We are excited to welcome Simon Whiteley and Terry McCann for our November meetup.

Fabric Notebooks for the Power BI Professional

Microsoft Fabric combines the worlds of Power BI and Data Platforms, and there is a huge array of powerful tools at your now at your fingertips - but if you've never written python, how do you even begin to use the Notebook experience? What is a DataFrame and how do you use them? How can you avoid Python and use SQL instead?

In this session, we'll take a look at how the Spark engine is surprisingly similar to Power Query. We'll load some files into our OneLake, write some PySpark to read the data, transform it a little, and save it as a Lakehouse table that we can then use datasets, warehouses and more. We’ll look at some of the tips and tricks for using a little bit of Spark to speed up your data curation, as well as some of the neat new tools that come in the Fabric experience.

Finally, we'll discuss using notebooks as part of your end-to-end data process, and answer your Fabric design questions!

Simon Whiteley

Data Platform MVP. Databricks Beacon. Cloud Architect, Nerd

Director of Engineering for Advancing Analytics Ltd, Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Databricks Beacon. Simon is a seasoned solution architect & technical lead with well over a decade of Microsoft Analytics experience, who spends an inordinate amount of time running the Advancing Spark YouTube series. A deep techie with a focus on emerging cloud technologies and applying "big data" thinking to traditional analytics problems, Simon also has a passion for bringing it back to the high level and making sense of the bigger picture. When not tinkering with tech, Simon is a death-dodging London cyclist, a sampler of craft beers, an avid chef and a generally nerdy person.

Terry McCann

Microsoft MVP & CEO

Microsoft MVP. CEO & Owner of Advancing Analytics. A consultancy who helps businesses advance their analytics and better understand their data. Frequent speaker at events across the globe. Organiser of the Global AI Bootcamp London, Data Science user group in Exeter, UK and previous co-organiser of SQL Saturday Exeter, UK.

OPEN DATA CHALLENGE: Before our main session we are bringing back the Open Data Challenge. Your opportunity to showcase your talent to the audience. This month's challenge is Women's Football World Cup 2023 data from StatsBomb.

https://statsbomb.com/news/statsbomb-release-free-2023-womens-world-cup-data/

You'll have the opportunity to present a short (max 5 minute) presentation to show road report and and other aspects of Microsoft Fabric used in creating your solution.

Please bring a laptop to present, or contact us in advance.

VENUE: We will meet at the Nigel Frank Offices at 60 Great Tower Street. If you've not been there before, it's just a little further up the street from Brewdog. Google Maps link to help you find the building: https://goo.gl/maps/GRZWr5LfScZhApu6A