10:08 AM – And that's a wrap! See you tomorrow for day 3's keynote.
10:07 AM – Tom talking up the product roadmap.This is the first year there's ever been a simultaneous release of Office and SQL. Reminding everyone that "you make the difference".
10:06 AM – Whet's next for PowerPivot here at PASS?
- Learn more about Microsoft BI at PASS
- Kick the tires and ask the experts
- Register for CTP updates
- Get social at Facebook (www.facebook.com\powerpivot) and Twitter (@powerpivot)
- Learn and contribute at the BI resource center
10:03 AM – Announcing the PASS PowerPivot Sweepstakes: http://www.powerpivot.com/contest/default.htm
10:00 AM – Amir's demos done..Tom showing off more examples of reports in SharePoint. Again, cool stuff…but I'm a DBA. I want to hear something more technical, like what I need to be prepared for to make all this work under the covers.
9:48 AM – Shifting gears…Amir now showing off what's in it for IT workers. Demoing the integration of the PowerPivot management dashboard with SharePoint. We can see which Excel spreadsheets are popular over time. IT gets more insight into SharePoint. DBAs still not allowed to touch anything under the covers.
9:45 AM – The cover comes off the box on the stage. It's an out of the box Windows 7 touchscreen PC. Tom's showing integration of SilverLight 3.0 into SharePoint 2010. Users can use gestures to navigate through, slice, and dice data.
9:43 AM – PP for Excel has some really useful features…but 133 MB documents aren't the way to share data. Segway into PP for SharePoint demo.
9:30 AM – Demo time again…Amir Netz showing off PowerPivot for Excel. Over 100 million rows in Excel on the desktop. Online sorting, filtering, etc. all from within Excel querying AS.
9:27 AM – Helping "that guy" is what PowerPivot for Excel and PowerPivot for SharePoint is all about. Tom jokes "it just rolls of your tounge, doesn't it? You can just call it PowerPivot for short". At least MS has a sense of humor about themselves.
9:26 AM – As much as we vilify "that guy", the truth is he's the go-to guy that we need to help. Who is "that guy"? About 20,000,000 Information Workers.
9:25 AM – Testimonial done…Tom telling everyone that relevant information is everywhere. We have to make a change to get information to people, or "that guy" who uses Access and Excel will. I love that he's knocking on the crapass solutions that get built like this. I'm an IT guy, and I know exactly what he's talking about.
9:17 AM – Rob talking about how 3,000 people are getting information out of Premier's data warehouse. Reports that ran for an hour before run in under a minute now. Charts, graphs, reports coming out of Premier's BI stack have helped a lot with understanding what's going on and they couldn't be happier.
9:16 AM – Customer testimonial time. First up: Ron VanZanten, Directing Officer BI and Software Development at Premier Bank Card…9th largest issuer of credit cards in the US.
9:15 AM – Technology advancements on the hardware side are enabling us to do exciting things in software, yet we're also being asked to do more with less.
9:10 AM – PASS is the place to "B-I". 2 dedicated BI tracked, 50+ BI related sessions, 31% of attendees chose DW and BI as their track.
9:08 AM – Tom challenging everybody to be agents of change. He says only 20% of decision makers have access to the data that they need to make good decisions.
9:06 AM – Now taking the stage, Tom Casey, Microsoft General Manager for SQL Server Business Intelligence
9:05 AM – Make sure to come by the PASS BOD Q & A session at 4:30 today too. And don't forget about the Microsoft Appreciation Event at GameWorks tonight!
9:03 AM – Rushabh plugging the Women In Technology Luncheon and the MVP Deep Dives book signing, both today at 11:30 AM
9:00 AM – A big congratulations to the 2009 PASSion Award winners:
- Charley Hanania (International)
- European PASS Organization Committee
- Leader of the Swiss PAS Chapter
- 4 years of service to PASS
- Managed the entire 2009 PASS European Conference
- Allen Kinsel (North America)
- Program Committee volunteer, Volunteer & Nomination Committee volunteer
- 5 years of service to PASS
- Program Manager for the 2009 Program Committee
8:50 AM – Wayne Snyder on stage to recognize outstanding PASS volunteers
- Tim Ford - Program Committee, Quizbowl
- Grant Fritchey (wearing a kilt today!) – Editorial Committee, SQL Server Standard Editor
- Amy Lewis – Co-leader & Volunteer coordinator for BI Virtual Chapter
- Jacob Sebastian – Chapters Regional Mentor, Head of PASSS Member Outreach in India
8:48 AM – Rushabh encouraging people to become an official PASS member by registering (free) on www.sqlpass.org. It's also important to engage with the community by becoming involved with local chapters, virtual chapters, networking, and consider sharing knowledge by speaking. If speaking isn't your thing, consider volunteering.
8:44 AM – Total project revenues in FY 2010: $3.2 million. This represents a 15% reduction in revenue yet there's been a 40% growth in community spend. FY 2010 saw investments in infrastructure and PASS HQ, however there was a 67% reduction in IT expenses. The European PASS summit is profitable.
8:43 AM – Rushabh says PASS is committed to financial openness and communications. All members can log into www.sqlpass.org/governance to view BDO minutes and more.
8:41 AM – New PASS President Rushabh Mehta is on stage for the opening comments. He's planning on talking PASS financials today.
8:39 AM – I'm here and ready for the day 2 keynote to begin. Video highlights of day 1 are showing on the screen as everybody makes their way to their seats.
