If you haven’t heard already, SQLBITS is open for registration! aaaaaaaand you get to vote on what sessions you would like to see! The conference will take place March 29 – 31st 2012 in LONDON. ENGLAND. I submitted two solo sessions, and one session that I will be co-presenting with mom if we get picked.
The two sessions I submitted are:
Dynamic MDX: Packing a Punch into One .rdl
Dynamic MDX can be a great way to reuse, reduce, and recycle .rdls and simplify report maintenance. Have a lot of reports that are practically the same, minus a few pesky exceptions? Dynamic MDX could be the answer! In this session we’ll walk through how to create a basic .rdl that can support a variety of MDX queries that will be generated dynamically. We will also discuss the pros and cons of this approach so that you can make an informed decision of when and if Dynamic MDX is the solution for you.
Think Outside the Group! Take MDX to the Next Level in SSRS
Reporting Services is a powerful tool that can make designing reports a snap…most of the time. But every once in a while you have to format a report very specifically, and that starts with your data query. In this session, we’ll think outside the group! Learn about how to use named sets, dummy members, and other MDX tricks to craft your queries in a way that allows you to conquer the trickiest report layouts.
The first session is one I haven’t done before, but I think is a really interesting topic. I’ll show you how to REALLY make reports flexible with MDX, using parameters. But I’ll also show you how you can dynamically create MDX based on MDX you store in a table and “glue” together with a stored procedure! This is something I’ve done before in real life in order to handle a LOT of reports that were almost the same….except for a million tiny little exceptions that HAD to be accounted for.
The second one will be similar to the session I did for 24 Hours of PASS, but with some extra goodies thrown in. When I’ve done this presentation, it’s been fun to take people into intermediate MDX, and really start to see the power of this amazing expression language.
Finally, the session I’m REALLY excited about:
(Way Too Much) Fun with Reporting Services
Head starting to explode from all the technical information you’re absorbing? Come spend a session with us while we play games with Reporting Services…literally! Come watch and cheer as SQL Server MVP Stacia Misner is challenged by her progeny and protégé Erika Bakse to an hour of word play, all wrapped up in SQL Server Reporting Services. They’ll push the limits with what can be built in SSRS and have a stupid amount of fun while doing it. Swag, trash talk, board games and SQL…who could ask for more?
With Donald Farmer having moved on from Microsoft, the future of the infamous BI Power Hour sessions is uncertain. Those sessions are always a ton of fun, and can really show you just how amazing the tools we work with every day can be, with a little creativity. Since Reporting Services is our specialty, mom and I wanted to inject some of that fun into a session of our own. We’re really excited to do this session, so please vote for it!
Voting is easy, but does require that you sign up on the SQLBits website. Then, go to the sessions you want to see and click on them, anywhere but on the title. You can vote for up to 10 sessions. I have a shiny, never been used passport that’s just waiting to see me on my way to England. Please help make it happen! Oh, and vote for my mom (Stacia Misner), too. She’s also got a precon offering, and odds are if enough people attend that she’ll take pity on me and hide me in her luggage.
5 Comments
Voted for your sessions, good luck!
>>I have a shiny, never been used passport
Is it just this passport, or have you never been abroad before? Sorry, I have to ask – you are American…!
Good luck, though. I’m sure you’ll do well – we usually manage to fit in sessions from everyone who submits, although we have had a record number of submissions this time.
Hi Erika, I look forward to seeing you in London. I’ll be voting for both you and your Mum. The offer still stands of taking you both to the ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’ pub, which has been there since 17th Century. See you in March, I hope! Kind Regards, Jen Stirrup
Never been overseas – I’ve been to Canada many a time (lived really close to the border), but they never required a passport while I lived up there so I only got mine a couple years ago. I’ve wanted to travel forEVER so I’m very excited to possibly do so.
That would be amazing, and I’m definitely taking you up on it if we get there in March!