We have had a crazy great year in 2018 talking with some of the greatest innovators and leaders from companies that are absolutely making Big Data a Big Deal.  That’s our mission with this whole podcast and media company we are growing here at the Big Data Beard and the ways that you our listeners have engaged with us and consumed our humble show is so encouraging to us as we look forward to more fun in 2019.

However, we can’t let 2018 end without doing a quick look back at some of the best  from a phenomenal year.  So here it is…

Also known as the “Chief Travel Officer” at Cloudera, Amr Awadallah joined us with a great beard of his own at Strata San Jose to discuss new tools making Data Science more collaborative and data access more ubiquitous.

We got real world advice on making Artificial Intelligence projects successful with the Genpact Cora Platform from Vikram Mahidar during Disney’s Data Analytics Conference.

Speaking of Disney Data Analytics Conference, we got a preview of this magical data conference and the innovations Disney is driving with Big Data from cast members Becky and Teddy.  Stay tuned for your chance to win a free pass to this conference in 2019!

In early 2018, we sat down with Scott Gnau at Hortonworks sales kickoff meeting to learn what priorities his organization was seeking to support for their customers in 2018 and where the Hadoop technology stack was headed.  See if his predictions were right and listen for any hints at what unfolded in 2018!

What an accurate title!  It is no surprise that our most listened to show in 2018 was with Doug Merritt…I mean the guy has been all over the news for his role leading the rocket ship that is Splunk.  Tune in to hear our conversation at Splunk .conf on how focus on customers and culture make for a winning combination for growth and innovation.

As we close out 2018, I want to thank you our readers and listeners for your continued support of our efforts to make an interesting show for you to enjoy.  The Big Data Beard team works hard to bring you great conversations and content and we look forward to doing more and doing it even better in 2019.  If you haven’t had a chance, check out our holiday message from the whole team.

Be sure to give us feedback this year on what you want to hear, who you want us to interview, and topics that are interesting to you!  Use comments below or find us on Twitter or Instagram!

Thank you for an great 2018 and cheers to the ride ahead in 2019!

You bearded friend,

Cory