SQLBits

🎄Happy Christmas and a huge thank you to the astonishing community of helpers, speakers, sponsors, committee and attendees who made SQLBits happen this year. We can't wait to do it all again with you next year 🧡. #SQLBits2025 #SQLBits2026 #datacommunity

🎤 It's nearly session selection time at SQLBits and as ever, the hardest job is whittling down 1000+ submissions to those that make it onto the conference agenda. Selecting content that the data community truly wants - and will benefit most from - is a challenge every year when we receive so many submissions. So for 2026, we are bringing back…the public vote! All submitted sessions will be listed on the SQLBits website, filterable by tech, topic, theme, speaker and more. You will be able to browse the sessions and vote for the ones you most want to see at SQLBits next year. Stand by for more news on when this exciting update is set to open...we expect it to be imminent.

ICYMI: in honour of the season of giving, we announced last week that the SQLBits theme for 2026 will be Cartoon! We can't wait to see what the team do with this one in the expo hall...

👋Hey DBAs and SQL Server Developers! If you’re dealing with very large tables - tens or hundreds of millions (or more) of rows - and performance keeps biting you in production, this session is perfect for you. Miloš Radivojević dives into the real performance problems that only show up at scale, focusing on what actually breaks when tables get big. You’ll learn how to: ✅ Avoid catastrophic performance issues caused by missing or poorly timed indexes ✅ Write queries that still perform well when tables grow massive ✅ Understand why cardinality estimation and statistics go wrong on large tables ✅ Control statistics sampling, auto-update behaviour, and avoid surprise timeouts ✅ Treat very large tables differently - because “standard maintenance” no longer works If you want to stop guessing, prevent outages, and confidently tune SQL Server at scale, this session will give you practical guidance you can apply immediately. 🎟️ Enjoyed this and want the chance to attend in real time? Tickets for SQLBits 2026 (22-25 April 2026, ICC Wales) are available on our website, including our new virtual passes. #SQLBits #SQLServer #DBA #PerformanceTuning #QueryOptimization #LargeTables #DataPlatform

📣 SQLBits Call for Speakers closes this Sunday! 📣 Just a few days left to get those sessions in (over 70% of our submissions come in in the last 48 hours so no, it's not too late and you're not alone.) #SQLBits2026 #CallforSpeakers #DataSpeakers

👋Hey Data and BI Professionals! If you're trying to make better platform and product decisions, or want a structured way to design reliable data architectures, this session from last year's SQLBits is perfect for you. Ed Freeman walks you through how to capture functional and non-functional requirements, evaluate vendors, and use architectural decision records to make confident, traceable choices. You’ll learn how to: ✅ Define platform requirements alongside organizational factors ✅ Evaluate products and vendors against your functional and non-functional needs ✅ Capture and version decisions for future reference ✅ Involve stakeholders effectively in architecture design ✅ Keep your architecture simple, scalable, and maintainable If you want a practical approach to choosing and managing data platforms without chaos, this session will give you the framework to succeed. Link in comments. 🎟️ Enjoyed this and want more like it? Tickets for SQLBits 2026 (22-25 April 2026, ICC Wales) are available on our website, including our new virtual passes. Deep dive into your real-world challenges with industry experts and come back to the office inspired, updated and ready to succeed. 💪 #SQLBits #DataEngineering #BI #DataArchitecture #VendorSelection #PowerBI #AzureSynapse

💭 The SQLBits theme for 2026 is… Cartoon! Inspired by iconic studios and characters, the Cartoon theme will run right across SQLBits, from themed swag and exhibitor booths to the legendary Friday night party 🎉 Get ready to toon in... #SQLBits #SQLBits2026 #DataCommunity #TechConference #ConferenceTheme

Over 120 exceptional speakers from across the data community have already submitted to speak at SQLBits 2026. Will you be joining them? Only until this Sunday 21st December to get your submissions in. #SQLBits2026 #CallforSpeakers

Just a few days left to submit for our Call for Speakers, which closes on the 21st December. Here’s what’s new and exciting: 🔥 Deep SQL Server content - With the GA of SQL Server 2025 we are looking for deep SQL content to satisfy the need of the many SQL professionals that come to SQLBits. 🤖 AI everywhere - from AI agents building your data platform to AI solutions transforming organisations. Bring your real-world lessons. 🧠 Blow-your-mind internals - DAX, query optimiser, Spark, storage engines… if you know how it really works under the hood, we want it. 📅 Age of Tech tagging - not everyone is on the bleeding edge. This helps attendees find sessions at the level they need. 🗣️ Panel sessions - experts discussing choices, trade-offs, and how to succeed in today’s fast-changing data landscape. 🎟️ Full conference access to all general sessions for primary speakers. 🎶 Choose your walk-on music - set the vibe before your session. If you’ve got hard-earned experience or insight that can help the community, we’d love your submission. Please share this with your network and help us reach more great speakers - there's not long left to submit! #SQLBits #CallForSpeakers #SQLServer2025 #AI #DataCommunity #PowerBI #DataEngineering #PublicSpeaking

👋Hey Power BI Developers and Data Engineers! If you're trying to understand how Power BI and Azure Synapse work together, or you want a simpler way to build scalable, unified analytics, this session from SQLBits 2023 is perfect for you. Adam Saxton and Patrick LeBlanc walk you through the first steps of combining Power BI with Azure Synapse, showing how to modernise your data architecture without unnecessary complexity. You’ll learn how to: ✅ Choose the right Synapse components for your workload ✅ Use serverless SQL to explore data without heavy ETL ✅ Connect Power BI efficiently to Synapse for fast, reliable reporting ✅ Understand security, storage and architecture fundamentals ✅ Avoid common mistakes when starting your Synapse + Power BI journey If you want a clear, friendly introduction that demystifies the Azure analytics stack, this session will help you get started with confidence. 🎟️ Enjoyed this and want more like it? Tickets for SQLBits 2026 (22-25 April 2026, ICC Wales) are available on our website, including our new virtual passes. Deep dive into your real-world challenges with industry experts and come back to the office inspired, updated and ready to succeed. 💪 #SQLBits #PowerBI #AzureSynapse #DataEngineering #Analytics #DataPlatform #BI