Every year around this time, I find myself genuinely excited about the Snowflake Summit. As someone who’s deeply involved in data and the Snowflake ecosystem, it’s always one of the highlights of my year. It’s not just another tech event—it’s an amazing opportunity to reconnect with our customers, meet new folks, catch up with friends across the industry, and dive into the latest innovations in data, analytics, and AI.

But, let’s be honest—this year again there’s almost too much good stuff happening. With 500+ sessions crammed into a few days, it’s practically impossible not to miss something great. I spent a decent amount of time going through the agenda, and while I don’t claim to have caught every single standout session, I wanted to do my best to help other data enthusiasts navigate the packed schedule.

I’ve put together this list of key trends and interesting changes compared to last year, plus a broader set of standout sessions that caught my attention. Hopefully, you’ll find this curated guide useful in planning your own summit experience.

Here’s what’s really standing out this year:

Key Trends and What’s Different This Year

1. The Rise of Agentic and Generative AI

One thing that immediately jumped out is how many sessions are about agentic and generative AI. There’s clearly a shift happening towards automation and smarter, autonomous solutions. Whether it’s no-code AI for business teams or fully automated data workflows, it seems like AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it’s genuinely reshaping how we work.

2. Iceberg and Lakehouse Innovations Are Hot

Apache Iceberg and open lakehouse architectures have definitely stepped up their presence this year. A lot of companies are sharing how they’re moving from traditional setups to more streamlined, efficient lakehouse environments. For instance, Dinesh Munusamy from Komodo Health will walk us through their practical experience moving to Iceberg, highlighting clear impacts on data efficiency and cost savings.

3. More Real Talk About Data Governance and Security

Data security, compliance, and governance have become even more critical, and you can see it clearly in this year’s sessions. Topics like real-time consent management, tokenization, and better data cataloging aren’t just side notes—they’re central to discussions this year.

4. A Stronger Focus on Practical ROI & Cost Optimization

It’s great to see sessions that are genuinely focused on the real-world ROI of data and AI investments. There’s a clear push towards showcasing practical methodologies, measurable outcomes, and smart ways to optimize costs using AI. Yours truly will be presenting two sessions—“Scaling Smart: How Okta and Komodo Health Use AI to Optimize Snowflake” and “Improving Your Snowflake Investment via Generative AI and Reinforcement Learning”—to share specific strategies that drive real financial impact.

5. Deeper Industry-Specific Insights

There’s also more tailored content than before, with sessions specifically designed for healthcare, financial services, retail, and telecom industries. This targeted approach makes it easier to find insights directly relevant to your own challenges and goals.

My Top Session Recommendations

Here’s an expanded set of specific session recommendations along with brief notes on why each is worth your time:

Agentic & Generative AI

• Improving Your Snowflake Investment via Generative AI and Reinforcement Learning (Thursday, June 5 | 10:30 AM – 10:50 AM PDT) — I’ll discuss how generative AI and RL can dramatically optimize workloads and control costs.
  
• Talk to Your Data: Integrating ChatMCP in the Cimpress Data Mesh with Cortex AI (Thursday, June 5 | 12:00 PM – 12:20 PM PDT, Basecamp North Theater 2) — Michael Theodoulou from Cimpress demonstrates intuitive conversational AI to streamline data interactions.
  
• Multi-Agent Opportunities for Data Modernization (Accenture) (Monday, June 2 | 1:30 PM – 1:50 PM PDT) — Practical insights into leveraging multi-agent AI for data modernization efforts.

• Elementum + Snowflake: Unlocking Business Value Through Agentic AI Automation (Monday, June 2 | 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM PDT) — See real-world applications of autonomous agents significantly reducing time-to-value for complex tasks.

Note that the last two overlap a bit so you may have to pick one.

Iceberg & Lakehouse

• Komodo Health’s Transition to Apache Iceberg for Modernizing Data Management (Wednesday, June 4 | 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM PDT) — Dinesh Munusamy shares valuable lessons from a large-scale transition to Iceberg, improving efficiency and cutting costs.
  
• Building an Iceberg Lakehouse for Snowflake (Monday, June 2 | 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM PDT) — Practical guidelines for integrating Iceberg tables into Snowflake environments.
  
• Maximizing Connected Data at T-Mobile with Apache Iceberg (Monday, June 2 | 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM PDT) — Learn how T-Mobile leverages Iceberg to unify batch and streaming data for enhanced performance.
  

Data Governance & Security

• Governing Consent for Scale and Performance with OneTrust (Monday, June 2 | 1:00 PM – 1:20 PM PDT) — Essential strategies for managing customer data privacy at scale.
  
• Affirm’s Approach to Payment Data Compliance and Access with Atlan (Monday, June 2 | 3:00 PM – 3:20 PM PDT) — A strong session on balancing data accessibility and stringent compliance requirements.
  
• How Capital One Uses Tokenization to Protect Data (Tuesday, June 3 | 12:00 PM – 12:20 PM PDT) — Advanced techniques in securing data with practical lessons from Capital One’s experiences.
  
• Unifying Data Cataloging & Security: Fortune Brands with ALTR & Alation (Tuesday, June 3 | 12:30 PM – 12:50 PM PDT) — See how streamlined data governance frameworks improve compliance and usability.
  

ROI & Cost Optimization

• Scaling Smart: How Okta and Komodo Health Use AI to Optimize Snowflake (Monday, June 2 | 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM PDT) — I’ll be on stage alongside data leaders from Okta and Komodo Health, discussing specific AI-driven strategies we’ve implemented together to significantly optimize workloads, improve governance, and control Snowflake costs.
  
• CarMax’s Move to Snowflake: 450+ Pipelines, 80+ TB Migration (Monday, June 2 | 4:00 PM – 4:20 PM PDT) — Valuable insights into efficiently migrating massive datasets and reducing operational complexity.
  
• How HubSpot Efficiently Manages Spend on Snowflake (Thursday, June 5 | 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM PDT) — Lessons on improving data asset performance and cost visibility across teams.
  

Industry Insights

• Executive Industry Booth Tours — Healthcare & Life Sciences (Monday, June 2 | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM PDT), Retail & Consumer Goods (Monday, June 2 | 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM PDT) — Tailored sessions for deep insights into industry-specific challenges and solutions.
  
• AI-powered Next Best Offer: Scaling Personalized Engagement for 50M Customers (Globe Telecom) (Tuesday, June 3 | 12:30 PM – 12:50 PM PDT) — Innovative use of AI in dramatically improving customer engagement at scale.
  
• Beyond the Basics: J.Crew’s AI-powered Retail Revolution (Tuesday, June 3 | 12:00 PM – 12:20 PM PDT) — Practical examples of AI transforming personalized retail experiences.
  

Real-Time and Operational Analytics

• Delivering On-Demand Metrics with Cortex Analyst at Azul Brazilian Airlines (Monday, June 2 | 1:00 PM – 1:20 PM PDT) — Gain insights into operational metrics management with real-time analytics.
  
• Transforming Out-of-Home Advertising: VIOOH’s Geospatial Innovation (Monday, June 2 | 2:30 PM – 2:50 PM PDT) — See how geospatial data significantly improves targeting accuracy and ad campaign effectiveness.
  
• Unifying Transactional and Analytical Data with Unistore (Monday, June 2 | 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM PDT) — Learn how businesses leverage Snowflake’s Unistore for streamlined analytics and real-time transactional data.
  

Developer & Innovation Sessions

• What’s New: Build, Test and Deploy Products with Developer Tooling (Thursday, June 5 | 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM PDT) — Exciting new features and best practices for developers working within Snowflake.
  
• Inside the Open Source Snowflake AI Toolkit (Wednesday, June 4 | 11:00 AM – 11:20 AM PDT) — Practical demonstration of powerful open-source tools for faster and more effective AI development.
  
• Creating Data Pipelines with Zero Touch (Okta) (Monday, June 2 | 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM PDT) — Learn how Okta’s data engineering team effectively automated complex data pipelines, dramatically improving efficiency.
  
• Fueling AI Innovation with Better Data Infrastructure (Airbyte & Symend) (Monday, June 2 | 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM PDT) — Understand how robust data infrastructure accelerates AI innovation and supports advanced analytics.
  
• Visual AI: Boosting Product Quality and Customer Experience (LandingAI) (Monday, June 2 | 1:30 PM – 1:50 PM PDT) — Explore cutting-edge use cases for visual AI in manufacturing and consumer product quality assurance. This one overlaps with the Okta sessions above, so you have to pick one of them.
  
• How DoorDash Revolutionized Accounting with Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud (Tuesday, June 3 | 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM PDT) — Real-world example of how DoorDash streamlined its financial operations through advanced analytics and automation.
  
• Driving Toyota’s Digital Transformation with Snowflake Cortex AI (Tuesday, June 3 | 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM PDT) — Deep dive into Toyota’s use of generative AI for digital transformation and operational efficiency. This session also overlaps with the DoorDash session, so I am torn too. They both sound pretty interesting.
  
• Whats New: Snowflake Intelligence and No-Code Agentic AI (Tuesday, June 3 | 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM PDT) — Learn about new features that simplify AI adoption and accelerate time-to-value without coding complexity.
  

I hope these recommendations help you make the most out of your Snowflake Summit experience. There’s a lot to explore, and I’m excited to catch up with many of you there!

Wrapping Up

Snowflake Summit 2025 promises to be a fantastic event filled with insightful conversations, innovative technologies, and valuable networking opportunities. With hundreds of sessions available, I hope this curated list helps streamline your planning, so you can spend less time choosing and more time enjoying the great content.

I’m personally looking forward to reconnecting with familiar faces, meeting new industry peers, and hearing about the exciting things you’re working on. If you happen to see me around, please don’t hesitate to say hello—I’d love to chat about data, AI, Snowflake, or anything else you’re excited about.

Have a great Summit, and safe travels to everyone joining us in person. See you in San Francisco!