On Friday, May 15, more than 1,000 data science pros gathered at Best Buy HQ in Richfield for Data Tech 2026. This was the ninth iteration of the popular conference exploring the latest emerging technology and its impact on data science.

“This year’s event was packed and a ton more people were taking the opportunity to share on social media, way more than previous years,” said John Hogue, MinneAnalytics board member and a chair of the event. “I still remain flabbergasted after years of hosting this event with how many new attendees we get every year. I think this is proof we aren’t preaching to the choir, we are converting the Minnesota masses.”

The conference schedule featured more than 70 speakers across 55 sessions, with a solid mix of business and technical content. As expected, AI was a big topic. This year, MinneAnalytics once again partnered with Applied AI to bring dedicated AI sessions to the event.

“If last year’s theme was ‘Wow! We can do things with LLMs that we couldn’t do before!’ then this year’s theme was ‘Build the structure right to unlock AI’s actual power in order to generate real value and not just slop,’” said Rachael Cassleman, a vice chair of the conference. “And then the speakers showed us how to do it.”

The schedule also included a panel discussion about the current data science jobs market, as well as sessions more focused on soft skills. This balanced out nicely with many of the more technical talks.

“Events like Data Tech are so rare in the scale, variety and cross-industry aspects,” said Hogue. “There really is nothing like it.”

As usual, Data Tech 2026 featured a Startup Showcase with pitches from seven startups, two special speakers, and a VC panel. This was the 18th startup showcase session organized by MinneAnalytics Board Member Graeme Thickins.

“What was especially notable this time was the interaction of the audience with the startups – and with each other – before, during breaks, and after the session,” said Thickins. “The buzzing was extraordinary!”

Participant feedback from the conference has been extremely positive, with more than 90% of survey respondents rating the conference as “excellent” or “very good.” The majority of participants also felt the conference hit the right balance between technical and business focused content. So what keeps MinneAnalytics conferences so relevant after all this time?

“What continues to differentiate MinneAnalytics is our authenticity and genuine desire to make a positive impact for our community,” said Sean Larson, MinneAnalytics cofounder and a chair of the conference. “MinneAnalytics will continue to offer world class professional conferences supporting our local data and analytics community.”

Thank you to everyone who made Data Tech 2026 possible, especially our amazing sponsors. Special thanks to our conference organizers John Hogue, Sean Larson, Graeme Thickins, Justin Grammens, Rachael Cassleman and Seth Kelly. And last but not least, Wes Strait and all of our wonderful hosts at Best Buy.

Check out photos from the conference here, and access many of the conference presentation decks here.