The new Direct Lake storage mode in Power BI promises to revolutionize data handling by blending the real-time nature of DirectQuery and the high performance of Import mode. Is this all just hype, or does Direct Lake truly deliver on these claims?

In this session, we will put Direct Lake under the microscope, conducting comprehensive performance testing across varied data sets and query types. We aim to stress test Direct Lake, uncovering where it meets expectations, where it excels, and where it has room for improvement.

The key areas we'll explore are:

• Direct Lake: Understanding what we know about the engine
• Analyzing performance across different scenarios
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Advice for data modelling for Direct Lake

By the end of this session, you'll have a well-rounded understanding of Direct Lake's capabilities, potential for your Power BI data modelling projects.