DMC Senior Consultant Michael Dannemiller led a Power BI “Dashboard in a Day” workshop at the Microsoft Technology Center in Chicago earlier this month. The goal of the workshop was to help participants understand how to analyze their data in a rich and compelling way.
We started the day off with coffee, breakfast and an introduction to Power BI and the benefits of the platform. Michael gave a high-level overview of the uses of Power BI and the different dashboards participants can create. Mike further explained how Power BI makes it easy to connect reports and dashboards from disparate data sources.
Power BI provides participants with a better understanding of how to:
- Connect to, import, and transform data from a variety of sources
- Define business rules and KPIs
- Explore data with powerful visualization tools
- Build stunning reports
- Share their dashboards with their team and/or the world
The workshop was great for people who were brand new to Power BI and also allowed experienced attendees to obtain guidance from Power BI experts. It was an excellent opportunity for participants to learn how Power BI can make them more efficient in data analysis for their organization.
The day continued with a demo lab. Each participant received a lab manual providing a step-by-step walkthrough of a sample Power BI lab. In our event survey, participants said that the lab was the best part of the workshop.
The lab was all hands-on, and participants worked at their own speed. Mike, Jason, and I walked around the room answering questions and showing the participants how to use key features in Power BI.
After completing the lab, participants created some dashboards with their own data. DMC's Digital Workplace Solutions team was available to assit. Experienced Power BI users found a lot of benefit in this session.
Overall, people were very satisfied with this event. Some of the notes from the survey feedback are featured below.
“The presenters were very knowledgeable. They kept the day moving forward at a great pace for all users, beginners - experts.”
“Labs were well written and easy to follow.”
“The booklet is most helpful, it provides very detailed step by step instructions.”
“Very hands-on instructor and the team, ensuring everybody's questions were answered. No rushing through the content, and provided adequate time for the exercises.”
“The course was very well paced and to the point. The training material is best in class. I've been to various training sessions, and this is by far the best in terms of quality. I rarely needed help. Well done!”
Save the Date
We are excited to announce that we will be offering two more Power BI workshops this winter!
Save the date for our next Dashboard in a Day on February 21, 2019, in Chicago at the Microsoft Technology Center and on March 27, 2019, at the Microsoft Technology Center in St. Louis.
Learn more about DMC's Digital Workplace Solutions.