Many of us play a specific role within a project. We may architect a schema based upon requirements that have been gathered by another person. Once the schema is complete, the specifications of that schema is passed on to another group who designs the user interface and reporting. Yet another group performs the final testing, implementation and maintenance of the solution that was developed. While we may be somewhat familiar with the tasks that proceed and follow our specific task there are always dimensions of those roles that we do not experience.

A participant in a project who has an appreciation and understanding of the context of their role will be a more effective one. Therefore; I approached Perpetual Technologies, Inc. (PTI) to see if they would be interested in co-hosting an event with IndyPASS where we would present the major aspects of a project and walk the audience through its paces giving them a holistic experience that they would not get otherwise. On Saturday, April 18th, in Indianapolis the vision became a reality.

With business intelligence becoming a very popular topic we agreed that our project of focus would be a business intelligence project. Our event consisted of five sessions:

• Gathering Requirements: Presented by Kristin Sheibley
• Building the Database Model: Presented by Ray Lucas
• Building ETL Processes: Presented by Arie Jones
• Building OLAP Cubes Using SSAS: Presented by Jung Choi
• Reporting Services: Presented by Arie Jones

Our approach to this event was to assemble a great team of experienced professionals to organize and develop the content of these presentations. The aforementioned presenters worked together amazingly well to provide the continuity between their presentations, provide technical review for each other's topics and develop the supporting storyline in which the technical aspects were presented. This approach to the presentation development was unique compared to most technical events; but was very effective with the team that we had assembled.

My partner in arranging the logistics of the event was Caroline Bailey from PTI. With her experience of organizing the various events that PTI offers throughout the year and her keen ability to keep all of the members of the team focused, the planning for this specific event was a smooth as butter.

We prepared a notepad-booklet in which we gave to each attendee that contained the schedule of the sessions, presenter biographies and plenty of space for taking notes. We utilized Lulu.com for the printing of these booklets. The quality of the printing was excellent and the price was equally impressive. I would certainly recommend them for anyone looking to produce booklets for their own events.

Our target was to host 100 attendees. Our no show rate was fairly low resulting in a total attendance of 95 in which majority arrived early and stayed late for the entire event. This was especially impressive considering that we had our first nearly Summer-like weather day in what seems to be ages. Wrox and O'Reilly provided business intelligence related books for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 as give-aways at the end of each session which are always coveted by door prize seekers.

At the beginning of the event I encouraged all bloggers and tweeters in the audience to give a shout out to the event and share their experience. This is a great way to spread the word about our community's activities. To search on Twitter, go to: http://search.twitter.com 

Thank you to all that participated in the planning and attending this event.