Over the past week, I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with smart, funny, and crazy people who are all obsessed with a bit of tech: Tableau.  Whether they are Tableau employees or Tableau Community: we all share 1 common thread: helping people see and understand their data with a beautifully simple, elegant piece of software.

Do you think it’s possible to measure the impact the community has on Tableau?  I’m sure that Tableau could somehow map its customer spend vs people who attend the conference, or those that participate in community activities like TUGs, forums, Twitter, Tableau Public, and challenges like Makeover Monday, Workout Wednesday, Sports Viz Sunday .. but how do we as a community, measure it?  Is it in the feels? On a scale of 1-10 how do you feel the community has helped you progress*, where 1= not at all or 10= completely!  Take a moment to ponder that…

For me: the community has completely changed my life.  I’ve been able to deliver some amazing things for the companies I’ve worked at: and most recently, I’ve announced I’m joining the dream team at JLL: all winged in by the infamous Paul Chapman.  Conference was a great opportunity to catch up with Paul, Simon Beaumont, and James Baker.  It was amazing to see them present, and inspirational that I’ll get to swap ideas and collaborate from opposite sides of the globe.

Back to TC18. From the moment I arrived at Sydney airport, ready to depart, I was surrounded by people who share my passion for data. Some were lucky to have their trip funded, others self-funded: all with hard core dedication to their own development, networking, and understanding of trends in market.

The weekend was spent acclimatising (socialising). Nuff said.

On Monday I had the first of many Tableau activities: a new addition to the line-up at conference: Braindates.  I forward planned my ‘dates’ so they were compressed to the morning, and boy did I get the ‘feels’.

#toptip: Adam Grant, this year’s keynote speaker described grouping giving of your time together as ‘chunking’.  Adam explained that clustering the time that you dedicate to helping others will make you happier than if you ‘sprinkle’ it across the week.   Chunking also helps “givers” avoid burnout.

During Braindates we discussed a bunch of topics:

• Creating Data Literacy Programs for Your People
• Negotiation 1.01
• Answering Tough Questions on your Feet

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Braindates were a massive highlight for me.  Conference is the one time of year I get to catch up with the global community in one place, and sometimes this means we get caught up in enjoying the scarce time we have together.  These sessions helped me make new friends, score a job offer (still going to JLL though!!), and get inspired by the passion and drive of 6 new friends.  I’d love to see the Braindates concept continue, even if we find a way to do it virtually.  Making new friends, sharing expertise, simply brilliant!!

Monday afternoon saw over 1000 people participate in Makeover Monday, with many people who’d never participated. What?! It was truly inspirational to see some new people get up and talk through their vizzes:  who can believe that people have the confidence to get up to speak in such a HUGE room, and talk through a viz that they have thrown together in 10 1 hour (amazing!!).  Eva & Andy give so much time and energy to the community, and have just published their first book – show your thanks for their amazing contribution and buy their book today!

Monday night kicked off with the Welcome Reception, Ambassadors, Zens and Devs on floats, lots of steps, a marching band, and celebrations! A particular highlight was when an Australian local, Dmitri (aka Mr Negroni), wandered in halfway through, and joined the procession.  On the flipside, my lowlight was attempting to throw beads and hitting people in the face (sorry, I’m a bit of a klutz). Shortly after the parade, we had the the Vizzies – it was exciting to see the community shine.  Congrats to all of the winners, with some talented folks winning two!!  Thanks to Em & Matt for organising and funding the awards. I know how wonderful it is to be recognised by the community, and it was obvious to see the winners feel that sense of delight that people had voted for them!

Then it was conference, and boy did the next 2.5 days fly by.  Keynotes with Adam, Frank,(thanks for the tip Nate), Andrew and Devs On Stage got the crowd going with lots of oohs and aaahs.  Tableau have done us all a solid favour and have blogged already about the new features  and roadmap we eagerly await.  They are also generous enough to open it up to you to watch!  Here’s keynote and Devs On Stage

Tableau are making things easier, cleaner and simpler.  We will get to insight faster and safer. 

I highly recommend catching up on the conference sessions online – everyone can access them on YouTube! Two sessions you don’t want to miss are from the two Paul’s (Banoub & Chapman).  Learn how you can save a bundle of cash by tuning in to Paul C, and if Server is more your gig, you can catch up on Paul B’s epic advice here.  Aside from these two sessions, I enjoyed heading to the Community A-Z with Lorna and Sarah Bartlett, and get my Server Admin inner geek out at the Server Admin User Group, and listen to Tamas’ advice on extensions.  

The majority of the time I spent at conference was hanging out in the Data Village, Zen Garden, and chatting to people.  Spending time understanding what people need help with, explaining what I need a hand with, and connecting.  Shout out to Steve Prokopiou and David Pires who were generous with their time, and Matt & Em for welcoming the crazy kiwis on to the Tableau Wannabe Podcast for our conference highlights.  I also got to live out one of my dreams: heading down the “catwalk”. Sarah Burnett & I decided it would be a great idea to get our best bluesteel on, and create: #crazycatsmeme vs #catmemes – it seemed funny in our heads, although we didn’t make it up on the big screen during keynote the next day (so maybe not!!).  Enjoy the gallery (I’m still keen to get a thumbs up or down)!!

Finally, I was lucky enough to present: Achievement unlocked | From rookies to rockstars – building capability through gamification.  Here’s that session on YouTube, and  if you want to catch up (ping me if you need help fi@vizchic.com).  A huge thank you to my mates who joined me, and missed their own appreciation lunch – it meant the world to me to have you in the front row!  Also, shout-out to Sarah and Banoub for helping me set up – you guys rock!  Dmitri for the fresh lemon and ginger hot drink, and Mark for the amazing intro.  And most of all, thanks for joining me if you had no idea what you were in for!  It was Thursday, so after Data Night Out, which is always tough – I loved your engagement throughout the session, and was chuffed with the Q&A – there were so many amazing questions.  I’m so grateful for everyone’s support! Aww warm fuzzies!!

Thanks Tableau, your amazing team put on the conference to beat them all.  Shout out to everyone who contributed, and made this the best year ever! If you’re reading this and you couldn’t make it, let’s find a way to make it happen for Vegas next year.

Looking back across the years, being part of this community, using this amazing product: my number is 10. That’s how much Tableau and its unique Community has rocked my life.  Tableau: To The Core! ❤

xoxo VizChic

*Progress means different things to different people.  But it’s something that makes us all feel great. Moving forward.  Has the Community helped you progress?

PS – couple of recommendations for great people to follow on Twitter who will totally rock this community over the coming year: Mark Kernke & Mindy Bruce (no pressure!!)