I will be speaking at two SQL Saturdays in April. First, I will be at SQLSaturday #297 in Colorado Springs on April 12. I’ll be presenting my session on The Accidental Report Designer: Data Visualization Best Practices in SSRS. See my previous post on this subject to understand why I think it is an important message for all data professionals. In this session, I share guidance on evaluating the effectiveness of data visualizations and a few good tips and demos to take your data visualizations from chaotic and ineffective to professional and powerful.
Next, I will be at SQL Saturday #291 in Chicago on April 26. I will be presenting a new session to help you Choose Your Geospatial Mapping Adventure. Here’s the abstract:
You have geospatial data and you know that plotting it on a map will deliver insights. Or maybe you keep hearing “geospatial” as a current BI buzzword and you want to be informed about your options when you get to it. The Microsoft BI stack provides several options for visualizing location data. But how do you know which tool will best serve your purpose, or what factors are important in making this decision? We’ll identify factors to consider when choosing a tool to visualize your data in maps such as system requirements, availability and type of location data, required level of technical understanding, and more. You’ll leave the session confident in your ability to choose the best tool within Excel and SQL Server.
The Microsoft BI stack offers several great options for presenting data on a map, but your decision of which tool (Power View Map, Power Map, SSRS map, free mapping apps in Excel) can limit you in features, accessibility, and time to delivery. Some of the tools require more technical skill than others, but you lose some of the ability to customize when you go with the highest ease of use. The session will be filled with tips, explanations of features and requirements, and demos.
If you will be in the area on the dates of these events, please stop by to participate in my sessions or just say hello.
