Wow. We are back in the office today, still reeling from excitement from our trip last week! What a week it was. Thank you Tableau for an amazing conference filled with data, friends, learning, and tacos!
We started the trip off with our #VizzinQuest2016, our viz which automatically tracked our drive from Portland, ME to Austin, TX. We had a blast, with stops in Asheville, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Austin! If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out our viz on Tableau Public. It also includes a detailed explanation of how we automated the viz, which pulled from four different sources, including Automatic, FitBit, AccuWeather and Twitter!
During the conference itself, we attended 20+ sessions, four awesome keynotes, and IronViz. We learned so much, and can't wait to put all of our new learnings to work. Already counting down to #Data17 in Las Vegas next fall!
Some highlights from our Automatic data set:
Trip anthem: I Need A Dollar by Aloe Blacc - it's very catchy, and the chorus is easily changed to the lyrics "I need data, data, data is what I need - Tab-leau!"
Left to right: (1) Cheers to our first big day of driving in Asheville, NC (2) Beignets at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans (3) Stretching our legs at Hamilton Pool Preserve, near Austin, TX (4) Saying goodbye to our rental car! (5) Enjoying the running trails in Austin!
We attended over 20 breakout sessions, and all 4 of the keynote sessions! We're working on some blog posts which will highlight some of these sessions in more detail, but here are a few of our favorites with some key takeaways:
We loved Matt Francis' use of bitmojis in his awesome Busting Data Viz Myths presentation, in which he emphasized that it's important to understand how best practices come to exist so you know when it's OK to break the rules - to which we say:
As always, Tableau delivered on Data Night Out! We had an awesome evening meeting up with data friends, watching awesome live music, and eating great food!
Left to right: (1) Meeting up with #VizzinQuest16 fan and Tableau Sales Manager, Ed Beaurain, at the Welcome Reception (2) Friends from St. Mary's Bank at #DataNightOut (3) Visiting with fellow Maine Tableau consultants from Stroudwater Associates (4) Atop the ferris wheel during the Walk The Moon finale (complete with fireworks!)