As COVID-19 prevents us from gathering in the same place, how do organizers continue to put on compelling events? This strikes home as SQL Data Partners consider whether to have our SQL Trail event this fall. Matt Gordon put on an event in April and I was interested to get his take on how things went and how he accomplished his goals for the event. I have also participated in several online events and in the episode we discuss the pros and cons of virtual events and we give our take on how to make them better. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/07/22/episode-202-virtual-conferences. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

After we recorded Episode 189, we knew we lacked some of the business reasons behind the Common Data Model. Luckily, we reached out Tricia Wilcox-Almas and she has helped us fill in some of the gaps and also present how the Common Data Model is implemented in the new versions of Azure Data Lake. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/07/08/episode-201-common-data-model. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

To celebrate our 200th episode, we reached out to Bob Ward to come and celebrate this milestone with us. I have to plead the 5th on why it took us 200 episodes to finally invite him; however, we finally wised up and Bob walks us through some of the changes SQL Server has experienced over the years and what is in store (Spoiler—no big scoops) for the relational engine. We also have a several copies of Bob’s SQL Server 2019 Revealed book to give away and he was gracious enough to sign them. We appreciate Bob joining us and look forward to another 200 episodes. The show notes for today's episode can be found at https://sqldatapartners.com/2020/06/24/episode-200-anything-but-the-cowboys. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

We can incur technical debt in several ways—aging technology, choosing delivery speed over scale architecture, or implementing new technology the entire team cannot yet support. I don’t know that I’ve ever worked at a place that hasn’t talked about technical debt. It wasn’t until I stumbled on a talk by Adam Lenda that make me think about the ways I might contribute to technical debt. He also gave some ideas of how I can help pay it off.  In this episode, we talk with Adam about what technical debt is, why we might be okay incurring some, and situations we might put ourselves into when trying to do ‘the right thing’. Adam also suggests some ways to pay off some of this burden and like most debt, there is no easy fix and he suggests running a pretty tight ship; however, I found his ideas insightful and I think you will, too. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/05/06/episode-199-technical-debt. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

In a previous episode (175) we discussed migrating to the cloud, and we had a few comments from our compañeros which mentioned we should include more details around cloud infrastructure—the pieces or processes you want or DON’T want to administer. In this episode, we dive into cloud infrastructure and discuss some scenarios on when you might choose one over the other.   The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/04/22/episode-198-cloud-infrastructure. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

In 1990, the group Snap! release a song called "The Power". It would take Microsoft more than 20 years, but they eventually came up with a series of 'power' tools they built into Excel. Those tools later grew into Power BI--which is kinda like Voltron if you are old enough to remember. In this episode we discuss one of the first data manipulation tools in the set: Power Query. Before you start manipulating all those fun visualizations, you might need to get your data in shape. If you have a data warehouse, you are probably in good shape; however, for the rest of us, there is Power Query. This episode takes us through an overview and discusses in what cases you might have to dive into the code, or M language, when the GUI doesn't cut it. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/04/15/episode-197-power-query-in-power-bi. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

This is a topic I have been interested in covering for some time and as our world faces a crisis dictating that we stay home, it seems like a good time to talk about teleworking. Everyone will have a different situation of course, but we thought we share some of our experiences. I continue to suggest a need to stay connected to your team and while we have lots of technology available to help us, there are a couple of things you can do to help avoid getting knocked out of the loop. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/04/01/episode-196-teleworking. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

The number of new programming languages never ceases to amaze me. Technology advances continue to require new ways of allowing users to customize the way they use tools and Power BI is no different. In this episode, Ginger Grant joins us as we continue the conversation about DAX and some considerations you need to make should you want to pick up another language for the toolbelt. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/03/26/episode-195-understanding-dax. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

After Episode 180 on PolyBase came out, we received a few questions on use cases for PolyBase. Compañeros, when you ask, we reply! This episode we carve out 3 use cases for PolyBase and ways in which you might change workflows based on this SQL Server 2019 feature. If you want to dive much deeper into PolyBase, you can always check out Kevin's book on Apress! The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/03/18/episode-194-polybase-use-cases. Have fun on the SQL Trail!

Our regular host is down for the count with the flu; however, the podcast must go on! In this episode, we answer a listener-submitted question about Power BI Premium. Kevin and Eugene take us through Sachin Gangwar’s questions. We hope you will submit your question for a future episode! The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2020/03/11/episode-193-power-bi-premium. Have fun on the SQL Trail!