We are only 58 days away from the 2019 Disney Data & Analytics Conference that is taking place at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida.   That is only 1,392 hours from now (not that I am counting or anything) and we at the Big Data Beard are wicked excited!  

 

Last year, was our first year as a media partner of Disney and the theme last year was “Make Analytics Roar” which was based on the Lion King.  Cory and I were blown away with the conference production value and entertainment that we know and love about Disney.  The conference kicked off with the “Festival of the Lion King” which was an amazing performance and medley of the Lion King.  
LionKink
Oh yeah… the speakers, topics and content were pretty freaking awesome too!  Last year, author of the book Freakonomics Stephan Dubner and MythBuster’s Adam Savage 2were the keynote speakers.  These sessions were some of the best I have been to in the 30+ conferences I have attended over the past couple years.  I honestly still tell people the stories that Stephan Dubner referenced in his keynote about  turkey mating and monkey economics.  
Cory and I also got to chat with some awesome technologists and leaders in the AI and analytics space.  If you haven’t checked out the podcasts that came from the 2018 DDAC then now is the time to get caught up!
AI Applied with Vikram Mahidhar 
Understanding SFDC’s Einstein role in AI
AI and Management come together in the classroom at Queen’s University
At this point, if you haven’t already, put down what you are doing and register for the conference before it gets sold out!  If you use “Promo-BigDataBeard-2019” you save 20% off your conference pass.  That is almost $500 dollars off… you can’t get a better deal anywhere! Use this link to register with the conference code.
 
Now that you are back, let’s take a look at what the 2019 conference has to offer.
This year’s conference will bring together over 2,000 executives, managers, and analysts representing over 250 companies and universities, plus all segments of The Walt Disney Company (including Parks, Experiences and Products, Media Networks, Studio Entertainment, and Direct-to-Consumer and International). Attendees represent an array of analytic disciplines including Revenue Management, Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Finance, Research, Technology, Data Management, and Decision Science.
Just like last year, DDAC will feature a keynote speaker for each day of the conference and this year’s line up is even better than last years!
On day 1, the keynote speaker will be Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III aka Sully from the “Miracle on the Hudson”.  Sully believes “the facts tell us what to do, but it is our humanity which tells us that we must do something and why we must do it.”  I like this premise and can’t wait to hear him share is experiences from being in the Military to landing the plane in the Hudson. 

 

Day 2’s keynote speaker however, is the one I am really looking forward to.  As a basketball fan and more importantly a Duke fan, I can’t wait to hear from Duke legend and HoF basketball player Shane Battier.  Shane had an amazing college basketball career and is a two time NBA champion with the Heat.  Now he is the VP of Analytics with the Heat where he leads the development of analytics to evaluate all talent, including college, free agents, and current Miami players.  

 

Disney always has a few surprises up their sleeves and from what I have heard this year will be a uniquely special conference.  I can’t share what the exact theme is yet but trust me, if you thought Lion King was cool last year, you are in for a real treat!  

 

So make sure you check out this conference, I promise you that you won’t regret it.  The Big Data Beard team will be there again this year so if you are attending, come find us, get some of our much coveted stickers and share your analytics story with us.  

 

If you want to be on the podcast, email me at Brett@BigDataBeard.com 
See you all in Orlando!
Brett