Tableau Conference 2021 Round-up
Last week the Tableau Conference 2021 took place virtually once more. We welcome all visualisation tools and methods at Viz For Social Good, but our roots come from the Tableau Conference in 2016, and Tableau have always been our friends supporting us on our journey. In the past, we’ve had pride of place on the Conference stage, whether in USA, London, or Berlin. It might have seemed that we had a quieter presence in 2021, but, on the contrary, we are proud of our continuing presence at Conference. For those of you who me us or found out about us for the first time last week - welcome!
What better place to start than the Viz Gallery. Now in virtual form, it’s a wonderful showcase of Tableau visualisations that showcase the capabilities of the tool and the skill of the community. You can check it out at https://vizgallery.tableaupublic.com - but better still, no sooner do you enter the virtual environment than you get to witness Thi Ho’s awesome viz for our recent project showcasing our own catalogue.
Here’s the viz in full - check it out on Tableau Public for interactive features
Thi is not just a talented designer, she also took part in an awesome presentation to community newcomers explaining many of the community initiatives open to those wishing to practice and include their Tableau skills. Suffice it to say you will have heard Viz for Social Good mentioned there a few times too!
We were also delighted to host Braindates. Braindates are generally groups of 6-8 people, representing great informal situations to meet and network with other like-minded attendees. Many of our board members held such Braindates, including Frédéric Fery (Operations), David Pires (Executive), Nisa Mara (Education), Doc Kevin Elder (AMER Regional Leader) and Neil Richards (Editorial). Between us it was a delight to meet several current, potential and new volunteers - welcome everyone!
And word gets around - our Community Director, Amanda Patist, was brilliantly representing the work she does in her regular position, amplifying women in manufacturing who are empowering a data culture. You might recognise the awesome organisation featured on her shirt? In fact, I happen to know Amanda was also hosting a data visualisation conference in the Netherlands simultaneously - thank you to the word she puts out (and awesome shirt she wears), our name is well known in the Netherlands and Western Europe!
And talking of awesome folks in awesome shirts … our Editorial Director (and blog post writer!), Neil, decided to model a new shirt for his online discussion. We think our brand new logo looks great on a shirt - we plan to make these shirts available to all our members one day soon!
Probably our biggest highlight came in the “Vizzies” awards. Not officially awarded by Tableau, but by the community themselves, they have been a staple of the global Tableau Conference for several years now. While usually awarded to individuals, we were delighted to see a nomination for “Viz For Social Good” in the Data Do Gooder category. But this was easily eclipsed by one man - congratulations to our Operations Director Frédéric Fery for winning the category outright. This is great recognition from the community (and, I’m sure, you, our Tableau-using volunteers) for the sheer amount of dedication that Frédéric puts in to run our projects and events. Congratulations Frédéric!
We look forward to the return of face to face events as much as anyone, when we will have the chance to meet you face to face, present at conferences and host awesome local hackathons. But in the meantime, thank you all for your support and involvement!