Tableau Conference Tips

I know there have been quite a few blog articles with Tableau Conference tips, and I've made good use of them myself! This year my luggage will contain something new - a Rocket Everlast Notebook, which was recommended by Mark Bradbourne (thanks Mark!)

Some of what I have to say here is going to sound redundant. But trust me when I tell you that if every blog you read says the same thing, it's important! Which brings me to my personal tips for Tableau Conference.

One Tip to Rule Them All - SHOES

Wear excellent, comfortable, supportive shoes. You'll see this tip repeated frequently, and it's way more important than I'd once thought. Seriously...find the most comfortable and supportive shoes you own. Slip them on. Nice, right? Now see if you can go out and find shoes that are EVEN MORE COMFORTABLE AND SUPPORTIVE. This is no joke, friends. I started out at a conference wearing Chucks. That lasted all of about 2 days till my feet were throbbing. I had to miss part of the conference for an emergency shoe purchase, and still spent the majority of the following year attempting to remedy the plantar faciitis I'd inflicted upon myself. 

Prepping

Thanks to me NOT following my own advice above, I learned that I will forever want a hotel room with a bathtub. Oh, how I longed to soak my aching feet. So get a room with a bathtub, and then find the nearest drugstore and grab some Epsom Salts. At the end of a long day or start of a new one, your sore feet and muscles will be very grateful for this indulgence. Enjoy a nice, hot soak and feel that magnesium sulfate suck the stress and soreness right out of you.

While you're at the store picking up Epsom Salts, grab some snacks and pick-me-ups. Tableau is really, really good about having plentiful snacks on hand. But for those off times when you require an emergency chocolate fix, or as you're waiting for the shuttle, or when you're just plain pooped, it's a good idea to have some sustenance. My must-have list includes 5-Hour Energy drinks, trail mix, and cheese & crackers.

Water, Water Everywhere

The quickest way for me to run out of steam at conference is dehydration. DRINK. LOTS. OF. WATER. Yes, you will need to take more breaks. Take them. You'll be glad for them. Just stay hydrated, kids. This year I'm adding a collapsible water bottle to my shopping list. It won't be as bulky as a regular bottle but I can still fill it up at drinking fountains when I need to. I also think the collapsing will be a sort of subliminal hydration gamification - how many times in a day can I empty my bottle and scrunch it? 

Session Scheduling

This tip may be coming too late for this year's conference, but that's OK - it comes with a lifetime warranty.

Many sessions are repeated, so keep in mind that you may get more value from sitting down and having a chat with new people than sitting in a session. I hardly remember half the content I’ve gotten in sessions, but I’ve had moments in conversations that were life and career altering.

I recommend taking one hands-on session, but only one. You will get all training materials for all hands on sessions by attending just one (they give you a flash drive with everything on it). Also, hands-on is way more likely to be repeated than a one-time session. Another consideration is that hands-on are typically twice as long. If you attended regular sessions, you’d get twice as many in the same amount of time.

Make a note of any sessions you’re interested in which are repeated during the conference (if you search a session in the app it will list all available times). That way, you can pick the time that works best and has the least “sacrifices” of other interesting sessions.

Go through the whole schedule and star everything you’re interested in (except hands-on/reserved seating – just write those down). Then, when you look at your schedule, you’ll see that you have multiple sessions in one time slot. Start eliminating the ones that are least interesting, comparing them and un-starring them until you have just one in that time slot. BUT make a note of the ones you eliminated so you can check back for recordings/slides after conference (you could attend “virtually” later). 

If you need help deciding which sessions to attend, here are a few guidelines to help you  narrow down the options:

• If you want to have a great time, go to any session with "speed" in the title. This year, that's "Tableau speed charting | 50 charts in 50 minutes" and "Tableau speed tipping | Can they reach 100 tips?". These sessions go way too fast to take notes, but that’s OK because they’ll publish everything later for you to review. But they are a BLAST to witness in person.
• If a session is presented by a Zen Master, put that higher on your list.
• When you get down to just a few sessions in a time slot, read the descriptions thoroughly and if any use words like “demonstrate”, “live”, “how to” then pick those. When the recordings are published they often only include slides, but not the Tableau demos.
• Pick sessions that sound like they wouldn’t be as fun if you’re not there in person (that’s more subjective).
• You might want to check if a session was offered at last year’s conference (just Google it). If it was, you know that content is not unique to this conference and  you can watch that recording or just wait till this year’s is published online.

Now, go back to your list of interesting reserved/hands on, and determine if any of your favorite sessions are worth trading for a hands-on.

If there’s a time slot where nothing jumps out at you, leave that time slot free. There is way too much to do at conference, so you will be glad for that time to network, chill, shop, visit the data village, or rest.



That about wraps up my contribution to the vast wealth of Tableau Conference tips. But check back in a couple of days and I'll have some NOLA specific tips for you.