SQLDay 2025 – Wrocław – Workshops

I had the chance to attend SQLDay 2025 in Wrocław, one of the largest Microsoft Data Platform conferences in Central Europe. The event gathers a wide range of professionals, from database administrators to data engineers and Power BI developers. The first day was fully dedicated to pre-conference workshops. The general sessions are scheduled for the following two days.

In this first post, I’ll focus on Monday’s workshops.

Day 1 – Workshop Sessions

The workshop day at SQLDay is always a strong start. It gives attendees the opportunity to focus on a specific topic for a full day. This year, several tracks were available in parallel, covering various aspects of the Microsoft data stack: from Power BI and SQL Server to Azure and Microsoft Fabric.

Here are the sessions that were available:

Advanced DAX

This session was clearly targeted at experienced Power BI users. Alberto Ferrari delivered an in-depth look into evaluation context, expanded tables, and advanced usage of CALCULATE. One focus area was the correct use of ALLEXCEPT and how it interacts with complex relationships.

Execution Plans in Depth

For SQL Server professionals interested in performance tuning, this workshop provided a detailed walkthrough of execution plans. Hugo Kornelis covered a large number of operators, explained how they work internally, and showed how to analyze problematic queries. The content was dense but well-structured.

Becoming an Azure SQL DBA

This workshop was led by members of the Azure SQL product team. It focused on the evolution of the DBA role in cloud environments. The agenda included topics such as high availability in Azure SQL, backup and restore, cost optimization, and integration with Microsoft Fabric. It was designed to understand the shared responsibility model and how traditional DBA tasks are shifting in cloud scenarios.

Enterprise Databots

This workshop explored how to build intelligent DataBots using Azure and Databricks. The session combined theoretical content with practical labs. The goal was to implement chatbots capable of interacting with SQL data and leveraging AI models. Participants had the opportunity to create bots from scratch.

Analytics Engineering with dbt

This session was focused on dbt (data build tool) and its role in ELT pipelines. It was well-suited for data analysts and engineers looking to standardize and scale their workflows.

Build a Real-time Intelligence Solution in One Day

This workshop showed how to implement real-time analytics solutions using Microsoft Fabric. It covered Real-Time Hub, Eventstream, Data Activator, and Copilot.

From Power BI Developer to Fabric Engineer

This workshop addressed Power BI developers looking to go beyond the limitations of Power Query and Premium refresh schedules. The session focused on transforming reports into scalable Fabric-based solutions using Lakehouse, Notebooks, Dataflows, and semantic models. A good starting point for anyone looking to shift from report building to full data engineering within the Microsoft ecosystem.