Neal Waterstreet

Atlanta Azure DataFest Day 1

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Today was the inaugural Atlanta Azure DataFest at the Microsoft office in Alpharetta. Stuart Ainsworth; who has organized many other events (SQLSaturday), is running it. It’s just about the right size crowd for the Microsoft office at Avalon.

A few notes…

I like the scheduling. Three one hour sessions with short breaks in between in the morning. Then in the afternoon, it broke into three separate tracks. Tomorrow’s schedule keeps the three tracks, but have three-hour deep-dive sessions in the morning and switch to one hour sessions in the afternoon.

The rooms were full, but most didn’t feel crowded. The one exception was one of the sessions I attended. I counted 23 people standing at one point – a very popular session! There weren’t a lot of extra chairs. We’ll need to be aware of that for next month’s SQLSaturday.

I was a little late this morning and didn’t have breakfast, but for lunch the food was excellent, and the line went quickly. There was plenty of time for networking and catching up with friends.

I think it was a plus that this is during the week. Events like these may attract a different crowd on weekdays than on weekends. The crowd seemed to have a diverse range of experience with Azure.

For the sessions and speakers, so far so good. All of the presentations I attended seem to have gone well. One thing I noticed is that there were many questions for the speakers. They all did a great job interacting with the audiences.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow!

Speaking at SQLSaturday #800 Atlanta BI 2018

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On Saturday, September 22nd, I’m speaking at SQLSaturday #800 Atlanta BI 2018! I’ll be presenting a new session “Data Quality – Plain & Simple”. I’ve been looking forward to this event and presentation for a while.

Data quality is a subject that comes up over and over again in many organizations. Most executives are concerned about the quality of the information used in their decisions. We talk about “good data” and “bad data” but what do those terms mean? In this presentation, we will first define what data quality is and look at how to measure it with data quality dimensions. Then, we’ll explore common causes for data quality issues and how to perform a data quality assessment. Finally, we’ll review the results and discuss some strategies and tools that can help improve the quality of the data in your organization.

We’ve got some great Precons and speakers lined up this year. If you’re able to attend, please stop by and say hello.

Speaking at SQLSaturday #743 Pensacola 2018

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On Saturday, June 2nd, I’m speaking at SQLSaturday #743 Pensacola 2018! I’ll be presenting my session “Master Data Management with SQL Server 2016 MDS”. I’ve been looking forward to this event since last year. If you’re able to attend the event, stop by and say hello. I’ll be the guy with the severe sunburn.

Want to know the position Master Data Management and MDS play in an organization’s overall data strategy? We’ll review the key concepts and the different roles and responsibilities to help you get your organization moving forward with MDM. We’ll then take a look at the features of SQL Server 2016 MDS that make it an excellent tool for MDM. This demo-packed presentation will cover architecture and installation, different ways of processing data, hierarchies, security and many other features that will get you up and running with MDS.

 

DIAD with Prologika

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Last week I was able to assist Teo Lachev with the Dashboard in a Day presentation at the Microsoft office in Alpharetta. We had good attendance with over 50 people participating in the class. I’d never attended a DIAD class, and I had a few observations.

The audience appeared to have some experience with Power BI before this class. This experience is evidence of Power BI’s popularity. The reaction last week is what I’d expected from Power Pivot, but that hasn’t really materialized.

There was a wide array of job responsibilities in attendance. A wide range of departments that are learning to use this tool. The questions at the end covered many different topics.

This day goes quickly despite the long list of tasks for attendees. I’d be surprised if anyone finished entirely, but I think that they got a substantial amount completed. Enough to get started!