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SQLBits seeks content that falls into the following themes, covering the full spectrum of job functions and skills performed by data platform professionals.

It is important to select the right theme for your session from the outset; not only does it ensure that delegates can easily find it when searching the agenda, it also ensures the session is sent to the right team at SQLBits to be assessed during the selection process.

If your session falls into two or more themes, please choose the primary and secondary themes on submission. On rare occasions the SQLBits team will reassign your session’s theme if we feel it fits better into a different theme. 

AI –Discover how organizations can leverage data to make smarter decisions and drive success using AI. Covering cutting-edge tools and techniques for seamless AI deployment and monitoring, including the full ML lifecycle, model monitoring, and data governance. Learn how intelligent agents and AI copilots are transforming business automation, with a focus on the importance of high-quality, accurate data—providing insights on how to make these tools work for any organization while also addressing the challenges and potential pitfalls to ensure AI systems run smoothly and deliver real impact.

Analytics – Dive into the world of data with the Analytics theme, where you’ll help attendees understand cutting-edge data platform design & architecture, innovative & robust data engineering, and tackle real-world challenges such as managing data quality, ensuring data security, and optimizing performance.  Help to break-down and explain the seamless integration of deployment, implementation, and CI-CD processes, alongside monitoring and administration.  Showcase the capabilities of real-time streaming and the tried-and-tested method of batch processing.  This theme encompasses a wide array of analytics data platform services, including Microsoft Fabric, Real-time Streaming, Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, SQL Server BI, and more.

Application Development – Covering the full software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through to putting the software into the hands of the users. Help attendees learn how to leverage tools such as AI copilots to write better code and robust tests, use new techniques, architectural patterns, or frameworks. Help them improve quality, reduce failed releases, and speed up delivery no matter which language they use.

DataOps & Automation – DataOps is the art of getting data into the hands of those who need it through tools and techniques allowing them to reduce the time to value for users, whether it is with data pipeline technology like ADF, Airflow, Fabric Pipelines, or Glue. Show attendees how they can leverage automation technologies to move data between source and destination faster and how metadata driven data pipelines can be used to handle schema evolution or combine database change with ETL/ELT or semantic model changes into seamless deployments.

Data Science and Machine Learning –Understand the latest breakthroughs in Data Science, Machine Learning, and Generative AI. Dive deep into cutting-edge tools and technologies, including intelligent agents, and advanced techniques designed to solve real-world problems with greater efficiency, accuracy, and innovation. Learn how to develop projects from inception to full-scale production, covering every step of the Data Science pipeline—from data collection and processing to model development and deployment. Explore how advanced tools and technologies, such as automation, AI copilots, and predictive models, enhance and transform Data Science processes at every stage. Whether addressing complex challenges or optimizing everyday tasks, gain insight into how these advancements are reshaping industries, improving decision-making, and driving significant impact across various sectors.

Data Transformation and Integration – This theme consists of topics related to engineering in data platform architectures at all scales. Tools and techniques for ingesting and transforming data from a wide variety of sources are found here, for purposes such as business intelligence, data science, data migration and others. Data pipelines, warehouses, lakehouses and related technologies feature prominently in this theme. 

Decision Makers and Leadership –Content for the Leadership track should include topics that inspire attendees and prepare them with the soft skills to be effective managers and the knowledge to be better leaders in a data centric environment. Example sessions for soft skills could include leadership styles and best-practices; strategies for creating diverse teams, navigating hiring and team building; and skills for managing remote teams.  Sessions could cover developing skills regarding emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, decision-making, encouraging innovation, and creative problem solving. Sessions on leveraging technology for leadership, such as using data analytics for decision-making or selecting the right technologies for your team & business, would be highly relevant for SQL Bits attendees.

Databases – This theme is dedicated to those with on-premises estates, Cloud based Virtual Machine estates, or Azure SQL Databases , AWS and Google Databases.  As well as those who must co-ordinate large-scale data-mesh architecture operations. The theme will be comprised of topics related to the administration, installation, maintenance, and management of data estates including Performance Tuning as well as topics about data ingestion, transformation, and processing within a large-scale data mesh architecture. Data Factory, Synapse data warehousing, and Synapse Data Engineering will be found in this topic.

Reporting and Visualisation – In today’s data-driven world, the ability to transform data into compelling, digestible information and insights is a necessity. This theme encapsulates visualisation subjects such as user experience design, storytelling and interactivity, real-time dashboards, custom visuals and accessibility considerations. Beyond visuals this theme also covers data preparation and customisation through Power Query and DAX, performance tuning and best practices for report sharing, collaboration, and security within the Power BI ecosystem.

Soft Skills – Always a popular topic, this theme will navigate the essential aspects of professional and career development with sessions covering interpersonal skills, diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI), and collaborative communication skills across diverse teams. 

Conference passes: Speakers will get access to the conference for each day they are presenting, plus one extra day’s access. Access to training days is not included, and extra days can be added on and purchased during the registration process.

Hotels: Speakers will get one night’s accommodation for each day they are presenting a session of 50 minutes or more, plus one extra night’s accommodation. Our partner hotels for 2025 are either the London Docklands Premier Inn or the DoubleTree By Hilton London Excel. 

You must book your accommodation through the SQLBits registration portal, where you can also add on any additional nights or upgrades required at your cost.  We can’t offer refunds on any hotel bookings made outside of the SQLBits portal.

If the session has multiple speakers, the secondary speakers will have access to the event on the day they are speaking but do not get a hotel room unless the session owner gives them their room. 

20 Minute Sessions

If you are the session owner of ONLY a 20 minute session you will get access to the event on the day you are presenting but will not get a hotel room.  We hope that most 20 minute sessions will be presented by those already presenting a longer session.

Please refer to our FAQs for scenarios to help clarify this.

Submit your session via SQLBits Sessionize.

Please see our FAQs for guidance on what we are looking for from your abstract. If you have a strong preference for a specific day please let us know on submission and we will do our best to accommodate.

Please take particular care for 2025 when submitting that your abstract really does reflect the content of your session; we received an increased amount of feedback for 2024 that a number of sessions were not in line with the abstract.