What is DIY?

Data, Insight, You is InterWorks’ newest event series for people in the data community to meet and discuss analytics. We bring in speakers from the community, vendors and our own consultants to share their analytics experiences, both the good and bad! Each event focuses on a different aspect of what helps people deliver amazing analytics.

Tuesday, August 8th gave way to the inaugural DIY event at the WeWork Spitalfields office in London. Those who attended the event were a mix of InterWorkers and other data community members. This month’s event focused on Tableau integration and best practices. For future events however, we hope to receive attendee feedback on what they would like to see and discuss. After all, this is a data community fueled event series. 

Above: Vicky Lockett

A Tableau Integration Journey

The evening began with Communications Manager, Vicky Lockett, briefly introducing InterWorks, followed by the keynote speaker and Director of BI at Family Mosaic, David Solomons. David’s presentation focused on how his company is known for being a housing association, yet is also heavily involved in the care and support sector. David effectively explained how this sector had seen a few large players in the market fail due to a lack of technology and data driven approaches.

David described the barriers he often faced when advocating for Tableau user adoption at Family Mosaic. Eventually, he finally did succeed and Tableau helped solidify the company’s data and technical stability. By introducing a data-driven approach to Family Mosaic, the business increased revenue streams and cut costs. Similarly, there is now a data driven approach throughout the entire company, as every department now uses Tableau in some capacity. He ended his presentation by answering a few questions about how to implement Tableau into a traditional company culture, a subject he clearly has a lot of experience in.

Above: David Solomons

A Networking and Pizza Break

During a short break, the attendees and InterWorkers chatted amongst themselves. This was mostly lighthearted chatter (some related to data), and was enjoyed over enough pizza and beer to feed an entire army!

Post pizza, the event started up again with a talk from myself. I was excited to share tips and shortcuts for beginners that I have picked up during my time working with Tableau. My talk included how to format charts, dashboard work and how to efficiently pull data in and out of Tableau.

Above: David Pires networking at the event

The Closer, David Pires

InterWorks Senior Analytics Consultant, David Pires took over from there. He showcased several techniques that he’s found help create visually appealing charts in Tableau, such as donut charts. He finished his presentation with a short master class on how to get the most out of maps and spatial data visualisations. After sharing some of his own tips and tricks for advanced Tableau users, he brought the official event to a close. If you would like to see these presentations, they will soon be available to stream and download via the InterWorks website.

Everyone was invited to stick around to network and chat with likeminded Tableau enthusiasts over more beer. Some attendees spoke at length regarding InterWorks Assist time slots, which will now be a staple of future DIY events. With InterWorks Assist, people can bring their Tableau questions and challenges directly to the InterWorks consultants.

Have an Idea? Get in Touch with Us!

The next DIY event is expected to take place in the Manchester region. Be on the look out for an announcement about that in the near future. We hope these events discuss what you in the data community want to talk about. So, please get in touch with us regarding what you would like to learn and we’ll be sure to address it at the next DIY.

Finally, on behalf of InterWorks, we would like to thank David Solomons from Family Mosaic for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come and take part in the event.

See you next time!

Above: David Pires’ presentation