Chris presenting on stage

I was one of the few who braved the 39°C heat outside to hear Chris Testa-O'Neill (@ctesta_oneill) speak at this month's Adelaide SQL Server User Group. Great to have Chris back in Adelaide again.

It proved to be a really interesting presentation about what BI tools are now available, and what tools are appropriate for what problems.

  • Reporting Services
  • Report Builder
  • PowerView
  • PowerPivot

The talk concluded with a nice demonstration of setting up PowerPivot in Excel, highlighting what could be achieved by a business 'power user', and what areas they would require assistance from a BI expert.

We also met in a different room from normal which I think most people thought was a better space. Plus (as you may observe in the photo above), it has a grand piano – I'm sure we could find a use for that somehow!