Microsoft Fabric: Ask the Experts

Fabric is the newest integrated data and analytics platform from Microsoft.

Come hear our expert panel lead an open discussion on the things you need to know, and ask the questions you have, to get the most out of Fabric.

Whether you have looking for how to build your first warehouse, develop data factory pipelines, use real time intelligence, or licensing this will be a good opportunity to meet and talk with your fellow Fabricators.

Power BI Write-Back to Fabric SQL DB: Power App vs Translytical Task Flow

Power BI write-back without 3rd party tools is finally possible! Learn how to build both a Power App and a Translytical Task Flow to enable write-back from Power BI. This session will also cover maintenance, limitations, pricing, end user experience, and specific use cases for each option.

Power BI - Performing Data Quality Checks Using Python & SQL

Picture this, you have a report in Power BI that someone passes off to you for data quality checks. Simple enough until they clarify they need every measure checked against the source database.
There are a few ways to make sure the measures match what is in the source data system, but you need something easily repeatable and self documenting. In this presentation, I will walk through how to use python and excel to perform our data quality checks in one batch and document any differences. In order to do that, we are going to build a python script that can run Power BI REST APIs, connect to a SQL Server, and read/write to Excel.
By the end of this session, attendees will have a plug and play tool to check data from SQL against Power BI.

Internet is required

Exploring Real-Time Horizons with Microsoft Fabric

Blast off into the future of analytics with this interstellar session on real-time data processing in Microsoft Fabric!

From setting up KQL databases to capturing data streams from the International Space Station (yes, really!), this session is packed with hands-on tips and tricks. You'll explore how to harness the power of Event Streams and Logic Apps to create a seamless data pipeline that fuels real-time Power BI reports.

Discover the basics of KQL—spoiler alert, it’s not SQL! Learn to query data like a tabular astronaut, watching your dashboards come to life with up-to-the-minute updates. With step-by-step guidance and plenty of cosmic creativity, you'll master real-time analytics faster than a rocket launch.

Whether you're a data explorer, a real-time analytics enthusiast, or just curious about real-time tracking space missions, this session is your ticket to the stars. Prepare for liftoff as we explore how Microsoft Fabric can transform your streaming data into celestial insights.

Mastering Data Quality Validation in Fabric for Power BI Reports

Picture this: you’ve just inherited a Power BI report, and your task is to perform data quality checks. Simple enough, until you’re told that every measure in the report must be validated against the source database. Suddenly, what seemed like a straightforward task becomes a time-intensive challenge.

There are several ways to ensure the measures align with the source data, but the process needs to be efficient, repeatable, and, most importantly, self-documenting.

In this session, we'll walk through using Python notebooks in Microsoft Fabric to streamline the data quality validation process. Together, we’ll build a Python script that performs these checks in a single batch and logs any discrepancies for review. You’ll learn how to:
- Utilize Power BI REST APIs to access measures dynamically.
- Connect to a SQL Server database for real-time validation.
- Create a logging table to document differences automatically.

This method ensures consistency, saves time, and provides a clear audit trail for every data quality check. Whether you’re a data engineer or analyst, this hands-on approach will empower you to handle even the most complex validation tasks with ease.

Mastering Microsoft Fabric Data Warehousing: Tips & Tricks You Need to Know

During this session, we’ll dive into a range of helpful tips and tricks that I wish I had known when starting out with Microsoft Fabric data warehouses. These insights are designed to save you time, optimize performance, and make managing your data warehouse more efficient.

We’ll start by exploring a clever trick to create a case-insensitive warehouse using a simple API call, a small adjustment that can have a significant impact on query consistency and usability. From there, we’ll tackle performance monitoring, focusing on identifying and addressing slow queries. You’ll learn how to leverage built-in tools and techniques to pinpoint bottlenecks and take corrective action.

But what happens when a rogue query threatens to cripple your capacity? Don’t worry, we’ll cover how to detect and kill capacity-destroying queries before they disrupt operations. This critical skill will ensure your data warehouse remains stable and responsive, even under heavy workloads.

Throughout the session, I’ll share practical, real-world examples and actionable strategies to help you get the most out of Microsoft Fabric. Whether you’re new to data warehousing or looking to sharpen your skills, this session is packed with valuable insights you can start using immediately.

Decoding Fabric Licensing

Embark on a journey through the layered landscape of Microsoft Fabric licensing, where cryptic SKUs, hidden costs, and mysterious capacities await. This session sheds light on the most misunderstood parts of the licensing maze, using real-world examples to bring clarity to the chaos. Whether you’re just starting to explore or deep into discovery, you’ll leave with the map you need to make confident, cost-savvy decisions.

Attendees of this session will leave knowing how to:
- Distinguish between Power BI Pro, Premium Per User (PPU), and Fabric SKUs
- Choose between Pay-As-You-Go and Reserved pricing (and when it matters)
- Estimate licensing costs with real-world scenarios and user personas
- Match capacity sizes (F SKUs) to your org’s workloads and needs
- Avoid common budgeting pitfalls and over-provisioning traps

Become a Notebook Ninja: Best Practices for Building Scalable Fabric Notebooks

Notebooks in Microsoft Fabric aren’t just for one-off scripts. They can be powerful, reusable, and modular building blocks in your data workflows. In this session, we’ll walk through best practices for building and organizing Fabric notebooks like a pro. Learn how to chain multiple notebooks using DAG-style execution, call notebooks with parameters and UDFs, and manage code reuse like a well-oiled data ops team. Whether you're orchestrating data engineering workflows or building shared libraries for your team, this session will give you the tools and patterns you need to level up your notebook game.

The Fellowship of the Star Schema: Transforming OLTP Data for Power BI

One does not simply build reports on OLTP data. Join us on an epic journey from the depths of raw, normalized tables to the shining halls of a well-modeled star schema fit for Power BI greatness. We will demystify the differences between OLTP and OLAP, walk through star schema vs snowflake (and why Power BI has a clear favorite), and show you the compression differences between normalized and columnar storage that will make you never look at an OLTP model the same way again.
We will cover the different types of dimensions, when to use them, and how to handle Slowly Changing Dimensions without losing your mind. You will leave knowing exactly how to identify a bad model, how to convert OLTP data into a clean star schema, and how to forge relationships that rule them all.
Whether you are a data wizard, a curious hobbit, or somewhere in between, your models will never be the same

Mastering the Content Snowball - Turning Tiny Efforts into Big Opportunities

Speaking and blogging can be extremely intimidating, especially in the face of imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and limited free time. But community visibility compounds opportunities for jobs, meeting amazing people, and traveling the world, so how can we overcome those fears to get to the good stuff?

Breaking into the data community doesn’t require a huge following or a million unique ideas, it only requires passion and consistency. To tackle those common blockers, we'll utilize a number of concepts including the Content Snowball, the Tiny Topic Picker, and the LEGO Method of creating new shapes with the same blocks.

By the end of this session, attendees will know how to:
- Pick a topic
- Set up a free blog
- Craft presentations for conferences
- Submit sessions
- Establish patterns of posting to build your presence in the data community
- Measure meaningful KPIs
- Keep the passion alive

This session is for everyone who is looking to get off the starting block or past a plateau. Bring all your concerns and questions about getting involved in this incredible data community.

Modern Data Warehousing with Microsoft Fabric: Patterns, Practices, and Pitfalls

In the age of cloud analytics, today’s best practice is tomorrow’s legacy. Microsoft Fabric positions itself as the rebel alliance to this chaos, a single platform uniting data engineering, warehousing, and visualization in one SaaS package. Within this universe, the Fabric Data Warehouse awakens as a powerful yet approachable force: a T-SQL–based engine that works seamlessly with multiple ingestion and transformation patterns, from batch loads to streaming flows. But unlike the Death Star, this isn’t about building one massive monolith. The true power lies in creating multiple purpose-built warehouses that coexist, scale, and adapt to your business needs. With native integration to Power BI, Fabric makes it easier for practitioners to bring order to their data galaxy, while avoiding the dark side of accidental complexity.

The data galaxy is in flux, and with it, the roles of those who navigate it. Many have become “accidental” data warehouse practitioners through volunteering (or perhaps being voluntold) to build warehouses without the benefit of a proper training academy. Meanwhile, the old on-prem strongholds are fading into legend as organizations make the jump to cloud hyperspace. Even Power BI datamarts, once a trusty starfighter for quick solutions, are being decommissioned, with Fabric Data Warehouse now the recommended vessel for the battles ahead. For data professionals, this isn’t just a shift in tooling. It’s a new chapter in the saga, where adapting to change determines whether you stay a padawan or become a true Fabric master.

The presenters are seasoned data warehouse Jedi, ready to share the patterns, practices, and pitfalls of Microsoft’s modern approach to data warehousing in Fabric. Through demos and stories from the trenches, they’ll illuminate both the light side (what works well) and the dark side (what to avoid) of Fabric DW, covering everything from modeling to ingestion to lifecycle management. Attendees will leave the session equipped with their own lightsaber of knowledge, prepared to build, monitor, and scale Fabric warehouses without falling victim to the traps of accidental complexity.

Contents:
• Part 1 - Patterns: Dimensional data modeling
• Part 2 - Patterns: Data Warehousing fundamentals
• Part 3 - Patterns: Ingestion and medallion architecture
• Part 4 - Practices: Change detection
• Part 5 - Practices: Data warehouse life cycle and CI/CD
• Part 6 - Practices: Monitoring and administration
• Part 7 - Practices: Migrations
• Part 8 - Pitfalls: Tips and tricks on how to avoid them

Intended Audience:
• "Accidental" data warehousing professionals, or those looking for a refresher on the theory and techniques of data warehousing in Fabric.
• Folks needing to migrate from an on-premises data warehouse or from Power BI datamarts to Fabric.
• The focus is on data warehouse development and data engineering. The content may be less applicable for those whose primary role is report building and/or data analysis.
• The content is aimed at the doers, not the delegators.

Power BI - How to Fix an Inherited Report (with and without AI)

A common request in the realm of reporting is "hey, we have this report that a previous VIP used, but the report is really slow and the new VIP would like to revamp the report to answer their questions". Great, you think, I can knock this out no problem! Then, you open the report. Fifty tables, over a hundred measures, and six calculated tables later you start to panic.
This session will go into best practices for dissecting a complicated report and a checklist for quick wins. No need to panic, this session will help build a toolbelt to tackle any reconstruction project.
We are going to cover ways that I leverage AI to dissect reports and aid in the rebuild according to best practices.

Power BI 101 - From Zero to Published

Whether you have never opened Power BI or have been clicking around and want to level up, this session is your complete starting point. We will walk through everything from downloading the tool to publishing and sharing your reports. Along the way you will get an introduction to pulling data in, a plain-English introduction to M and DAX, and the fundamentals of data modeling and visual design that separate good reports from great ones. You will leave with practical checklists and a curated list of free resources to keep your learning going long after the session ends.

From Hype to Habit - Making AI Work for You

Everyone is talking about AI, but how many people are actually using it well? This session cuts through the noise and gets practical based on what I use AI to do in the real world. We will cover how to build Claude into your daily workflow ethically and effectively, including the safety guardrails you need to avoid costly mistakes.
From building HTML mockups to rubber ducking a tricky problem, practicing for a difficult conversation, or just getting a stubborn email rewritten, AI is most powerful in the small moments. We will also cover when to use Skills, how to share them with your team, and how to start thinking of AI less like a search engine and more like a thinking partner.
You will leave with a toolkit of habits, prompts, and practical tips you can put to work the same day.

Stop Hoping for a Raise and Start Engineering One

Most people walk into a raise conversation crossing their fingers that they have done enough to deserve one. This session is about walking in prepared. We will cover how to build a real business case using actual numbers, how to research your market value and understand your true value to the organization, and how to identify your "make money button", the specific way the company leverages you to generate revenue. But data alone does not win the conversation. Drawing on Daniel Goleman's research on leadership styles and emotional intelligence, we will also dig into how to read your boss and tailor your entire approach to how they actually make decisions. You will leave with a repeatable framework, timing tips, and a plan for what to do if the answer is no.