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Tag Archive: SQLBits

  • Cymru, code and community at SQLBits!

    May 9th, 2026 in Just For Fun, News, SQL

    SQLBits wasn’t just about learning for the Purple Frog team, it was a chance to share our expertise and celebrate with the wider data community. Our HR & InfoSec Director Hollie Whittles and Senior AI Engineer Lewis Prince both took to the stage. Senior AI Engineer Lewis Prince led two sessions: “Responsible AI in Practice for the Microsoft Data Platform” and “AI Beyond the Hype: Practical Solutions for Real Businesses”, focusing…

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  • SQLBits 2026: What I Took Away from ICC Wales

    SQLBits 2026: What I Took Away from ICC WalesMay 8th, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence, Blog, Purple Frog Systems

    SQLBits returned to the ICC Wales in Newport from 22 to 25 April for four days of solid content, good networking, and the usual conference energy. The cartoon theme was a nice touch. This post covers the three areas I found most valuable: AI agents and the Foundry stack, Model Context Protocol, and Polars as a genuine alternative to Spark on Fabric. AI Agents and Azure AI Foundry AI and agentic AI were a dominant theme, with sessions covering…

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  • Stepping Down from the SQLBits Committee

    Stepping Down from the SQLBits CommitteeSeptember 5th, 2025 in Community, News

    I first attended SQLBits back in 2008 (the third event, SQLBits Cubed in Hatfield) and I was instantly hooked. It wasn’t just the incredible knowledge being shared or the amazing list of speakers. At the time I was an employee with zero training budget, so the free Saturday was a lifeline that played a huge role in boosting my knowledge and career. In 2011, with a lot of encouragement (and a little bullying!) from my wonderfully supportive…

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  • SQLBits 2025: The year you couldn’t escape AI

    SQLBits 2025: The year you couldn't escape AIJuly 1st, 2025 in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Blog, Community, Machine Learning, Python, Spark

    As an AI engineer immersed in the ever-evolving world of data and machine learning, conferences offer more than just networking opportunities; they’re essential refuelling stations for inspiration, learning and innovation. To be frank, SQLBits usually doesn’t fully fit the bill for me as an AI engineer, but as the lines between AI and data engineering have become increasingly blurred, the content of the talks has evolved to reflect…

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  • SQLBits Comes to Telford: A Day of Data-Driven Discussions

    SQLBits Comes to Telford: A Day of Data-Driven DiscussionsNovember 8th, 2024 in Community, Just For Fun, News

    Yesterday, we had the pleasure of hosting the incredible Kate, the Marketing Manager at SQLBits at the FrogPlex! It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with a passionate member of the tech community and discuss all things data. We spent the day sharing stories, insights, and future plans for data conferences. Kate’s enthusiasm for the data community was infectious, and we’re excited to continue these inspiring conversations. A big…

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  • SQLBits 2024: Learning about people at a technical event

    SQLBits 2024 Learning about people at a technical eventMay 3rd, 2024 in Blog, Community

    It has been a hot minute since I attended a SQLBits conference. It’s a techie event! I’m not technical. Project Managers must surely be classed as ‘persona non-grata’. Last year the team went, and I took a holiday. All those people in one place and guess which one of us came back with Covid? Typical. So, this year, trying to reduce my chances of a fourth bout, and with more ‘non-technical’ sessions available at the conference, it…

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  • Behind the Scenes: My Perspective as a Speaker at SQLBits

    Behind the Scenes My Perspective as a Speaker at SQLBitsApril 11th, 2024 in Blog, Just For Fun

    SQLBits, the renowned conference for data professionals, brought together a diverse range of speakers this year, including four from Purple Frog Systems: myself, Lewis, Hollie, and Alex. Each of us tackled a variety of sessions, contributing our unique perspectives to the event. I spoke on two topics, both in the non-technical category about blogging and why it’s important to be creative in technical roles. First-time speaker nerves……

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  • Introducing our SQLBits 2024 sessions…

    December 27th, 2023 in News

    SQLBits 2024, the world’s largest data platform conference, is just around the corner held in Farnborough, London at the end of March, and the anticipation is building as the Purple Frog Team gears up to deliver a lineup of insightful and innovative sessions. Last month, the team received confirmation on their submitted sessions, and the offerings are nothing short of intriguing. Whether you’ll be joining in person at Farnborough or…

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  • Why you should start presenting at conferences

    August 17th, 2014 in Blog, Community

    Have you presented a session at a user group or a conference? No? then read on to find out why you need to change that. Many of the readers of this blog will be active members of the SQL Server community, reading/writing blogs themselves, going to conferences or user groups, partitipating in webinars, etc. We’re fortunate in the UK to have the most active SQL Server community in the World. Yes there are physically more user groups and…

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  • SQLBits X Video available

    June 19th, 2012 in Blog, Business Intelligence, Community, Integration Services, SQL Server

    SQLBits X Video Now available The video of my talk at SQLBits X is now available on the SQLBits website here. The talk was focused on presenting the results of my MSc Business Intelligence dissertation, comparing the performance of different methods of using SSIS to load data warehouse dimensions, specifically type 2 SCDs. The talk also covers a comparison of the performance between traditional hard disks and solid state storage systems such as…

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