Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence Special Interest Group (SIG)

[tlachev]

Hi Everyone,

Some of you have approach me and Geoff Hiten about an Atlanta-based
Microsoft Business Intelligence group. After an intense internal
discussion and brainstorming involving SQL Pass, Atlanta.MDF, and the
local Microsoft office, we agreed that we should form such a group as
a special interest group (SIG) within Atlanta.MDF. I volunteered to
lead the group. Here are some topics I would like to get your opinion
about to get the ball rolling:

1. How often should we meet? I suggest once a month.
2. Where can we meet? At this point, we cannot use Microsoft premises
so I am open for suggestions. Ideally, we need a space that can hold
30-40 people and has a projector.
3. What should the meeting format be? Perhaps, it will be best if we
keep the meetings very informal and peer-to-peer, where we discuss a
particular topic, best practices, etc. Do you like the idea about
informal meetings? What should we do so you can get the most from this
group?

I appreciate any suggestions and comments.

Teo Lachev (MVP SQL Server)

[tlachev]

Please post your replies to this discussion thread and not directly to
me. Thanks!

[rajee...@hotmail.com]

Excellent idea! I have been looking for such a group, as most of the
time when I attendedAtlanta MDF meetings, there discussions on DBA/
developer related topics.

Please let me know if I could help in anyway.

Once a month is fine.

I am exploring my resources to see if we get a place.

Rajeev Srivastava

[DBAMark]

Thanks for this effort! Be very interested in attending - any help I
can provide, let me know..

I think monthly is good schedule.

I hope we can meet somewhat more central than MDF, I work downtown and
live south of city - so it has to be compelling to get me north of the
perimeter.
If downtown is a common enough preference I can ask around to see if
there is anything that would be available..

I am OK with an informal format as long as there is a central topic
(and a referee..) .

My personal preference for is more towards development and application
of the MS BI technologies and less towards the operational aspects,
not that I don't need (and do) both, just I am more likely to attend a
SIG with that focus..

[Allison Kleeschulte]

I am VERY interested in a BI group.  I actually live North of the city (and work from home) but would be willing to commute to a central location. 

 

Once a month sounds perfect.

 

I do not know of a place we could meet but I know other development user groups use a class room at Georgia Tech so perhaps that might be a route to look into.  Or perhaps we could create a relationship with a company that focuses on BI and see if they'd have a facility that would accomodate us once a month.

 

I am open to any type of format as I am constantly looking for new ideas and better ways to do things.  If we came up with a topic each month and the group was not too large I think the peer to peer idea would be fine.

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[MarkTab]

Hi Teo

I'm in -- to answer your questions:
1) I agree with once a month
2) I do not have any suggestions. Given the history of Atlanta MDF
(I've been to these meetings in four locations) it seems to be a hard
one to solve. I believe more people are still around the Perimeter
area. However, on the GA Tech suggestion -- well I went there for my
doctorate and taught statistics there too -- so I'm happy to meet
there too. I believe it would be easy to find a faculty sponsor (if
needed), and another method is to leverage a student group to sponsor
the event.
3) I am not sure what you mean by peer-to-peer or informal. If you
have any other group (even not Microsoft) you know of which meets in
the way you propose, please post an example.

Mark Tabladillo
Blog http://marktab.net/datamining

[Mia Glenn]

I would love a BI SIG.  I feel the same as most of the other people who have responded.

1. Once a month is great
2. I live west and work south so downtown/midtown is much better than a trek up 400.
3. The informal/peer-to-peer format is cool.  I also agree with the recommendations of a predetermined topic with a moderator.

[Nick Singleton]

Similar to the other responses, I am very interested in a BI SIG.

1.  Once a month is prefect.

2.  I really like the Atlanta MDF - Microsoft location if that is an option.

3.  I like the predetermined topic with a moderator format.

[Kalinka Kazakova]

I am very interested in a BI SIG.

1.  Once a month is prefect.

2.  I work in Midtown area so prefer midtown/downtown area.

3.  Any format works for me.  

---

[sean donovan]

Interested...

 

1.  Once a month

2.  Prefer Midtown

3.  Open on the format.

 

--Sean Donovan

[Johan Franzen]

I'm very interested - in fact I just recently proposed the idea of a
BI forum to some other BI consultants,
who all liked the idea of having a face-to-face opportunity to
exchange ideas and share what we've learned "in the trenches".

1) Monthly meetings is reasonable.
2) Like so many others of us, I live north of the perimeter and
confess that I wouldn't attend very frequently if the meeting place
would be south of our old MDF meeting place @ CHOC off N. Druid Hills.
BTW; is CHOC an option for us? Also, many years ago MDF used to
meet in a training room belonging to my employer, Intellinet, but MDF
eventually outgrew the room, which can probably accomodate 30+ people.
The room is no longer part of our office space as of about a year
ago, but nobody has taken over the space and it remains empty. I could
ask the landlord if we can use the space at little or no cost. It's
located in the King & Queen office complex (perimeter).
3) I don't think we have to lock ourselves into a specific format. We
could have a longer more formal presentation every so often when
speakers with such presentations are available. But it's time
consuming to prepare for this kind of presentation and more people may
be willing
to volunteer as speakers if the length of the presentation is
around 20-30 minutes (and we could have multiple speakers). Other
times we could pick a topic(s) and have a moderator to ensure an
orderly meeting.

Johan Franzen

On Jun 16, 9:29 am, sean donovan <miles.dono...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Interested...
>
> 1.  Once a month
> 2.  Prefer Midtown
> 3.  Open on the format.
>
> --Sean Donovan
>
> On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 10:40 PM, Kalinka Kazakova <
>
>
>
> kazakova_kali...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >   I am very interested in a BI SIG.
>
> > 1.  Once a month is prefect.
> > 2.  I work in Midtown area so prefer midtown/downtown area.
> > 3.  Any format works for me.
>

> >  ------------------------------

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[KimZander]

Hi All,

Great Idea -- Yes I'd too be interested in attending.

In answer to questions:

1. Monthly
2. Midtown-Downtown
3. Peer-toPeer or other

Thank You,
Kim

[C]

I am very interested in having a MS BI Group.

Thanks.

[David Tangren]

Teo, this sounds great. To answer the questions:

1) Agree with the once a month approach
2) If we're interested in getting started quickly, our consulting
practice at Northridge Systems has some space that we could use. It
would probably have to be a temporary arrangement while the group
lines up a more permanent home, but we should be able to accommodate
30-40 folks, and have a projector. I agree that the best location
would be close to downtown; our office is in Roswell, but that's OK
temporarily. Let me know if you're interested.
3) I'm not too particular about format - either moderator-driven
discussion or a presentation-based approach would be fine with me.

Thanks,
Dave Tangren

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[Tejas Patel]

Thank you for offer David.

Group,

I agree with David's idea, that untill we have permanent location, we can use Northridge Systems' space.

Tejas

[tlachev]

Thanks for the great comments! It appears that we all agree on what
the group format should be, that is it has to be flexible :-) I plan a
first meeting in August. Meanwhile, we need to direct our efforts to
find a venue and as I said the Microsoft office is not an option at
this point. How about we start compiling a list of the confirmed
locations and times we can meet at? I will also check a few options
and post here.

On Jun 21, 9:07 pm, Tejas Patel <teja...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thank you for offer David.
> Group,
> I agree with David's idea, that untill we have permanent location, we can
> use Northridge Systems' space.
> Tejas
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 2:21 PM, David Tangren <tangren...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Teo, this sounds great.  To answer the questions:
>
> > 1) Agree with the once a month approach
> > 2) If we're interested in getting started quickly, our consulting
> > practice at Northridge Systems has some space that we could use.  It
> > would probably have to be a temporary arrangement while the group
> > lines up a more permanent home, but we should be able to accommodate
> > 30-40 folks, and have a projector.  I agree that the best location
> > would be close to downtown; our office is in Roswell, but that's OK
> > temporarily.  Let me know if you're interested.
> > 3) I'm not too particular about format - either moderator-driven
> > discussion or a presentation-based approach would be fine with me.
>
> > Thanks,
> > Dave Tangren
>

> > atlantamdf+...@googlegroups.com<atlantamdf%2Bunsubscribe@googlegrou­ps.com>
> > .

> > > For more options, visit this group at
> >http://groups.google.com/group/atlantamdf?hl=en.
>
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[New Start Data Technologies]

Please include me in the contact list for this group. I'm in agreement with the format, as well.

 

Thanks!

 

Joseph LaMar

770-283-0693

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Joseph LaMar
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sqlsa...@gmail.com
New Start Data Technologies
... a bold new approach to IT

[InventoryGuy]

Hello

I have a potential meeting space with easy acccess right off I-85 at
spag junction (285/85 north side).
We have large screens for projecting presentations - may have wi-fi at
that point in the room and can hold 20 - 40 people.
http://data-profits.com/training_facilities.htm#Training%20Facilities

I personally would not want to travel to downtown in the afternoon as
commute is horrible.
I can offer something right off the freeway and easy to access,
backroads from Rosewell area.
I am reviewing this option with the landlord now, let me know if this
site is something you would like to consider.
Geoff Hiten is familiar with this space.
I have begun the inquiry, let me hear your thoughts.

S

[Richard West]

I vote for the I-85 at 285 location.

On Jun 23, 12:00 pm, InventoryGuy <inventory...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hello
>
> I have a potential meeting space with easy acccess right off I-85 at
> spag junction (285/85 north side).
> We have large screens for projecting presentations - may have wi-fi at

> that point in the room and can hold 20 - 40 people.http://data-profits.com/training_facilities.htm#Training%20Facilities

[New Start Data Technologies]

Sounds like a good location... a bit east of where the Perimeter Mall area, but the facilities sound excellent. However, with as many people interested, as we have, no one particular place is going to work perfectly for everyone regarding travel distances.

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[SQLCraftsman]

Hi gang,

Right now, I plan to keep a single, unified group mailing list. I
know this will likely increase traffic with extra meeting
notifications, but we aren't ready to build multiple mailing lists
just yet.

--GNH

On Jun 24, 9:41 am, New Start Data Technologies <sqlsapd...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Sounds like a good location... a bit east of where the Perimeter Mall area,
> but the facilities sound excellent. However, with as many people interested,
> as we have, no one particular place is going to work perfectly for everyone
> regarding travel distances.
>

> On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 12:00 PM, InventoryGuy <inventory...@hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hello
>
> > I have a potential meeting space with easy acccess right off I-85 at
> > spag junction (285/85 north side).
> > We have large screens for projecting presentations - may have wi-fi at
> > that point in the room and can hold 20 - 40 people.
> >http://data-profits.com/training_facilities.htm#Training%20Facilities
>
> > I personally would not want to travel to downtown in the afternoon as
> > commute is horrible.
> > I can offer something right off the freeway and easy to access,
> > backroads from Rosewell area.
> > I am reviewing this option with the landlord now, let me know if this
> > site is something you would like to consider.
> > Geoff Hiten is familiar with this space.
> > I have begun the inquiry, let me hear your thoughts.
>
> > S
>
> > On Jun 11, 4:33 pm, tlachev <tlac...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > Please post your replies to this discussion thread and not directly to
> > > me. Thanks!
>
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> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

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> > For more options, visit this group at
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>
> --
> Joseph LaMar
> 770-283-0693 mobile

> sqlsapd...@gmail.com
> New Start Data Technologies
> ... a bold new approach to IT- Hide quoted text -

[DaveO]

Geoff,

Please add me to the mailing list

Thanks
Dave

[Damu]

Please add me to this group.

Thanks
Damu

On Jun 29, 10:52 am, SQLCraftsman <sqlcrafts...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[charlie arehart]

At the risk of sounding like "mean old Mr. Crabapple", I've been waiting for this
chatter about the BI group to settle down, but it continues.

To those involved in forming the group, can you please clarify for everyone:

- do you really need people to keep chiming in on their interest? It seems apparent
there is "enough" interest to proceed, right? :-)
- if you're not creating a separate list, can you please clarify that you do not need
people to say they want to be "added to the list"?

Yes, I know we can just "delete/skip" the emails, setup rules to ignore the thread,
etc. I just am hoping that a clarification from those running things might help bring
closure to the constant stream (though I realize that some may read older notes and
reply to that before seeing more recent ones, so some may still trickle in.)

Just trying to help.

/charlie

[tlachev]

I am happy to announce that the great search for a meeting place the
Atlanta.MBI SIG is over. Matrix Resources graciously offered to host
and sponsor our meetings in a training room at their premises at 115
Perimeter Center Place #250, Atlanta, GA, 30346. More details here
http://prologika.com/CS/blogs/blog/archive/2010/07/01/venue-for-atlanta-mbi-found.aspx.

Charlie, for the lack of a better venue, Atlanta.MDF suggested we
start the discussion here and I appologize for the noise. Very soon
(hopefully, by the end of this week), the Atlanta BI group will have
its own website with its own discussion list, etc., and the post flood
to the Atlanta.MDF forum will stop.

[charlie arehart]

Thanks, Teo. We understood that permission had been granted. It was just a little
unclear what continued to be needed, where things stood, etc., so thanks for the
update.

/charlie

> -----Original Message-----
> From: atlan...@googlegroups.com [mailto:atlan...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
> Of tlachev
> Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 3:18 PM
> To: AtlantaMDF
> Subject: [AtlantaMDF message] Re: Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence
> Special Interest Group (SIG)
>

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[tlachev]

The website is up and running although it's still work in progress.
http://atlantabi.sqlpass.org

1. Please register.
2. Please fill in the two polls on the first page for the first
meeting attendance and topic of interesst.
3. You can post suggestions for our first meeting on the Discussions
page (Meetings forum) as a reply to my first post there.
4. Please use the General forum in the Discussions for any general
questions.
5. Please spread the news and redirect Atlanta BI fans to
http://atlantabi.sqlpass.org.

This will be my last post about the BI SIG to this forum.

[charlie arehart]

Just so there's no confusion about my own perspective (since I raised the note about
the BI list discussions), I certainly don't want to assert that Teo or others involved
(or even interested in the BI group) should not post here at all. :-) I have no
authority (though I suppose he may be responding to others who didn't write on the
list as I did.)

Still, to be clear, I was simply asking for clarification about the constant stream of
people wanting to join. Now that that's settled, and a new list and group created,
that's great. We may still have some stragglers who read older notes first. That's
understandable.

Again, I wasn't looking for an all-out ban on the topic: just clarification. We got
that, and sounds like things have resolved nicely. Thanks for your efforts, Teo.

/charlie

> -----Original Message-----
> From: atlan...@googlegroups.com [mailto:atlan...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
> Of tlachev
> Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 8:40 AM
> To: AtlantaMDF
> Subject: [AtlantaMDF message] Re: Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence
> Special Interest Group (SIG)
>