Next Generation Maps in Power BI with Icon Map (with James Dales)

LIVESTREAM DATE/TIME 📅

May 1st, 2026 - 9:30AM (Pacific Time)

DESCRIPTION 📄

Power BI mapping has… historically been “fine” in the way a rental car with three warning lights is “fine.” In this session, James Dales (Microsoft Data Platform MVP, co-leader of the London Fabric & Power BI User Group, and creator of Icon Map) walks through what’s new in modern mapping for Power BI and why Icon Map has evolved into a premium visual.

We’ll cover:

• Why Icon Map is now paid and what it delivers over legacy Icon Map and Azure Maps

• Icon Map Pro vs Icon Map Slicer: what each one does and when to use them

• The Icon Map Catalog and how it changes map-building workflows in Power BI

• Best practices for building clearer, faster, more interactive geospatial reporting experiences

Whether you’re building operational dashboards, location intelligence reports, or real-time analytics, you’ll leave with practical guidance on how to level up your maps without making your report behave like a slideshow.

GUEST BIO 👤

Having previously led the Power BI and Microsoft Fabric capabilities at both UK and global level for a large multi-national Microsoft consultancy, in 2024 James co-founded an ambitious geospatial data company Tekantis, to focus on geospatial analytics and data products.

James is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and is the co-leader of the London Fabric and Power BI user group. In 2019 he became the first member of the Power BI Contributors Program, working alongside the Microsoft engineering team to build new functionality into the Power BI product codebase. He has a keen interest in geospatial and real-time analytics and is the author of the Icon Map visuals for Power BI.

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Icon Map Website
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Jame's LinkedIn

Power BI Report-Scoped Measures: 6 Patterns for Better Reports

Video by: Reid Havens

Report-scoped measures (aka report-specific measures) are one of the easiest ways to level up a Power BI report without turning your semantic model into a junk drawer.

In this video, I walk through my Visual & Report-Scoped Measures guide and show the art of the possible. No deep DAX theory, no data engineering detours, just practical patterns you can steal immediately.

We’ll cover:

• What “report-scoped” measures are (and when you should use them)

• Six practical patterns for enhancing report UX with measures

• Dynamic titles that respond to context

• Conditional formatting driven by measures (so visuals explain themselves)

• How to keep your model clean while still making reports more interactive and readable

If you build reports for humans (not just for your own amusement), this is a strong set of patterns to have in your toolkit.

Power BI to Plotly: Build AI Dashboard Apps - with Adam Schroeder

LIVESTREAM DATE/TIME 📅

March 6th - 9:30 AM (Pacific Time)

DESCRIPTION 📄

You’ve already invested in a Power BI semantic model. Cool. Now let’s actually use it outside the walls of a closed BI environment. In this session, Adam Schroeder (Plotly) shows how Plotly Studio can connect directly to your existing Power BI semantic model so you can build polished, production-ready data apps, powered by Python and accelerated with AI, without rebuilding or migrating your data.

You’ll learn how to:

• Build fully customized, production-ready data apps using Python (beyond drag-and-drop limits)

• Distribute apps broadly without getting crushed by per-user viewer licensing costs

• Own your branding, UX, and deployment strategy end-to-end

• Take a practical step toward operationalizing trustworthy AI on top of governed data

If you’re hitting the ceiling on Power BI customization, navigating licensing-based scaling challenges, or looking for more control over how insights (and AI) reach users, this is your playbook.

GUEST BIO 👤

Adam Schroeder is a Senior Developer Advocate at Plotly. He has helped grow the community through 1:1 relationships, contributing to 6 million Dash downloads per month. He’s taught Plotly Dash for over five years on YouTube as @CharmingData (over 60,000 views/month) and co-authored “The Book of Dash.”

RELATED CONTENT 🔗

Plotly Studio

Mastering Roster & Timesheet Reporting: From Minutes to Millions - with Kane Snyder

DATE/TIME 📅

September 5th at 1:30 PM (Pacific Time)

DESCRIPTION 📄

Ready to transform your workforce data from basic hour tracking into strategic business intelligence? This deep dive takes you through real-world techniques for handling complex timesheet analytics with minute-level precision. We'll tackle the challenging DAX calculations, data modeling considerations, and performance optimizations that make the difference between simple reports and enterprise-grade workforce insights that actually drive decisions.

What You'll Learn:

• Advanced time intelligence DAX for overlapping shifts and complex scenarios

• Data modeling strategies and optimization for granular timesheet data

• Roster vs. actual comparison techniques

• Real-world implementation patterns from enterprise solutions

Perfect for:

Power BI developers, business analysts, and anyone dealing with complex workforce reporting requirements who wants to move beyond basic time summaries to actionable workforce intelligence.

GUEST BIO 👤

I’m Kane Snyder, a Head of Analytics, Principal Fabric Architect and Analytics Practice Lead with deep expertise in Power BI, DAX and Microsoft Fabric. I’ve guided multiple organisations—across banking and finance, tourism, risk management, environmental emissions, HR, IT governance, law, freight, transport and sales—to build end-to-end analytics solutions that balance cost efficiency with business value. I have a background in business management and have held numerous leadership roles both in business and the analytics space.

I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia where I spend my time surfing, camping, 4 wheel driving and playing music.

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SQLBI Events in Progress DAX Pattern
Kanes Blog
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