Web Seminars Enhance Your SQL Server Education

From time to time, I've discussed the problem of drowning in a sea of information. Reading and digesting all the technical content that interests you and is readily available on the Web or in print is impossible. So, where do you start? Sometimes, I just don't have time or I'm not in the mood to read a long, technical white paper. At those times, I'd like someone to spoon-feed me technical content. Enter Web seminars from SQL Server Magazine and Microsoft.

SQL Server Magazine LIVE! Webinars, a new educational opportunity from SQL Server Magazine, deliver high-quality, cost-effective training solutions that save you time and money and meet your training needs. Webinar presenters are industry experts, including Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), SQL Server Magazine writers, and SQL Server consultants. For example, SQL Server MVP, consultant, and author Kalen Delaney just presented the first Webinar (complete with a live Q&A session) in a four-part series called "SQL Server Internals for Troubleshooting and Tuning." SQL Server Magazine archives all Webinars—for up to 6 months—so attendees can go back and revisit them as many times as they want. The Webinar program will also include sessions about XML, database modeling, data access technologies, .NET development, and more. For upcoming session and registration information, see the SQL Server Magazine Web site.

Microsoft Support Webcasts are a product-support information service that Microsoft offers free of charge to the public. Microsoft Support professionals present the Webcasts, which are followed by live question-and-answer sessions. The Webcast scheduled for Friday, November 16, is titled "Introducing New Features in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Transactional Replication." The Microsoft site contains archives of more than 30 other Webcasts. In addition to watching and hearing the streaming media, you can download the Microsoft PowerPoint slide show along with the speaker's transcript from the original session. Microsoft also archives its Webcasts, which you can view on-demand using Windows Media Player. Visit the Microsoft Web site for more information).

In the case of both Web seminar programs, the streaming media doesn't show a live person speaking, but you'll hear the presenter in realtime discussing a PowerPoint slide show, and sometimes live code demos, that's streamed to you. You can ask questions after the session is over. Sometimes the ability to ask a real person that one nagging question is the key difference between an hour well spent and getting lost in the technical quagmire of wondering how something works.

If you want to ask questions of the presenter, you must be online the first time the session is streamed. However, if you just want to listen and watch a Web seminar, past sessions are available for streaming on demand to suit your viewing schedule. In this age of travel and education budget cuts, Web seminars help you keep up-to-date without breaking the bank and without taking you away from the office for days.

From time to time, I've discussed the problem of drowning in a sea of information. Reading and digesting all the technical content that interests you and is readily available on the Web or in print is impossible. So, where do you start? Sometimes, I just don't have time or I'm not in the mood to read a long, technical white paper. At those times, I'd like someone to spoon-feed me technical content. Enter Web seminars from SQL Server Magazine and Microsoft.

SQL Server Magazine LIVE! Webinars, a new educational opportunity from SQL Server Magazine, deliver high-quality, cost-effective training solutions that save you time and money and meet your training needs. Webinar presenters are industry experts, including Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), SQL Server Magazine writers, and SQL Server consultants. For example, SQL Server MVP, consultant, and author Kalen Delaney just presented the first Webinar (complete with a live Q&A session) in a four-part series called "SQL Server Internals for Troubleshooting and Tuning." SQL Server Magazine archives all Webinars—for up to 6 months—so attendees can go back and revisit them as many times as they want. The Webinar program will also include sessions about XML, database modeling, data access technologies, .NET development, and more. For upcoming session and registration information, see the SQL Server Magazine Web site.

Microsoft Support Webcasts are a product-support information service that Microsoft offers free of charge to the public. Microsoft Support professionals present the Webcasts, which are followed by live question-and-answer sessions. The Webcast scheduled for Friday, November 16, is titled "Introducing New Features in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Transactional Replication." The Microsoft site contains archives of more than 30 other Webcasts. In addition to watching and hearing the streaming media, you can download the Microsoft PowerPoint slide show along with the speaker's transcript from the original session. Microsoft also archives its Webcasts, which you can view on-demand using Windows Media Player. Visit the Microsoft Web site for more information).

In the case of both Web seminar programs, the streaming media doesn't show a live person speaking, but you'll hear the presenter in realtime discussing a PowerPoint slide show, and sometimes live code demos, that's streamed to you. You can ask questions after the session is over. Sometimes the ability to ask a real person that one nagging question is the key difference between an hour well spent and getting lost in the technical quagmire of wondering how something works.

If you want to ask questions of the presenter, you must be online the first time the session is streamed. However, if you just want to listen and watch a Web seminar, past sessions are available for streaming on demand to suit your viewing schedule. In this age of travel and education budget cuts, Web seminars help you keep up-to-date without breaking the bank and without taking you away from the office for days.