What’s Happening in Data
Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Where data intelligence becomes the competitive advantage
The data landscape has new tenants. Autonomous AI agents now work alongside humans to assess, decide, and act on data in real time. Stay ahead in the race for data intelligence with What’s Happening in Data, the show that delivers the sharpest insights, breakthroughs, and actionable trends shaping today’s data-driven decisions.
In this series, we’ll spotlight the defining data trends of 2026, from the rise of autonomous data agents to instant edge processing, hybrid architectures, semantic layers and automated business intelligence. You’ll also get expert breakdowns on problems in data governance and AI-native architectures to help you build a scalable foundation to power tomorrow’s products and business decisions.
Designed for data leaders, engineers, analysts, and executives, What’s Happening in Data delivers pragmatic insights, real-world case studies, and strategic takeaways with zero fluff—giving you maximum insight in just 30 minutes.
What you’ll learn and how you can apply it
- Understand the data trends redefining AI, analytics, and decision-making
- Apply proven approaches to modern data architecture, governance, and real-time intelligence
- Build a scalable data foundation with practical strategies and real-world insights
This live event is for you because...
- You’re a data engineer or architect, or you work on a platform team building modern, scalable, and AI-ready data infrastructure.
- You’re a data analyst, BI professional, or technical decision-maker looking to turn emerging trends into practical business impact.
- You’re a data leader or executive who’s driving AI, analytics, and data strategy across the organization.
Prerequisites
- Come with your questions
- Have a pen and paper handy to capture notes, insights, and inspiration
Schedule
The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.
Tuesdays at 7:00am PT / 10:00am ET
- Interactive discussion and Q&A (30 minutes)
Your Hosts and Guests
Jordan Morrow
Jordan Morrow is known as the “Godfather of Data Literacy,” having helped pioneer the entire field. He is senior vice president of data and AI transformation for AgileOne, the author of four books on data, and the founder and CEO of Bodhi Data. He also served as chair of the Advisory Board for The Data Literacy Project. He has spoken at numerous conferences and helped organizations around the world, including the United Nations, build or understand data literacy.
Patrick McFadin
Patrick McFadin is a principal technical strategist at IBM, where he focuses on open data architectures for modern applications and AI. A longtime Apache Cassandra committer, ASF member, and data infrastructure strategist, he has spent his career helping engineers build systems that survive real-world scale. Patrick is also coauthor of Managing Cloud Native Data on Kubernetes (O’Reilly) and a frequent speaker on distributed systems, databases, and developer experience.
Matt Housley
Matt Housley, a data engineering consultant and cloud specialist, is cofounder of Ternary Data, where he leverages his teaching experience to train future data engineers and advise teams on robust data architecture. After some early programming experience with Logo, Basic, and 6502 assembly, he completed a PhD in mathematics at the University of Utah. Matt then began working in data science, eventually specializing in cloud-based data engineering. Matt, Joe Reis, and their guests pontificate on all things data on The Monday Morning Data Chat.