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Breakout sessions

You can experience the following sessions. Delivered by international experts from both Microsoft and the field.

  • Advanced Spatial Analytics with Power BI

    This session will look at how to achieve some of the more advanced mapping requirements in Power BI. For example working with your own polygons to create choropleth maps, drawing lines, shapes and images to create interactive utility network diagrams and clustering data using the H3 hexagon grid system.
    We’ll use the latest developments in Azure Maps, ArcGIS, Icon Map and other visuals and tools to explore the various capabilities. We’ll also have a look at how OneLake in Microsoft Fabric enables us to create more complicated maps that ever before.

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
  • Design for All: Increase the Accessibility of your Power BI Dashboards

    Designing accessible dashboards is crucial to fostering inclusivity and ensuring that all users can access and interpret the data equally. My session on Design for All focuses on this very principle and will have an overview of the different aspects that one needs to consider while designing their dashboards. The session will cover the best practices and features available in Power BI with walkthrough examples that will empower the participants to implement dashboards that can reach a wider audience. Additionally, I will also highlight the different GenAI-based tools available that can help in detecting dashboard accessibility issues and how can one incorporate them into their dashboard data & design workflow.

    My talk will highlight the importance of creating an inclusive culture at your organization where people can freely speak about their accessibility issues, feeling confident that they will not be judged and that their needs will definitely be catered to. Designed to be relevant for a wide range of attendees, from designers, data analysts to business leaders, my session will enrich the conference, reinforcing the crucial aspect of dashboard accessibility which should be catered to right from the first chart you develop!

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
  • Empower your report users with enhanced analytics and customizations

    Users often want advanced flexibility when working with Power BI, but struggle getting things behaving the way they want. As a result, many bad practices are built into reports.

    This session is for users who design report designers who want to complete complex requirements in the most efficient ways. It highlights how to tailor your reports for advanced customization, giving users the flexibility and personalization they need within Power BI. This is done while avoiding common hacks and poor practices that often plague reports.

    In this session, we’ll explore functionality such as dynamic format strings, calculation groups, field parameters, hierarchies, and visual calculations. You’ll discover how to maintain data type integrity for visuals, efficiently manage complex models with dynamic customization. It will also say when not to use them, and the potential issues you could be building into your models.

    Upon completing the session, participants will be able to:

    – Understand how to use dynamic format strings, calculation groups, field parameters, hierarchies, and visual calculations

    – Understand limitations of these and when to use and not use them

    – How to combine these features to handle complex requirements and give your users astonishing analytical capabilities

    • Advanced
    • Report Creator
  • Exploring Fabric Semantic Link for Power BI folks!

    If you’re coming from a Power BI world, the whole Fabric thing might scare you a bit. Then suddenly, there is something called Semantic Link, which allows connections from Fabric Notebooks to read both data and meta data from your Power BI Semantic Model (dataset).

    You might wonder, what’s all this? How does it work and how to take benefit from it? Especially when you’re not familiar yet with notebooks at all.

    In this session we will explore what Semantic Link is, how you as Power BI developer/engineer can make use of it and how it will strengthen your solutions in the end. Together, we will explore various aspects like:
    – Warming up your data in direct lake datasets
    – Querying Dynamic Management Views,
    – Reading Semantic Model meta data to generate documentation
    – Extend or even forecast your data using Semantic Link

    By the end of this session, you will not only grasp the basics of Semantic Link but also gain practical insights into its application so you can bring it to practice directly!

    • Advanced
    • All around
  • Fast and Furious: Power BI Direct Lake in Fabric

    Microsoft Fabric is a Sassified analytical suite, and one of the features it brings to Power BI is the new type of connection called Direct Lake. Direct Lake is not only performing fast, but it comes with other benefits, too. In this session, Reza will take you through what the Direct Lake is, its benefits, how it works, and an example of it connected to Lakehouse and Warehouse (and, of course, there will be discussions on the difference between these two objects too), the way it can work with Mirroring in the Warehouse, and many other aspects of it. The session is full of live demos plus slides. Topics covered in this session include but are not limited to Lakehouse, Warehouse, Mirroring, Power BI Direct Lake, Performance considerations, and Fabric.

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
  • From outsider to super star. How Power BI became the preferred BI platform at Novo Nordisk.

    Power BI was introduced at Novo Nordisk as a self-service platform in 2020 as an alternative to two existing global BI platforms. Through organic growth there are now more than 25,000 monthly active end users on the platform and 1,000 developers. In this session the team from Novo Nordisk will share both good and bad experiences from setting up governance processes, creating a community and developing internal training offerings. The session will also cover considerations to take when working with data in a heavily regulated industry.

    • Intermediate
    • Adminstrator
  • Highly Customized Power BI Visualizations with Deneb and Vega

    Andrzej Leszkiewicz is a creator of highly customized and interactive data visualizations using Vega visualization grammar and Deneb custom visuals for Power BI. Andrzej will demonstrate how Deneb and Vega can be leveraged to create advanced custom data visualizations.

    Target Audience:

    Power BI report developers eager to learn how to create custom data visualizations without learning JavaScript and Power BI visuals SDK. Vega visualization grammar is a declarative language that is relatively easy to learn (it’s just a JSON file that describes all visual elements).

    Session Level and Prerequisites:

    Advanced. If you’ve already realized that core Power BI visuals limit your data storytelling ideas and you haven’t found any existing custom visual that satisfies your requirements, it’s time to start using Deneb. Understanding of the JSON format is recommended, and a basic understanding of any programming language will be useful.

    Learning Objectives:

    You’ll learn what kind of possibilities the Deneb custom visual for Power BI and Vega visualization grammar offer and how they can be used to move your data visualization far beyond the limitations of Power BI core and many existing custom visuals. You’ll learn how to create simple charts using dozens of Deneb Vega templates, and you’ll see how further learning of Vega can help you in creating highly customized data visualizations.

    • Advanced
    • Report Creator
  • Introduction to Dynamic SVG in Core Visuals

    If you work in Power BI’s report layer, you may already know that you can include images in some of the Power BI core visuals. Judicious usage of visuals can help enrich your tables, matrixes, and the New Card and New Slicer core visuals recently made available in public preview.

    Among the image formats you can utilize are Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs). These are not your typical images. They’re high-resolution, vector-based graphics crafted from XML, which means they’re not only readable by machines but also by us humans.

    One of the neat things about having such a format is that you can leverage this to create dynamic images bound to your data. This includes awesome use cases like micro charts that can fit into a much smaller footprint than a dedicated visual, and with a little bit of knowledge in this area, you can greatly increase the information density of your reports without adding more visuals to the canvas.

    In this session, we will examine the anatomy of SVG images and how we can use this to create dynamic charts in Power BI that you can use without any additional custom visuals from AppSource.

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
  • Learn how to promote and reuse key metrics from your semantic models across your organization

    Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you saw the “same” measure in two different reports, showing conflicting values? Or a situation where you wanted to create a measure to use in your own report, but were uncertain whether that measure already existed in another model? It’s common for organizations to have multiple semantic models with overlapping content, which can often become difficult to manage and maintain data quality in an organization when duplicative measures in so many models get created. But what if you could centrally manage measures and reuse them across multiple semantic models? In this session, we’ll explore the new Metrics Hub and show how it can enhance the discoverability and reuse of Metrics derived from measures in enterprise semantic models.

    • Advanced
    • Data Creator
  • Manage and monitor your Fabric tenant using the Admin monitoring workspace

    Curious about how users in your organization are leveraging the latest Fabric technologies? Want to pinpoint where your most sensitive Fabric artifacts are located? Interested in understanding the performance of your most popular reports? Join us for an in-depth look at the Admin monitoring workspace!

    In this session, Iqbal Khan (Product Engineer at Microsoft) will present a live, end-to-end demo of the workspace. We will explore its key features and demonstrate how each report can be utilized for governance, security, and more.

    Discover how legacy solutions and customer pain points shaped product development, and get a sneak peek into the future of the Admin monitoring workspace.

    This session is ideal for IT administrators, data governance officers, BI professionals, and anyone involved in managing or leveraging Microsoft Fabric technologies. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your data management and security strategies. See you there!

    • Intermediate
    • Adminstrator
  • Next-Gen Reporting: Extending Reports with Data-Driven Notifications for Instant Insights

    Not everything should be a Power BI report; sometimes a notification is all you need.

    Microsoft Fabric & Power Platform includes a whole range of solutions for delivering data driven insight to end-users, without the need for them to always rely on Power BI reports.

    This session explores the different options for data driven notifications in Microsoft Fabric & Microsoft Power Platform including:
    – Data Activator Alerts
    – Power BI Metrics
    – Dynamic per Recipient Report Subscriptions
    – Power Automate Flows

    Each option will be evaluated with practical examples, technical walkthrough, and tips & tricks for you to get started.

    You will leave the session with thorough knowledge of when to apply which tool, the skills required for each solution, and a list of suggestions for how to get started with data driven notifications in your own context.

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
  • Professional Developer Experiences in Power BI

    Developer Mode seamlessly integrates developer-centric features directly into Microsoft Power BI Desktop. This advancement empowers users to effortlessly implement source control for their work, thereby boosting efficiency and enhancing the maintenance of Power BI projects.

    When combined with Azure DevOps and Fabric Git Integration, Developer Mode opens up unprecedented collaboration possibilities, facilitating the establishment of robust Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. These pipelines not only improve the reliability of Power BI projects but also enable scalability, ultimately elevating the development and collaboration experience to new heights.

    Join me to explore how these powerful tools can transform your Power BI development experience. Learn about Power BI Desktop Developer Mode, Fabric Git Integration, Fabric APIs, and what’s possible with external tools.

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
  • Simplify your DAX with window functions

    Window functions are a relatively new addition to DAX. They aim to simplify certain data operations that are very intuitive in tools like Excel, but weren’t so easy to replicate in DAX so far.

    In this session I’ll introduce you to the 3 main window functions: INDEX, OFFSET and WINDOW. Even though their syntax may seem a bit complex at first glance, I’ll show you that using them is not a rocket science. You will learn a number of real-life use-cases and code patterns that you can start using in your own Power BI reports from the very next day. Based on these use-cases, you will see the potential of window functions to not only simplify a previously lengthy DAX code but also optimize it in terms of performance. I will also introduce you to some ‘false friends’ of window functions – cases where it might actually not be the best idea to use them.

    Selected use cases which you will learn include: time intelligence, running totals, cumulative calculations, Pareto charts and Excel-style calculations (e.g. delta compared to last item).

    During this session you will:
    – understand the concept and syntax of window functions in DAX.
    – learn when to use window functions and when not to.
    – discover a number of use-cases for window functions that you can immediately start using in your own work.

    It would be great if prior to attending this session you have a general understanding of DAX and its key concepts.

    • Advanced
    • Data Creator
  • Star Schema ALL the things! But why?

    Perhaps you’ve seen “Star Schema ALL the things!”, “Never use Calculated Columns”, or “Bi-Directional relationships suck” before when thinking about design considerations for your data model, but you’ve never really stopped to think about the specifics behind them and why exactly they could benefit or hurt your model. Who knows, maybe that specific advice doesn’t even work out for the scenario at hand and you might not be aware because you’ve skipped a few steps in the process.

    Come along in this journey from source to model to report using a practical mindset, thinking about the design decisions and ramifications along the way. At the core of the session lies the message to think about best practices, with the added step to test, assess, and benchmark what exactly they do for you.

    Whether it be the decision of where your transformations need to be done, how exactly the data and tables need to be modelled or what you allow the end users to do with your model these are all important steps to take, preferably without shortcuts. We’ll take the steps on a moderately complex data model, and measure as we move along.

    Meaning, at the end of the session we’ll have discussed why Star Schema’s can help you, and how you can assess for yourselves if they are beneficial for your use case.

    • Advanced
    • Data Creator
  • Tabular Editor scripting magic

    Tabular Editor is a well-known tool for Power BI and Analysis Services data model development. Regardless of which version you’re using (free or commercial), its ultimate productivity feature is the C# scripting engine.

    In this session, Daniel will assume the role of a data modelling wizard, throwing incantations and spells in the form of Tabular Editor C# scripts, that can do everything from generating model documentation and cleaning up your model, to unlocking advanced DAX modelling techniques, that would otherwise be extremely tedious and time consuming.

    If you’re already familiar with Tabular Editor and looking to improve your skills and productivity even more, or if you’re looking for a good excuse to start using Tabular Editor, this session is for you.

    • Expert
    • Data Architect
  • Transforming Data into Insights with Power BI Copilot

    AI is poised to revolutionize how work is done and Power BI is constantly evolving to meet the needs and expectations of its users. In this session, you’ll learn how Microsoft Fabric Copilot for Power BI helps creators be more productive and consumers get insights faster. Hear from the Power BI Product team about how to get the most value from the latest features and innovations in Copilot. The team will also share perspectives into the future roadmap with a sneak peak or two that is sure to excite.

    • Intermediate
    • Data Creator
  • Understanding CALCULATE, the queen of all DAX functions

    CALCULATE is the most powerful DAX function as it allows to manipulate the filter context at your will, like in the case of time-intelligence calculations. Yet, the function is not easy to understand unless its full algorithm is completely clear. In this session the algorithm will be disclosed together with a set of examples of increasing complexity with the aim to reach a complete, yet guided and gradual, understanding of the CALCULATE function. At the end of the session a full picture of CALCULATE will be in the participants’ hands.

    • Expert
    • Data Creator
  • Visual Calculations: Making DAX easier

    Visual calculations, the biggest innovation in DAX ever, has been in preview since February. Visual calculations revolutionize how you write DAX, making it possible to put together calculations that were previously prohibitively hard to write. Come join this session to learn all about the feature from the product team itself. In this demo-rich session, we will talk about the feature, how to use it, what’s new and what’s coming soon! We will also cover the things you need to know so you can be successful in using visual calculations. Come see it for yourself. See the future, today.

    • Intermediate
    • Report Creator
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