Meet Community stars at Microsoft Business Applications Summit!

[chass]

One of the primary reasons people go to conferences is to meet the presenters.

At the Microsoft Business Applications Summit (MBAS), we have an entire “Ask the Experts” experience to make this easy.

We have created a community lounge and will be scheduling a subset of those community stars for you to interact with. Here are some highlights of the community members and topics you will find at this year's MBAS.

Starting and Running a World Class PowerApps User Group by Keith Whatling

In addition to being a PowerApps MVP and one of the earliest/best PowerApps developers, Keith Whatling also started one of the first (and just recently recognized as one of the best) PowerApps user groups on the planet. Keith will be discussing the tactics that helped him in his community journey.

Keith Whatling is an experienced analyst with a demonstrated history of award-winning innovation in transportation. "I have a wealth of experience from digital content creation and data analysis to Microsoft’s Power Platform, using PowerApps and Flow to drive digital transformation. I can hold my own with Python, VBA and have some C# experience."

Collaboratively Organizing One of the Largest Power BI Groups by Prathy Kamasani

Prathy Kamasani helps organize one of the largest Power BI user groups in the world and in this session she will share with the community how she manages this process and continues growing their membership.

Prathy Kamasani is a Microsoft Valuable Professional (MVP) working as an independent MSBI contractor based in London. She specializes in Power BI, SSIS, SSAS and SSRS. Prathy is active in the Microsoft Data community as a speaker, volunteer, and organizes the London Power BI User Group.

Running the Largest Power BI Community Site in the World by Mike Carlo

In addition to co-managing one of the most successful US Power BI user groups, Power BI MVPs Mike Carlo and Seth Bauer also manage to find time to host the largest Power BI community site in the world. Wondering how? Then this session is for you!

Power BI MVP, user group leader and frequent conference speaker that is Passionate about data, analytics and helping people learn same has developed a website knowledge repository for all things PowerBI, (www.PowerBI.Tips). This site is uniquely set up for people to read and learn about data modeling and visualizations within Power BI with over 60 kudos to date!

How to Leverage the Microsoft Communities Platform and Grow to a Super Community by Seth Bauer

In addition to co-managing one of the most successful US Power BI user groups, Power BI MVPs Seth Bauer and Mike Carlo also manage to find time to host the largest Power BI community site in the world. Additionally, Seth Bauer finds the time to answer many of the Power Service questions in the community forums. Find out how he gets his information.

About Seth Bauer

I am a Director of Business Intelligence at Syndigo. I'm a Microsoft Data Platform MVP (Power BI). I've been working with the Microsoft stack for over 10 yrs, but my major focus area now is Power BI, and sharing what I've learned with the User Community. I am a Microsoft Certified Professional, a co-leader of this Microsoft Power BI User Group, and a PUG Board of Advisors member. I enjoy working with clients across the Midwest implementing BI / Power BI solutions.

How to use Microsoft Forums to Learn DAX by Phil Seamark

Author, conference organizer, User Group leader, MVP Alumni, and now Microsoft employee, Phil Seamark is recognized as one of the foremost DAX experts. He recently confided in a community gathering that most of what he learned in DAX was through his participation in community forums. In this informal get together, discuss with Phil his techniques for leveraging community forums into his incredible resume of experiences.

Philip Seamark is an author, Microsoft Data Platform MVP employee of the Power BI CAT Team, and an experienced database and business intelligence (BI) professional with a deep knowledge of the Microsoft B.I. stack along with extensive knowledge of data warehouse (DW) methodologies and enterprise data modelling. He has 25+ years experience in this field and is an active member of Power BI community. He is a Super User with 1,945 answers and 590 kudos on the community website http://community.powerbi.com

The Value of Joining the Dynamics Online Community by Fawad Khan

Strategy and operations leader with 15+ years of experience managing businesses from $10-20M and leading global IT teams of 100+. "I have helped deliver over $5M in cost savings in Service Delivery along with a 5% improvement in Customer/Partner Experience." Fawad is a Digital and Cloud Computing strategist in today’s world of AI, Machine Learning, IoT and Hybrid Computing.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fawadakhan1/

The Magic Around Delivering an Amazing Presentation by Mico Yuk

Based on requests and feedback on her story-telling presentation, Mico has agreed to share with the community her best practices on delivering an amazing presentation.

Mico Yuk (@micoyuk) is the founder of BI Brainz (the leader in enterprise visual storytelling) and the BI Dashboard Formula (BIDF) methodology. She has trained thousands globally on how to use the power of data visualization strategically to enhance the decision-making process. In the last nine years, her company has worked with Fortune 500 companies like Procter & Gamble, Honda, Kimberly-Clark, Royal Dutch Shell, Nestle, Qatargas, Ericsson, and FedEx. She has also authored Data Visualization for Dummies (Wiley 2014).

The Art of Creating a Microsoft Flow Presentation by Kent Weare

Kent Weare is an experienced leader who possesses strong technical skills. Passionate about architecture with a specialty in integration, he is recognized by Microsoft as an Integration MVP.

How to Use Community to Make the World a Better Place by Shannon Lindsey

Shannon Lindsay of the Informatics Team at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) runs the Power BI User Group (PUG) community in Washington, DC. Her associate, Stephanie Bruno, runs the PUG in Pittsburgh, PA. They also run an internal PUG at EGPAF in which they invite all countries to meet (via conference calls) to share resources and ideas and collaborate on projects.

In this session, Lindsay will share her story of how “Community has been the key to our success in relation to the implementation of Power BI (among other technologies) here at EGPAF. In fact, it is because of our relationships with the community that these trainings happened at all! Stephanie heard about the Microsoft MySkills4Afrika program a few years ago from a volunteer at the Data Insights conference in Seattle.”

Shannon Lindsey is a data and analytics professional specializing in collection, management, and use of targeted data for program improvement and strategic decision making, solving problems for non-profit and government.

What It Takes to Be a PowerApps Flow MVP by Anton Robbins

Anton Robbins is the CTO of Seisay IT Solutions, a PowerApps and Flow MVP, PowerApps Champion, DC PowerApps User Group Leader and slayer of bow ties. That he has a passion for the Microsoft Power Platform (Flow, Power BI, and PowerApps) communities is an understatement. "It takes a community to elevate technical brethren." When he is not speaking at an event, he is usually volunteering or organizing events. He has been, in the past and currently is, a speaker at Microsoft conferences and local User Groups. In his spare time, which he rarely has, he likes to roller skate.

Becoming a Community Super User by Gilbert Quevauvilliers

While there are roughly 500 Business Applications MVPs including Power BI, Dynamics, PowerApps, and Flow, there are fewer than 50 community super users who answer the unanswerable questions in the Microsoft forums. Gilbert Quevauvilliers will share his process for getting this knowledge and how to best use the Microsoft forums.

"Currently, I'm working as a Power BI & Data Analytics Consultant. I have over 10+ years’ experience working with data of any size and any source. By leveraging my skills, I am able to provide insights into customers' data quickly and efficiently. And this has enabled my customers to gain a better understanding of their business. Which relates to better sales, or significant cost savings.

"I was recently awarded a Microsoft MVP award for Power BI. Power BI, in my opinion, is the logical choice for creating insights, being cost-effective and providing dashboards and reports on Web, Mobile, or in Apps out of the box.

"I have proven competencies in the implementation of data analytic solutions from the ground up, which included developing data warehouses, SSAS Cubes and, most recently, Power BI solutions for customers in various business sectors.

"I have worked within teams, managed teams, as well as worked alone on various successful data analytics projects.

"I have focused on providing Power BI Solutions to customers since the inception of Power BI in July 2015."

https://www.fourmoo.com

Demystifying the MVP Process by Julie Yack

In addition to running a Dynamics User Group conference, Julie Yack is one of the most distinguished of the Dynamic MVPs. In this informal get together, Julie will be happy to field any questions about the MVP program and nomination process.

Julie Yack is a Colorado-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM MVP serving clients across the globe, providing training, implementation, analysis and insight for companies wanting to take their service to the next level. Julie’s blog, http://www.julieyack.com addresses pertinent topics of the day, ranging from Dynamics CRM to technology in education to travel to voting rights.

Lounge Hosts

This all-star community will be joined by the entire Microsoft community team with members like Charles Sterling, Jon Levesque, Brian Dang, and Purvin Patel.

Jon Levesque is an entrepreneur and strategist with an expertise in brand engagement, community building, and creation of winning evangelism strategies. He is a Senior Program Manager on the Microsoft Flow product team, focusing on helping Flow evangelize the product and how to use it and helping customers understand the platform and its benefits.

Jon’s background has ranged from project management, to customer experience, to support and marketing. He has over 12 years in the industry and has helped lead community and engagement efforts in the low code/no code space since its inception. He has worked with large brands like Microsoft & HTC, and smaller local brands like Forterra NW Inc, as well as musical artists like Jethro Tull & DJ Nano.

As a speaker and educator, Jon has created the first Microsoft Flow EdX Course, the official Guided Learning material for Microsoft Flow and Ehang Drones.  He's also created a series of YouTube videos guiding users on how to transform business process digitally using Microsoft Flow.

Brian Dang, now a program manager on the PowerApps team, is helping shape the product to make it easier to use and adopt for the world of citizen developers. Formerly a third and fourth grade teacher, Brian Dang (known as Mr. Dang by his students) used PowerApps to create several education apps for teaching, managing his classroom, and gamifying the learning experience.

In this in-depth interview, Brian shares his experience meeting Bill Gates, how he got started with PowerApps, how students and teachers are using apps in the classroom, and his vision for PowerApps in the education space. Teachers and students are very excited about using apps in the learning process. Not only do the kids get engaged in the subjects they are learning, but they also explore the technology and authoring tools used to create the custom apps, like the spelling and banking apps. His fourth graders even collaborated in teams to create their own apps, such as one with a Harry Potter theme. Since recording this video, Brian has joined the PowerApps team to execute his vision of bringing PowerApps into the classroom and enabling teachers, students and administrators to “not settle for the apps they have, but create the apps they want.”