Should I become a manager in IT

Buck Woody has had IT management positions at organizations from the US Military to Healthcare, Manufacturing and now at Microsoft. In this session he'll cover the decision points in your career that you need to understand for becoming a manager, the traits you should have, the training you need to be successful, and the ways you can help your employees and organization thrive.

Machine Learning architectures using the Microsoft Data Platform

The Azure Data Platform provides multiple options for Machine Learning, from classical ml to deep learning, supervised, and unsupervised learning. Whether you prefer to write Python or R code with or work with no-code/low-code options in the Azure Data Studio tool, you can build, train, and track machine learning and deep-learning models in multiple interconnected technologies. In this session, Buck Woody will show you an example of each of these, and a process to choose the right technology based on your workload.

SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters Architecture

Large sets of data from multiple locations are common-place in most organizations. You need a way to ingress, process, and serve that data with technologies from relational data queries through scale-out non-relational methods. Microsoft SQL Server's Big Data Clusters provide an on-premises or in-cloud method to store, virtualize, process, model and server data from any source. In this session, Buck Woody will show you how to plan, install and configure this new system.

Secure AI: Machine Learning In-Database

Microsoft SQL Server has multiple methods to create, train, and serve Machine Learning models. The advantages of using SQL Server for this process are that the data stays completely contained within the security boundaries of your SQL Server environment, your developers use familiar Transact-SQL statements to interact with the model, and Data Scientists use the tool of their choice – Python or R to develop models. In this session Buck Woody, an Applied Data Scientist will lead you through the concepts of Machine Learning in SQL Server and show you two practical tutorials you can use at your organization.

How to give a 10-minute talk with no Q/A, and no Frills

Speaking succinctly is a rare skill - being able to convey a convincing topic in a short period of time is hard to do. Even more difficult is doing that for a technical topic. Buck Woody, a Data Scientist at Microsoft, also teaches public speaking for technical professionals. You'll learn how to create and deliver a lot of content in a short period of time, without being rushed.

Presentation Skills for the Data Professional

Presentation Skills for the Data Professional

Buck Woody is a seasoned speaker, teacher, and professional coach. In this exercise-packed session he covers how to create, prepare and deliver your best technical presentation - whether that's in-person, online, or in front of a camera. This session gives in-depth tips and tricks you can use to make you an engaging presenter, regardless of your topic.

Arc, Arc and Arc: De-mystifying Azure Arc for Data

Azure Arc-Enabled Data Services

In this session, Buck Woody will explain the latest hybrid data service from Microsoft - Azure Arc. There are three ways you can use this technology as a hybrid environment for your data estate - You'll learn each of them, with a focus on Azure Arc-Enabled Data Services. You'll learn the benefits of running a hybrid environment, it's architecture, and how you can run Azure data services on-premises, at the edge, and in multi-cloud environments using Kubernetes on the infrastructure of your choice. Get the latest Azure innovations, elastic scale, and unified management for data workloads with or without a direct cloud connection.

State of the Data Technology Industry

State of the Industry

Buck Woody, a Principal Applied Data Scientist at Microsoft, works with clients, speaks at events, and is involved with planning at corporate for the Data market. He is in constant contact with industry leaders, and in this session, he covers the current state of the industry in both market and technical terms. He will also explain the trends and analysis of where data technology is headed - in areas including the edge, on-premises, and in the cloud. This session is useful to both technical professionals and technical business leaders alike.

The Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform

Organizations want to spend less time managing data, and more time focusing on creating value from their data. But to adapt rapidly, add layers of intelligence to apps, generate predictive insights, and govern all their data—wherever it resides—is a monumental task. The Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform brings together the best of Governance, Data Storage and Processing, and Intelligence along with state-of-the-art tools to make it all possible. In this session, you'll learn about each of the components in IDP and how to leverage this platform and gain intelligence across all of your data - on-prem, in devices, and in any cloud environment.

Open-Source Databases on the Microsoft Platform

One doesn't often think of running Open-Source Software in a vendor's cloud environment - but there are compelling reasons that Microsoft Azure is the best place to store and process your data with platforms such as PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB. From support, to governance, to automated security, this session explains the current Microsoft Azure offerings and the processes and advantages for using each of these solutions.

SQL Server Security Ground to Cloud - A Workshop Audit

This unique session is an "audit" of a full-day workshop, covering the basics of the computing security landscape, and the Data Professional's responsibilities within it. You'll also learn the latest security frameworks and paradigms, SQL Server security operations both on-premises and in-cloud, and the steps you should secure your organization's data.

Generative AI: Concepts, Tools, and Applications for Data Professionals

Generative AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that can create new data or content by learning from existing content. It has applications in various domains such as text, image, audio, video, and code generation. In this session, you will learn how generative AI works, its limitations, the main tools and processes you can use, and where you can use it to enhance your data estate and data projects. You will also explore examples of how generative AI can help you with code generation, debugging, and optimization tasks. You will examine a complete solution using SQL SErver Machine Learning Services and Azure OpenAI integration. This session is suitable for data professionals who have some familiarity with machine learning and want to learn more about the potential and effective uses of generative AI.

SQL Server: What's in the Box?

SQL Server has a 25+ year history from a department-level Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) to a full-fledged data platform used on the highest-volume,, mission-critical environments on the planet. Many people who have a license to this product don't know the full extent of what it can do and the vast array of features it contains. In this session, you'll learn the capabilities of the system from the viewpoint of the DevOps, Developer, Architect, Analyst, Data Engineer and Data Scientist. Come away with knowledge and resources you can use today to implement new solutions in your organization.

Understanding Vector Databases

In this session, you will learn the fundamental concepts of vector databases. You will explore what vector databases are, how they differ from traditional relational databases, and why they are becoming increasingly important in handling high-dimensional data. Buck will also discuss the underlying mathematical principles, such as vector space and similarity search algorithms, that make these databases so powerful.

Buck will introduce and demonstrate various tools used to interact with vector databases. This includes popular open-source vector database systems, query languages, and data visualization tools. He will also provide hands-on examples and tutorials on how to use these tools effectively.

You'll also learn real-world applications of vector databases in various fields such as machine learning, data analysis, and information retrieval. Buck will present case studies that highlight the benefits of using vector databases in these applications.

By attending this session, participants can expect the following outcomes:

1. Gain a solid understanding of the fundamental concepts of vector databases and their advantages over traditional databases.
2. Become proficient** in using various tools to interact with vector databases, which will be beneficial in their data-related tasks.
3. Understand the practical applications of vector databases in various fields, providing them with insights on how to leverage vector databases in their own projects.

This session is designed to equip attendees with the knowledge and skills to effectively use vector databases, enhancing data management and analysis capabilities in general use and in assisting in Generative AI.

Big Data Analytics on the Azure Data Platform

The Microsoft Azure Data Platform offers multiple tools, technologies and processes you can use to analyze data at scale. From Synapse to SQL Server Big Data Clusters, this session covers an overview of all these tools, and when and where to use each.

Azure Data Platform Security Overview

The "crown jewel" of security is the base data systems use. In this session we'll cover the end-to-end processes and technologies on the Azure Data Platform, and bring you up to date on the latest features like SQL Ledger that you can use for authentication, authorization and access.

Database Migration Strategies, Tools and Processes

Database migrations often involve multiple phases, steps, and tools based on various scenarios and workload requirements. To help you migrate your databases to Azure, we have published a set of new Azure Database Migration Guides and a Hub page that provides scenario-based migration content and "How To" guides depending on your source database and target database platforms. In this session we will walk you through the new migration hub page to easily navigate to the content you need based on your scenario, how to use the relevant database migration guides, and how to create a plan to successfully migrate your systems to the cloud.

What to use When - Microsoft Data Technologies from SQL to NoSQL

Choosing the right data storage and processing technology is essential to data integrity, security, availability, and performance. It allows you to move from “we can do things” to “we can do things better”. This session is a discussion of the Microsoft stack of tools from Relational Databases (RDBMS) to Document Databases, Key-Value-Pairs, unstructured processing systems and more (NoSQL), on-premises all the way through hybrid and Azure, with examples of application patterns for each. It’s a quick overview with handy references for each technology to know which data storage and processing fits best for your workloads.

Designing a Data Architecture with Azure Data Factory

Creating an architecture starts with the data use, and next to the data flow. You want to identify, automate, manage and monitor the workflow of the data from source to application. In this session, Buck Woody explains how to use the Microsoft Azure Data Factory pipeline tool to create a complete solution.

Becoming a Data Architect

Architecting data solutions requires a unique set of tools, processes, and techniques in a dedicated effort. In this session, Buck Woody explains how you can learn to be a data architect - even if it is only part of your job. You'll get invaluable tools, references and knowledge in this wide-ranging session.

Introduction to Azure SQL Database Ledger

SQL Ledger is a new technology that allows cryptographically verifying the integrity of relational data stored in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server. In this session, Buck Woody explains not only SQL Ledger, but Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Modernizing your Data Estate with SQL Server

In this session you'll get an in-depth view of the Microsoft SQL Server properties, from on-premises to Azure and beyond - including SQL Server Edge. You'll learn more about security, big data, machine learning and more, all within the SQL Server product. You'll also get several resources to go even more in-depth with hands-on labs and exercises.

Becoming a Data Professional

“What does a “Data Scientist” or a data professional that works in larger sets of data need to know? Buck Woody, a Senior Technical Professional at Microsoft, will explain a few of the major topics you need to be familiar with to enter this new level of working with data. Buck also assisted in the design of the Data Science program at the University of Washington, and teaches a database certification course there.
 
What does a “Data Scientist” or a data professional that works in larger sets of data need to know? Buck Woody, a Senior Technical Professional at Microsoft, will explain a few of the major topics you need to be familiar with to enter this new level of working with data. Buck also assisted in the design of the Data Science program at the University of Washington, and teaches a database certification course there.
 
You’ll learn which areas to study, the types of problem areas this knowledge solves, and how to develop a study plan, along with resources to learn more.
 

Data Professional Defined
DBA
Developer
BI Professional
Data Architect
Industry Predictions
Continuation of Structured Data
Semi-and-Un-structured Data
Analytics
Skills Needed
Statistics
Programming
Distributed Systems
Business

Consciousness, Curiosity and Courage in Your Career

You can’t help others if you don’t take care of yourself. “Do unto others as you would have done to you”, “love others as you love yourself” implies that you want good things for yourself. This session deals with pursuing your career goals while helping others achieve theirs.

What we’ll cover:
How to take control of your career
How to learn more, faster
How to take calculated risks
How to help others as you grow

Data Literacy

Businesses require a high level of data literacy in every role within an organization, and it is assumed these skills are gained in primary or secondary education. However, many of these skills are not given the proper amount of time or consideration during this phase of training, and students are often left to fill in the gaps on their own.

This session provides a prescriptive methodology and references to learn the basics and go much deeper into each of the data literacy topics than primary education provides, and allows a modular approach to learning. You're able to move through the material quickly over areas you already know, and take your time on the areas you need to know more about.

(Also available as a full workshop)

Find a mentor, be a mentor

As part of your continuing development as a technical professional, you need to add mentoring to your list. A mentor is someone who guides you in your career – someone who’s been there, who knows where the mistakes are, and who cares about your progression. But it doesn’t stop there. Even as you are being mentored, you need to “pay it forward” and mentor someone else.

You might wonder where to find a mentor, and you might be a little intimidated about becoming one yourself. In this session, we’ll cover both – how to find a mentor to help you with your career, and how to become a stakeholder in someone else’s career. You’ll learn the options you have, the processes you can follow, and the practical applications of being mentored and becoming a mentor.

Creating your best presentation: a workshop

Communication is one of the most important skills in business – and technical professionals have a difficult task in creating, preparing and delivering pertinent content to their audiences. Whether it’s presenting to your peers on a technical topic or making the complex understandable for a more general audience, it takes great skill to deliver a compelling presentation. In this session, Buck Woody, a Senior Technical Professional from Microsoft with consistently high scores at various conferences around the world will show you how to create a great presentation. It’s a workshop-style event, so you’ll be asked (right from the start) to get hands-on and learn from Buck and your peers on how to select a compelling topic, research and deliver a great session. It’s eight hours of useful information and practice that will prepare you to present at events from user groups to professional associations.

An Introduction to Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning

What is "Artificial Intelligence"? And how does it work? In this session, Buck Woody, a Principal Data Scientist at Microsoft, will explain how AI works, and also where Machine Learning and Deep Learning fits in. You'll get an understandable explanation of each of these technologies, along with free resources to learn more.

Building a Data Lake with SQL Server

Data Lakes are the way to arrange massive sets of data through your organization for analysis at several phases. In this session, Buck Woody will cover what you need to know about Data Lakes, a process for moving the data through the zones they contain, and the right technology choice based on your requirements.