Free one-day community conference for Microsoft data platform and Azure professionals at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in Sankt Augustin, 11 July 2026, with pre-conference workshops on 10 July. Part of the global Data Saturdays series, covering data management, analytics, business intelligence, AI and cloud architecture.
Data Saturday Rheinland 2026 is the 84th event in the global Data Saturdays series, a community conference format for professionals working with Microsoft data platform technologies. It is the 11th edition held at the Campus Sankt Augustin of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, near Bonn in Germany, and runs free of charge from 8:30 to 17:00 on Saturday 11 July, with a paid-workshop pre-conference the day before. Organised by Datamonster e.V. UG Rheinland in partnership with the university, it covers data management, cloud and hybrid architecture, analytics, business intelligence and AI for practitioners working with SQL Server, Azure Data Services and the broader Microsoft stack. It sits within the Developer AI circuit tracked by Events Index.
Data Saturday is a community-driven conference series that replaced the long-running SQL Saturday format. Events run in dozens of cities globally, each independently organised by local volunteer groups. They share a common format: free admission, practitioner-led sessions, community sponsors covering costs. This makes technical education accessible to data professionals regardless of employer training budgets. The Rheinland edition serves the Bonn, Cologne and broader NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia) data community, and its long run at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, 2026 marking the 11th edition on that campus, makes it one of the more established German stops in the series. Sister editions elsewhere on the Developer AI circuit include Data Saturday Holland 2026, Data Saturday Oslo 2026 and Data Saturday Croatia 2026.
The 2026 programme covers the Microsoft data platform and Azure: SQL Server administration and optimisation, Azure data services (Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric), business intelligence and Power BI, data architecture patterns, AI integration with Azure AI services and Copilot, and cloud data governance. The organisers plan a format of five to six parallel tracks with five to six sessions each, including a dedicated student track and a beginner-focused track, drawing from full-day pre-conference training plus 60-minute standard and 90-minute extended sessions. Governance and AI-readiness on Microsoft Fabric and Purview feature in the 2026 line-up. Practitioners comparing this against other free community fixtures on the Developer AI circuit will find the same all-volunteer, sponsor-funded model.
The 2026 line-up draws on the Data Saturdays speaker community. Confirmed names on the pre-conference and main programme include:
The call for speakers closed in spring 2026 and the full accepted-session list is published on the event page and via Sessionize. As a community event, the roster is finalised close to the date rather than announced far in advance.
Community sponsors cover venue and catering costs so that admission stays free. For 2026 the confirmed tiers are:
Daten-WG, one of the Gold sponsors, is also a community organiser presence in the Rhineland data scene, which is typical of the reciprocal sponsor-organiser relationships that keep these events running. Sponsorship at this scale is operational funding rather than large-scale commercial exhibition; the event has no paid trade floor.
No independent press or trade-media coverage of Data Saturday Rheinland was found as of this verification. This is expected: Data Saturdays are small, volunteer-run community conferences funded by sponsors rather than ticket sales, and they do not operate a press office or issue accreditation. Visibility runs through community channels instead of mainstream outlets, mainly the official Data Saturdays site, the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg computer science department event listings, Sessionize for the call for speakers, and personal blogs and social posts from participating speakers after the event. Readers seeking a record of what was presented should check speaker blogs and the event page rather than press archives. Any attendance and track figures cited here are organiser or university estimates, not independently audited numbers.
Data Saturdays is a global series of free community conferences for Microsoft data platform professionals. Events are independently organised by local volunteer groups in cities across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The series took over from the SQL Saturday brand. Events are typically one day, free, and hosted at university or corporate venues.
No. While SQL Server is a core topic, the event covers the full Microsoft data and analytics platform including Azure Data Services, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, AI/ML integration and data architecture. Anyone working across the Microsoft data and analytics stack will find relevant content.
Yes. Free events in the Data Saturdays series typically require registration through Eventbrite to manage capacity. Register at the Eventbrite link provided by the organiser.
The conference is held at the Campus Sankt Augustin of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, a university of applied sciences. Address: Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany. The campus is in Sankt Augustin, between Bonn and Siegburg. From Bonn Hauptbahnhof: direct regional train to Siegburg/Bonn station, then S-Bahn or bus to Sankt Augustin (approximately 20-25 minutes total). From Cologne: S-Bahn to Troisdorf, then connection to Sankt Augustin.
Datamonster e.V. UG Rheinland is a German non-profit community organisation for Microsoft data platform professionals in the Rhineland region. It organises Data Saturday Rheinland in partnership with the computer science department of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, which has hosted the event 11 times. The volunteer organiser side is run by Oliver Engels and Tillmann Eitelberg of Datamonster; on the university side, Prof. Dr. Harm Knolle and Moritz Balg coordinate the campus hosting. Registration is handled through Eventbrite and the speaker programme through Sessionize, both standard community tooling for the Data Saturdays series. This is the same organiser team behind the long-running Rhineland edition, one of the more consistent German stops on the wider Developer AI circuit.
Data Saturday Rheinland is a free community-run Microsoft data platform conference, part of the global Data Saturdays series, bringing practitioner-level Azure content to the Rhineland region at no cost.
Free admission. Register at Eventbrite: eventbrite.de/e/data-saturday-rheinland-2026-tickets-1986885829000. Pre-conference workshops on the day before may have separate registration; check datasaturdays.com for details.
From Bonn Hauptbahnhof: Regional train to Siegburg/Bonn (S-Bahn S19 or RE), approximately 20 minutes, then bus to campus. From Cologne Hauptbahnhof: S12 S-Bahn to Troisdorf, then connection, approximately 30-35 minutes total. Campus address: Grantham-Allee 20, 53757 Sankt Augustin.
Yes. Pre-conference workshops are offered. Details and registration are published at datasaturdays.com for this event.
Recordings are not standard for Data Saturdays community events; some sessions may be recorded at the discretion of speakers. Check the event page and speaker social media channels after the event.
| Event page | https://datasaturdays.com/Event/20260711-datasaturday0084 |
| Register | https://www.eventbrite.de/e/data-saturday-rheinland-2026-tickets-1986885829000 |
| Data Saturdays | https://datasaturdays.com/ |