St. Louis SQL Server and Business Intelligence User Group

Register through Event Brite: Day of Data Registration
Day of Data Event Page
Day of Data St. Louis Sponsorship Plans Available

Day of Data St. Louis
We’re excited to bring the St. Louis data community together again for Day of Data St. Louis, a full day of learning, networking, and great conversations. This is a free, in‑person event for data professionals, technologists, and students, hosted at the Microsoft Innovation Hub on October 24 — and this year, we’re going even bigger with expanded sessions, speakers, and opportunities to connect. Day of Data builds on the long‑standing SQL Saturday and PASS community tradition, now grown to include modern data platforms, analytics, AI, and more.
Space is limited, so we encourage you to register early and strongly recommend purchasing a priority attendance ticket that includes lunch during registration to guarantee your spot.

Priority Attendance (Securing Your Spot)
Last year’s event reached registration capacity, and we expect this year to do the same based on the excitement we’ve seen from the community. To ensure admission and attendance, we strongly recommend purchasing a lunch ticket during registration to guarantee your spot at the event. This purchase includes priority check‑in and catered lunch on site.
Important: If you choose not to purchase a lunch ticket, entry will be space‑available only and cannot be guaranteed day of the event.

Who Should Attend
Day of Data St. Louis is for anyone who works with, manages, or makes decisions based on data — from analysts, developers, and architects to data and IT leaders focused on strategy and business outcomes. We also welcome students and early‑career professionals looking to grow their skills. If data and AI is part of your world, there’s a session here for you.

Session Tracks
This year’s event features dedicated tracks across some of the most in‑demand areas with each track led by experienced speakers and focused on practical, real‑world content you can put to work right away.

• Microsoft Fabric — Dive into Microsoft’s unified data and AI platform, from lakehouses and data pipelines to real‑time intelligence and integrated experiences across the data lifecycle.
• Power BI — Explore reporting, visualization, and self‑service analytics. Whether you’re building your first dashboard or optimizing enterprise‑scale models, there’s something here for you.
• SQL Server — The backbone of countless data platforms. Sessions cover performance tuning, administration, architecture, and what’s new in the latest releases.
• Data Engineering & Data Science — From designing data architectures to building modern pipelines, warehouses, and machine learning models, these sessions bridge the gap between raw data and real insight.
• Copilot & Artificial Intelligence — See how AI is reshaping the way we work with data, from integrating Copilot and large language models into your workflows to building intelligent data solutions.
• Professional Development — Step into the Microsoft Innovation Hub’s immersive Envisioning Center, with its wraparound displays, for sessions focused on career growth, leadership, and building the skills that set you apart beyond the technical.
• Community Spotlight — An intimate track designed to help local, or user group speakers take the next step onto the conference stage. If you’ve been presenting and are ready to level up, this is your opportunity.

Sponsorships are available - if your organization is interested please contact Michelle Work at mwork@mailctp.com.

Meeting Sponsor: CGI

Topic: Cognitive Load, Focus, and Burnout in Technical Work,
Human Machine Teaming

Topic: Cognitive Load, Focus, and Burnout in Technical Work
A practical look at how constant context-switching, information intake, and “always-on” expectations impact focus, decision-making, and energy. This session explores how cognitive overload quietly leads to burnout, and what individuals can realistically do to protect mental bandwidth while maintaining high performance.

Speaker: Ashley Rene Casey
Ashley René is the founder of Presence Over Pixels® and a keynote speaker who helps organizations solve their biggest workplace challenge: keeping humans engaged and productive in an AI-driven world. A former senior leader at Amazon and BNSF Railway, Ashley delivers actionable strategies for digital wellness, human-first leadership, and sustainable high performance.

When not on stage, Ashley performs as lead singer of rock band Bourbon Jury and champions St. Louis's vibrant arts community.

Topic: Human Machine Teaming
Artificial intelligence systems are evolving from simple automated scripts into complex, autonomous partners, which can decrease the cognitive load on IT professional.
However, using AI to decrease cognitive load requires a thoughtful approach. Evaluating an AI tool to decrease stress requires shifting focus from pure computational accuracy to overall system performance. This presentation introduces a practical evaluation methodology for technical non-AI professionals to assess AI tools through the lens of human-machine teaming (HMT). Rather than treating AI as a static software utility, we frame the human-AI unit as a joint cognitive system where the primary objective is maximizing efficiency while minimizing human cognitive load.

Speaker: Phil Milner
Phil MIlner is a Data Engineer and Data Scientist in the United States Defense community. He has over 25 years of working with and analyzing data. He has served as an data preparation engineer and business intelligence developer and architect. He currently focuses on analyzing the application, management and performance of Artificial Intelligence products for data analysis. He holds an M.B.A. from University of Missouri - St. Louis; a masters in Technology for Intelligence from the United States National Intelligence University and a doctorate in technology adoption from California Southern University. He is a former leader and now serves on the board of the Microsoft Business Intelligence Users Group.

Meeting Sponsor: CGI

Topic: Concentric Circles of Database Administration

Speaker: Ezekiel Kaufman
Ezekiel Kaufman has over ten years of experience working as a data analyst in state government, university departments, and a software company. He has worked in the areas of criminal justice, child protection, and Medicaid. He also taught lab courses in social science research methods to undergraduate students. Ezekiel’s formal training is in the social sciences and humanities. He has extensive experience performing analyses using multiple analytical languages, including T-SQL, stata, SPSS, and MPlus.