Sessions

You know what Level of Detail (LOD) Expressions are. You know how to use them. But have you mastered them, Jedi-style? In this session, we’ll tackle real-world challenges, and solve them via the application of LOD Expressions. Come prepared with prior experience using LODs and a comfortable understanding between the different LOD types (FIXED, EXCLUDE, and INCLUDE).

The perfect place for some geographic data is in the background—as a layer in a custom Mapbox map. Come prepared to talk about your data, and to witness a demo ranging from the simple to the most complex cases.

Want to hit the ground running with advanced data analytics? No sweat! In this session, you’ll learn how to use an ELT approach to maximize your data integration performance; extracting data from multiple source systems, loading it into your data warehouse (at speed!) and conducting complex transformations directly on the data warehouse itself, before pushing the output to Tableau for visualization. We’ll be using data collected from the Strava API, supplemented with additional public data sets for deeper analysis of logged activities. You’ll see how to use Matillion ETL to load and transform this data on Snowflake, before highlighting some best-practices in Tableau, to generate the visual insights your business needs.

Let TD take you on the journey of Enterprise adoption – from the humble beginnings of just a few desktop developer licenses to over 1,500 developers across almost every analytical business and technology function. In just a few years we've developed a robust server infrastructure to support the growth and a highly effective Center of Excellence to drive adoption and engagement.

Whether you are on a business side looking to revolutionize the way you tell your data story or a technology team hoping to scale-up your infrastructure – this session is for you!

Most companies use two types of data together; one that does not update much, but another that is only valuable when the data is the most updated. In the trading industry, it is the same, but with enormous amounts of data updating in one millisecond. We would like to introduce how TradingScreen solves these challenges and provides better dashboard performance.

Digital marketers collect astronomical amounts of client data. The challenge is turning that data into a performance story—one that’s comprehensive but still easy to understand and that can be mined for business insights. Elite SEM, a performance-driven digital agency, leverages Tableau to distill oceans of data into clear, actionable wisdom for Tommy Bahama, Hugo Boss, San Antonio Spurs, Terminix, and other leading brands. In this session we’ll explain: - How we use Tableau to quickly communicate the lessons living inside massive datasets - How we streamlined our visual analytics by creating a single source of truth for our entire data ecosystem - How we created a framework for efficiently producing both standard, template-based dashboards and custom reports - How we connect our team to client data

How do you feel about more end-user interactivity in your dashboards? If the answer’s “pretty good,” this session is your jam. Parameters enable you to create user inputs that can adjust measures, swap dimensions, hide worksheets, build conditional logic, and much more. Join us as we explore parameters—from the ground up. (We’ll even toss in a few sophisticated parameter use cases.) Expect to leave knowing simple uses of parameters (such as moving averages, what-if analysis, adjusting KPIs, and top N filters), and more complex uses like swapping fields within a chart and swapping charts within a dashboard.

Learn how trading floor risk management is digitally transforming through Tableau at ScotiaBank. In this session, explore topics such as: - Tableau in financial markets and on a trading floor - Tableau Desktop and Server solutions for corporate restrictions on data access and security - Tableau Server Data sources and how they helped limit corporate red tape, simplify access to big data and bypass slow database issues - Event-based triggers for data extraction, faster performance (caching) and audit trail (PDF generation) through tabcmd - Simple analytics to higher management and regulator (Federal Reserve) reporting

What is your name? What is your quest? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? If you can only answer two of the three questions above, you’ve come to the right place. This introductory course on calculations will guide you through correctly aggregating data, constructing true-false analyses, writing if-then statements, and performing string and date calculations. Most importantly, we’ll be using what we learn to answer one of the most legendary questions of all time.

Data and analytics are core to GoDaddy’s ability to meet the needs of its diverse global customer base of more than 17 million. Tableau Dashboards are used to analyze data for everything from improving products to optimizing sales and marketing campaigns. The sheer volume of data available, coupled with the complexity of GoDaddy's cloud + on-premise data architecture, and the diversity of GoDaddy employees leveraging data, makes it challenging to ensure that analysis is accurate and well governed.

Sharon Graves, BI tools evangelist and a member of the enterprise data team at GoDaddy, will show how GoDaddy leverages the Alation Data Catalog in conjunction with Tableau to guide analysis while fostering a self-service environment where everyone is encouraged to leverage data to make decisions.

Learn how data catalogs tame data complexity and ensure accurate analysis, including:

• Activating data governance rules through new capabilities like TrustCheck and endorsements which surfaces compliance recommendations directly in the workflow of Tableau users and power analysts
• Tagging & tracking sensitive PII data with catalog sets surfaced through a user-friendly search interface that points users to the most accurate & useful datasets
• Best practices for leveraging machine learning to create and maintain a business glossary, ensuring consistent metric definitions across data sources

Check out this session to learn more about parameters, when and why they are useful, and how to leverage them as a powerful tool in your analysis. You’ll witness how parameters are used in Tableau Desktop, Tableau Server, and via the Tableau API. We will use parameters in common and uncommon analytics scenarios and address how they can be used to build interactive experiences in Tableau.

The session will examine ProSight’s data analytics journey, exploring challenges as a growing firm, and how we addressed them using Tableau to gain useful insights into our data. It will walk through process improvement initiatives implemented as a result of end users now having access to data that supports their previously unsupported assertions. We will provide insights into how we replaced our enterprise financial reporting tool with Tableau in under four months, reducing costs by 53%, improving speed of data availability by 43% and reducing error rates due to gaps in systems interfaces by 40%. Using Tableau, we reduced the time to integrate new data sources from months to days, enabling a culture of transparency and ownership.

Starting out with statistics? This session is for you. We’ll launch from basic statistics (what they mean, how to access them in Tableau), then tackle creating box plots, histograms, control charts and more.

Get ready to amp up your geographic data skills! This session spearheads mapping in Tableau. Learn the basic features of maps within Tableau, best practices, and visual customization features using your favorite movie data. We'll teach you the basics of mapping in Tableau Desktop, map latitude and longitude points, paths within your own data, and how to build multi-layered maps using dual axes, out-of-the-box map layers, and custom background images.

Today there is way too much data to manually analyze and a data scientist shortage. Stop waiting for data scientists and learn how you can accelerate insight to action with no-code DataRobot automated machine learning. If you want to deliver proactive insights that optimize bottom line results, learn how combining Tableau with DataRobot can help you focus on what matters most, find hidden patterns, and easily apply AI to solve complex problems smarter and faster than ever before. In this workshop, Scot Barton, Head of Business Insurance R&D at Farmers Insurance and former Tableau Zen Master, Jen Underwood, will introduce automated machine learning and teach you how to get started using DataRobot with Tableau. They will cover when to use machine learning, how to build automated machine learning models, and how to best visualize and explain predictions with beautiful, brilliant Tableau dashboards. Workshop participants will: Learn common business use cases for “intelligent” dashboards Understand how to get started using DataRobot automated machine learning Explore the new DataRobot extension and other integration options Build an intelligent dashboard "hands-on" using Tableau Desktop

Did you know 422 people die every day from lung cancer, but survival rates are five times higher with early detection? Or that suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults, but a friend’s support can intervene? You’ve been to sessions on how big data and Tableau can be used to increase profits. Attend this session to learn how they are used to make the world better.

For over 75 years, the Ad Council’s mission has been to stimulate action on significant public issues through communications programs. We partner with leading non-profit and government organizations on over 40 campaigns which together garner 1B in donated media annually. Hear how we measure our impact using:
- A proprietary database of results on KPIs
- Tableau dashboards to visualize performance
- Our marketing mix model built with Alteryx and Tableau to calculate ROI and optimize the media mix

The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise in the Star Trek universe designed to test how people handle “a no-win scenario”. Well, here at Tableau, much like Captain Kirk, we’re stubborn enough to believe that there’s no such thing. In this session, we’re going to explore things that have been previously widely considered “impossible” in Tableau, and get creative about how to solve these previously unsolvable problems. This session will involve: utilization of Tableau Prep for data manipulation, advanced joins, blending, table calculations, data densification, and Level of Detail expressions in order to progress through these problems. An advanced understanding of fundamental Tableau concepts is highly recommended to get the most out of this session, as we will assume attendees will have run into some of these common Tableau roadblocks before. 

Data literacy is a critical skill in the 21st century. We believe this new skill will change the world in the same way that literacy transformed access to knowledge in the centuries after the printing press. However, just having access to new technology is not enough. The printing press automated the publishing process, but that still required people to learn to read and write. Similarly, the broad availability of data and analytical tools needs a fundamental change in human behavior. Data literacy is not just about consuming and understanding data visualizations but more importantly about applying the genuinely human traits of curiosity and critical thinking to your data.

Data-driven decisions are paramount to thriving and growing in today’s business, government, and service environments. In this session, the Grande Cheese Company shares how to leverage vast resources of publicly available data from governments, non-governmental organizations, and commercial sources to augment and enhance understanding; leading to better business decisions. Topics include: - Sources and access methods to publicly available data sets, reliability and biases in data, and opportunities to use public data both tactically and strategically - Tableau demonstrations using public data from North/South America, Europe, and Oceania will focus on proper organization, presentation, and visualization of data and methods to restructure data within Tableau to make comparative analysis and glean understanding.

TC18 welcomes Ryan Sleeper, Tableau Zen Master, Tableau Iron Viz Champion, and Tableau Public Visualization of the Year author. Ryan is here to share why he strives to be a “master of checkers” by focusing on the fundamentals of data visualization. He will share many tips from this new book: "Practical Tableau." During this session, you’ll learn how to make beautiful bar charts, lovely line graphs, leverage psychological schemas to improve your data visualization, and more!

In this session, we are going to dig into how to make data most relevant to you. Tableau is all about having the right people seeing the right data at the right time. You will be learning about the fundamentals of filtering, how and when to use filters, and potential use cases. Prior basic knowledge about Tableau Desktop user interface would be helpful but not necessary.  

We're surrounded by statistics. Many sources use statistics in their message to add authority, conflate and confuse its audience. With updated content using examples from current media, this session aims to highlight common misuses of data, visualization and statistics and arm you against bias and improper conclusions, and inform you with such techniques should you wish to succumb to the dark side…

Level of detail expressions (LOD) in Tableau introduce an abundance of capabilities for curious data geeks who wish to push the boundaries of Tableau. This session will demonstrate "LODs of fun" techniques, including enabling single member drill down, search across a hierarchy, one-click drill down on maps, market basket analysis, and other filter scenarios.

Calling all business-minded brainiacs. For those who’ve pondered insights such as “How does one department’s percentage contribution compare to total revenue?” or “How did one division's contribution change over time?”, this session is for you. Acquire deeper analysis abilities via Table Calculations We’ll run you through the basics—how they work, when to use them, why they’re helpful, etc. Attendees should be able to write basic calculations and build basic visualizations for this session.

Satisfy your hunger for data and put your Tableau recipes to the test. In this class, we will take you on a journey behind the scenes into the Tableau Kitchen to see where all the house specials are made. Expect  a robust flavor profile from spicy visualizations to savory table calculations, leave feeling inspired with new tips in tricks to take home to your Tableau kitchen.  Heads up, this class does require some preparation. Before enrolling, makes sure you a working knowledge of the advanced computing options for Table Calculations, familiarity with standard table calculations, and comfort writing calculations.

PS. Toque and smock required (just kidding)

Join this session to learn more about each of the four different calculation types in Tableau. This session is designed for those who would like to take the 'analytics' in their 'visual analytics' to the next level.

In over your head with financial data? Join this session for finance by Tableau Finance and learn how we use our product to crunch the numbers. Expect to learn how to combine actuals from your general ledger with forecasts and budgets within Tableau (when they’re likely originating from different places and stored at different levels of detail), and how to create depreciation/amortization schedules when Tableau doesn’t have a built-in “dates” data source. Along the way, you will get tips on how to Flatten Account/Department Hierarchies and build an Income Statement. If there’s time, we’ll address topics such as Balance Sheet and Dash of Dashboards.

Don’t bug out when you encounter the red "X" in your Calculation Editor. This session gives an in-depth rundown of common bugs and errors Tableau users find while creating calculations. (Plus, how to exterminate them.) Learn when to aggregate (and when not to), complex logical statements, and calculation best practices, so you'll be able to write calcs that won't pest-er you.

Have you ever felt that you are not getting the full potential out of sets? Join this session to learn more about how sets can be used to answer powerful analytics questions and discuss their various strengths and limitations. Expect to explore many ways sets are used to support deep analysis in Tableau.

What if you could directly ask Tableau questions about your data? In this presentation, members of the Ask Data team will discuss how we are lowering the barrier to analytics and leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP) as a tool for visual analysis. We will provide a detailed overview of Ask Data’s capabilities along with a product demonstration.

Take a journey and learn how to utilize one of the most powerful and useful features of Tableau. Sets! This session will help build a foundation for beginners, and then offer a fast ramp-up on the various methods for creating sets. Dive into the simplicity of elementary cohort analysis, learn to quickly visualize set membership, and reduce the drama in your everyday analysis while running complex comparisons among set members. Get ready to fall in love with sets throughout this training as we explore data in a variety of different places!

Ever wondered whether you can create something completely custom in Tableau? Have you come up with an amazing concept, only to be told it cannot be done? Do you feel like D3 and R are your only options? Think again. This session will demonstrate how to create custom charts in Tableau through math, data restructuring, and some Jedi Tableau hacking. Come along with three Tableau Zen Masters for an in-depth view of how to create completely custom visualizations. Attendees of this session will expand their knowledge of Tableau, learning the advanced (sometimes hacky) techniques used by these Zens to build innovative visualizations with Tableau.

Whether you’re new to Tableau Online or a Desktop user, this hands-on session ensures you leave with a fully established Tableau Online trial site (complete with Tableau's SaaS solution). Join us for a deep-dive into how to analyze your data, govern your info, add users, and share insights—all from the comfort of the cloud.

Still sorting your drags from your drops? Still mixing your dimensions with your measures? This session has your newbie name all over it. Come tackle the fundamentals of Tableau, including how to connect to data, answer statistical questions, build maps, and apply some table calculations in a dashboard you can take with you at the end of the session.

Speech analytics has historically been limited to the contact center, but the customer interactions in your .wav and .mp4 files contain a plethora of customer experience insights for almost every department! From competitive analysis to understanding the common objections and obstacles in the customer journey, AI-powered speech analytics can deliver the true voice of the customer within your organization. In this session you’ll learn how to master the “art of the possible” by ingesting transcribed voice calls into your data lake, making them ready to be beautifully visualized in Tableau!

The ability to enrich Tableau’s powerful visualizations with flexible, secure content has enabled Archetype Consulting customers to realize their own data exploration, insight generation, and constituent service-level goals. In this presentation you'll see Python integration via TabPy server, which can be used to invoke Python libraries for numerical computation, advanced analyses, and machine learning (e.g. Numpy, SciPy, Pandas, and Scikit-learn). Our Python scripts are stored as TabPy server endpoints for ease of use inside Tableau, as well as change management and migration between environments. We'll also share an approach to provide value-added content alongside Tableau Server, including high interest dashboard marks that drill down to secure content generated in real-time. This end-to-end framework for rich content delivery applies both to public datasets and enterprise environments.

Actions in Tableau put the interactive in Data Analysis! This session aims to provide a solid foundation for building rich dashboard applications and will cover best-practices for using Actions. At the end of this session, you will be able effectively consider and apply various interactive techniques, including action triggers and behavior within and across sheets. We’ll discuss: selection, filtering highlighting, navigation, and the *new* set action feature. We will also cover parameters, instant analytics, tooltips, and more!  

What does my sample tell me about the population? Based on past values, what can I expect future values to be? If these are questions you’d like to answer, then this session is for you! Come and learn how to use Tableau and statistical analysis to answer these basic questions and more. Some familiarity with mathematics or statistics is recommended (variables, functions). Some familiarity with Tableau is required (intermediate calculations and table calculations, analytics pane).

Discover how to enhance collaboration between data scientists and business users. We will show how the integration between Tableau Server and R/Python will empower both types of users to complement each other’s skill sets and validate each other’s findings. Learn how to scale your deployment to larger audiences with best practices surrounding load balancing as well as performance optimization. We welcome both business users and data scientists to learn about the art of the possible when you combine advanced analytics with the Tableau experience you have come to expect in your enterprise.

You’re comfortable with ratios and aggregation in Tableau—now you’re ready to stretch your brain and take on the next skillset. This stellar analytics track will move you from amateur to advanced with a lineup of period analysis methods via complex date calculations, nested logic statements, intricate string calculations, advanced conditional filtering, and more. Come learn how to get comfortable with multi-step calculations that will help you immediately in your business and analysis!

We, the Data Management Team at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, are confident that we have achieved what we set out to do: acquired the right technologies, developed the appropriate skills and hired the right people to take us on that journey. Today, we can take on any project, any size of data, and can transform them into valuable information to support daily operations as well as business decisions at all levels in the healthcare setting. In this presentation, we will focus on our journey’s evolution from the early challenges to the triumphant outcomes. We will also highlight several key transformational technical projects which help us complete our mission every day. Finally, we will demonstrate how choosing and integrating the right technologies, Tableau and the Vertica Analytics Platform, played a key factor in our success.

Familiar with calculated fields, but ready to master a new level of analysis? This intro track on LOD (Level of Detail) expressions is ideal for your eager mind. Learn how to articulate the meaning of "Level of Detail," master best practices, incorporate LOD expressions into your daily workflow, and demonstrate how they differ from other calculations.

In order to stay competitive, organizations are increasingly relying on data science to make decisions. However, small teams of data scientists may not have the bandwidth to meet the increasing demands of internal or external customers. One solution to this challenge is to combine the power of Tableau with the scalability and flexibility of the web. In this talk we'll demo a live web portal with embedded Tableau vizzes and data science models that users can query via parameters and visualize in real time!

This session goes beyond Tableau's R/Python integration by persisting tables of output from a model, leveraging the performance of a database, and supporting different inputs/outputs than the Tableau viz LOD. If you're interested in learning the building blocks and Tableau APIs required to make this a reality, then this session is for you!

In this session, you'll learn how to extend Tableau with the power of machine learning as a non-data scientist, and elevate your data analysts to citizen data scientists. Using Big Squid's machine learning platform Kraken, we'll show you how to uncover hidden patterns in your data and answer forward-looking business questions like "What will happen tomorrow?" and "What can we do about it today?". Come learn from other Tableau customers on how they embraced machine learning and saw immediate value with Kraken, running predictive analytics, what-if scenarios and providing actionable insight to the business. Get on the path to predictive today!

Back by popular demand—a top TC breakout session... Are you in a love-hate relationship with Excel? Frustrated and feeling like you're not moving forward? Bring back the romance. Let Excel do what Excel is good at. Move the analytics tasks you depend on and supercharge them in Tableau. This session will cover not only how to duplicate and improve Excel functionality in Tableau, but how to move beyond the constraints of rows and columns. Join us and repair your relationship with Excel. There's a happy world of dynamic, interactive analytics waiting for you.

In this session we will demystify sets, one of Tableau’s most powerful analytics features. Whether you haven’t used sets, or deeply know their ins and outs, this session is for. If you enjoy sunsets, dislike being upset, and possess an analytical mindset… well, you will love sets.