(Livestream Replay) Embracing the Rewards of Data Platform Community Involvement - Ben Weissman

DESCRIPTION 📄

Let us talk about the power of active participation in the data platform community. Through speaking, volunteering, blogging, mentoring, organizing, or other ways, individuals not only give back but also get rewarded immensely, both, personal and professional.

A focal highlight is the extraordinary support system fostered by friends within the community, acting as catalysts for growth and learning.

This conversational chat addresses the prevalent imposter syndrome by emphasizing that every member, regardless of experience level, brings unique insights and expertise to the table. We explore success stories, shared experiences, and tangible strategies to combat self-doubt.

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Ben has been working with SQL Server since SQL Server 6.5, mainly in the BI/Datawarehousing field.

He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, a co-author of "SQL on Kubernetes", "Azure Arc-enabled Data Services Revealed", "SQL Server Big Data Clusters" and "The Biml Book" as well as a regular speaker at national and international events. He has also published multiple Video courses at Pluralsight and other platforms.

Ben is also a co-organizer of DataGrillen, New Stars of Data and dataverse as well as a volunteer and mentor for many other Data Platform events.

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(Livestream Replay) The Data Dojo: A Power BI Community of Practice - with James Bartlett

DESCRIPTION 📄

In recent years, data-driven decision making has become the gold standard for all organizations, and data literacy is more important now than ever before. Organizations large and small must become intimately familiar with their data or risk falling behind the competition and fading into irrelevance. One of the best ways to foster an active, passionate data culture within an organization is to establish a Community of Practice around the technologies the organization uses to process, store, analyze, and consume data.

Join us as we discuss the founding and early stages of The Data Dojo: a Power BI Community of Practice which was established at Des Moines University to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience among faculty and staff interested in analyzing data generated by the various departments and other business units in the organization.

We'll also talk about the founding principles and structure of the Data Dojo, some of the topics we've covered at our workshops, what has gone right, what we could have done better, and what we're planning for the future.

GUEST BIO 👤

James D. Bartlett III is a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst and Power BI Administrator at Des Moines University in Iowa, USA. He started working in IT way back in 2002, while he was a student in the Business Administration program at Colorado State University. After graduation, James dabbled in banking, real estate, healthcare, and even had a short stint as a resident DJ at Denver's top nightclub, before finally stumbling upon his true calling in the Business Intelligence field in 2018.

James is a Microsoft Certified Power BI Data Analyst Associate, co-developer of the Business Ops and Power BI Version Control apps on PowerBI.tips, and co-leader of the Iowa Power BI User Group. In his spare time, James enjoys longboarding, playing the guitar, and producing electronic music in his home studio.

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(Livestream Replay) Why Power BI Community Rocks! - with Nikola Ilic

When you're learning a new technology or upskilling in a specific tool, chances are that you'll need to connect with your peers that are trying to achieve the same, or already went through this path. In this live stream, we will talk about one of the most vibrant technical communities, the Power BI community, and how joining it may help you not just to master specific concepts, but also give you a career boost and new opportunities.

GUEST BIO 👤

I'm making music from the data! PowerBI consultant and trainer, Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Pluralsight Author, blogger, speaker...Interested in everything related to data - always eager to extract valuable info from raw data in the most effective way. Multi-year experience working with (predominantly) Microsoft Data Platform (SQL Server, SSAS, SSIS, SSRS, and Power BI). Father of 2 and true football (and Barca) fan!

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(Livestream Replay) Effective use of Bookmarks and Buttons - with Ben Ferry (Power BI Guy)

Creating a report in Power BI should always include a stage of design that considers appropriate functionality for the end users. Though data transformation, modelling, and calculations are of course vital steps, failure to consider functionality can often, especially in the initial roll-out of Power BI within an organization, hinder user acceptance, or at the very least, overshadow the good work you have done preparing the data. The use of buttons and bookmarks can be a key element in your report preparation.

Bookmarks are a simple concept, but their value lies in their adaptability and often in the imagination of the report designer. This presentation aims to show how buttons and bookmarks can be leveraged to create sleek functionality, not only adding useful elements within your reports, but also giving you many other options as to how your data can be visualized. From absolutely essential buttons which should grace all reports, to niche bookmarks which serve as a sneaky workaround, the purpose of the presentation is to show how buttons and bookmarks, though sometimes tricky to set up, can make your life easier, but more importantly, help you create a report which does the data justice.

GUEST BIO 👤

Ben is Senior Data Analyst for online and highstreet opticians in Germany. Working with Power BI since 2017, he is one of the lucky few who can count his job as his hobby. Ben’s main pleasures in Power BI come from exploring and defeating APIs with Power Query, finding new tricks to achieve interesting reports and spreading the good word of Power BI.

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Power BI Guy: YouTube
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