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💡 Event Description

Join Ilgar Zarbaliyev, Microsoft MVP & MCT Regional Lead, for an exclusive Microsoft Season of AI session dedicated to Model Context Protocol (MCP) — the foundation behind modern AI integrations. This one-hour webinar is built on practical insights from the “Complete MCP Guide” course and walks you through everything from understanding MCP architecture to building your own MCP Servers and Clients in Python.

🧭 What You’ll Learn

In this session, you’ll explore:

• What MCP Really Is: Architecture, history, and why it’s becoming critical in AI interoperability.
• From Theory to Implementation: How MCPs connect models, clients, and servers seamlessly.
• Python SDK in Action: Building MCP solutions using Python (applicable across SDKs).
• Step-by-Step Development: Create real MCP Servers and Clients with practical examples.
• Streamable HTTP Transport: Understand the newest protocol updates and how they improve efficiency.
• Hands-on Insights: Lessons from building 4+ complete MCP servers and clients.

🧠 Why This Session Stands Out

• Complete Journey: From zero knowledge to expert-level understanding in one structured flow.
• Focused on Python: Learn the cleanest, most flexible SDK for MCP development.
• Updated Content: Covers all the latest MCP advancements.
• Community-Driven: Designed for Microsoft AI & Data enthusiasts exploring MCP as part of the new AI wave.

No-Code, Low-Code, Pro-Code: Unlocking Data Magic with Fabric Dataflows Gen2

In today’s data-driven world, different users need different tools, but they all share the same goal: getting trusted, clean, and useful data quickly. Whether you’re a business analyst, citizen developer, or data engineer, Microsoft Fabric’s Dataflows Gen2 meets you where you are, offering a flexible spectrum of options: no-code, low-code, and pro-code.

In this session you’ll learn how to build and manage Dataflows Gen2 using simple, no-code steps. Then, we’ll explore low-code techniques like Power Query transformations and parameterization to unlock more advanced capabilities. Finally, we’ll step into the pro-code space with custom M code and performance best practices for those needing full control.

You’ll see a real-world scenario built in three ways: no-code, low-code and pro-code, so you can compare the trade-offs, strengths and ideal use cases for each.

Whether you’re looking to simplify data prep, enhance automation, or enable governed data reuse at scale, you’ll leave with practical strategies and inspiration for making the most of Dataflows Gen2 in your projects.

Cristian is a “Project Management Professional turned into a Data Guy” working as a link between two worlds: Business and IT. Having worked for the last 20+ years with data in different roles he was fascinated when he discovered Power Query and Power Pivot back in 2014 and then, Power BI in 2015.

He’s holding several Microsoft Certifications (MS Fabric Analytics Engineer, Power BI Certified Data Analyst, Trainer (MCT), MCSE Data Management and Analytics, MCSA BI Reporting, MOS Master, Excel Expert, etc) and he loves getting insights from data and then, using these insight solving real business problems.

He is the founder of Romania Power BI and Modern Excel User Group (https://www.meetup.com/romaniapug/) and has been recognized as Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in 2022.

Deciphering Data Architectures: When to Use a Warehouse, Fabric, Lakehouse, or Mesh with James Serra

What \~ Toronto Data Professionals Community (Virtual) When \~ Wednesday, 14th January, 2026 Time \~ 6:00 PM EST

Agenda:

• 6:00 PM Networking and Introduction
• 6:15 PM Topic: Deciphering Data Architectures: When to Use a Warehouse, Fabric, Lakehouse, or Mesh with James Serra
• 7:30 PM End

Where: Online via Microsoft team

Session Details: Data fabric, data lakehouse, and data mesh have recently appeared as viable alternatives to the modern data warehouse. These new architectures have solid benefits, but they’re also surrounded by a lot of hyperbole and confusion. In this presentation, I will give you a guided tour of each architecture to help you understand its pros and cons. I will also examine common data architecture concepts, including data warehouses and data lakes. You’ll learn what data lakehouses can help you achieve, and how to distinguish data mesh hype from reality. Best of all, you’ll be able to determine the most appropriate data architecture for your needs. In addition, I will delve into how Microsoft Fabric can be leveraged within each of these architectures. From integrating data fabrics for enhanced data management and governance, to implementing data lakehouses for streamlined analytics, and establishing data meshes for decentralized data ownership, Microsoft Fabric offers robust solutions and tools. By the end of this presentation, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to use Microsoft Fabric to build and optimize these diverse data architectures, tailored to meet your specific requirements.

Speaker Bio: James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such as the modern data warehouse, data lakehouse, data fabric, and data mesh. Previously he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with nearly 40 years of IT experience. He is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker, having presented at dozens of major events including PASS Summit, SQLBits, Data Summit, SQLDay, Enterprise Data World conference, Big Data Conference Europe, SQL Saturdays, and Informatica World. He is the author of the book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh”.

Join me as I take you through my learning of MCP servers and share my knowledge and experience. The best way to learn something is to teach it, I want to know and learn more about MCP servers, so am committing to this session to share it with you.

MCP servers provide a standard way, or protocol, to connect LLMs with data, tools, and resources. The MCP website describes MCP as a universal adaptor for AI applications. In the same way that a universal adaptor lets you connect your physical devices to accessories, MCP lets you connect AI applications to other data and tools without needing to build a custom connection to each data source.

Sue Bayes, Microsoft DataPlatform MVP. Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate, Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate, Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate, Power BI Data Analyst Associate

Over 7 years successfully working as an independent Power BI developer and data analyst within the public and private sector.

Reporting solutions range from project management, planning , financial reporting, specific service sector reporting, bespoke data cleansing and sentiment analysis.

15 years of lecturing in Business and Computing before starting my own business.

I am passionate about data in general and how we can harness information to grow business. Knowledge of R, SQL and C# but main love is Python, M and DAX.

When not in front of the screen, I love to run and walk my dog and be outside.

Speaker: Nikola Ilic, Data Mozart, DataPlatform MVP

For hundreds of years, alchemists tried to figure out how to turn ordinary metals into gold. The modern version of alchemists, let's call them Data Alchemists, try to turn raw, messy data into a high-quality, business-valuable asset.

A medallion architecture represents the most widely adopted pattern for organizing the data in modern data platforms, yet it's hard to believe that something so fairly simple by its nature may cause so much confusion and debate in the data industry

This session serves as a definitive guide to designing and implementing medallion architecture the right way! We'll start by explaining the core principles and recommended practices for implementing a medallion design pattern in a data platform solution.

We'll then examine different approaches to crafting medallion layers and answer the following questions: Should your bronze layer contain anything in addition to the raw data? Should you model your silver layer as a 3rd-normal-form-like-tables, or keep them as a "1 to 1" copy of the bronze layer? Star schema vs One-big-table in the gold layer? Should you perform calculations in the silver or in the gold layer? Or maybe in both?

Theory without practice is like a soup without salt - so, I'll take you on a ride to build the entire medallion architecture in Microsoft Fabric using a fictitious company that is just embarking on its data modernization journey. I'll teach you how to become their Chief Data Alchemist!

📅 Wednesday\, December 10th \| 🕢 19:30 CET \| 🌐 Online Event 🎤 Speaker: Brian Bønk (Microsoft MVP) In our third DP-600 preparation session, we shift focus to one of the most critical layers in any end-to-end analytics solution: the Semantic Model. This session is designed to help you understand not only how to build semantic models, but how to design them the right way — scalable, secure, and optimized for Power BI performance. Join Brian Bønk as he walks through practical guidance and exam-relevant techniques that every Fabric practitioner should master.

📚 What we’ll cover in Session 3

1️⃣ Add Measures to Semantic Models

How to define and structure your measures for clarity, reusability, and performance.

2️⃣ Design Scalable Semantic Models

Learn modeling strategies that support growth, multi-layer designs, and long-term maintainability.

3️⃣ Optimize a Model for Power BI Performance

Techniques to reduce dataset size, improve refresh times, and accelerate query performance.

4️⃣ Manage Power BI Assets

Understand workspaces, deployment pipelines, versioning, and governance from an engineering perspective.

5️⃣ Enforce Model Security

Row-level security, object-level security, and workspace access patterns that keep your models safe and exam-ready.

🎯 Who is this session for?

• DP-600 candidates
• Power BI developers transitioning into Fabric engineering
• Data modelers & analytics engineers
• Anyone building dashboards backed by complex semantic models

🔔 Call to Action

👉 RSVP today — spots fill quickly! 👉 Share the event with colleagues or friends working with semantic models or preparing for DP-600. Together, let’s build strong, exam-ready Fabric skills across the Athens and Berlin communities!

Register: https://www.meetup.com/openvaluemuenchen/events/311532124/

This time, we’re hosting a special event for Neo4j enthusiasts. Zaid Zaim, Microsoft MVP and TED speaker, will give an interesting talk where he will explain how to use Neo4j knowledge graphs as a powerful memory layer for your AI agents.

🎤 Talk:

"Plug-and-Play AI Memory with Neo4j Knowledge Graphs & AI Agents" by Zaid Zaim (Developer Advocate at Neo4j) AI agents are becoming core to modern applications, from copilots that assist knowledge workers to autonomous systems that manage complex workflows. Yet one major challenge remains: memory. Without it, agents lose context, forget past interactions, and often hallucinate—undermining trust and reliability. In this session, you’ll learn how to use a plug-and-play Neo4j knowledge graph as a powerful memory layer for your AI agents. Knowledge graphs capture not just facts, but relationships, allowing your agent to build a living model of conversations, decisions, and data over time. Combined with modern AI services, this approach helps ground responses, reduce hallucinations, and create a feedback loop where agents become more adaptive, contextual, and trustworthy. Through a live demo, we’ll show how to connect graph-powered memory into your AI workflows with minimal setup, so you can build copilots and agentic applications that don’t just respond in the moment—but remember, learn, and evolve with your users.