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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on February 7th

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, February 7th, at 6:30 PM ET.  Your humble correspondent will show you different techniques to implement scorecards with Power BI. For more details and sign up, visit our group page. Download the presentation assets here.

Presentation:Implementing Scorecards
Date:February 7th
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Join this session to learn how to create scorecards measuring strategic objectives with Power BI. We’ll start by introducing you to balanced scorecards and KPIs. Then, I’ll compare different ways to assemble scorecards, including:

·       Conditional formatting

·       Analysis Services KPI

·       Power BI Goals

Demos will make it all clear. As a bonus, you’ll learn some black-belt modeling techniques, such as using Tabular Editor where Power BI Desktop falls short.

Speaker:Teo Lachev is a consultant, author, and mentor, with a focus on Microsoft BI. Through his Atlanta-based company Prologika (a Microsoft Gold Partner in Data Analytics and Data Platform) he designs and implements innovative solutions that bring tremendous value to his clients. Teo has authored and co-authored several books, and he has been leading the Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence group since he founded it in 2010. Microsoft has recognized Teo’s contributions to the community by awarding him the prestigious Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Data Platform status for 15 years. In 2021, Microsoft selected Teo as one of only 30 FastTrack Solution Architects for Power BI worldwide. https://prologika.com
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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on January 3rd

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, January 3rd, at 6:30 PM ET.  Paul Turley will show us how to integrate Power BI with paginated (SSRS) reports. And your humble correspondent will update you on the Power BI latest.  For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Power BI Paginated Reports: The New Old Operational Reporting Platform
Date:January 3rd
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Power BI Paginated Reports (aka SQL Server Reporting Services) was old but now it’s new again. Available on-premises or in the Power BI service with flexible licensing, you have multiple options to implement operational reports. This session will briefly cover the differences between analytic and operational reports; and help you understand the advantages and trade-offs using Power BI Paginated Reports, Power BI Report Server and SQL Server Reporting Services. Material from our forthcoming book: Paginated Report Recipes.
Speaker:Paul is a Principal Consultant for 3Cloud Solutions (formerly Pragmatic Works), a Mentor and Microsoft Data Platform MVP. He consults, writes, speaks, teaches & blogs about business intelligence and reporting solutions. He works with companies around the world to model data, visualize and deliver critical information to make informed business decisions; using the Microsoft data platform and business analytics tools. He is a Director of the Oregon Data Community PASS chapter & user group, the author and lead author of Professional SQL Server 2016 Reporting Services and 14 other titles from Wrox & Microsoft Press.  Paul is a 2021 FastTrack Recognized Solution Architect and holds several certifications including MCSE for the Data Platform and BI.
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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on December 6th

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, December 6th, at 6:30 PM ET.  To finish the year at a high note, the famous Guys in the Cube (Patrick and Adam) will tell us how keep the data fresh in Power BI. And your humble correspondent will update you on the Power BI latest.  For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Keeping your Data Fresh in Power BI
Date:December 6th
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:We all want our data refresh to happen quickly so the most current data is available for our reports. In this session we will walk you through options to configure refreshing your data but more importantly we will help with performance. We’ll look at how to identify bottlenecks and then how to optimize at different points to get the most out of your Power BI refresh.
Speaker:Patrick LeBlanc is a currently a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and a contributing partner to Guy in a Cube. Along with his 15+ years’ experience in IT he holds a Masters of Science degree from Louisiana State University. He is the author and co-author of five SQL Server books. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was awarded Microsoft MVP award for his contributions to the community. Patrick is a regular speaker at many SQL Server Conferences and Community events.

Adam Saxton is just a guy in a cube doing the work! He is on the Power BI CAT team at Microsoft working with customers to help adopt Power BI. He is based in Texas and started with Microsoft supporting SQL Server connectivity and Reporting Services in 2005.

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on November 1st

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting today (Monday, October 4th), at 6:30 PM ET.  Sandeep Pawar will explain how to use the Power BI AI visuals for predictive insights. And your humble correspondent will show you how to use the Power BI REST APIs.  For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Demystifying Power BI AI Visuals
Date:November 1st
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Power BI has several powerful AI visuals that allow business analysts to create insightful reports that include predictive capabilities without writing any code. In this session, we will take a deeper look at these visuals, discuss how exactly they work, when & how you should use them effectively and importantly when not to use them. We will look at the algorithms driving them and understand how to use them in your reports. We will look at forecasting, key influencer visual, clustering, decomposition tree, anomaly detector in detail. We will also look at how to validate the outputs of these visuals.
Speaker:Sandeep Pawar is a data science professional. He currently works at Cree Lighting, WI as a Data Analytics engineer. He has experience creating data analytics solutions using BI and ML tools.

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on October 4th

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting today (Monday, October 4th), at 6:30 PM ET.  Reda Raz (RADACAD) will share best practices on semantic modelling with Power BI. And your humble correspondent will show two new features: Get Insights and Power BI Goals.  For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Power BI Modeling 101
Date:October 4th
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Getting started with a report in Power BI is easy. However, soon you will face challenges of having multiple tables, the relationship between tables, the direction of relationship, active or inactive relationship and so on. You also soon realize that you need a proper data model called star-schema which is combination of fact and dimension tables. But, wait a second, you never learned all these fundamentals. What should you do? This session is build exactly for you, to help you understand the fundamentals of Power BI modelling and start from a good foundation.
Speaker:Reza Rad is a Microsoft Regional Director, an Author, Trainer, Speaker, and Consultant. He has a BSc in Computer engineering; he has more than 20 years of experience in data analysis, BI, databases, programming, and development mostly on Microsoft technologies. He is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for 11 continuous years (from 2011 till now) for his dedication in Microsoft BI. Reza is an active blogger and co-founder of RADACAD. Reza is also co-founder and co-organizer of Difinity conference in New Zealand, and the Power BI Summit (the biggest Power BI conference)

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on August 2nd

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, August 2nd, at 6:30 PM.  Avi Singh (LearnPowerBI.com) will discuss how you can achieve a successful Power BI career.  For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:How to Create a Successful Power BI Career Without the Struggle (By “Niching Down”)
Date:August 2nd
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Your Grandma was right! You cannot please everyone. And when you go out there and wave your flag as a Power BI Professional, that’s exactly what you are trying to do. And it doesn’t work. Either you get no results or have to work really hard for every inch of progress. The problem is that most professionals either miss or mess-up the first crucial step of their Power BI Career – Niching Down! In this session we’d talk about:

– Why Niching down is the crucial first step towards a successful Power BI Career

– How you can come up with the Niche that you should focus on

– Address some of the fears you may have about niching down (a classic one is: “Oh, but I don’t want to miss out on all the other opportunities out there by niching down”)

Speaker:If you are searching for a more meaningful work life as a Power BI Consultant ➔ Where you do what you love, create an impact by helping others and create a life of freedom for yourself ➔ Then Avi is dedicated in helping you achieve those goals.

Hint: The classic wisdom of “Learning More” and “Working Hard” actually does NOT help you get to these goals. Avi leads a five-step program for creating successful Power BI Consultants; starting with the first step…you guessed it 😉 “Niching Down”

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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on July 5th

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, July 5th, at 6:30 PM.  Reid Havens (Consultant and MVP) will show us how to get the most out of Power BI bookmarks and buttons. And I’ll cover the Power BI latest enhancements. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Bedazzling Your Bookmarks & Buttons
Date:July 5th
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Bookmarks and Interactive Buttons are two of the best ways to add web-like user experiences into Power BI reports. Bookmarks help create a more seamless filter and navigation experience. Buttons can be used with bookmarks, but can also be leveraged for a lot of other report functionality and navigation.
Speaker:Reid Havens is the founder of Havens Consulting Inc. and is a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP). He has an extensive background in technology and organizational management, and has obtained a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development and Business Analytics. He has experience as a consultant working with many Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies. Additionally, he teaches Business Intelligence, reporting, and data visualization courses at the University of Washington and other universities.
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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on June 7th

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, June 7th, at 6:30 PM.  Stacey Jones (Principal Data Solutions Architect with Microsoft) will introduce us to Azure Purview. And I’ll cover the Power BI latest enhancements. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Data Governance with Azure Purview
Date:June 7th
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Have auditors asked for a report detailing sensitive data in your Company? Are you having trouble finding out where all your data resides? Are Data Scientists and analysts wasting time finding the right data? What will be impacted if I change this column in a table? Where is personnel data stored? Are we in compliance with information security standards that apply to us? If you answered yes to any of these or related questions, you need an Enterprise Data Discovery and Cataloging tool. Come find out how Microsoft’s new Azure Purview tool can create this valuable perspective on your data, making it much more useful and valuable!
Speaker:Stacey Jones specializes in mentoring and guiding firms in their efforts to build a modern Data, AI & BI governance programs that empower their business with Self-Service BI and Data Science capabilities. He currently serves as the Principal Data Solutions Architect with Microsoft at the Atlanta Microsoft Technology Center (MTC).
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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on May 3rd

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, May 3rd, at 6:30 PM.  James Serra will overview Azure Synapse for implementing a data lakehouse. And I’ll cover the Power BI latest enhancements. For more details and sign up, visit our group page.

Presentation:Azure Synapse Analytics Overview: A Data Lakehouse
Date:May 3rd
Time:6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Click here to join the meeting
Overview:Azure Synapse Analytics is Azure SQL Data Warehouse evolved: a limitless analytics service that brings together enterprise data warehousing and Big Data analytics into a single service. It gives you the freedom to query data on your terms, using either serverless on-demand or provisioned resources, at scale. Azure Synapse brings these two worlds together with a unified experience to ingest, prepare, manage, and serve data for immediate business intelligence and machine learning needs. In this presentation, James will talk about the new products and features that make up Azure Synapse Analytics and how it fits in a modern data warehouse, as well as provide demonstrations.
Speaker:James Serra is a Data Platform Architecture Lead at EY.  He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics. Previously, James was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. James is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker. He is the author of the book “Reporting with Microsoft SQL Server 2012”.
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Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group Meeting on March 1st

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Please join us online for the next Atlanta MS BI and Power BI Group meeting on Monday, March 1st, at 6:30 PM.  Your humble correspondent will discuss the business value of semantic models and implementation options for self-service BI and organizational BI. For more details, visit our group page.

Download the slide deck from here.

Presentation:Implementing Semantic Models
Date:March 1st, 2021
Time6:30 – 8:30 PM ET
Place:Microsoft Teams
Overview:A semantic model is a layer between the data source and end user. Data analysts create self-service semantic models with Power BI Desktop or Excel. BI developers implement organizational semantic models with SSDT, Tabular Editor, and PBI Desktop. Join this session to:

·       Learn what is a semantic model and how to choose between the self-service and organizational paths.

·       Understand the implementation options for self-service BI models and best modeling practices.

·       Find how organizational semantic models can help you achieve the “Discipline at the core, Flexibility at the Edge” tenant

·       Learn how to choose a hosting platform and tool for implementing organizational semantic models.

·       Learn how data analysts can extend organizational semantic models.

Speaker:Teo Lachev is a consultant, author, and mentor, with a focus on Microsoft BI. Through his Atlanta-based company Prologika (a Microsoft Gold Partner in Data Analytics and Data Platform) he designs and implements innovative solutions that bring tremendous value to his clients. Teo has authored and co-authored several books, and he has been leading the Atlanta Microsoft Business Intelligence group since he founded it in 2010. Teo is one of the few FastTrack Recognized Solution Architects by Microsoft for Power BI in the world. Microsoft has also acknowledged Teo’s expertise and contributions to the technical community by awarding him the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Data Platform status for 15 years.
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