My First TC experience - #data23
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Heya #datafam! Did you managed to attend the Tableau Conference #Data23 this year? I have been doing so virtually for the past couple of years and this being my first time attending it in-person, I figured I'll share my experience so hopefully you can get a glimpse of how it went, and maybe inspire you to attend in-person next year in San Diego! So #Data23 was held in Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay Convention Centre from 9-11 May 2023. I arrived a day early to collect my badge and I strongly recommend doing that because there was a really long queue the next day.
Still, it's not gamebreaking to do it on the actual day, but depending on how fast you get the badge, you might miss out some sessions (especially the opening keynote). Or you could goof around at the photo booth like me and Will...
The good thing is you could still stream the keynote live on your phone while queuing but I wanted to start meeting the #datafam community. After reading thru Sarah's post on preparing for TC, I packed light and comfortable shoes... and boy that was my savior. I try to stay active now and then (clocking 10k steps per day if I can) but the amount of walking I did in TC was much more crazy... I mean even my iWatch told me so.
This year, I submitted a proposal as a speaker and I wasn't really banking on getting selected but to my pleasant surprise... I did! So first TC, first time in Vegas, first time speaking live - no pressure 😅 But, nothing says more about putting yourself out there (and out of your comfort zone) because I believe everyone is on a different path and there's definitely something to learn from everyone. Plus, it makes a really strong case if you're trying to get your company to sponsor your trip (which I managed to) but be warned to start talking to your manager earlier (at least a couple of months prior) because depending on your topic... you might be going thru multiple reviews of your presentation with your legal and public communications team. I GET why they wanna err on the safe side but it was a really annoying process for me. If you do get selected as a speaker, the community team in Salesforce/Tableau are really awesome and will work with you to make sure you have the formatting, accessibility right, so you can focus on your story and content. Special shoutout to Alyssa and Caroline for being so supportive and offering valuable feedback!
I was really pleased with the turnout (thank you all 208 of you!) at my session, and all the kind words thru the survey or during Q&A. And if you had pictures of me in action, I would love to have them! :)
It was my first time speaking live to such a big crowd and pardon me if you weren't able to hear me clearly as I think I was fumbling thru some of the slides. I couldn't see who exactly was in the crowd, because the lights on stage was basically blinding me and all of you looked like shadows (which added to my anxiety 😨).
But all in all, it was an enriching experience that I never knew I could do, and the questions I got from the crowd after my session affirmed that I had enough knowledge to share with everyone else. I might not be selected to speak next year, but I'll definitely put in a topic again!
I'm not too sure if the layout will be the same next year, but #data23 was split into three floors. The Keynote area was a bit of a distance from the main area and this year they had it in a circular fashion + stage so it's a bit more cosier and Salesforce executives were able to mingle with the crowd after. Will and I missed it because we were over at the main areas helping to answer questions about community projects and we couldn't do it later in the afternoon as we had our speaker sessions too. The other reason was that we wanted to promote #GamesNightViz, give out swag to the #datafam and introduce the other awesome community projects. If you have missed out getting your hands on one of these T-Shirts, ping me or Will and we'll see how we can get you one too!
The Data Village and Content Pavillion was where most people shuffle to and fro as you had community sessions, vendor pitches and official presentations from Salesforce on upcoming features. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join a lot of them as the sessions were packed really tight this year and many of them overlapped in timings.
I've been hearing the same from some of the #datafam folks I've had the opportunity to meet but the Visionaries/Ambassadors/Community Leaders are currently trying to see how we can get recordings/slides/re-runs to the #datafam. In the meantime, sit tight and check in with your local User Group Leaders as I'm sure many of them are also planning to do a highlights recap for your upcoming meetups.
Unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to make it to Level 2 and 3, where most of the hands-on workshops for #MakeOverMonday, #B2VB, #WorkoutWednesday as well as the technical sessions like LODs, Calculations, etc were held. But if it's your first time to TC and you're new to the community - those sessions are definitely not to be missed.
I've been using Tableau for almost 4 years now, but only really getting to know the #datafam for the past 2 years. Being a introvert I basically took a data trust fall (like how my big brother from another mother Adam aptly put in) to get out of my comfort zone to socialize.
It was really overwhelming even for someone who had the advantage of collaborating with some of the folks (thru Twitter) before I came. And since I couldn't make it to a lot of the sessions due to the clashing schedules, I made it my goal to meet as many people as I could. I apologize to those who I have met but didn't introduced myself, or whom I forgot your names as I was constantly battling my inner demons. There were many selfies taken, none awkward as I initially thought it would be and everyone had either too much energy that it rubbed off me, or I had the pleasure to connected deeply with, or helped me engaged with the rest of the #datafam. If we didn't get a selfie this year, imma make it a point to get one with ya next year in San Diego!!
My experience would have been very different for someone new in the community, but I promise you - we don't bite and once you get past your first hello; the magic begins. Connect with some of the Visionaries/Ambassadors/Community Leaders on Twitter/or in-person and let them know you would like to meet the rest of the #datafam, they will guide you to the rest! Or connect with me and I'll definitely get you settled in as much as I can! If you are trying to maximize your convention time by attending sessions, another perfect location to get to know folks is the Data Night Out party happening on Day 2 after hours. It was definitely very different from what I expected from a networking event as I thought it was be just like a typical software conference reception.
What's a TC recap without talking about IronViz! I have participated in 3 #IronViz, tuned in virtually for the past few years and finally made it to see it LIVE this year and man oh man.. It's an entirely different experience in-person! The energy was off the roofs and we had some memorable moments from the community leaders (if you've missed it, Matt took all the credit for that).
The chance to see the 3 finalists Paul, Brittany and Nirosh battle it out in a 20-minute showdown was AMAZING. I don't think I have ever built anything in 20 minutes so I can't imagine how much practice they had to go thru to get that. Plus the stress of doing it in front of thousands of people.. mad kudos to all three of them!
Check out all three of the awesome vizzes over here, and huge congrats to Paul as our #IronViz 23 champion! You are epitome of how inclusive #IronViz is, regardless of your experience with Tableau . It was absolutely exciting to see you work LIVE and with such energy! Congrats again buddy! 🤘
And with that, I'm signing off folks. It has been such a great week and I feel extremely energized from the old/new connections I've made with the #datafam, the upcoming feature roadmap from Tableau and you'll be seeing me around with some new stuff coming up (of course starting with Season 2 of #GamesNightViz 🎮) Oh and you should start joining #GamesNightViz if you haven't, we're on a roll with TWO consecutive #IronViz champions Will and Paul .. #justsaying 😈 (head over to https://gamesnightviz.webflow.io/ to get started)
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