It is just a few months left before SQLPASS and I am pushing to get my precon prepped for you. While it will be the second time I produce this on the year, I listened to the feedback and positive comments I have heard from potential attendees, so I am making a couple of big changes to fit what people really liked.

1. Lots more design time. We will do more designs in some form, as a group, teams, and individually, depending on the room and people in attendance. (Figure on a lot of databases centered around toys, theme parks, and other situations that are not exactly serious, since they provide a limited enough case where no one will get hung up on how their company does it, but broad enough to mimic real business cases. )
2. Pattern and code walkthroughs. I have a set of patterns (like uniqueness, hierarchies, and data driven design) that we can walk through and see how to translate from a database design to a physical implementation. It is based on the presentations I have done for the Data Architecture Virtual Chapter, and at Devlink this year, but we will not blast through any of it and will cover the code and designs in a deliberate pace and then consider designs where the pattern would make sense.

So if you want an interactive experience where you get a chance to think for yourself (at least part of the time) come join me on November 5 in Seattle, Washington, don’t think it, just do it: http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012/Registration.aspx (Not responsible if you actually get carried away and your employer won’t cover your expenses)

As a bonus, I have at least 30 books I will give away to attendees, 15 electronic and 15 ex-tree versions to share with you. The precon is largely taken from the book, but it would take me more than 7 hours to just read the book to, and I am afraid that would not impress anyone at all.

If you want to see more of my thoughts on the pre-con, check out the interview PASS did for the pre-con here, it is wordy, but if it wasn’t it would be mathematics: http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012/Sessions/PreConferenceSessions/PreConPreviews/LouisDavidson.aspx

If you have any questions to ask me about what we will cover, or what you want to cover, or want to know I think I am funny, don’t hesitate to go ahead and register…send me an email to drsql@hotmail.com.