Reading SQL Server and Azure Data Services User Group - August 2019

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the event page for the August 2019 meeting, we are moving over to Meetup so please register there as a preference https://www.meetup.com/Reading-Microsoft-Data-Platform-User-Group/events/263643507/

I look forward to seeing you at the group

Emma Zambonini 

Agenda

18:00 - Doors open and networking

18:30 - Caroline Eveleigh: A Date with Power BI

Power BI is one of the most exciting data analysis and visualization products on the market. It has been a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence for 12 consecutive years. But how good is Power BI at handling one of the most common data analysis requests - data analysis over time? This talk looks at the good, the bad, and the coal-face reality of time-based data analysis in Power BI.

Caroline Eveleigh is an experienced data professional specialising in Microsoft SQL Server and Power BI. Author of Microsoft Official Curriculum including modules for SQL Server, Excel, and Power BI.

19:30 - Pizza and networking

20:00 - Alex Whittles: So what's this Machine Learning all about? 

Machine Learning is a popular buzzword, but what does it actually look like, and how can we use it?
This session will show a number of examples of using ML to do some useful and fun stuff, including creating a prediction model without writing any code, and training a deep learning neural net model to play a game.

Alex is the owner and principle consultant at Purple Frog, a SQL Server Business Intelligence consultancy in the UK. Alex has an MSc in Business Intelligence, is a chartered engineer, and a member of Mensa. Community leadership includes being on the SQL Bits committee, Director of SQL Relay, founder and leader of the Birmingham Data Platform user group.

21:00 - Doors close