Ryan McKinley, VP of Applications at Grafana Labs, shared insights at the InfluxDays conference on integrating real-time data into Grafana dashboards, drawing from his experiences at Natel Energy and a residential solar company. He highlighted the challenges and solutions in streaming sensor data, such as using roll-ups with Influx and integrating custom components in Grafana dashboards. McKinley explored how to manage inexpensive devices by streaming real-time data while maintaining aggregate data in the cloud, leveraging Grafana's evolving query interface for continuous updates. He introduced features like the "From Time" data source to enhance query flexibility and emphasized the importance of efficiently managing data across multiple panels without redundant queries. McKinley expressed a focus on adapting Grafana for industrial applications, aiming for real-time feedback and minimal steps to integrate with SCADA systems, as he transitioned to Grafana Labs to concentrate on industrial and analytic solutions.