Pluralsight at Tableau Conference 2017: Top takeaways
Tableau Conference is a time where data visualization nerds converge from across the globe and many industries to learn from leaders in the data world. Industry experts, Tableau community gurus, and Tableau developers come together in one place to share their knowledge and skills.
At the conference, members of the data team at Pluralsight learned (and presented!) about features and new releases that help us do our jobs better. So, I want to share my top takeaways from Tableau Conference 2017 that can help you better understand your data.
Learning Takeaway 1: Tableau 10.5 New Features
Viz-in-Tooltip Feature
I have been anxiously awaiting the release of the viz-in-tooltip feature, so I was so ecstatic to hear this was being released in the newest version of Tableau. For those of you unaware of the benefits of having a viz in the tooltip, it is a tremendous space saver. It improves the real estate in your dashboard and can eliminate the need to navigate to another dashboard for more details. It gives the end user additional context on the hover as they move dynamically through the data you’ve provided.
But to be honest, creating these charts before this release was pretty painful. Previously it was so time consuming to create that view in your dashboards/charts unless it was specifically requested I really never offered that as an option. Now, it can be done in matter of minutes. Just check out the GIF below…it’s that easy!
Additionally, before this new feature (because of the workaround method), you were limited to only bar charts. Don’t get me wrong, I love bar charts…but depending on your data and the story you have to tell, it’s not always the best choice. Now you can choose any of the Tableau chart types or even create non-standard charts that fit your data best before embedding into the tooltip.
This by far is my favorite game-changing feature for analysts.
Hyper data engine for extracts
If you have ever had your dashboard cycle/load time take longer than you wished it would have on your dashboards on Tableau Desktop or Tableau Server, you will love this latest release. Tableau extraction is keeping up with the times and improving performance through hyper extracts. Hyper files will replace Tableau Data Extracts as the source type (ie .hyper vice .tde) in Tableau 10.5.
You extract as normal, but you will see a difference in the file type name. Notice the .hyper vs the .tde in the name of the extract file below.
I’m very excited about this release because anything you can do to reduce time to insight is a great thing, and sometimes the end users need a lot of data. Admittedly in the past, sometimes the data set size was working somewhat inversely with performance. With Hyper you have an improved extraction engine which enables you to speed up the performance of large cumbersome data sets.
This is going to be an amazing feature from the user experience perspective, because we now live in a culture where we expect things instantly. Web browsing gives us the expectation of seeing what’s on the screen immediately, so patience for cycle time is at an all time low. By providing that data faster it makes it more timely and relevant to end users of your dashboard, and they will be so much happier.
That being said, it’s really important to understand that the extract itself isn’t the only thing that could be making your dashboard slower than optimal. So, it may not be a cure all for every slow dashboard. Which leads me into my next useful learning topic.
Learning Takeaway 2: How to Troubleshoot Workbooks that aren’t at Optimal Performance using Performance Recorder
This is actually an oldie, but goodie. I guess this feature has been around for a while, but better late than never in learning this useful trick for being able to easily understand what is causing any performance issues you are having with your workbook.
Performance recording is super simple to set up in Tableau, and when you stop the recording it spits out a dashboard that shows you an analysis of how much time things were taking et cetera. Even if your workbook isn’t slow, for continuous improvement you can continually use this to optimize your workbook and the users of your dashboards that don’t have to wait on data refreshes will thank you.
When I inherit workbooks, I have now made it a practice to run this diagnostic first to understand the things that can be improved upon. It helps you to be able to funnel in your time in effort where it will produce results.
Learning Takeaway 3: Hands-On Training Knowledge Bombs
Alerting
This is a functionality that requires a shift in mindset. When you create an alert you are no longer requiring the user to visit your dashboard for a particular insight, but pushing important information/timely information out to those who might take action. Using alerts might require some slight refactoring of existing worksheets, because you need at least one continuous variable axis visible in Tableau Server to create the alert.
Alerting has many use cases, and is actually very simple to set up. It’s as simple as clicking on the axis in Tableau Server and selecting “set alert”. If you are using Tableau Server groups it makes the distribution of the alert messages a much easier task, so if that isn’t something you’ve done you may want to have those permissions in place even if it’s just for this use case.
This is definitely a feature I plan on using in the near future to get information in the right place at the right time. Whether it be to measure when Sales has hit a certain target or identifying overdue tasks/tasks nearing their due date.
This is definitely a feature you will want to use to up your Tableau game and go one step further in creating actionable business intel.
Replicating Formatting with Copy/Paste
Although this is rather non-technical, it literally changed my life. I have been using Tableau for quite some time now…and formatting although the most visually rewarding part, can be tedious at times depending on how custom you want things to look. Right click on the worksheet tab where you are working and you will see a “Copy Formatting” option appear.
Being able to copy/paste formatting from worksheet to worksheet is an awesome time-saving tip, and something I wish I had known earlier, so I thought it was worth the share.
The only formatting it won’t take into account is: reference lines and annotations, but the overall color scheme and font sizes can be copy/pasted saving you massive amounts of time.
Learning Takeaway 4: Use the Tableau Network to Up Your Data Viz Skills
We are so fortunate here at Pluralsight to have some very active, very knowledgeable members of the Tableau Community as an internal resource. But that being said, even if you don’t have the resources internally at your own company learning how to leverage the network of the Tableau Community can really assist you in improving and understanding creative possibilities for Tableau that you may not have explored. Even with all our internal expertise, I still find myself leveraging the Tableau Community blogs and resources all the time. It’s amazing how google-able questions you have about Tableau are and how expansive the Tableau Community is.
Adam Crahen, our very own data guru here at Pluralsight, is such a great example of learning and growing through the Tableau Community. This year at Tableau Conference, he and his The Data Duo partner, the very talented Pooja Gandhi, presented “Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe” and went through their Tableau journey, how the Tableau Community helped them grow, as well as how they gave back in the Tableau Community space. The Data Duo blog is a perfect example of the Tableau Community gone right, and is a perfect place to find inspiration for your next viz. They regularly push new content and give advice/tips and tricks that are incredibly useful. The visualizations on The Data Duo blog are some of the most creative and innovative out there and such an inspiration when I’m in a data viz rut.
One of the main takeaways I had from their presentation is that when you have questions where you can’t find the answer, don’t be shy and post them to the Tableau Community page. You’ll get answers fast that will save you a ton of time. Another takeaway was that Makeover Monday and Viz for Social Good are Tableau Community initiatives that are worth getting involved in. Makeover Monday is great to get practice on different datasets and visualization methods. Viz for Social Good is an initiative that is actually touching non-profits and making a real difference out there, and something that I thought was particularly awesome. It’s a great way to use your data viz expertise and data wrangling talents to make the world a better place.
Final thoughts….
The coolest thing I think that made this year’s Tableau Conference different is their decision to stream this live and to record the trainings. This makes it incredibly accessible, so even if you weren’t there to experience all the excitement in person, you can still check things out here: http://tclive.tableau.com/SignUp
Good luck on your learning journey, and viz long and prosper!
