Can you believe how amazing and hectic March has been?! So many community members got to experience some major conferences all next to each other. We had the MVP Summit, SQLBits, and the first ever Microsoft Fabric Conference! And, I had the chance to participate in all three! THANKS to the virtual option for MVP Summit. It made it all possible.
SQLBits is seriously the best conference ever. In the community keynote, Chris Webb said, “I’ll go until I physically can’t anymore,” and that’s the truth. It’s a bunch of people who love the same stuff, all super hyped to learn, meet new folks, and share ideas. You leave SQLBits feeling inspired and pumped up. I’ve been going since 2012, and I’m not leaving anytime soon!
Sessions:
Did a couple of sessions at SQLBits. The first one was “One Dataset and Three Uses Cases with Microsoft Fabric”, but honestly, the title needs work. I’m definitely going to change it up next time. But the session went great; I got picked to present and had a packed room. I got some fantastic feedback, too! Basically, I showed how I used open data to look at different stuff in MS Fabric and why you’d pick one thing over another. I learned a lot making this session, TBH.
Here are the slides and demos: https://bit.ly/48F2sDF
I also did a beginner session on notebooks. We discussed what Power BI devs do and then talked about Python and Semantic Links. It looks like I can’t help but talk about Semantic links in every Fabric Session. But seriously, I had a blast creating this session and learned a lot about Notebooks in Fabric. Slides – https://infinitydataanalytics-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/prathy_infinitydataanalytics_co_uk/En5UqnRjnvVIvJqGtMw50AkBGKUxtGSXwQHDwZKokU5zeg?e=8NGQe5
Awesome SQLBits Party:
It was an aviation theme, and even though I initially wanted to dress like a cloud, I ended up opting to be a first class passenger which needed less effort. It was a blast! I had so much fun with my team members and it felt like a much-needed break. I always love introducing the awesome Guy in a Cube guys to new community members and making their wow moments 🙂
My Favorite Moments:
Meeting my SSIS guru in person after so many years was definitely the highlight of the conference for me. I can’t remember if I’ve met him before, but reconnecting with Jamie Thomson and chatting with him was a pleasure. I think I read every single blog post he wrote about SSIS a long time ago! Obviously hosting London Fabric UG at Bits has to be special. I love how my little thought of starting a user group evolved into this beautiful community.
WOW, where can I start? First of all, thanks to Rie and Kelly for coordinating with us to participate in this community conference and for being such kind hosts. Huge shoutout to Avanade for supporting me on this, especially to Alan G, Ian M, and Jackie S for their help.
Session:
To make my life a tiny bit more complex, I decided to do a different session at the Fabric Conference. The good thing was I co-presented with Aaron. CoPresenting is always tricky, especially if you don’t know the speaker well. But I think our session was excellent. We used a collaborative approach and it was great, and I’m happy we got excellent feedback on our flow and presentation. Returning to the session, it was about OneLake – Empowering Data Platforms with Microsoft OneLake. Honestly, until the day before, I was learning things about OneLake and security. I remember sitting in the Speaker room with Arthi and other One Lake team discussing how different personas could securely access the data in One Lake. I learned a lot, and it was a great session.
Slides – Link to slides
Overall Conference
Congratulations to the entire team who were part of it, and I honestly didn’t envy the Fabric team. They were always engaged; it could be Partners evening, Keynote, sessions, booth, Ask the Experts or Power Hour. I love how they engaged with passion. 4000+ people under one roof, I feel lucky to have been a part of it as an MVP, speaker, partner, and attendee. Meeting people from all over the world (including my global team!) was so cool. But above all, what stood out to me was how kind and collaborative everyone was. The Microsoft Fabric Team is seriously inspiring, and I feel blessed to have connected with such amazing folks. PS I was in keynote video along with many other community members. Always nice to see yourself on big screen, especially when lighting is in favour 🙂
Beyond Conferences
Conferences give you a chance to explore beyond the airport and hotel room. I have always been sceptical about Vegas, and as I anticipated, I am not a huge fan of big casinos and hotels. But the conference centre was great, and some parts of Vegas were significant. I also managed to tick an item off my bucket list by going to the Grand Canyon.I love seeing these Amazing natural formations; I think it just makes me feel more grounded.
The delay of my first connecting flight made the trip memorable, which resulted in United Airlines rerouting my journey. This gave me the opportunity to catch my sister by surprise at her home, and her reaction will always remain priceless in my heart.
Reflecting on these conferences today in the middle of the night with jet lag makes me realize how much they pushed me out of my comfort zone. Even though the sessions were stressful because of the new concepts they introduced, I left feeling like I had learned a lot. Seeing all the successful and inspiring people there encouraged me to reflect on my own blogging journey once again.
Until we meet again 🙂
