I have a page which uses a MasterPage hosting the ScriptManager (EnablePartialRendering="True"). The page itself has a data grid control inside of an UpdatePanel. I'm retrieving the grid's data and binding it in a call from the Page_Load event. When I run the page (via IE7) it pauses for a few seconds before displaying the entire page all at once with all of the data in the grid.

Isn't there a way to get the page to render first and then fetch the data behind the scenes?

Yes there is a way. What you can do is to induce a post back using scripts or you can add a timer. Here are the steps you can take:

1. Place the Grid in the UpdatePanel
2. Set the Grid's Visible property to False.
3. Place a TimerControl on the page set the duration to 100 ms or some other low value
4. Add the TimerControl's Tick event as an async post back trigger
5. In the Timer's tick event set the Grid's visible property to true and disable the timer
6. Add an UpdateProgress so that the user's now that something is going on