Some of the topics covered at Data Day Texas 2026

This is an informal fuzzy guide to some of the topics covered at the final edition of Data Day Texas.
We are still waiting on data from some of the speakers, and will continue to add sessions to this list.

Lakehouse & Open Table Formats

What Apache Iceberg is Bad At …. For Now - Russell Spitzer
Designing an Apache Iceberg Lakehouse: From Requirements to a Stakeholder-Ready Architecture - Alex Merced

Agentic AI & Autonomous Systems

The Enterprise of the Future Runs on Ontologies: Making AI Agents Actually Work - Adriano Vlad-Starrabba
LLMs Expand Computer Programs by Adding Judgment - Jonathan Mugan
Agents are eating the semantic layer - Paul Blankley
AI wants to do your data engineering work for you. Should you let it? - Ciro Greco
How to Hack An Agent in 10 Prompts: and other true stories from 2025 - Matthew Sharp
The Future Cognitive OS Uses a Knowledge-Based Semantic Layer - Jans Aasman
AI for Business Analytics: the Time is Now - Ryan Boyd
Agentic AI Without the Lawsuits: What Actually Works for Web Automation - Sarah McKenna / Casey O'Neill

Context Engineering

Context > Prompts: Context Engineering Deep Dive - Lena Hall
Brokk: Context Engineering for Large Codebases - Jonathan Ellis

Ontologies / Metadata

The Enterprise of the Future Runs on Ontologies: Making AI Agents Actually Work - Adriano Vlad-Starrabba
Scar Tissue: Lessons from 20 Years of Building Ontologies and Knowledge Graphs - Juan Sequeda
Code: The Untapped Metadata Source Driving Most Data Failures - Mark Freeman II
Think Like a Librarian: Fresh Perspectives for Data Teams from a Time-Honored Tradition - Jenna Jordan / Amalia Child
Agents are eating the semantic layer - Paul Blankley
The Future Cognitive OS Uses a Knowledge-Based Semantic Layer - Jans Aasman
AI for Business Analytics: the Time is Now - Ryan Boyd

Graph Databases & Visualization

Building G.V(): Why Graph Databases Desperately Need Better Tools - Arthur Bigeard
"Who Needs a Chart When You Can Just Chat?" - the role of data visualization in a post-LLM world - Christian Miles
Scar Tissue: Lessons from 20 Years of Building Ontologies and Knowledge Graphs - Juan Sequeda

Production Data / AI Engineering

Generative AI and Business Value: Why Corporate Deployment Falls Short - Bill Inmon
The Engineer's Guide to AI Strategy: Bridging the Gap Between Business and Technical Reality - Kierra Dotson
Local AI Saves People (Not Clickbait) - Chris Brousseau
AI wants to do your data engineering work for you. Should you let it? - Ciro Greco
Agentic AI Without the Lawsuits: What Actually Works for Web Automation - Sarah McKenna / Casey O'Neill

Database - Systems & Performance

Rewriting SQLite in Rust. Here's What We've Learned. - Glauber Costa
Stop Guessing, Start Measuring: A Decade of Database Experimentation and Tuning - Jon Haddad
The Joy of SQL - If Properly Implemented - Hannes Mühleisen

AI Security & Red-Teaming

How to Hack An Agent in 10 Prompts: and other true stories from 2025 - Matthew Sharp
The Weaponization of AI, Its Impact on Organizations, and How to Respond - Trey Blalock

Better ML

Learning Beyond Language: A New Geometric Paradigm for Better ML - Alexandra Pasi

Data Visualization

"Who Needs a Chart When You Can Just Chat?" - the role of data visualization in a post-LLM world - Christian Miles

Data Products & Contracts

How to gather data requirements in 30 minutes or less - the Information Product Canvas - Shane Gibson
Hands-on Data Product: let's build a data product in 30 minutes (hands-on workshop) - Jean-Georges Perrin
Code: The Untapped Metadata Source Driving Most Data Failures - Mark Freeman II
I Built Pipelines. I Don't Trust Them Anymore. - Arvind Prabhakar

DataOps

DataOps Is Culture, Not a Toolchain - Matthew Mullins
Hands-on Data Product: let's build a data product in 30 minutes (hands-on workshop) - Jean-Georges Perrin
I Built Pipelines. I Don't Trust Them Anymore. - Arvind Prabhakar

Software Engineering

Code: The Untapped Metadata Source Driving Most Data Failures - Mark Freeman II
Brokk: Context Engineering for Large Codebases - Jonathan Ellis
Translingual programming - Joshua Shinavier
Agentic AI Without the Lawsuits: What Actually Works for Web Automation - Sarah McKenna / Casey O'Neill

Data Governance / Quality

Data Governance Keynote: Existence over Essence? Data Governance in times of AI - Winfried Adalbert Etzel
Hands-on Data Product: let's build a data product in 30 minutes (hands-on workshop) - Jean-Georges Perrin
Beyond the Tech Stack: Navigating the Complete Data Ecosystem - Dylan Anderson
Agentic AI Without the Lawsuits: What Actually Works for Web Automation - Sarah McKenna / Casey O'Neill

Business / Value

Generative AI and Business Value: Why Corporate Deployment Falls Short - Bill Inmon
2026 Trends: Building Foundations That Endure - Sanjeev Mohan
The Engineer's Guide to AI Strategy: Bridging the Gap Between Business and Technical Reality - Kierra Dotson
AI for Business Analytics: the Time is Now - Ryan Boyd

Career & Professional Development

The $1M Data Professional - Shachar Meir
Your Skills, Your Business: Layoff-Proof Your Career through Solopreneurship - Clair Sullivan
How Ideas Become Books: Inside O'Reilly and Data Thought Leadership - Aaron Black

Data Librarians

Think Like a Librarian: Fresh Perspectives for Data Teams from a Time-Heard Tradition - Jenna Jordan / Amalia Child

Data Teams and Culture

Think Like a Librarian: Fresh Perspectives for Data Teams from a Time-Honored Tradition - Jenna Jordan / Amalia Child
The Human Layer of Data: Why Trust Lives in the Work Behind the Numbers - Thais Cooke
DataOps Is Culture, Not a Toolchain - Matthew Mullins
Beyond the Tech Stack: Navigating the Complete Data Ecosystem - Dylan Anderson