Snowflake Hands-On Lab – Springfield (Event Recap)

Presented by Zion Cloud Solutions & Snowflake Public Sector

Zion Cloud Solutions, in partnership with Snowflake Public Sector, successfully hosted an immersive Snowflake Hands-On Lab in Springfield on November 12th—bringing together data engineers, analysts, AI/ML practitioners, and technology leaders for a full-day deep dive into modern data engineering and applied AI.

The lab delivered a highly interactive, end-to-end learning experience where attendees worked directly inside the Snowflake platform, building real AI pipelines, performing data transformations, and operationalizing workflows that mirror real-world production environments.

What We Accomplished During the Lab

Participants didn’t just learn concepts—they built working solutions. The workshop was divided into two focused, hands-on sessions:

🔹 Part 1: Applying Generative AI with Snowflake Cortex AI

Attendees explored Snowflake’s newest AI capabilities and completed live exercises, including:

Extracting Intelligence from Unstructured Data

• Used Document AI (DocAI) to upload PDFs

• Extracted structured fields from unstructured text

• Built prompt-based extraction logic for real agency use cases

Conversational Data Analysis with Cortex Analyst

• Queried datasets using natural language

• Generated insights without writing SQL

• Explored how non-technical teams can drive analytics with AI

Model Customization Using Cortex Fine-Tuning

• Fine-tuned an LLM for specialized tasks

• Tested scenarios like medical code extraction, entity identification & document classification

• Evaluated improvements in accuracy and contextual understanding

This session highlighted how government and public-sector teams can accelerate AI adoption safely and efficiently—without managing external ML infrastructure.

🔹 Part 2: Building & Orchestrating Transformations with dbt in Snowflake

The second half of the lab focused on modern data transformation pipelines, where attendees:

Developed dbt Models Directly in Snowsight

• Created staging, intermediate, and curated layer models

• Validated transformations using built-in testing

Executed End-to-End Pipelines

• Ran dbt jobs

• Reviewed performance and data lineage

• Learned best practices for modular model design

Automated Pipeline Orchestration

• Scheduled dbt transformations using Snowflake Tasks

• Monitored task runs and logs

• Observed orchestration behavior across dependencies

By the end of the session, every participant had built a functional data pipeline—from ingestion to transformation—fully automated and ready for real-world deployment.

Who Attended?

This workshop brought in a highly engaged group of professionals, including:

• Data Engineers

• Data Scientists

• AI/ML Engineers

• Data Analysts

• Technical Managers

• Public-sector leaders exploring AI and data modernization

The mix of technical and leadership perspectives sparked valuable conversations about how modern data tooling can streamline operations, reduce manual workloads, and unlock mission-critical insights.

Event Details

📅 Date: Wednesday, November 12
⏰ Time: 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM CT
📍 Location:
Innovate Springfield – 3rd Floor Classroom
1 Horace Mann Plaza, Suite 300A
Springfield, IL 62715

Participants brought their laptops, and Snowflake trial accounts were provided to ensure everyone completed live exercises in the platform.

A Successful Day of Learning, Building & Innovation

The Snowflake Hands-On Lab empowered attendees to experience the full power of modern cloud data engineering and AI—firsthand and in real time. Zion Cloud Solutions and Snowflake Public Sector were proud to deliver a high-impact learning experience that turned complex technologies into practical, actionable skills.