The Baretta

Link to Session:  https://msftignite.com.au/sessions/session-details/1611/real-world-power-bi-techniques-dat343 About the Session: First off, I'd just like to say that Grant stole my idea of starting off the session with a chant of 'Power BI'!  Reckon he must have heard me chanting it on the way into the previous session.  I'm sure he didn't steal it, but was a surreal coincidence haha. This was the final Power BI Session of the week, which is strange because it was the first session to run through step-by-step how to pull back real world data and report on it.  I would have thought the order would have started with the simple sally session then built up to the developer sessions through the week.  No bother for me, but something to consider for the next MS Ignite. Session tips for speeding up your power reports: Clean up your data using Power Query first Create measures to display totals at the bottom of your raw data list. Use brushing / ratios to ...

Session Takeaways: By default any user can create a Office 365 group When a group is created, a container is provisioned to allow staff to collaborate using the office apps of their choice.  This saves waiting for multiple IT teams to provision team sites and distribution groups. Provides business users with an instant way to set up a new project and share information. Enables the end-user a choice of platform without being pigeonholed onto a prescribed application. Groups allow staff who get late access, the ability to see all of the past conversation that has happened.  unlike email distribution groups where the conversation is lost in individual mailboxes.  This will save time having to catch up and save having to ask the same questions if you're new to a project. Can Insta-videocall all members of an O365 Group using Skype for business.  Can also start writing up meeting notes straight away within a call Groups integrate with power BI and Dynamics CRM. ...

Many people had mixed feelings about this session, which is ironic given Microsoft are calling the Hololens a Mixed Reality device. Why? No Hololens at the event Every video shown had already been released on the internet We had to get up at 7.30am to not see a Hololens A few takeaways from the session: You can use Maya to auto-update holograms as your working with it on your computer Microsoft has developed a camera to see what the hololens sees without having to have a hololens on yourself.  Apparently only 2 of these cameras in existence Can collaborate with other people around the world on the same holographic scene There are some battery life concerns.  We were advised to keep this in mind during app development and try and limit the polygon count on any holograms developed Recommended Skillset: Game Studio, Art, Audio, Design, Engineering, Production, QA The development edition of the hololens is being released in Q1 2016.  US only.... Field of v...

Link to Session:  https://msftignite.com.au/sessions/session-details/1833/office-365-the-next-wave-of-innovation-prd211 About The Session:  Exactly what the session description detailed.  Briefly touched on most of the Office 365 / Office 2016 products and what's new.  Here's some dot points if your interested in downloading this session. Delve:  Now has ability to extend it's reach beyond Office 365 products Delve Analytics:  Can provide individual users with graphs showing thier time usage, who they connect with most at work as well as who they have fallen out of touch with.   Office 2016: Added search features inside word/excel to find & use features that you can't remember where to find.  Potential to save many calls to service desk and time googling for where to find feature. Excel: Ability to auto-forecast profits & loss based on previous years data inside excel.  Has also been loaded with additional ways to visua...

About The Session: Covered the Microsoft certification roadmap.  Discussed Microsoft Academy for kids, educators and trainers.  Spent most of an hour going through how to pass Microsoft exams and what type of questions you can expect.  A discussion around what course material you need to study to pass each exam. All certification are now solutions focused due to the knowledge required to implement systems successfully. Went about 25 minutes overtime. My Musings: The best thing about this session was seeing the official Microsoft certification roadmap, provided below: The rest of the session was not for me.  I thought that 'Find the Path' was going to be all about explaining in detail what path of certification you might like to take and what you can expect.  However it was mainly about how to pass an exam if you're looking to certify and where you can find resources online to help with your study. Funny things to mention: MCSE Exams - You have...

Next week I'm heading to the MS Ignite conference in the Gold Coast and thought I'd sign up to some sessions & get my schedule ready today. Looking through the sessions, there were two things that stood out to me: A lack of SharePoint sessions A very developer-heavy list of sessions The first is surprising because SharePoint 2016 preview just came out and I'm not sure anyone is really doing a deep-dive session on it.  Here's what happened when I tried to filter for SharePoint sessions :S: The second surprise around the mass amounts of developer sessions is because I'm used to Tech Ed events in previous years where they catered for all levels & occupations. Anyone from C-Class (CIO/CEO) down to developer scrubs that want super detail could enjoy the event.  Now I'm not so sure that's the case. The truth is, it's not that surprising.  For a long time now we've watched Microsoft ramp up it's O365/Azure capabilities to match e...