DAMA Days 2026 registration, exceptional speakers and workshops, in-person networking, and community connection from DAMA Minnesota.
Gathering Before the JourneyDear DAMA-MN Community, September is one of Minnesota's most recognizable transitions. The Minnesota State Fair has wrapped up another season of celebrating our state's agriculture, ingenuity, food, music, communities, and traditions. Students are returning to classrooms with fresh schedules and new possibilities. And overhead, Canada geese are beginning to gather, organize, and prepare for the long journey south. There is something familiar in all of that for data professionals. Good outcomes rarely begin at the moment they are needed. Harvest requires preparation. Learning requires a foundation. Migration works because direction, timing, shared signals, and coordinated effort matter. Trusted data works much the same way. Organizations do their best work when people prepare together: establishing shared meaning, strengthening quality, clarifying accountability, designing useful architecture, understanding risk, and creating the relationships that allow decisions to move with confidence. That is also what professional communities do for one another. In just a few weeks, our own community will gather for DAMA Days 2026. This year's conference is designed around practical learning, experienced practitioners, meaningful conversation, and the opportunity to spend two days with people who care deeply about making data work better for their organizations and communities. Some of the most valuable professional learning happens when people gather, compare experiences, ask better questions, and discover that someone else has been solving the same problem. DAMA Days 2026 registration closes September 20.
Signature Event
DAMA Days 2026: The Minnesota Data Community Is Gathering
October 6–7, 2026 · Shoreview Community Center · In-person only DAMA Days 2026 brings together data professionals, leaders, practitioners, educators, authors, sponsors, exhibitors, and community partners for two days focused on one shared objective: helping people create greater value from trusted data. This year's theme, Powering Data. Empowering People., reflects something we see every day in our profession. Tools and technology matter, but lasting data capability depends on people who understand the work, communicate across boundaries, apply sound practices, and build trust across the enterprise. Registration closes September 20, 2026. DAMA Days is an in-person event and will not be recorded. If you want to experience the sessions, workshops, conversations, exhibitors, networking, and community firsthand, please plan to join us in Shoreview. Registration Options
Member value: DAMA-MN individual membership is $50 per year, while member conference pricing is $50 less than non-member pricing. For professionals planning to attend DAMA Days, membership can effectively pay for itself while providing year-round chapter benefits.
Professional Value
Why Attend DAMA Days?Conferences are most valuable when the ideas continue working long after the event ends. DAMA Days is designed to give participants practical techniques, new perspectives, stronger professional relationships, and conversations they can carry back into their organizations. Come for two days. Leave with:
✓ Practical techniques you can apply when you return to work Whether you work in data governance, business analysis, analytics, architecture, AI, engineering, cybersecurity, master data, data quality, information management, or technology leadership, DAMA Days offers opportunities to learn from people facing many of the same organizational challenges you are.
The People Behind the Program
Learn From Exceptional PractitionersOne of the greatest strengths of DAMA Days is the people willing to share what they have learned. This year's presenters include executives, consultants, architects, governance leaders, educators, analysts, data quality professionals, technologists, published authors, and practitioners who continue doing the work every day. Their sessions are grounded in real organizations and real constraints: building governance programs, applying AI responsibly, improving data quality, modernizing analytics, designing enterprise architecture, communicating with executives, making data accessible, strengthening data products, and helping people turn information into action. A Remarkable Lineup of Data ProfessionalsTeri Hinds Natalie A. Ostrom Blake Creasey & Michael Sertich Stacey Rudoy Elisabeth Atherly Lana Peterson Ellen Brown Gordon Everest Barbara Monaco & John Zaharick Jaime Gallegos Andy Houdek & Andy Nash Maren Tuttle-Lau Tiffany Cavegn Meenu Howland Carmen Olsen
Wednesday Afternoon · October 7
Go Deeper: Three Hands-On WorkshopsDay Two concludes with three concurrent workshops from 1:00–5:00 PM. These longer sessions create space to move beyond presentation into practical application, discussion, and takeaways participants can bring back to work. Workshop A · Hands-On AI
Building a Live Data Quality Dashboard with Claude CodeAndrew Ahlfield Build a working data-quality dashboard in a single afternoon using plain-English direction, a public dataset, quality rules, scorecards, and a shareable published result. No coding experience is required. Workshop B · Leadership
From Data to Decision: Communicating for Executive ActionNicky Espinosa Reframe a real data initiative around the business decision it enables, practice concise executive communication, strengthen your leadership story, and build an influence plan for moving work forward. Workshop C · Data Quality
Data Quality TechniquesDan Myers Learn how to define data-quality rules, communicate metrics, monitor results, select practical improvement techniques, and use LLMs to support anomaly classification and diagnosis. Two Days Designed Around Learning and Connection
Day One · Tuesday, October 6
Day Two · Wednesday, October 7 The schedule intentionally creates different ways to participate: listen, ask questions, compare practices, work through new techniques, sit for a certification exam, meet exhibitors, browse the book store, or simply have the conversation with another practitioner that helps unlock your next idea.
Why We Gather
The Conversations Between the Sessions Matter, TooEvery conference has presentations. What makes an in-person professional community valuable are the conversations that happen around them. An introduction over morning pastries can become a professional relationship. A question at lunch can uncover a solution someone has already tried. An exhibitor conversation can introduce a capability you did not know existed. A speaker may stay after a session to discuss how an idea might apply in your organization. A new member can meet someone who has been practicing the discipline for twenty years. DAMA Days includes morning connection time, catered buffet lunches, an Exhibit Hall and book store available throughout the event, and dedicated networking opportunities because we believe professional development includes learning from one another—not only from the podium. Communities are not built by websites. They are built when people gather around shared ideas, ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions, encourage one another, and leave better prepared than when they arrived.
Help Grow the Community
Help Us Fill the RoomIf DAMA-MN has helped you learn, grow professionally, prepare for a new opportunity, meet another practitioner, or think differently about the data profession, we would appreciate one simple favor: invite someone else into the community.
Forward this newsletter. If every DAMA-MN member invited just one colleague, hundreds of additional professionals could discover a community dedicated to advancing trustworthy data and the people who make it possible. We Hope to See You in OctoberThe State Fair may be behind us, schools may be back in session, and Minnesota's geese may already be thinking about warmer destinations—but before autumn moves too quickly, we have one more important gathering ahead of us. Communities are built one conversation at a time. Every registration, every new attendee, every returning member, every speaker, sponsor, volunteer, exhibitor, and partner helps strengthen Minnesota's data management community. Thank you for helping us grow something meaningful. We hope you will join us at DAMA Days 2026—and help us spread the word before registration closes on September 20. We look forward to seeing you in Shoreview. Warm regards, The DAMA-MN Board of Directors and Volunteers Questions, ideas, or suggestions? Contact us at info@dama-mn.org . |
Registration Deadline
September 20Registration for DAMA Days 2026 closes September 20. The event is in-person only and will not be recorded. Register Now
At a Glance
DAMA Days 2026
October 6–7, 2026 Symposium sessions, keynote, workshops, networking, exhibitors, book store, catered buffet lunch, and a Day Two onsite CDMP® exam opportunity.
Keynote Spotlight
Nicky Espinosa
Your Move, Boss:
Day Two Workshops
Wednesday · 1:00–5:00 PM
Building a Live Data Quality Dashboard with Claude Code
From Data to Decision: Communicating for Executive Action
Data Quality Techniques
Community & Networking
Make Time for ConversationMorning pastries, catered buffet lunch, the Exhibit Hall, book store, dedicated networking time, and informal conversations are all part of the DAMA Days experience.
Spread the Word
Invite a ColleagueKnow someone who would benefit from DAMA Days? Share the conference page, forward the newsletter, or invite someone from your team to attend with you. Share on LinkedInDAMA Days Quick LinksChapter Sponsors & Partners
DAMA-MN is proud to be affiliated with DAMA International and grateful for the sponsors and partners who support our growing data management community. |
DAMA International (DAMA-I) is a not-for-profit, vendor independent association of technical and business professionals dedicated to advancing the concepts and practices for data resource management and enterprise information. DAMA-I is the parent organization of DAMA-MN, and has over 70 chapters and thousands of members throughout the world.