Data Saturday Chicago 2026
Pre-Conference Sessions
Friday, March 13, 2026
Wojcik Conference Center, Harper College
Palatine, Illinois
| Speaker |
Session |
| Kristyna Ferris & Chris Hyde |
Modern Data Warehousing with Microsoft Fabric: Patterns, Practices, and Pitfalls |
| Erik Darling |
Advanced T-SQL Triage: The Art of Fixing Terrible Code |
General Sessions
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Wojcik Conference Center, Harper College
Palatine, Illinois
8:30 am – 9:30 am
| Speaker |
Session |
| Jason Romans |
Data on Fire: A Hands-On Intro to Spark in Fabric |
| Tim Rayburn |
Tools in your AI’s Toolbox: An introduction to MCP Servers |
| Frank Geisler, Rune Ovlien Rakeie |
From Xbox to Insights: Real-Time Data in Action |
| John Deardurff |
Business Continuity in Azure SQL Databases |
| David Giard |
Diving Deep into Data with Azure Data Explorer and Kusto Query Language |
| Allan Hirt |
What No One Tells You About Going Independent |
9:45 am – 10:45 am
| Speaker |
Session |
| Michael Wall |
Azure Storage: You want to put what where? |
| John Martin |
Modernizing workloads from SQL Server to PostgreSQL with Flexible Server for PostgreSQL |
| Erik Darling |
A Fistful of Parameters: Take Care and Control of Unstable Plans |
| Hasan Savran |
SQL Server vs Azure Cosmos DB |
| Joshua Higginbotham |
Unlocking the Power of Data Agents and Copilot in Microsoft Fabric |
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
| Speaker |
Session |
| Philip Seamark |
Power BI Storage Modes: The Ultimate Showdown |
| Andrew Pruski |
AI-Powered Search in SQL Server 2025 |
| Joey Dantoni |
How to Manage Your Azure Infrastructure Like an Expert: Top Best Practices |
| Naresh Reddy Regalla |
Mastering PostgreSQL Range Partitioning: A Strategic Approach to High-Volume Transaction Management |
| Kristyna Ferris |
Decoding Fabric Licensing |
| Dan Mallott |
High Concurrency Table Hijinks |
12:20 pm – 1:05 pm
| Speaker |
Session |
| Deborah Melkin |
Women in Tech (WIT) Panel |
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm
| Speaker |
Session |
| David Levy |
Python for SQL Professionals: Hands-On with the mssql-python driver |
| Chris Hyde |
Demystifying Microsoft Fabric: Architecture and Organization 101 |
| Jonathan Stewart |
From Legacy to Modern: Your Data Platform Migration Strategy Guide |
| Breanna Hansen |
Window Functions in SQL |
| Gethyn Ellis |
Moneyball – Build a killer Fantasy Football Team with Power BI |
| Tony Wilhelm |
Intro to PowerShell with dbatools for the DBA |
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
| Speaker |
Session |
| Sammie Walker Herrera |
Strengthen Your Speaking Skills |
| Peter Shore |
Wait Wait Do Tell Me: A Look At SQL Server Wait Stats |
| Randy Knight |
AI for DBAs: Copilot, ChatGPT, and the Future of Database Work |
| Kevin Feasel |
The Curated Data Platform |
| Jared Kuehn |
Unlocking T-SQL Surface Area in Microsoft Fabric: Where It Works, Where It Doesn’t and Why |
| Pat Wright |
Critical DBA Tasks for Postgresql |
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm
| Speaker |
Session |
| Rob Volk |
Revenge: The SQL! |
| Sergiy Smyrnov |
Meet Azure Document DB - new OpenSource Mongo-compatible NoSQL database |
| Courtney Woolum |
Reworking Indexes to Support an Evolving Application |
| Alvaro Costa-Neto |
Mastering PostgreSQL: Advanced Techniques for SQL Server DBAs |
| Deborah Melkin |
Change Tracking in SQL Server 2025: Exploring Change Event Streaming vs CDC |
| Andrew Boerger |
Trust, but Verify: Data Quality in Microsoft Fabric |
Organizing Team
Bob Pusateri, Lead
Andy Yun, Lead
Bill Lescher
Brandon Leach
Dave Bland
Frank Gill
Jared Karney
Lowry Kozlowski
Rod Carlson
Ross Reed
Wendy Pastrick