Award-Winning Economist and Best-Selling Author Dr. Steven Levitt to Keynote at the PASS Business Analytics Conference

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Award-winning economist Dr. Steven D. Levitt, co-author of the best-selling book Freakonomics and its sequel Superfreakonomics, will keynote at the inaugural PASS Business Analytics Conference in Chicago, April 10-12, leading an all-star speaker lineup from across the world of business analytics.

“We’re thrilled to welcome him to the PASS Business Analytics Conference as he shares his passion for data and encourages and challenges other professionals dedicated to finding meaningful information through analytics.”

A tenured professor in the University of Chicago's economics department, Dr. Levitt received the American Economic Association’s prestigious John Bates Clark Medal, given to the country's best economist under 40. When his Freakonomics – co-written with Stephen Dubner – hit the shelves in 2005, it became an instant cultural phenomenon, spending more than 2 years on The New York Times bestseller list and selling more than 4 million copies around the world in over 30 languages.

“Data tells important stories – a message Dr. Levitt has spread throughout the worlds of economics, business, and research,” says Douglas McDowell, PASS Executive VP and BA Conference committee lead. “We’re thrilled to welcome him to the PASS Business Analytics Conference as he shares his passion for data and encourages and challenges other professionals dedicated to finding meaningful information through analytics.”

Over 1,200 business analysts, data scientists, architects, and business analytics/business intelligence practitioners are expected to take part in the 2-day conference, which will deliver the real-world insights, prescriptive guidance, best practices, and strategic vision for successfully analyzing, managing, and sharing business information and insights through Microsoft’s collaborative BA platform.

Dr. Levitt’s Day 2 keynote and a Day 1 kickoff by Microsoft will punctuate a full schedule of technical sessions, customer and partner presentations, an exhibit hall showcasing the latest partner solutions, evening receptions, and networking opportunities designed to give attendees the contacts, tools, and expertise they need to get the most out of their organization’s data and information.

More than 20 community and Microsoft sessions are already confirmed for the main conference program, which will feature over 60 business and technical presentations across five topic tracks. Sessions will cover data discovery, data exploration and visualization, predictive analytics, big data, information architecture and delivery, collaboration, information strategies, and much more. You can see the current lineup on the conference Sessions page, with the full program to come later this month.

The event will also showcase five full-day pre-conference workshops with some of the industry’s top experts:

A Best Practices Cookbook for Data Mining – Mark Tabladillo and Artus Krohn-Grimberghe
Architecting the Next Generation Information Analytics Platform – Robert Skoglund
Big Data and NoSQL for Database and BI Pros – Andrew Brust
Collecting and Defining Users' Analytical Requirements – Mark Whitehorn
Power to the Business Analyst: Self-Service Microsoft BI – Peter Myers

For more information and to register at the discounted rate by January 25, visit http://passbaconference.com.

About PASS

PASS is an independent, not-for-profit association dedicated to supporting, educating, and promoting the global Microsoft SQL Server and Business Intelligence community. From local user groups and virtual chapters to webcasts and the annual PASS Summit, PASS enables knowledge sharing, in-depth learning, and the ability to influence the direction of Microsoft Business Intelligence and Analytics technologies. For more information, visit the PASS Web site at http://www.sqlpass.org.

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