During Episode 15 of the podcast Jason made his session picks for Microsoft Ignite 2017. Here are his picks:

Office 365, SharePoint, & OneDrive:

Accelerate your digital transformation with SharePoint and OneDrive

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53867

Dan Holme, Jeff Teper, Omar Shahine

Session Code: BRK2184

Learn how new and upcoming SharePoint and OneDrive innovations empower people and organizations to share with confidence, transform business processes, engage employees, and harness collective knowledge from anywhere, on virtually any device. During this must-see session, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Jeff Teper, Office, SharePoint and OneDrive, shares the latest innovations and roadmap for content management and collaboration as well as how customers are creating more connected workplaces leveraging Office 365, Windows, and Microsoft Azure.

Support data residency in global organizations with multi-geo support for SharePoint and OneDrive

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53873

Sesha Mani, Bill Baer

Session Code: BRK3236

One of the key strengths of SharePoint and Microsoft OneDrive are their inherent resilience and ubiquity: a well planned architecture ensures your data resides in multiple locations, providing resilience and the ability to serve data to partners, customers, and employees wherever they happen to be. In this session we introduce new multi-geo capabilities that allow you to meet your data sovereignty needs and ensure compliance with residency requirements.

 

Learn from MVPs: Panel discussion on all things SharePoint and OneDrive

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53843

Alistair Pugin, Spencer Harbar, Laura Rogers, Wictor Wilen

Session Code: BRK2247

SharePoint MVPs talk about Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive across the board, be it within Office 365, in Microsoft Azure, on-premises and certainly hybrid. Via a panel Q&A format, these MVP experts expose how online and hybrid improvements increase both deployment scenarios and value. This session is designed to help ITIs and ITDMs find the right cloud formula to deploy based on practical business and technical considerations. This is a must-not-miss session for any IT pro!

Azure:

Datacenter transformation – a roadmap for platforms, processes, and people

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/55827

Jeffrey Snover

Session Code: BRK3378

Cloud adoption opens a new opportunity for IT pros to play a strategic role in the future of the business by ensuring hybrid cloud assets are secure and well managed. To effectively manage cloud born assets, it’s key to understand how application architectures are evolving through innovations in the cloud platform. Get some advice for how IT practitioners can not only stay relevant, but thrive today while getting ahead of a rapidly changing ecosystem. Join Jeffrey Snover, Technical Fellow, to understand how you can innovate and drive business results faster using Microsoft Azure.

Azure Compute: New features and roadmap

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/54926

Corey Sanders

Session Code: BRK3085

A can’t-miss DEMO HEAVY session for everyone working with or considering their strategy for the cloud! We take a look at some of the newest features and upcoming capabilities in the Azure Compute platform. We show some new sizes, new experiences, and new integration technology available during Microsoft Ignite or coming soon across VMs, Azure Service Fabric, Azure Container Service, Azure Functions, and more.

Azure security and management for hybrid environments

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/54789

Jeremy Winter

Session Code: BRK2405

As organizations continue their digital transformation to the cloud, they are faced with the need to secure and manage resources across hybrid environment. Join this session to learn how Azure security and management services help you address these challenges without any secondary tools, and increase agility for your business. Jeremy Winter, Partner Director in Azure Security and Operations Management, will share the new and upcoming technologies to secure and manage your workloads wherever they are.

Identity:

What’s new in Azure Active Directory Domain Services

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/55292

Mahesh Unnikrishnan

Session Code: BRK3295

Azure AD Domain Services enables you to effectively administer your Azure virtual machines by joining them to a fully managed Active Directory domain in Microsoft Azure. You do not have to worry about deploying, managing, patching, or monitoring domain controllers and can focus on running your workloads in Azure. Users can sign in using their Active Directory credentials and can access resources seamlessly. Azure AD Domain Services provides Group Policy, an easy, familiar way to apply and enforce security baselines on all of your Azure virtual machines. See what’s new in Azure AD Domain Services and explore how you can leverage this service to secure your Azure virtual machines.

Modernize your customer identity management with Azure Active Directory B2C

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53340

Saeed Akhter

Session Code: BRK2276

Getting your customers to seamlessly sign-up or sign-in to an application is paramount to its success. Achieving this at scale while following constantly evolving security practices is hard. Come and learn about Azure AD B2C, an enterprise-grade customer identity and access management service, and how it allows you to easily secure your consumer-facing (or citizen-facing) web and mobile applications. No matter where your users live, reach them with customizable user experiences that allow your users to sign-up/sign-in with social accounts such as Facebook or Google, or new accounts in the application.

Understanding hybrid identity, authentication, and authorization with Microsoft Azure Stack

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53276

Shriram Natarajan

Session Code: BRK4011

Join us for a discussion on hybrid identity and learn how apps can authenticate consistently with Microsoft Azure and Azure Stack. We cover APIs and methods to connect to an Azure instance regardless of whose datacenter it is running on!

Bonus pick:

PowerShell Unplugged with Jeffrey Snover and Don Jones

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/54867

Jeffrey Snover, Don Jones

Session Code: BRK3128

Join Jeffrey Snover, the inventor of PowerShell, and Don Jones for their annual PowerShell update. During this talk, you will learn about the latest and coolest PowerShell features to help you automate and manage the hybrid cloud. The focus of this year’s talk is on the PowerShell community, and how it is embracing open-source and transformative change and producing awesome tools.

BI In General

Self-service BI and enterprise reporting on-premises with Power BI Report Server

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53403

Chris Finlan

Session code: BRK2156

 

Love Power BI but need an on-premises solution today? Meet Microsoft Power BI Report Server—self-service analytics and enterprise reporting all in one on-premises solution. Design beautiful, interactive reports in Power BI Desktop, publish them to Power BI Report Server, and view and interact with them in your web browser or the Power BI app on your phone. And, since Power BI Report Server includes the proven enterprise reporting capabilities of SQL Server Reporting Services, it can even run your existing Reporting Services reports. Join us for an overview of Power BI Report Server and demos of its features in action.

 

BI in the age of artificial intelligence

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/56556

Kamal Hathi, Rafa De Los Santos

Session code: GS08

 

Equip your organization today for the future of data analytics. See how users of Microsoft Power BI, for example, can experience their data in a natural way by simply asking questions and getting answers with stunning interactive visuals. Engineering General Manager Kamal Hathi will give you an inside look at how customers across multiple industries use advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and a new class of business intelligence (BI) experiences to help people in their organization easily understand data and find insights.

 

Creating enterprise grade BI models with Azure Analysis Services

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/55738

Christian Wade

Session code: BRK3360

 

Microsoft Analysis Services enables you to build comprehensive, enterprise-scale analytic solutions that deliver actionable insights through familiar data visualization tools such as Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Excel. Analysis Services enables consistent data across reports and users of Power BI. This session covers new features such as improved Power BI Desktop feature integration, Power Query connectivity, and techniques for modeling and data loading which enable the best reporting experiences. Various modeling enhancements are included, such as Detail Rows allowing users to easily see transactional records; and deployment and application-lifecycle management (ALM) features to bridge the gap between self-service and corporate BI.

 

Hybrid BI

Keeping your on-premises data up to date with the on-premises data gateway

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53571

Miguel Llopis, Robert Bruckner

Session code: BRK3118

 

The session covers the on-premises gateways, how you can keep your data fresh by connecting to your on-premises data sources without the need to move the data. Query large datasets and benefit from your existing investments. The gateways provide the flexibility you need to meet individual needs, and the needs of your organization.

 

Enterprise BI deployments and governance with the Microsoft Power BI service

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53387

Sirui Sun, Nikhil Gaekwad

Session code: BRK3112

 

Whether you’re planning an enterprise-wide reporting deployment or providing structure to self-service BI activities within teams, Power BI has you covered. Learn about tools for developing, publishing, and managing your BI assets. We cover the data gateway, managing report lifecycle, publishing options, administration and governance controls, and end-user capabilities across devices and platforms.

 

Bridge the cloud divide with hybrid business intelligence in SharePoint 2016 & Microsoft Office 365

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/55155

John White, Jason Himmelstein

Session code: BRK3250

 

On premises or in the cloud, rich data visualizations are essential to most business processes and decisions. But frequently, key data may live on premises, although tools like Microsoft Power BI provide a cloud-based surface to view dashboards and reports. Join us for an overview of how to extend on-premises data to the cloud and how to integrate cloud-based visualizations into Microsoft SharePoint on premises.

Honorable Mentions

Unlock the power of your data by integrating analytics into your line-of-business apps

Lukasz Pawlowski and Miguel Llopis

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53503

Session code: BRK3152

 

Business users need data in their applications. Learn how Microsoft Power BI makes it easy to integrate world-class analytics into your packaged applications, line-of-business applications, and internal or external portals. See how quickly and deeply you can integrate Microsoft Power BI into your application workflows and unlock your data by seemlessly plugging into Power BI using the Power Query SDK

Dive into effective report authoring using Microsoft Power BI Desktop

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53124

Miguel Llopis and Will Thompson
Session code: BRK2111

Microsoft Power BI Desktop is a tool that allows data analysts, data scientists, business analysts, and BI professionals to create interactive reports that can be published to Power BI. Join us during this session for a deep dive into the report authoring, data preparation, and data modeling in Power BI Desktop. Topics covered include third-party connectors, data exploration, and data visualization. This session includes lots of demos, including what’s new in Power BI Desktop and what’s coming.

Managing Space and Time with Visio and Power BI

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/55898

David Parker, Scott Helmers
Session code: THR2177

You’re attending Ignite. You’ve registered for 15 sessions. The sessions are located in more than 300 meeting rooms. The meeting rooms are spread across nearly three million square feet in the Orange County Convention Center. What tools do you have that can help you to maximize your time and minimize unnecessary walking?

• You have a list of sessions.
• You have a floor plan.
• You have a clock.
• Best of all, you also have Visio Professional and Power BI!

Learn how you can use the data mining, operational intelligence, and data visualization capabilities of those products to navigate the cavernous convention center more effectively.

Mining Yammer data for gold using Microsoft Power BI

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53789

Melanie Hohertz, Dean Swann, Becky Benishek, Simon Denton, Loni French

Session Code: BRK2148

It’s a noisy conversation around enterprise social right now. But when you cut through to the signal, Microsoft’s data says Yammer is growing faster than ever. If you want data-driven decisions and value in social collaboration, analytics have never been more critical. Join a group of Yammer experts as they explore the importance of taking the broad view of Yammer data. Attendees get an overview of Power BI and a review of the Office 365 Content Pack, focusing on Yammer. We take an in-depth look at the “art of the possible” with Yammer data in Power BI, with real-world examples. Come see the power of Yammer, expressed in data that mines the gold for hands-on community managers and executive stakeholders.

Learn how to apply advanced analytics for Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management (PPM)

https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53818

Jackie Duong,  Rick Bojahra,  Michael Patrick
Session code: BRK3025

Empower decision making by unlocking business insights. Take your reporting capabilities to the next level through Power BI and other analytics tools, with easy-to-use live data monitoring to show your data in a simple and compelling way. Hear directly from the global leader in designing and manufacturing water parks, WhiteWater, who deployed Project Online alongside Microsoft Dynamics and Power BI to optimize their business.

This is episode 14 recorded on September 8th, 2017 where John & Jason talk about Power BI Drill through Reports, Timeline Storyteller Visual, Microsoft Forms with Microsoft Flow and Power BI, and Microsoft Ignite.

Show Notes:

• Hurricane Relief
  • http://www.sharepointlonghorn.com/hurricane-harvey-and-the-sharepoint-community/
  • https://www.rebuildtx.org/
• Power BI Drillthrough Reports (Dustin Ryan)
  • https://sqldusty.com/category/power-bi/
• Timeline Storyteller Visual
  • https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/what-story-does-your-timeline-tell-introducing-the-timeline-storyteller-custom-visual-for-microsoft-power-bi/
• MS Forms, Flow and PowerBI
  • https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/forms-and-flow-and-powerbi/
  • Forms is a replacement for Excel surveys
  • Forms vs PowerApps and the stupid naming between the two
• Power BI lightbulb
  • Ed’s aha moment
  • SSRS using a report as a data source
  • Why would you want to do this?
• Ignite and Envision
  • Session browsers:
    • Ignite: http://bit.ly/Ignite17Sessions
    • Envision: http://bit.ly/Env17Sessions
  • Twitter Traffic:
    • Ignite: http://bit.ly/Ignite17Tweets
    • Envision: http://bit.ly/Envision17Tweets

This is episode 13 recorded on August 31st, 2017 where John & Jason talk about Power BI Embedded, Hurricane Harvey, and the new Power BI Report Server.

Show Notes:

• Hurricane Harvey
  • Katrina cost $100 Billion
  • Harvey estimated at $160 Billion
• Ted Pattison’s video on Power BI Embedded
  • Power BI Embedding Version 2 – The Full Story
• Power BI Report Server
  • PBIRS August Preview now available
    https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/report-server/
  • PBI Desktop Optimized for PBI Report Server
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55791
  • John’s blog post
    https://whitepages.unlimitedviz.com/2017/08/power-bi-report-server-completes-vision-onpremises-reporting/
• What is Power BI Report Server vs SSRS?
• How is/will be PBI Report Server licensed?
• How do we access the reports on a mobile?
• What about mobile reports, isn’t there some overlap? Datazen vs PBI?