SQL Saturday Minnesota 2024 was held on September 28, 2024. Since this was our second year back at SQL Saturday Minnesota, it did not require as much research since we liked the hotel and area we stayed in last year. My wife is our CTO – “Chief Travel Officer” – and does a lot of research on where to stay and what flights we should book. We have tried to remain loyal to one brand so that although we pay out of pocket for these trips, we are at least earning points that we can use later. She does the flight planning in Excel and hides the worksheet until I find out whether I have been accepted to an event. Most recommendations and places to go or eat are in a note on our phone. We try to put everything on the calendar with the address ahead of time, making it easy to follow directions to speaker dinners, conferences, and after-parties.
We traveled on Thursday and arrived in Minneapolis in time for dinner at the 5-8 Club, which is known for its Juicy Lucy cheeseburger. Last year, we tried Matt’s Bar, so our friends told us we needed to eat at the 5-8 Club. We then went to Bridgeman’s Ice Cream Parlor for dessert.
Friday morning, before starting work, we went to the local YMCA, where I got some rowing in. Then we got a coffee from Caribou Coffee before returning to the hotel. This may sound a little sentimental, but we know of Caribou Coffee from our friend Kristina Ferris, who could not attend this year’s conference. So, something like a coffee was a reminder of people we look forward to meeting up with again in the future, and the great times we have had in previous years.
The speaker dinner was held at St. Paul’s Tap, and the group was in a private area upstairs. Since we have traveled a lot this year, I find myself up playing the game of “When Did We Last See You?” — “Was it Dallas, or wait, no, it was Columbus? “
We started the day with Caribou Coffee (surprised?).
The first session I attended was Leverage your Data engineering work with Direct Lake in Microsoft Fabric by Sanjay Raut. It was a great topic, one I needed to learn more about, and it covered many of the questions I had about Direct Lake.
This was followed by Dan English’s session Power BI Model and Report Optimization Tips. There were many tips to optimize, such as using a picture for the background. I also like Dan’s humor in delivering the topic. He went over tips on attribute hierarchies and their impact on model size. He had encountered a lot of good real-world examples. This could easily be turned into a Pre-conference session, but I would need to get a larger notebook.
Since the event was held at St Paul College, lunch was served in a cafeteria. The thought of where to sit to eat transported me back to high school. Sometimes, I do not want to impose on people, so I must force myself to sit at the table with others I may put on a pedestal. The lunch was great, and I enjoyed the conversation.
In a town known for its snowflakes later in the year, this session was about the Star Schema – Star Schema: a 40-year Retrospective by Donald Parish. It is an excellent look at where we have been, especially from someone who knows much about Ralph Kimball. I felt like this was one of those sessions where you bond with those around you on your journey through the data world. I would love to see more of these sessions.
At the same time as Donald’s session, Kevin Arnold’s Building a Data Warehouse on the shores of OneLake in Microsoft Fabric. It wasn’t easy to choose between the two sessions. Hopefully, I can see Kevin’s session soon at another conference.
I presented my session on Building a Power BI Data Model – No Model Glue Required (GitHub Slides). Based on feedback, I think it was well received. A session on good data modeling in Power BI could be given at every conference. After giving my presentation, I always have notes for myself that I store with the presentation on possible changes, such as making this part shorter but concentrating more on this topic or adding an illustration.
To end the day, I attended Robert Gerads’ session, 5 Key Reasons Why Power BI Efforts Fail. This presentation provided many tips. I liked the question mark at the top of the report, which provided information on the report itself. One reason provided in the session that Power BI efforts fail is that organizations ignore semantics and fail to build a scalable model. The illustration of the Power BI “Unicorn” was good.
Since there was no after-event, we went to a restaurant recommended by one of our friends at the conference called The Nook. It is also known for its Juicy Lucy cheeseburgers.
Sunday Fun Day!
There are many sites to see in Minneapolis, including the Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture and the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory (which are free, and donations are accepted). We ended up at the same brunch place we ate last year, Woodbury Cafe. Seeing all the Peanuts character statues outside the restaurant always reminds you of what town you are in.
The DAX Shepherd 
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