Welcome back, data enthusiasts! I'm excited to dive into the second installment of my blog series covering the extraordinary Data Council Conference. If you haven't already, be sure to check out my first post, which provided a comprehensive overview of the engaging talks and workshops from Day 1.

On Day 2, before sessions, we are organizing an informal #StreamBrew coffee gathering for early birds at 7:15 am at KesosTacos near the conference venue. RSVP here. I hope to mingle, network, and enjoy some scrumptious breakfast migas alongside morning coffee. If you've never had migas, don't worry - I haven't either - you won't experiment alone!

Panels

AI Panel

One of the most highly anticipated events on Day 2 of the Data Council Conference is the AI Panel. Though details about the panel's specific focus remain under wraps, the excitement is palpable. I expect a riveting discussion featuring top-tier experts, who will undoubtedly share their unique perspectives on artificial intelligence's current state and future directions. AI changes the world we are living in; it happens almost every week, every month, for sure!

How Investors Think About Data

Another must-attend event on Day 2 is the panel titled "How Investors Think About Data," featuring an impressive lineup of investment professionals. Gain valuable insights from Lauren Reeder, Partner at Sequoia Capital; Slater Stich, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures; Leigh Marie Braswell, Principal at Founders Fund; and Pete Soderling, Founder of Data Community Fund.

I work for a data-oriented startup. And given the current state of the economy, including the infamous SVB disaster, I am curious about what fundraising will look like in the mid-long term and how to maximize our chances to succeed. Also, Pete is the founder and chair of the Data Council conference, and I am eager to hear from him too!

Talks

Day 2 of the Data Council Conference offers three tracks, full schedule is here.

The first track, "Applied & Generative AI," covers topics such as Large Language/Transformer Models, generative AI, product-based implementations of new research methods, and exciting new features powered by machine learning inside products.

The second track, "Analytics," focuses on the latest tools, techniques, and best practices for extracting valuable insights from data. You'll learn how top teams are solving their analytics challenges and discover the best new tools in the process.

Finally, my favorite one, the "Data Culture & Community" track. It emphasizes fostering a vibrant data ecosystem and promoting collaboration among data professionals. Sessions in this track will highlight the role of community building, open-source projects, and knowledge sharing in advancing data science and data engineering.

In case you're torn between multiple sessions like me, remember that many of the presentations will be recorded and made available for viewing later. With that in mind, I will highlight only a fraction of what sparks my interest.

Tristan Zajonc - Generative AI for Product Builders

I always considered no-code or low-code solutions an excellent option for a non-technical (and technical, too, in some cases) founder to build a prototype and get their MVP out there as soon as possible without hiring a bunch of developers. DALL•E, MidJourney, and Stable Diffusion did a similar thing and unlocked creativity for the rest of us. In that light, Tristan's talk about the caveats and nuances of building products using generative AI is very well-timed and relevant.

Thomas Mickley-Doyle "How Vercel Builds Dozens of Metrics from One Heterogenous Table"

I remember quite a few blog posts about the importance of reacting quickly to changes. Partly because Bytewax is enabling real-time ML and because it's a hot topic. Thomas Mickley-Doyle from Vercel will also share their innovative approach to data-driven decision-making. Vercel's strategy has increased stakeholder participation in analytics, reduced troubleshooting time for outlier events, and eliminated the data team as a bottleneck for data-related tasks. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Katrina Riehl "Behind the Curtain: What it Takes to Support the World's Most Popular Open Source Communities"

Dr. Katrina Riehl is President of the Board of Directors at NumFOCUS, Head of the Streamlit Data Team at Snowflake, and Adjunct Lecturer at Georgetown University. If you are building an OOS-driven business or care about how the community perceives your brand (and you better do :)), her talk is a must-go. NumFOCUS is operating on a vast scale: 50 sponsored projects and 60 affiliated projects, including some of the world's most popular open-source projects like NumPy, Scipy, Jupyter, and Pandas. There is definitely a ton to learn from NumFOCUS and Katrina.

I can't wait to share more of the content from the conference itself! I expect no less than an unforgettable experience!