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Download and Install Power BI Desktop
For our workshop, you’ll need to have downloaded and installed Power BI Desktop, from Microsoft’s site (or the Microsoft Store) and you’ll want a relatively recent version of it (the July 2024 version or later).

I highly recommend the Microsoft Store version, as it’ll update automatically for you whenever Microsoft updates it (usually once a month) and you’ll always have the most current version.

It’s free to download and install Power BI Desktop.
Power BI is currently Windows only. There is no Mac version of it (yet).
You’ll also want to make sure your laptop has at least 8 G of RAM (what Microsoft recommends), but honestly, 16 G is better.
Make sure Power BI is installed ahead of time.
Don’t leave this downloading and installation until the workshop. Do it ahead of time. We won’t have time to go through the download and installation process.
There is also an online version of Power BI, but it does NOT have the same functionality as Power BI Desktop, and a lot of the work we’ll be doing together in our workshop can NOT be done in the Online version. You need the Desktop version.
If you are using a work laptop, you may need to talk to your IT department to get it installed. Many IT departments make installations “admin only”.

Ask me if you run into issues.
If you have any issues downloading or installing it (or getting it to open), please contact me at joe@traversdata.com and I’ll help you out. If needed we can jump on a Zoom call together.
Again, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any issues downloading and installing Power BI desktop. You NEED this if you want to make a dashboard along with me in our workshop (which is the whole point of the workshop).