One of the driving forces behind Microsoft events in New Zealand is our very active .NET community, represented all over the country by .Net User Groups.

Here are some Tech.Ed New Zealand 2009 videos that may be of interest to anyone who wants to get in touch with communities:

A tour of CodePlex (Sara Ford)

Students and the community (Ryan Tarak)

Microsoft helping startups (Mike Zeff)

Community Spotlight (Debbie Ireland)

Community Spotlight (Kirk Jackson)

Community Spotlight (Mark Orange)

Tech Girls Dinner (Julia Raue and Amanda Jackson)

For more Tech.Ed official videos visit TechEd Online, a global online community where visitors can explore video interviews with industry experts, view on-demand sessions and keynotes, join the community with Tech.Ed blog posts from around the world.

There were quite a few Office and Unified Communication tracks at Tech.Ed. Here are some of the official session recordings:

Business Productivity Online Suite (Mark Orange)

Building rich calendaring experiences with Exchange Web Services (Albert Kooiman, David Claux)

High availability in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Microsoft Exchage Server 2010 Architecture (Ross Smith IV)

Storage in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (Matthew Gossage)

Unified Messaging in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (Michael Wilson)

Driving contextual collaboration with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007

And here is our "unofficial" interview with Andrew Ehrensing, Microsoft Principal Consultant talking to us about upcoming release of Exchange 2010:



For Tech.Ed official videos visit TechEd Online, a global online community where visitors can explore video interviews with industry experts, view on-demand sessions and keynotes, join the community with Tech.Ed blog posts from around the world.

On behalf of the Microsoft SQL user group I am sharing some information about Brad McGehee's tour around New Zealand:

Brad M. McGehee is the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software; an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 14 years' SQL Server experience, over 6 years' training experience, and has been involved in the industry since 1982.

A well-respected and trusted name in SQL Server literature, Brad is the author or co-author of more than 14 technical books and over 100 published articles.

Auckland Monday 19th October 2009
http://aucklandsql.com/Meetings/Brad-McGehee.aspx
DBA 101: Best Practices Every DBA Should Know
This session focuses on key fundamentals, such as: Installing & Upgrading SQL Server; SQL Server Configuration; User Data and Log File Management; Database Configuration Settings; Configuring Critical Maintenance Jobs; Setting Up Alerts for Critical Errors; Security Basics; Implementing a Backup Strategy; Creating a Disaster Recovery Plan; Testing; Monitoring; and Documentation

Wellington Tuesday 20th October 2009
http://wellington.sqlpass.org/Home/tabid/1764/Default.aspx
How to Optimise tempdb Performance
DBAs often don't spend a lot of time watching tempdb performance. They think of it as a black box that takes care of itself. What many DBAs don't fully realize is how tempdb performance can affect SQL Server's overall performance. In this session, we will cover how tempdb is used; tempdb internals; how to monitor tempdb; and how to optimize tempdb for best performance.

Christchurch Wednesday 21st October 2009
http://www.dot.net.nz/Lists/Events%20Calendar/DispForm.aspx?ID=144
Want to become an exceptional DBA?
Becoming a DBA doesn't have to be just a job; it can be a very rewarding career. While many DBAs are happy with just getting by, the Exceptional DBA is not only outstanding in their knowledge of SQL Server, they are consummate professionals who are in high demand, and command high salaries.


Dunedin Thursday 22nd October 2009
http://www.dot.net.nz/Lists/Events%20Calendar/DispForm.aspx?ID=137
Best Practices Every SQL Server DBA Must Know 
With the continued popularity of SQL Server, more and more people are becoming SQL Server DBAs, whether they planned to or not. Many of these DBAs don't have formal training, but are doing the best they can under the circumstances. Most of these DBAs want to do a good job, but just don't know where to start. While Books Online is a great reference tools, it doesn't tell someone what they need to know about commonly established best practices that experienced DBAs know by heart.

By Ben Gracewood

The developer and architecture tracks at Tech.Ed were chock full of advice on platforms, tools, frameworks, and everything developers need to know about Microsoft development. What's that? You missed attending Tech.Ed because you were too busy or your company was too stingy? No problem! Tech.Ed Online has you covered.

Here's just a few free videos that might be useful:

An overview of ASP.NET

Architecture Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Application Architectures

Building Enterprise Software

Changes in the .NET 4.0 Framework

ASP.NET Performance Tuning

A tour of CodePlex

For Tech.Ed official videos visit TechEd Online, a global online community where visitors can explore video interviews with industry experts, view on-demand sessions and keynotes, join the community with Tech.Ed blog posts from around the world.

I think it is time for IT Professionals to get access to the Microsoft Tech.Ed New Zealand 2009 Server and Infrastructure sessions available at TechEd Online and as before I am making here a list of recorded sessions that would be of interest:

An Overview of the Azure Services Platform (free, Chris Auld)

Windows Virtual PC "Under the Covers" (free, Ben Armstrong)

Microsoft App-V Deployment Options (free, Michael Bilodeau)

SQL Azure (free, Jeremy Boyd)

The Coming Meltdown of IT (free, Roger Session)

What's new in SQL Server 2008 R2? (free, Kamal Hathi)

Windows Azure for High Availability (free, Chris Auld)

BizTalk (free, Thiago Almeida)

Beat the recession with BI (free, Devin Dean)

SQL Server 2008 Spatial R2 (free, Matti Seikkula)


For Tech.Ed official videos visit TechEd Online, a global online community where visitors can explore video interviews with industry experts, view on-demand sessions and keynotes, join the community with Tech.Ed blog posts from around the world.