Month: January 2026

Event link at our Meetup page.

• 5:30 Networking
• 6:00 Meeting

Performance Tuning SQL Server for the Cloud

When your SQL database is in a cloud service, you’re paying for performance. How can you maximize performance while minimizing costs? Join me in this session to learn about SQL Server’s performance options that can be used to reduce CPU usage and storage, which will reduce costs and make your database faster! I’ll show you how to use features such as rowstore and columnstore indexes, in-memory OLTP, and read scale-out to minimize query run times and optimize resource use. DMVs, Query Store, and intelligent query processing will be covered so you know how to look for expensive queries and let the database engine make your queries faster automatically. You’ll be ready to get the most performance for the least amount of money from SQL in the cloud.

Jes Chapman

Jes Chapman is a Data & AI Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft. With a dynamic background spanning software engineering to product management, and enriched by years as a SQL consultant and field engineer for SQL Server, Jes brings a wealth of expertise from the heart of Microsoft. A former five-time Microsoft Data Platform MVP, she’s contributed to technical books and taught from stages worldwide with her passion for teaching. When not immersed in the cloud, you’ll find Jes conquering trails, hiking through nature’s wonders, or experimenting in the kitchen.

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Event link at our Meetup page.

• 5:30 Networking
• 6:00 Meeting

Modern SQL Server Features That Make Life Better

Being aware of new features for database developers and administrators requires a keen understanding of modern SQL Server features that can enhance performance, scalability, and efficiency.

This presentation delves into some of the latest advancements within SQL Server, including SQL Server 2022, offering database administrators and Developers insights into key features and functionalities that can revolutionize their approach to data management and performance.

Developers and Administrators will be introduced to the power of intelligent query processing, Query Store, and how these are deeply integrated into SQL Server 2022 to make troubleshooting queries and improving performance easier than ever. For example, we’ll learn how memory grant feedback and DOP Feedback work in SQL Server 2022 to enhance performance.

Developers will be excited about modern features such as verbose truncation warnings, updates in T-SQL that allow you to write less code, and how temporal tables can help answer the problem of how to trend data over time and fix data after a disastrous, unintended change to a table.

Lee Markum

Lee is a SQL Server Database Administrator who got his start with SQL Server back in 2009. Back in the day, he earned an MCTS certification on SQL Server 2008. That was followed up in 2020 with the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals and DP-900 Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals certifications. He has officially been a DBA since 2014. Lee has worked for small companies under 100 people to large enterprises of thousands of employees and used databases of all sizes.

He has presented at SQL Server Meetups, New Stars of Data, SQL Saturdays, was an online speaker for the RedGate PASS Data Community Summit 2022, and spoke at Saint Louis DevUp in 2024 and 2025.

Lee blogs at LeeMarkum.com and he loves finding and experimenting with new features in SQL Server. High availability and disaster recovery as well as performance monitoring and troubleshooting are of special interest to Lee.

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