in case you missed it

Like many others, I was in Las Vegas last week for the annual Tableau Conference. This was my second time attending, though it was a very different experience. In 2009, the conference was comprised of a few hundred people in Seattle. This year there were rumored to be twenty thousand attendees, who took over the Mandalay Bay, filled a stadium, and roamed the halls en masse bearing conference lanyards with a contagious enthusiasm for all things data.

Yes, there were a lot of people. But if we take the world of people-who-do-things-with-data, the energetic bunch gathered amidst bright lights and loud music in the desert represents a small fraction. With this post, I’d like to bring the bits of the experience in which I took part to you. I’ll keep the words to a minimum and let the videos and photos do their job.

This is unlike anything I've ever experienced! #data19 pic.twitter.com/qWjTMw12Cj

— Cole Knaflic (@storywithdata) November 14, 2019

I thoroughly enjoyed presenting at the conference, with a session inspired by my kids:

Have you ever spent a ton of time perfecting a dashboard only to find it fall flat with your audience? Or served up data that you thought perfectly answered the question posed, and been met with requests for more data? The solution to these problems-believe it or not-is paper.

SWD data storyteller Mike Cisneros delivered a stellar presentation with Lilach Manheim to a packed room:

In this session, two Zen Masters well-known for their design expertise will outline an approach to making exceptionally successful visual products in Tableau. You'll hear about how great designs are built, what decisions designers are making during the creative process, and, most importantly, how EVERYONE who uses Tableau can become better and more consistent designers.

I joined Andy Cotgreave for a livestream interview where we discussed my presentation and related topics:

Uploaded by Tableau Software on 2019-11-15.

I chatted with The Big Book of Dashboard authors for the podcast—big thanks to my producer husband, Randy, for making us sound good (and carrying the mics! that’s him on the right):

A highlight of the conference for me was an impromptu book signing at the Wiley booth—it was great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones (big thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello!).

Avoiding Data Pitfalls, Let’s Practice!, The Big Book of Dashboards, storytelling with data, and #MakeoverMonday

From left: Andy Kriebel, Jeff Shaffer, me, Ben Jones, Steve Wexler (missing: Eva Murray, who joined post-photo and Andy Cotgreave who was busy with official TC duties); thanks to our editor-in-common, Bill, and Wiley colleagues Jean-Karl & Sam for all of their help!

Overall, I left the conference energized for what is and what is possible. I hope these snippets from lively Las Vegas have the same effect on you!