield, CO 80021

Colorado Springs SQL

Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: Hyatt Place - Garden of the Gods, 503 West Garden of the Gods Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Denver SQL

Date: Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.

Location: Microsoft, 7595 Technology Way, Suite 400, Denver, CO 80207

Publisher1 ...

What's new in Reporting Services 2012 Free Webinar

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 03:21:00 GMT

We are starting our free monthly webinars with 'What's new in Reporting Services 2012' on Wednesday August 8, 2012 at 12 noon MDT.

Description: SQL Server 2012 introduces a new reporting tool called Power View which generates interactive dashboards. Also new is a SharePoint only feature called data alerts that helps send users messages when a data condition has been met. In this webinar we will demonstrate how to setup and configure data alerts in SharePoint. We’ll create and deploy: a Power View report which consumes data from a BI semantic connection; a SSRS Report using report builder 3.0; and a SSRS report using the report designer using a PowerPivot workbook on a SharePoint site.

Registration for this event now open.

DawaBI offers a series of training options to help you sharpen your data management skills. We’ll also help you improve your understanding of data warehousing, advanced reporting, choosing the right software, and custom app development.

To keep up with the latest training offerings and schedule, sign up for our distribution list so you don't miss out.

Webinars

These 1 hour online meetings will occur the second Wednesday of each month and will be offered free of charge (pre-registration required).

Jump Start Series

The Jump Start series are courses we offer that provide a mix of demos, labs and lots of lessons learned and are offered online. The intent is to get you up to speed on specific areas within a short window of time.

Custom Training Solutions

Does your team have specific needs or challenges they face? Do you need to get your team up to speed on a technology quickly?

We offer a variety of training packages for our clients, ranging from short-term consulting on using your existing tools, to learning how to use an entirely new data system. In any case, our primary goal is to ensure that all users feel comfortable and can use the new technology with proficiency and ease.

We’ll work with you as closely as needed to ensure that your investment in DawaBI translates to better business practices and measurable growth for your company.

Washington State Convention and Trade Center

PASS Virtual Chapter Events - July 2012

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:03:00 GMT

Date: Thursday, July 10

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Central Time

Virtual Chapter: DBA Fundamentals

Event URL: http://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join (Meeting ID TW8M35, Entry Code Prxcw2F-H)

Subject: DBA

Now that you're a DBA where do you start? You have backups, don't you? Are you really sure? Tools for the DBA really help you do your job, so we will talk about some tools to use. I'll talk about how you can get help when you need it. I'll point you to some really good scripts to use for monitoring or for using for your whole maintenance cycle on your SQL Servers.

Presenter: David Smithey has 31 years of IT experience. He has 9 years of experience as an SQL Server DBA and before that he was a developer. He has worked/consulted for companies such as Acustar, Computer Services Corporation, the Pentagon, Boeing and NASA. He is currently employed by Curves International. Email: david@davidsmithey.com  Twitter: @DavidKSmithey

Date: Thursday, July 26

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Central Time

Virtual Chapter: Data Architecture Virtual Chapter

Event URL: http://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/webJoin?id=CZC34P&pw=nP%28qm%3A2RN&role=attend

Subject: Where Are My (Primary) Keys?

In this session, we revisit some of the fundamental design principals of relational databases - normalization rules, key selection, and the controversies associated with these issues -- from a very hands-on, practical perspective. We also consider the benefits and challenges of using different types of keys (natural, surrogates, artificial, others) from multiple aspects, including data consistency, application development, maintenance, portability, and performance.

Session takeaways:

Understand the profound impact of key selection on the entire application lifestyle

Learn to identify when it is best to use natural or artificial keys

Learn how to minimize performance, portability, and maintenance issues during the early database design phase

Presenter: Ami Levi, CTO, DBSophic - Ami Levin is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP since 2006, with over 20 years of experience in development and IT. For the past 14 years, he has been consulting, teaching, writing, and speaking about SQL Server worldwide. Ami's areas of expertise are data modeling, database design, T-SQL, and performance tuning. He leads the Israeli SQL Server user group (ISUG), moderates the Hebrew MSDN SQL Server support forum, and is a regular speaker at Microsoft Tech-Ed Israel, Dev Academy, and other SQL Server conferences. Ami speaks often at user group meetings in Israel and Europe and writes articles about SQL Server.

Publisher1 ...

PASS Summit - November 2012

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:26:00 GMT

PASS Summit is the world's largest and most intensive technical training conference for Microsoft SQL Server community for the SQL Server community.

Since 1999, PASS Summit has delivered the most technical sessions, the largest number of attendees, the best networking, and the highest-rated sessions and sepakers of any SQL Server event in the world. Join us for top-notch training, technical tips and tricks, and the connections you need to take your SQL Server skills to the next level.

PASS Summit 2012

November 6-9, 2012

Seattle, WA

Event Link: www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012/Registration.aspx

Publisher1 ...

PASS SQLSaturday - July Events

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:01:00 GMT

#155 / Lima, Peru

Saturday, July 14, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Event Link: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/155/eventhome.aspx

#141 / South Florida

Saturday, July 21, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Event Link: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/141/eventhome.aspx

#122 / Louisville

Saturday, July 21, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Event Link: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/122/eventhome.aspx

#126 / Indianapolis

Saturday, July 28, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Event Link: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/126/eventhome.aspx

#144 / Sacramento

Saturday, July 28, 2012

8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Event Link: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/144/eventhome.aspx

Publisher1 ...

Colorado SQL - June 2012

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:05:00 GMT

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker . . . or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other SQL Server Professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday (June 19)

Market Force

248 Centennial Parkway, Suite 150

Louisville, CO 80027

Presentation 1:

Title: Training a Busy SQL Agent

You have a busy server with 50 or more jobs defined, and roughly 40 of them are enabled. You need to bring the server down for some important maintenance (say add a new disk, add memory, reboot due to software install, etc.) You notice that a good half of th ejobs are executing and others are being kicked off every few minutes. Whenever you wait for a job to finish, others have started. How do you bring this server down without killing any of the running jobs?

Presenter: Paul Paiva (blog), Chief Architect, CoCreative Solutions

Paul has 17 years experience with Microsoft SQL Server. He has worked in the roles of production DBA, database developer, database architect, applications developer, business intelligence and data warehouse developer, and instructor for students aspiring for MCDBA certification. He has performed numerous data migrations and supported large databases (3 Terabyte, 1+ billion rows) with high transactions. Presently he is an independent SQL Server consultant with CoCreative Solutions. He is a member of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS), blogs about lessons learned form a developer's approach to SQL Server administration, and has been the president of the BoulderSQL Server Users' Group for 3+ years.

Presentation 2:

Title: Top 12 Performance Enhancements in 2012

This presentation will go over the Top 10 enhancements and/or new features in SQL Server 2012 to increase the performance of your database. You will get a good overview on which options may be a good fit for you and which will not work in every environment as well as some key things to be on the lookout for when using these.

Presenter: Kathy Gibbs, Senior Database Administrator, Confio Software

Kathy has over 19 years of IT work experience and over 13 years of DBA experience including architecting, design, development, implementation, monitoring and disaster recovery of databases. Before starting with Confio, Kathy worked in the critical OLTP and OLAP databases. Kathy excels as being a liaison between technical and end-users management teams to provide solutions.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday (June 20)

Hyatt Place - Garden of the Gods

503 West Garden of the Gods Road

Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: What Your Developer Friends Already Know About Windows 8

Windows 8 is a big deal. The changes for the user interface are significant, but the impact on software development might be bigger. Microsoft developers are working hard to grab onto the new paradigm of app development. For non-developers, what are you missing out on learning? Here's your chance to catch up.

Presenter: Jerry Nixon (blog / twitter)

Jerry Nixon is a Microsoft Developer Evangelist in Colorado. He has been developing and designing on the Microsoft platform for 15 years. He speaks at universities, events and groups on Kinect, XAML, Windows Phone, and Windows 8. Most of Jerry's days are spent teaching his three daughters Star Trek character backstories and episode plots.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday (June 21)

Microsoft

7595 Technology Way, Suite 400

Denver, CO 80207

Presentation 1:

Title: Lockdown! Securing Your Services

HOST/SQLServer2005MSSQLUser$HOST$MSSQLSERVER??? It's ok, you aren't the only one that's tried to make sense out of all these. In this talk, we will discuss what options are available for your SQL Server services and security best practices that might be worth implementing in your organization. This presentation follows past experiences, epiphanies . . . maybe even some frustrations . . . in switching to minimally privileged service accounts.

Presenter: Brandon Tucker

Over the past six years, Brandon has explored SQL Server as a developer, administrator, and consultant. After graduation school, he has translated his academic knowledge base into real-world scenarios in the financial, health insurance, education, and transportation industries. Brandon has presented at Code Camps/User Groups in multiple states and was elected as VP of Events for DSSUG in 2010. When not pounding away on a keyboard, Brandon can be found wandering the globe in search of great music, beers, views, and experiences.

Presentation 2:

Title: SQL Server on VMware???

Many of our customers are either virtualizing databases or planning to do so soon. I hear from many groups that attempted running their database on VMware but went back to physical hardware because of performance issues. There are many reasons this may have happened, but quite often the decision to go back to physical was not based on hard facts. This presentation will explore the fundamentals of monitoring databases running in a VMware environment. If you are using classic O/S monitoring tools, you may be getting misleading data. Understand what metrics are important and how to get the data.

Presenter: Kathy Gibbs, Senior DBA, Confio Software

Kathy has over 19 years of IT work experience and over 13 years of DBA experience, including architecting, design, development, implementation, monitoring, and disaster recovery of databases. Before starting with Confio, Kathy worked in the critical OLTP and OLAP databases. Kathy excels as being a liaison between technical and the end-users management teams to provide solutions.

Publisher1 ...

ColoradoSQL–April 2012

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:32:00 GMT

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

Market Force

248 Centennial Parkway
Louisville, CO 80027

Presentation 1:

Title: The SQL Family Connection

Using social media to get technical support, and also to promote your career.

Presenter: Mike Fal ( blog )

Mike Fal is a musician turned SQL Server DBA, with 10+ years of experience as a database administrator. He has worked for several different industries, including healthcare, software development, marketing, and manufacturing and has experience supporting databases from 1 GB to 4 TB in size. Mike received his a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996 and has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.

Presentation 2:

Title: Introduction to Data Warehousing

Just starting or thinking of starting a data warehousing project but not sure where to begin. Or still not sure if your organization needs a data warehouse. This discussion is geared towards answering the what and why (or why not) of data warehousing.

Presenter: Marc Beacom ( blog | twitter ) & Jeff Renz ( twitter )

Marc Beacom, MCTS - SQL Server 2008 BI and Development, has over 15 years of technical and business experience. He is currently Principal Architect and Owner of DawaBI focusing on Making Data-Driven Decisions Possible by delivering user friendly and scalable data warehouse and business intelligence solutions. Marc is an active volunteer within the community and currently co-organizer of the Colorado GiveCamp and Advisory Board Member for Camp To Belong Colorado. Marc has also volunteered for other organizations such as the Denver SQL Server UG, Colorado Springs SQL Server UG and spent a year as a regional mentor for PASS.

Jeff Renz: Currently working for Abound Solar as the lead architect implementing a solar panel field performance data warehouse.
Developed global manufacturing and supply chain data collection and reporting solutions since 1999. Bachelors degree in computer science and a masters degree in operations research from the Colorado School of Mines. Certified by the Genesee Academy as a Certified Data Vault Data Modeler.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Hyatt Place – Garden of the Gods

503 West Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title:

What’s new in T-SQL for SQL Server 2012 – Part 1

SQL Server 2012 has many new T-SQL enhancements that will simplify your code…and life. We’ll roll up our sleeves and dive in.

Presenter: Marc Beacom ( blog | twitter )

Presentation 2:

Title: Develop a Quick and Dirty Web Interface to your Database: for the DBA and other non-developers

So you want to develop to your database? Do you have your own tools to check performance? Does Chris Shaw's Utility Database sound like a tool you have and want a web interface, but don’t want to write a lot of code? I will demonstrate how a simple ASP.Net MVC site can be developed and deployed against your database. See firsthand how easy we can use Shaw's utility database and access across the web over a mobile device so you may manage performance online whilst zipping your drink of choice.

Presenter: Gabe Villa ( blog | twitter )

Bio: Originally from El Paso, Texas, Gabriel has over 10 years’ professional developer experience using Microsoft technologies. Gabriel is an MCPD, ASP.NET Developer and an MCTS in SQL Server 2008 Database Development. He has developed desktop, web and database systems for the medical, retail, imports distributors, and automotive industries. Gabriel recently moved with his wife and three kids to Colorado Springs, where he works for a small ISV developing software for the big-ticket retail industry.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

503 West Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: Exposing the Core: Intro to SQL Server 2012 on Server Core

Everything that's old is new again. With SQL 2012, we can now run our SQL Servers on Server Core, a version of the Windows OS that is smaller and more secure. This presentation will introduce you to Server Core, how to prepare it for a SQL installation, and how to actually install SQL 2012 on to it.

Presenter: Mike Fal ( blog )

Presentation 2:

Title: ETL as Master Data Management

The worst customer service I have ever personally experienced was directly tied to a company’s failure to have an effective Master Data Management (MDM) system.
Most companies have multiple data sources that track the exact same data. Retail operations have multiple point of sale systems (internet, phone, bricks and mortar); health care providers have multiple applications for specialties (Radiology, oncology, etc.); finance companies have multiple systems based on products (mortgages, other loans, checking and savings accounts). These systems track the same or similar data (e.g. all systems track customers) and can maintain completely different information about the same thing. This arises from human data entries and failure to manage the critical nouns for the company and a lack of effective MDM solutions in the market.
ETL solutions in the BI stack are perfectly positioned to manage this data, reconcile the differences and maintain consistency across an enterprise. I will speak about what I consider to be the four main jobs of any MDM system and how to incorporate these into an ETL system:

Identify data inconsistencies
Reconcile those differences (programmatically if possible)
Synchronize reconciled data with source systems
Send any un-reconciled data to humans for resolution

Presenter: Mike Sexton ( blog | twitter )

Stunningly handsome yet surprisingly humble, Mike Sexton spent the first ten years of his career as a public defender in New York. Realizing he could make far more money as a junior programmer than as a lawyer with 10 years’ experience, he had a revelation, the words of which that are not appropriate for a family publication. Since then Mike has traveled the lands taming errant database applications, publishing and blogging at www.sqlmountain.com. He recently published Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform, which may be found at finer bookstores. Mike can be found living the high life in Colorado with a hot blonde on his arm.
Marc Beacom ...

ColoradoSQL for March 2012

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:32:00 GMT

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

(Location has moved – please see website at www.BoulderSQL.org for more info)

Presentation 1:

Title: Smart Coding for Addressing Index Fragmentation

Rather than simply running pre-formed maintenance plans that may have unexpected results, learn to write “smart code” – code that assess which tables have indexes that need to be rebuilt, then judiciously decide which ones to target, and optionally automate this process.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate, for both DBAs and Developers

Presentation will include.

– What tables are indexed?

– What columns does table X have indexed?

– Are there any “included columns” in the indexes?

- Write scripts for judiciously rebuilding indexes based on your criteria of table size (rows or bytes) and fragmentation level.

Presenter: Paul Paiva ( blog )

Paul Paiva has 16 years’ experience with Microsoft SQL Server. He has worked in the roles of production DBA, database developer, database architect, applications developer, business intelligence and data warehouse developer, and instructor for students aspiring for MCDBA certification. He has performed numerous data migrations and supported large databases (3 Terabyte, 1+ billion rows) with high transactions. Presently he is an independent SQL Server consultant with CoCreative Solutions. He is a member of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS), blogs about lessons learned from a developer’s approach to SQL Server administration, and has been the co-president of the Boulder SQL Server Users’ Group for the past three years.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Hyatt Place – Garden of the Gods

Presentation 1:

Title: Oracle for the SQL Server DBA

Are you curious about Oracle, but afraid to admit it? It is common for many DBA's to be biased to one database platform, but it has become more and more demanding of the database administrator to manage and have a firm knowledge of more than one in many environments. This session will introduce the SQL Server DBA to Oracle in a way that will meet their day to day challenges in a multi-platform database environment. Come learn about how Oracle and SQL Server are very similar, different and how to translate common concepts in SQL Server to Oracle database administration. No prior experience in Oracle is required and important features and concepts will be covered to assist the SQL Server DBA in incorporating Oracle into their database skill set.

Presenter: Kellyn Pot’vin

Kellyn Pot'vin, (pronounced Poet-Vaughn) has been a database administrator for over eleven years, a new Oracle ACE, specializing in large database performance tuning. In the last year, she's been working with large SSD databases and Exadata, taking advantage of the newest technology and performance tuning features. Kellyn is known for her technical blog, dbakevlar.com, and is a member of the board of directors for Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group, (RMOUG). She's performed numerous presentations on performance tuning and written articles for various technical newsletters and Web sites, starting out as an active participant on the Oracle-L list. She currently contributes to several technical sites and publications, including ITNewsCast and OraDBPedia. Kellyn lives with her three children in Broomfield, CO, and currently is honing her technical skills at I-behavior, a marketing firm in Louisville, CO.

Presentation 2:

Title: What is the Best Disaster Recovery Solution

Case Study – Get ready to work through a real world problem, we are going to spend this session reviewing a company and the challenges they faced when it comes to Disaster Recovery. Once we have a good handle on the challenges they have, we will talk through what the solution for them would be. Consider this a follow up to last month’s meeting. Take a few minutes to download and review some of the specifics on this company.

Presenter: Chris Shaw ( blog | twitter )

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

503 West Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Presentation 1:

Title: Big Data

Why is Big Data such a hot topic these days? Is there anything different at the conceptual level than what we are doing with data today? What is Microsoft's offering in the Big Data space? Why is a guy from the SQL Server product team talking to us about noSql concepts and open source products?

Presenter: Kevin Cox ( web | twitter )

Kevin Cox has been working with databases for over 35 years and with SQL Server for more than 25 years. He is an author, lecturer and mentor in database subjects. Kevin is currently with the Microsoft SQL Server product group in the Customer Advisory Team and feels fortunate to be able to work on the largest projects around the world.
Marc Beacom ...

ColoradoSQL–February 2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:32:00 GMT

BoulderSQL

Meeting canceled this month

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Hyatt Place – Garden of the Gods

Presentation 1:

Title: What is the Best Disaster Recovery Solution?

It depends, every situation is different. The question is often asked of DBA's to provide a solution to very open ended requirements. However, the best solution can only be provided if the database professional is getting all the answers. This session is a case study into many of Disaster Recovery options that we as database professionals have. Understand the answers to the important questions that we should be asking to provide the best solution not only for the database but for the business as well. As an attendee you will learn how to change an answer from it depends into a solid solution that can be built upon. We will take examples from experiences and as a group determine what the best situation is, and then compare it to the actual solution implemented.

i. At the end of this session, the attendees will be able to describe the differences between all the disaster recovery solutions and when to use them.
ii. Walk away knowing the right questions to ask when presented with a disaster recovery project and why the answers change the disaster recovery options that could be presented.
iii. Learn from real life examples the stumbling points that you won’t read in books on line.

Presenter: Chris Shaw ( blog | twitter )

Chris started his database career while in the Marine Corps somewhere in 1993. From there he went on to companies such as Wells Fargo, Pulte Mortgage and Yellow Pages Inc., and later consulted with insurance companies including Anthem Blue Shield. Chris has enjoyed writing and speaking about SQL Server over the last 10 years at events such as SQL Connections, Pass and SSWUG Ultimate conferences where Chris was the Conference Chair. Chris received the Microsoft MVP award. He is the founding member of the Colorado Springs SQL Server User Group and is currently blogging on chrisshaw.wordpress.com, sswug.org and writing his book, How to Find Your Next DBA Job.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

1025 Eldorado Blvd
Broomfield, CO 80021

Presentation 1:

Title: What is SQL Server AlwaysOn?

SQL Server AlwaysOn is the new comprehensive high availability (HA) and disaster recovery solution for SQL Server 2012. Using AlwaysOn, businesses can now achieve increased application availability and get better return on their hardware investments through a simplified HA deployment and management experience.

AlwaysOn comes with new and enhanced capabilities that can provide availability for specific application database(s) and also the entire instance which provides the flexibility to support various high availability configurations:

AlwaysOn Availability Group is the new capability that helps protect application databases from both planned and unplanned downtime.
AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance provides protection for the entire instance and is an enhancement to the existing SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance.

Both AlwaysOn Availability Group and AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance rely on Windows Server Failover Clustering infrastructure which provides a robust and reliable high availability platform.

Presenter: Mike Wilmont ( blog | twitter )

Mike Wilmot is an SQL Server Technology Specialist working in the Communications and Media & Entertainment sectors at Microsoft. He has been working with Microsoft Database and Development tools since the early-1990s and has been at Microsoft since 1997 and took a 3 year hiatus to run his own Microsoft-based consulting firm before returning back to Microsoft. Mike has a Masters in Computer Science from University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Mike’s technical strengths are Microsoft SQL Server OLTP and OLAP technologies and .NET development. He also worked for Lucent Technologies where he worked on multi-threaded, kernel-mode VOIP devices drivers.

Mike’s interests outside of work are trying to keep up with his 3 kids, playing online chess and running triathlons in Colorado. His undergrad was from the US Naval Academy and he spent 6 years in the Marine Corps and was in Desert Storm.
Marc Beacom ...

ColoradoSQL for January 2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:52:00 GMT

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

Level 3 Communications

Room 4LA-07

Presentation 1:

Title: Eating the Elephant: SQL Server Table Partitioning

Is your table fat? Do you need to manage a table that has billions of rows within it and are overwhelmed by index rebuilds that take more than 12 hours? SQL Server's table partitioning gives the DBA the tools to manage this beast and support very large tables in a way where index management and data retrieval does not become unwieldy. This presentation will take you step by step through choosing an appropriate partitioning key, setting up the partitioning on the table, and finally maintaining the partitions.

Presenter: Mike Fal ( blog | twitter )

Mike Fal is a musician turned SQL Server DBA, with 10+ years of experience along with some brief excursions into Oracle and Netezza. He has worked for several different industries, including healthcare, software development, marketing, and manufacturing and has experience supporting databases from 1 GB to 4 TB in size. Mike received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996 and has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.

SpringsSQL

No meeting as they hosted SQL Saturday #104

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

1025 Eldorado Blvd
Broomfield, CO 80021

Presentation 1:

Title: TDE, oh what fun! Auditing, no!!

I have this database which must meet all of these governmental regulations. Just like the government to make life a lot harder but wait, now they say I most also meet International regulations. Can this be true? Why me? Let's look at what we can do to help us pass audits and comply with the laws around us. We will explore the features in SQL Server 2008 which help us.
I need to install TDE, what do I do? Move the database to other server, can I do that? I used certificates, can I change them. I don’t like governments making me do all this stuff, it complicates my database. What does TDE do to my backups? Can I remove it? Auditing, no, let’s run for the hills. Let’s see how Sql Server can help us with these issues.

Presenter: Tom Norman

Tom has been working with SQL Server since 1998. He has worked internationally with SQL Server. His current responsibilities include Replication, Performance and Server Compliance of all Production databases in the US and UK. Tom and his team has just finished upgrading several products to Sql Server 2008 R2 on VMware while putting them on a new SAN and bringing them into PCI compliance. Tom is the past President of the Denver SQL Server User Group and actively speaks at SQL Saturday events and local events.
Marc Beacom ...

ColoradoSQL in November (2011)

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:32:00 GMT

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

Level 3 Communications

Room 4LA-07

Presentation 1:

Title: SQL Programming: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Presenter: Victor Kushdilian

An insight into some common poor SQL development practices that can severely impact the performance of the database server. I will bring to light my experiences from 4 production SQL environments including some real examples with a focus on how to detect and avoid these practices.

Victor Kushdilian has over 20 years experience developing database applications starting with PL1/CICS/DB2 as an employee at IBM. Founded SportsWare, Inc in 1994 - a company developing and marketing desktop software for the fledgling fantasy sports market. As one of the founding businesses in the industry, designed, developed and sold The Commissioner series of fantasy sports software products using various database platforms including Foxpro, VB, Delphi.

Developed and launched one of the first commercially available web sites supporting fantasy leagues in 2001 using SQL Server 2000. Converted to a contract BI Developer in 2008 and have worked in 4 production SQL Server environments with the responsibilities that include design and development of complete database systems including functions/procs/jobs/schema, various SSIS packages, and complete SSRS reporting systems. I have successfully revamped 2 database systems to create highly scalable, high performance reporting solutions.

Currently working at Ball Manufacturing in Broomfield as a BI Developer and Analyst designing and developing a new data warehouse (SSAS) which will collect manufacturing metrics from 19 remote SQL Servers.

Presentation 2:

Title: New Features in SQL Server 2012

Presenter: Mike Wilmot

Power View code name “Project Crescent” is a new interactive data exploration and visual presentation tool coming in the next version of SQL Server 2012. This and other features like Always On will be demonstrated by Microsoft.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Mr. Biggs

5825 Mark Dabling Boulevard
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: A Journey Through the Metadata Catalog

Presenter: Troy Ketsdever ( blog | twitter )

In this interactive session, we will explore the system catalog views that tell us about the schema and structure of your database. Navigating the views via their logical relationships, we will examine representative queries and their utility for learning about your db design.

Troy Ketsdever is a data architect with over 15 years of commercial software development experience, and has maintained a love/hate relationship with SQL Server since version 4.2. In addition to his "day job", Troy enjoys writing articles and presenting at user groups on a variety of database design and implementation topics. His main objective and vision is “making the right information available to the right people at the right time.

Presentation 2:

Title: SQL Server Performance Tuning

Presenter: Mark Halstead

SQL Server performance tuning with an emphasis on finding the bottlenecks, Query design problems and database design problems.

Mark Halstead is the SQL Server technical lead dba for Xtivia working in the Virtual-DBA group. He had been with Xtivia, Inc. for 5 years and has worked with SQL Server for more than 15 years. He has worked in IT for 20+ years specializing in database administration.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

Presentation 1:

Title: What is in that table anyway? Profiling Data with the SSIS Data Profiling Task and Viewer

Presenter: Andy Vold ( twitter )

Have you ever been tasked with data profiling responsibilities or simply wanted an easy way to learn more about the data in your tables? In this session Andy Vold will introduce you to the Data Profiling Task within SQL Server Integration Services and how it can be used to help you accomplish these tasks.

Andy Vold is a Consultant with RevGen Partners. His primary focus is in database development, SSIS and SSRS.

Presentation 2:

Title: So you are a New DBA – Now What?

Presenter: Todd Kleinhans ( twitter )

In this presentation, Todd will go over a recent client experience of being a new DBA in an existing environment. It will be a mix of screenshots, some code, and audience participation.

Todd Kleinhans has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He has worked as a DBA, developer, data architect, manager, and consultant. His current job is as a Senior SQL Server DBA consultant at Datavail.

SQL Server 2012 Developers Training Kit

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:32:00 GMT

Microsoft has recently released the SQL Server Developer Training kit for SQL Server 2012. The developers kit includes fantastic resources to learning SQL Server. Download it here.

Giving back–Colorado GiveCamp has started (#CoGiveCamp)

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:32:00 GMT

The Colorado GiveCamp is underway with 40 volunteers and 5 charities. Gabe Villa ( blog | twitter ), Kevin Krueger ( blog | twitter ), Jason Horner ( twitter ) and I have been organizing this event for the last several months. This is the second GiveCamp hosted in Colorado. The first was in January down in the Springs where Gabe organized a great event where we were able to help a charity move from a static HTML website to a content management system, mojoPortal. The local news was on hand throughout the weekend to cover the event back in January. Check out the KOAA video to get a sense of what a GiveCamp is all about.

This weekend, we are working with the following 5 charities.

Anchor Center for Blind Children. Founded in 1982, Anchor Center for Blind Children's staff have taught visually impaired infants, young children and families, for almost 30 years-providing hope and a nurturing environment where children reach their highest potential. Housed in a beautiful, architecturally modern building in Stapleton, Anchor Center is designed to address the learning styles of young children with vision impairments. Walk in the door and find specialized lighting, acoustics and a myriad of textures that help children find their way around. A stroll through the sensory gardens will delight all visitors as they experience bright colors, interesting textures and pleasing scents.

Children from birth through five and their families are served at this magical place. Parents begin their journey by attending programs where they and their babies learn to simply enjoy each other and get used to seeing the world using senses other than vision. By the time children turn into toddlers they, like all children, begin to think the world revolves around them. Parents begin to step back and let their children take the lead. Observers of the preschool will see rambunctious children navigating their way using canes and utilizing early Braille skills to read. Children spend time with friends learning good manners, sharing snacks and meals, gardening, tap dancing, riding tricycles, rolling down grassy hills, singing and going on field trips to ice arenas, swimming pools, fire stations and more. So that students do not lose all that they have learned over the school year, we have an extended summer program. This lets children continue their development and also allows parents and siblings the chance to participate in programming, providing them access to information and techniques to aid them in at-home therapies.

Community Ministry. For over 40 years the mission of Community Ministry has been to meet the basic needs of qualified people in Southwest Denver who are experiencing economic hardships and related problems. This is accomplished by providing:

Emergency food
Children’s clothing
School Supplies
Utility Assistance
Thanksgiving and Christmas Food boxes
Christmas gifts for needy children
Information and referral Services
Collaborating with other non-profit agencies to provide medical screening, nutrition classes and other services.

Community Ministry was founded in 1968 by eight churches. Today twenty-five churches, area schools and community groups support the organization with in-kind and financial donations as well as volunteers. As a volunteer driven non-profit, Community Ministry is pleased to report that over 82% of its budget comes from donations, in-kind contributions, and volunteer time. The organization employs only three part-time people to oversee the entire operation. The ability to use volunteers as the primary workforce ensures cost efficiency and maximizes help to thousands needy families in Southwest Denver.

The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking is an anti-human trafficking non-profit based in Denver, CO. Ours is not a laboratory of beakers and burners, but instead a laboratory for the exchange of innovative ideas and ongoing discussion. Our mission is to combat human trafficking at a local and global level through community-based research, training and education, leadership development, and intentional collaboration. We have a vision of developing sustainable efforts to end human trafficking by establishing community support mechanisms and serving as a catalyst for social change.

One of our exciting current research projects is the Colorado Project. Where many anti-trafficking efforts have operated in isolation, the Colorado Project seeks to foster respectful and intentional collaboration. Led by the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking (LCHT), the Project Team is intentionally composed of a small group of experts who represent the 4Ps in anti-human trafficking efforts (prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships). With an interdisciplinary Project Team and the oversight of a diverse national Advisory Board, we aim to build bridges between researchers and practitioners, capitalizing on the combined strength of individuals and organizations to guide and assist communities in anti-human trafficking efforts.

Partners in Routt County. The mission of Partners in Routt County (PRC) is to make a positive difference in the lives of Routt County youth by facilitating one-to-one partnerships between adult volunteers and youth. In 1996, a group of concerned community members contacted Partners Mentoring Association to receive assistance in developing a youth mentoring organization. For ten years, PRC’s sole focus was the One-to-One Mentoring Program and then in 2006, PRC began the implementation of a School-Based Mentoring Program as well. We aim to address high risk behaviors and increase protective factors in the lives of the youth in our community. PRC’s vision is that all Routt County youth will be empowered to live healthy, productive lives, contribute to their community, and successfully pursue their dreams.

Pikes Peak Young Marines. The Young Marines is a youth education and service program for boys and girls, ages 8 through completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building, leadership, and promotes a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines is the focal point for the U.S. Marine Corps' Youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts.

The image below is of most of the first day attendees, including volunteers and charities.