Greetings! I have had the great honor to be asked to Live Blog the Keynotes for the PASS Business Analytics Conference here in Chicago. Behold!

All set for the keynote to start.

PASS President Bill Graziano taking the stage.

Gartner: Business Intelligence is growing faster than any other business area.

Connect-Share-Learn: Working together is key for success.

Virtual PASS Chapters rock. Take geography out of the equation.

…and the puns just keep on coming…

HUGE thanks to Sponsors and Exhibitors. This couldn’t happen without you!

Matt Wolken from Dell taking the stage to discuss the promise of Analytics.

Dude, you’re getting a Dell.. keynote speaker. Cool.

Who is the “average” social media user? Unlike Trix, it’s not just for kids.

Key social media users are those that control the money/budget.

People closest to the action ARE the authority today.

Analytics used to be about executives looking back. Now it is about finding new customers.

Companies implementing BI are 13% more profitable than their peers.

57% of all CIOs say they plan to expand BI this year or next.

Business Analytics shifting to be seen as a revenue source. People work for your company; your data should work too.

Data no longer sourced just INSIDE organizations. So much out there you can bring in to complement what you already have.

“Dell now has software”

Now consuming many different types of data: structured, semi-structured, text, etc… How to manage all that at once?

SO much data sprawl in organizations. People have their own versions of truth their way. Key is to integrate and share.

Dell has been one of the leaders in listening for the brand via social media. What are people asking? What can we do about it?

Dell is turning data on conversations into actionable insight. Stay ahead of the curve to change features before issues arise.

Microsoft speakers Amir Netz and Kamal Hathi taking the stage now.

Amir’s parents spent 6 months salary to buy him his first computer, an Apple IIc with TWO disk drives.

That experience changed his life and led to working with Data.

That story is prime example of an investment in enabling users. The payoffs are there.

Kamal discussing his history with CompuServe. Lots of data there, which led him to Microsoft.

So many idea in data now. How can a business user make sense of what tools to use when there are so many? Simplicity.

Behold: the Spreadsheet. Back to Excel. #ISeeWhatYouDidThere

Data Explorer taking the stage now. Again, finding data from Outside the Organization to complement that from Inside.

Data Explorer is essentially collaboration with the world via the Internet.

THIS is AMERican Idol data. Very big data.

Advertisements for the Model T were not about driving. They are about tinkering and tools. Mechanics.

Contrast with recent BMW ads: The Ultimate Driving Machine. Different focus.

The Elephant is in the building. HDInsight for the win. #hadoop

Let Excel turn your data into information. Turn raw data into columns for ease of use.

What kind of Pivot? Well, #PowerPivot, of course!

Simplicity: Working with Big Data in Excel without dealing with MapReduce, or any of the other dev tools, etc. Excel can do it.

Amir’s kids created their first slide deck in third grade. But have never seen a slide projector before. #TechnologyChangesPeopleDont

BI nowadays is like a slide projector. You need professionals to make the slides. Costs money and time.

We need to do the same thing with BI that PowerPoint did to the slide projector. SIMPLIFY IT.

Amir’s Son: “Kids know nothing about Business; even Intelligence is suspect!”

Ahh… Power View! Kids know PowerPoint today. Behold: Power View. Love it.

VISUALIZE data. A picture is worth a thousands. Sometimes cliches are so common for a reason. #TrueStory

Billboard Top Ten from various countries in Power View: Paul Anka puts Canada on the map! what about Rush??

Who does Australia have? MVP Rob Farley! @rob_farley

Key takeaway from visualizing Billboard music data? SO many songs popular in the US come from outside the country!

So, is the Billboard Top Ten the Data Explorer of the music world? Looks like it can be.

Analyzing artists by weeks on the Billboard charts. Using Power View to find the greatest artist of all time?

Visualizing data can help you overcome your preconceptions. This is KEY for quality use of analytics.

Amir’s story of ULTIMATE user acceptance? A fist-pump from his son. #AwesomeSauce

Why all the enthusiasm about Power View? FUN. #TotallyAgree

Amir: BI is elective. Nobody FORCES people to use BI. FUN can be the first step to true ROI.

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. Well, you can sure make him thirsty. Fun + BI = user acceptance.

Analyzing Tweets. Find out WHEN people are tweeting, not just what they are tweeting about. Gold mine.

What kinds of events make people tweet about your business? Get insight to drive strategy.

Truly advanced tech should be indistinguishable from magic? Try Data Science. The data is there. Use it.

Which has more impact? Positive sentiment or negative? Business Analytics can help you find out!

Kamal: Twitter has replaced TV.

American Idol contestant the Judges don’t like consistently generates positive sentiment in Tweets. Power to the People. #democratization

“Faster Insights for everyone, on ALL data” #Booyah

Kamal: Adding #GeoFlow to Excel. Bring it.

Showing 3-dimensional model of the globe in Power View. Turns dots into bars! BI-Candy!

Amir showing #geoflow on a touch screen. Data at your fingertips! Literally. Stunning.

Amir: The story we just told you for the last hour? Let’s do it in two minutes. #awesome

Amir: the Dick Vitale of #msbi #marchmadness

Amir: BI has to be something that everybody can use. BI need not stand for Business Intelligence. It needs to stand for Basic Intelligence.

[liveblog]