FabCon 2026 was last week at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, and this year it paired with the new SQLCon for two conferences in one! Like many, this was the most rewarding data conference I’ve been to.
What made FabCon 2026 great?
Simply stated, the strong sense of community. 8,000 attendees but you were just a handshake and hello away from knowing anyone and everyone. Even as large as the GWCC is (if you haven’t been, it’s enormous!), every corner turned revealed people in hallway sessions conferring over new feature announcements, helping one another with work challenges, or catching up with old friends.
All of that speaks volumes about the work of so many user group leaders, MVPs, speakers, and Microsoft employees whose work it is to create context for community throughout the year around the products we use in our daily work.
Atlanta as a host city was so much better than Vegas. That said, I did like how everyone – speakers, Microsoft staff, vendors, and attendees – were all in the same hotel in Vegas. But Atlanta brought so many other positives that far outweighed the one nod for Vegas. Firstly, having the attendee party at the Georgia Aquarium was so much fun! Plus a wide variety of dining options near the conference center. May I recommend:
Blossom Tree – A small Korean eatery, so good I ate there 2 nights in a row!
Skol Brewing Company – northern themed brew pub. Minnesota to be specific. good variety of food, including burgers and cheese curds, along with Skol brews.
Meehan’s Public House – quaint spot for a shepherd’s pie and a pint
The Food Shoppe – another small spot, this time for Creole.
New features and new products! I mean, it had to come up at some point! You can read about the big feature announcements here. The new Plan tool that’s a part of Fabric IQ intrigues me. It was announced stating that it will disrupt the financial planning space like Power BI did the BI space. That’s a big statement! Admittedly, I do look forward to kicking the tires to see what it’s all about.
The most exciting features, for me, came from the Power BI Visuals Corenote from Zoe Douglas and her team. You can read more about those on the Power BI roadmap. Table visual custom totals, fixed column widths on tables and matrices, updated formatting options for series labels (including leader lines) are all great adds that will enhance the report layer.
There are so many features that I could talk about, but one thing really stood out about the week…
Presenting! At the beginning of 2026, if someone told me I would be presenting at FabCon 2026, I would have thought it a joke. I literally thought there was a 0% chance of either of my submissions getting selected. What a surprise to awake one morning to find congratulatory messages from friends! This presentation was truly an exhilarating experience. I’ve never felt as much adrenaline or imposter syndrome as I did on Thursday anticipating my presentation. And I am truly humbled that over 300 people wanted to hear me ramble about DAX for an hour, especially in the company of such smart company. I certainly hope that I’m not a one hit wonder, but if so I am grateful for the opportunity. Would I do it again? Absolutely YES!
In Closing
FabCon 2026 has ended, but I’m already looking forward to FabCon 2027. And admittedly sad that I won’t be able to attend FabCon Europe 2026 in Barcelona. If you’re a Fabric or Power BI user, make it a point to join us at FabCon next year in Atlanta, and say “Hi!” when we bump into each other!
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