Sessions

CEO Christian Chabot will kick off the conference by discussing his vision of the future, where visual analytics and business intelligence are headed, and your role in the revolution. He’ll also show how visual analytics is spreading not only to the general business population but also to the consumer population, enabling people to solve some of society’s most challenging issues. Don’t miss this inspiring start to the conference.
less -

Join Chris Stolte and his team of developers for another educational and entertaining session on using Tableau. One of the most popular sessions last year, you’ll meet and hear directly from the Tableau developers. This year, they’ll will be sharing tricks and tips on their favorite Tableau features and talking about new features being developed in the lab. A relaxed and fun chance to get to know the people behind the product.
less -

Visual data analysis is more than a great software tool like Tableau; it is a way of seeing. We can all learn to look at information in ways that open our minds to greater discovery and understanding. Unfortunately, what usually passes as data analysis results in an assortment of disconnected facts that are rarely woven into a meaningful fabric. This is a travesty, because simple data visualizations and interactions can immerse us in the flow of analysis. In this presentation, Stephen will demonstrate some of the core visual techniques for examining connections, similarities, and differences among quantitative data.
less -

Listen in as Stanford Professor, Pixar co-founder, Academy Award Winner and Tableau CTO Pat Hanrahan shares his latest thoughts about visualization. He’ll not only describe how visualization brings value to business but he’ll also explore how visualization is changing the world - and how you’re part of that change. Sure to be a thought-provoking session, Pat will leave you with ideas and questions you’ll be thinking about for days.
less -

Over the years presentation software such as PowerPoint has gotten better, but presentations largely have not. Why? Part of the problem has been a focus only on how to use the tools themselves rather than on how to clarify and amplify our ideas and messages through fundamental design and storytelling principles. In this talk, Garr will explore current popular presentation approaches and highlight techniques from some of the world’s top business leaders, turning conventional wisdom concerning presentations on its ear.

Garr's Presentation Zen approach challenges the conventional wisdom of making “slide presentations” in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Based on research from the cognitive sciences, combined with principles of graphic design, visual communications, and the world of Zen aesthetics.

Garr will dispel popular myths about what is an effective presentation and offer up effective alternatives and approaches for designing and delivering much better presentations. The lessons in this talk are not about dressing up presentations or decorating slides, they are about understanding and embracing concrete design and delivery principles that will help make your presentations clear, powerful, and memorable.
less -

Democratizing Data takes the vast quantities of data that are collected and stored by government and industry and that in the past has rarely been made available to organizations’ workforces and the public and makes them accessible on a real-time basis and with attached meta-data that makes them easily shared. Affordable BI dashboards, data visualizations and Web 2.0 social data analysis tools will transform entire workforces -- not just elites -- into knowledge workers, cutting operating costs, improving efficiency, and encouraging collaborative analysis & decision-making.
less -

Ninety percent of all business data analysis can be done using simple graphing techniques to discern meaningful patterns in data. The remaining 10%, which requires sophisticated statistical and financial analysis skills, are well addressed by available resources, but where are the resources that teach the skills needed by the rest of us? Even though these skills are easy to learn and apply with proper guidance, very few people involved in analyzing business data know them. This workshop provides a solution.

This course is intended for all those whose work requires them to make sense of quantitative business data. This audience is much broader than financial analysts, or even analysts by any name. This course provides practical skills that are useful to managers at all levels and to anyone interested in keeping a keen eye on the business. Anyone who uses Excel or any of the many other business productivity tools used for data access, analysis, and reporting, will learn how to use them productively, perhaps for the first time.

You will learn to:

This course covers:

If you're trying to convince someone (such as your boss) that it's worth your while to attend this course, the article The Power of Visual Analytics might be useful.
less -

Be one of the first to join the ranks of becoming a Certified Tableau Visual Guru. This course is for all types of users, whether you're the lone data soldier, or delivering powerful analytics for a world-wide audience. This course will teach you the product, inside and out, cover best practices for creating visualizations, touch on dashboard design, and dig into perfecting some of the more advanced applications. You’ll come away with:

This course will also include involved testing of skills and knowledge of all areas covered through written, verbal, and demonstrated tests.
less -

Are you new to Tableau? Do you want to learn the best practices using the latest version of Tableau? This hands-on session will provide an overview of Tableau functionality. You’ll learn how to:

Are you wondering how to take advantage of all the new features and functions set to release in version 5.0? In this hands-on session you will learn the basics of:

Are you wondering how to take advantage of all the new features and functions set to release in version 5.0? In this hands-on session you will learn the basics of:

Is your database unable to keep up with your speed of thought? Are you shipping large packaged workbooks or extracts? In this hands-on session you will learn how to leverage new features of Tableau 5.0 to make any set of data a high performance set of data. You’ll learn how to:

Are you a confident user looking to take your Tableau experience to the next level? Do you find yourself wanting to dig deeper into your data, but aren’t sure what to do next? In this hands-on session you will follow along as we show you how to maximize Tableau Desktop’s analytic potential using different calculation techniques. You’ll learn how to:

The inspiration for Tableau was the desire to build software that truly supports the way people reason about data visually. The key to visual analysis is the ‘cycle of visual analysis’ – the iterative process of asking questions, creating pictures, discovering new hypothesis, and foraging for data. In this talk, you’ll learn:

If you’re like a lot of people, you regularly face new data sets, new formats and new ways of structuring data - spreadsheets, big databases and everything in between. You’re asked to quickly understand the data, discover hidden gems, identify outliers and present findings back.

Come to this session and learn how Tableau sales consultants deal with the same situation: exploring new data. Fasten your seat belt – because you’ll learn how marry best practices in data visualization with the power of Tableau to effectively accomplish these analytical tasks in a short time frame and to maximize insight. You’ll also hear from Paul Krieger, a consultant who specializes in cleaning ugly data til it sparkles.

Digital Democracy is the concept that information should be accessible and understandable to the people who make decisions by it, whether the voters of a country or the people in a company. It’s gaining momentum in part through the efforts of the Obama administration and other governments to make information more transparent, but also through the efforts of companies that are decentralizing data so employees can make better decisions at all levels. Join David Stephenson, a thought leader in this field and Igor Kaludjer, a customer who is living the idea of digital democracy, for an open discussion of:

Human vision can help people work with data because it is a powerful information processing system. However, effective visual displays of data must work with the visual processing system, rather than against it. Design issues range from basic perceptual factors like color and contrast to cognitive models like the management of attention. In this talk, you’ll learn:

Interactive data visualizations are immersive tools that allow people to explore information in ways that produce unexpected insight and revelation. Often developed around a specific metaphor or point of view, these tools require manipulation of data in realtime and interfaces that can adjust to changing results.

While crafting these experiences, Tableau is an excellent research device that can be used to help gain inspiration and understanding. By easily sorting and parsing source data, we can quickly follow thematic ideas and interactivity concepts to see how they might produce a compelling narrative.

Using the real world examples of salmon spawning trends, polar bear satellite collar tracking, and speeches of the United States 110th Congress, Kim and Dino will demonstrate how to take raw data, explore it using Tableau, and uncover the hidden storylines.

Interactivity can greatly multiply the analytical power of a data view by letting everyone independently explore and find the answers they need. However, the interactive experience needs to be well designed! In this session you’ll learn key principles for authoring interactive data views that can empower people to better navigate the data space and make discoveries. We’ll also pack this time with concrete, detailed steps to make your views more powerful, understandable, and fun! You’ll learn how to:

How do we go from Tableau Tribe to Tableau Nation? Tableau users know how easy it is to ask questions of their data, but are often fighting against the tide of How Things Used to Be. Hear about how some customers have spread the word about visual analysis within their organizations. Help your company make better decisions and enrich its debates by using visual data. Much of this session be an open discussion, so bring your ideas.
less -

Back by popular demand! See Stephen Few, Jock Mackinlay and Erin Easter give live, real-time advice for improving users’ actual data visualizations, reports and dashboards. But this year, we’ll ask Stephen, Jock and Erin to make the changes their suggesting on live versions of the visualizations. There’s nothing better than learning by example and seeing how small changes can lead to big improvements. You’ll learn:

In this session, Garr Reynolds will share effective alternatives and approaches for designing and delivering much better presentations. Using real-life examples, he’ll demonstrate that good presentation visuals are not about dressing up presentations or decorating slides, they are about understanding and embracing concrete design and delivery principles that will help make your presentations clear, powerful, and memorable. You’ll learn:

Almost every organization has survey data – whether it’s a survey of customers or a survey of employees, survey analysis has its own analytical principles. Tableau can make it fast and easy to discover key survey insights and then build the story that emerges from your survey. Join this session and learn how to use Tableau to get more from your survey analysis. You’ll learn:

You’ll also hear how one organization uses Tableau to take raw survey data and craft visualizations that track index changes over time, industry, organization size, and job level. Attendees will also see the factors that contribute to productivity increases/decreases and discover insights on the best way to convey this information.

Tableau Server 5.0 allows you to share visual analysis across large very workgroups by distributing server load. In this session you’ll learn about our scalability load test results for Tableau Server, and find out what you can do to improve the performance of your own implementation. You’ll get a deeper understanding of Tableau Server’s architecture as well as tips and tricks to monitor and tune Server.

In this session we'll cover:

Understanding your data from a quality perspective is a precursor to any in-depth analysis. Finding quality issues or bugs quickly is critical – otherwise, your analysis could go off the rails. In this session, learn how you can use Tableau to analyze quality issues. Tableau co-founder Chris Stolte will show you how the Tableau development team uses Tableau to analyze software bugs – in other words, how our development team we eats its our own dog food. You’ll discover:

Over the last few years an abundance of marketing data, both online and offline, has become available to marketers. Typically marketers are neither used to large volumes of data nor with the availability of it. Tableau can help immensely to gain insight from this data. This session will cover the use of Tableau in online marketing. You’ll also hear in-depth about Progressive Insurance’s analytics framework and discuss the nuances of the data and the benefits.

Whether you’re an IT leader or finance executive seeking high ROI business process improvement, you can deploy a cost-efficient Business Intelligence solution that will improve the way your organization uses information, collaborates, and makes decisions. Through a series of IT customer examples, you’ll learn how to turn a disparate collection of out-of-sync spreadsheets, databases and reports into an organized, collaborative dashboard, and reporting environment delivering demonstrable high ROI. You’ll learn:

Implementing software in an enterprise environment has its own challenges. But with Tableau Server, you can eliminate major challenges based on the experiences of someone who has been there and done that. Learn how to implement Server rapidly and easily to get a rapid, effective deployment. Whether it’s people, process or technology questions, you’re bound to pick up some good advice. You will learn:

This presentation will show how Market Intelligence Group moved a very large company’s 360º Employee Evaluation reporting program from manually prepared Excel workbooks (one for each evaluate) to one server based Tableau workbook. The presentation will explore the selection process and ROI of the solution.

less -

Data about customers exists in multiple systems across the organization. The holy grail is integrating it into a 360 degree view. But unfortunately, for most organizations, the 360 degree view has become a sad cliché – a great idea in theory but hardly ever seen in practice

In this presentation, Tableau Software will demonstrate how you can make a true 360 view available to your organization. You can help colleagues drill deeper and across databases, getting as granular as who clicked on which website pages, which campaigns influenced actual opportunities, what the sales pipeline looks like, etc. You’ll learn:

Like many online retailers, REI has a wealth of data about its customers and products. Hear from Stehpen McDaniel, Manager of Marketing Analytics at REI and author of a new book on data visualization, as he explores REI's data to find patterns. Learn how to use data mining to understand your customers, track product profitability, and drive decisions.
less -

Heidi has helped develop and launch a major initiative at Experian Automotive to provide data to their clients who businesses touch the Automotive industry, using Tableau as the interface. Experian helps its customers increase market efficiency with cutting-edge vehicle statistics that help them make fact based decisions to better 'drive' their business directives. AutoCount Vehicles in Operation is a database of more than 250 million light vehicles currently on the road today which can now be viewed through Tableau for fast and effective access to allow customers to stay on top of changing technology environments and vehicle landscapes. Heidi will talk about how they’re using Tableau to improve their base product offerings and provide a competitive advantage. You’ll hear how Experian Automotive architected their solution, and how it has affected their business.

less -

If an analysis is created and no one heeds the findings, does it make a difference? Whether you're publishing internally via Tableau Server, other web applications or looking to reach broader audiences on the public Web, we’ll show you new and engaging ways you can share your data and findings online. You’ll learn:

less -

If you’re not using Tableau for dashboards, you’re missing a big opportunity. We're introducing a whole new set of powerful features that let you author and share truly active dashboards. You’ll learn how to highlight related data, make selections pop and define how your viewers interact with the data. This session will cover:

Are you a beginner analyst wondering how to fully harness the power of Tableau? Or maybe you just want to know how to build views and slice and dice the numbers a bit quicker? In this session, we’ll show you ten powerful tricks that will speed up your analysis in Tableau Desktop. Specifically you’ll learn:

Everything happens at a point in time. But time series analysis is a special kind of analytical discipline. There are multiple ways to describing time – and multiple ways of analyzing time (e.g. 2008 vs 2009, the last 3 weeks, from May 5 through May 10, the last 3 months against the same 3 months last year).

Often, you’re trying to discover patterns or make forecasts based on time series data that may not be detectable using the standard linear definition of time. Come to this session and learn how to examine time series data relatively, hierarchically, dynamically - almost any way you can imagine it. In this session you’ll learn:

Guiding people through the story in your data is an important skill -- particularly when you can’t be there to walk them through your analysis and understand the story in your data. Tableau has literally dozens of features and capabilities that make creating guided analytics very effective for both you the author and the people you want to guide.

Join us for this session to learn how to make the most of Tableau features including dashboards, quick filters, sheet links, URL links, and others. You’ll learn:

Are you an advanced Tableau user wondering how to get to that next level of skill with Tableau? Wondering how to master the more sophisticated features of Tableau? Want to know how to impress your colleagues with amazing feats of analytics? In this session, we’ll show you ten powerful tricks that will make you truly the master of your analytics. Specifically you’ll learn:

Using maps as context helps people understand visualizations. Choosing the right map and the right geographies can reveal hidden gems and foster insights into your data. In this session we’ll go beyond Tableau’s basic mapping capabilities and show a variety of techniques to enhance, customize and leverage the maps generated by Tableau.
Topics we’ll cover include:

If you’re not using Tableau for dashboards, you’re missing a big opportunity. We're introducing a whole new set of powerful features that let you author and share truly active dashboards. You’ll learn how to highlight related data, make selections pop and define how your viewers interact with the data. This session will cover:

Tableau Server 5.0 allows you to share visual analysis across large very workgroups by distributing server load. In this session you’ll learn about our scalability load test results for Tableau Server, and find out what you can do to improve the performance of your own implementation. You’ll get a deeper understanding of Tableau Server’s architecture as well as tips and tricks to monitor and tune Server.

In this session we'll cover:

Sometimes an analysis calls for a specific slice of a live database.  Sometimes you need to create extracts that are not just a certain set of records jammed into a local file but that require data reduction, or an aggregation, or special selection criteria or all of the above.

Sometimes, you need to work with a data extract but then have it automatically updated based on your schedule. Come to this session and learn how and why data extracts can be your secret weapon for better, faster analysis. Based on new features in 5.0, learn:

CPS Energy's procurement buyers (commodity) face a lot of challenges when processing the procurement needs of the business. One common challenge is how to use the data and existing facts to our advantage. With the use of tableau, we created a simple and extremely powerful visualization that tells the story at a glance. The buyers are now armed with historical price and volume trends and unit price information that aid during the negotiation process.CPS Energy's procurement buyers (commodity) face a lot of challenges when processing the procurement needs of the business. One common challenge is how to use the data and existing facts to our advantage. With the use of tableau, we created a simple and extremely powerful visualization that tells the story at a glance. The buyers are now armed with historical price and volume trends and unit price information that aid during the negotiation process.CPS Energy's procurement buyers (commodity) like many others in an organization face a common challenge; “How to effectively use the data and existing facts to our advantage.” With the aid of a simple yet powerful visualization, (using tableau desktop and reader) the buyers are now armed with historical price and volume trends and unit price information. If you want to know how we were able to effectively visualize more than 1 variable on a 2 dimensional graph, this session is for you.
less -

Location can be one of the most important dimensions in visualizing certain patterns, correlations, and trends. This session will focus on the application of maps and geo-coding in data exploration and discovery – including new mapping capabilities in Tableau 5.0. A case study, using a data set with location information will be used in order to create a “real world” understanding for the practitioner. You’ll learn:

Display marketing (aka banner advertising) is critical in this internet age for any mass marketing shop, and in particular for an international humanitarian aid organization like World Vision. With global crises, whether natural or man-made, whether ongoing or sudden, the assistance needed is on a massive scale and getting the word out is critical. Recognizing this, World Vision has been pursuing an aggressive internet strategy involving the ongoing fine-tuning of banner advertising in order to engage both new and existing donors. With the many factors involved in producing and placing cost-efficient banners, Tableau has become a powerful tool for evidence-based decisions. Whether you’re a for-profit or charitable organization, learn how World Vision is using Tableau to maximize our reach and impact on the world.
less -

Follow a year in the life of a Tableau junkie. Find out how Dana’s evolution as a Tableau user related to the trajectory of her career over the past year. Learn the secrets to success: “From cubicle monkey to analytics guru in three steps (made easy with Tableau).” And learn how to successfully lead a group problem solving session using Tableau.
less -

Bruce covers the path he uses at Apple to channel Manufacturing, Sales, Product, and Call Center data, etc from a Teradata database into meaningful, easy-to-read set of Tableau reports.

Using Kaizen cost reduction planning algorithms that Bruce learned while working with Toyota Motor Company in Japan, and customized via a number of projects with the business groups within Apple, he is able to estimate the probabilities of any number of events, estimate the releative costs associated with these events, trend the ongoing support costs and quantify the finacial benefits of product changes for both the business and the customer.

The results of these changes have been higher operating margins, lower product support costs, happier customers and better products.

Bruce will also explain how Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server help simplify the tasks involved in this process by allowing AppleCare to visualize very complex views of the data over time and across product lines while drilling into a large number of product attributes.

The Dallas Cowboys is one of the greatest merchandising franchises in pro sports. Hear about how Teknion implemented Tableau Server and gave the Dallas Cowboys unprecedented visibility into their merchandising Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This session will also cover optimizing your data structures and reporting for ERP solutions.

Using Kaizen cost reduction planning algorithms that Bruce learned while working with Toyota Motor Company in Japan, and customized via a number of projects with the business groups within Apple, he is able to estimate the probabilities of any number of events, estimate the releative costs associated with these events, trend the ongoing support costs and quantify the finacial benefits of product changes for both the business and the customer.

The results of these changes have been higher operating margins, lower product support costs, happier customers and better products.

Bruce will also explain how Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server help simplify the tasks involved in this process by allowing AppleCare to visualize very complex views of the data over time and across product lines while drilling into a large number of product attributes.

Patient Care Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) found innovative ways from a combination of people, processes, and technology to improve its labor productivity. More than just reports and dashboards, the Labor Productivity tools provided management with a structured approach to understand favorable and unfavorable results and taking actions when necessary.

BJH’s stable and robust technology platform coupled with its in-house expertise, project management skills, and newly acquired Tableau products enabled them to deploy the Labor Productivity system in just 70 days. less -

When large numbers of fraud cases occur, they can prevent the application of statistical methods, as they become 'the regular case'. This session illustrates, how direct visualization using Tableau can help to provide a comprehensive overview of all irregular activities and maintain at the same time all necessary detail information. You’ll learn how to interpret the results of a visualization of large numbers of cases.
less -

Let's take "engagement" out of the realm of theory and make it a practical and measurable business driver. In this case study you’ll hear how Eliza Corporation uses web click stream data, user interaction data, clinical data and phone conversations to understand healthcare customers. Eliza works with some of the top healthcare firms in the country to use this customer insight to manage their business.
less -

Let’s face it, when you are in a corporate support function, it can be difficult to get your story heard if you are not talking about sexy metrics that are directly impacting things like the revenue. But that doesn’t mean your story shouldn’t get attention and be driving executive decision making. We have used Tableau to take even the most simple data sets, such as employee lists, and applied data visualization techniques to create that “a-ha moment” during executive presentations. We’ve also used Tableau to take very complex statistical data to elegantly build a story that is easy to understand. Applying analytic design principles to our work has elevated the role of our organization and given us that "seat at the table" with the business leaders.
less -