I’ve received a buch of emails from PASS Summit “First Timers” that are also somehow new to SQL Server (for “somehow” I mean people with less than 6 month experience but with some basic knowledge of SQL Server engine) or are catching up from SQL Server 2000. The common question regards the session one should not miss to

• have a broad view of the entire SQL Server platform
• have some insight into some specific areas of SQL Server

Given that I’m on (semi-)vacantion and that I have more free time (not true, I have to prepare slides & demos for several conferences, PASS Summit  - Building the Agile Data Warehouse with SQL Server 2012 - and PASS 24H - Agile Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2012 - among them…but let’s pretend it to be true), I’ve decided to make a post to answer to this common questions. Of course this is my personal point of view and given the fact that the number and quality of session that will be delivered at PASS Summit is so high that is very difficoult to make a choice, fell free to jump into the discussion and leave your feedback or – even better – answer with another post. I’m sure it will be very helpful to all the SQL Server beginners out there.

I’ve imposed to myself to choose 6 session at maximum for each Track. Why 6? Because it’s the maximum number of session you can follow in one day, and given that all the session will be on the Summit DVD, they are the answer to the following question: “If I have one day to spend in training, which session I should watch?”.

Of course a Summit is not like a Course so a lot of very basics concept of well-established technologies won’t be found here. Analysis Services, Integration Services, MDX are not part of the Summit this time (at least for the basic part of them).

Enough with that, let’s start with the session list ideal to have a good Overview of all the SQL Server Platform:

• Geospatial Data Types in SQL Server 2012
• Inside Unstructured Data: SQL Server 2012 FileTable and Semantic Search
• XQuery and XML in SQL Server: Common Problems and Best Practice Solutions
• Microsoft's Big Play for Big Data
• Dashboards: When to Choose Which MSBI Tool
• Microsoft BI End-User Tools 360°

for what concern Database Development, I recommend the following sessions

• Understanding Transaction Isolation Levels
• What to Look for in Execution Plans
• Improve Query Performance by Fixing Bad Parameter Sniffing
• A Window into Your Data: Using SQL Window Functions
• Practical Uses and Optimization of New T-SQL Features in SQL Server 2012
• Taking MERGE Beyond the Basics

For Business Intelligence Information Delivery

• Analyzing SSAS Data with Excel
• Building Compelling Power View Reports
• Managed Self-Service BI
• PowerPivot 101 
• SharePoint for Business Intelligence
• The Best Microsoft BI Tools You've Never Heard Of

and for Business Intelligence Architecture & Development

• BI Power Hour
• Building a Tabular Model Database
• Enterprise Information Management: Bringing Together SSIS, DQS, and MDS
• SSIS Design Patterns
• Storing Columnstore Indexes
• Hadoop and Its Ecosystem Components in Action

Beside the listed sessions, First Timers should also take a look the the page PASS set up for them:

http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012/Connect/FirstTimers.aspx

See you at PASS Summit!