The Inside Scoop on Excel with Bill Jelen (Mr. Excel)

I recently had the honor of speaking with Bill Jelen, a.k.a. Mr. Excel. He’s a big, big deal in the Excel community! I’ve internet-stalked him for years on his website and his popular YouTube channel and frankly, I’m still shocked he agreed to come speak with us. We talked about his background, favorite Excel features, how many of the more than 480+ Excel functions he actually uses and more.
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The 30-3-1 Approach with Unlimited Visual Appendices: The Bare Minimum for Designing Reports that Actually Inform Decisions

Want to design reports that actually inform decisions? With software you already have?? Nobody wants to pour blood, sweat, and tears into a document that sits on a dusty shelf. I recently gave a presentation where I shared about the 30-3-1 approach to reporting, which is the bare minimum for designing useful reports. And now I want to share it with you.
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3 Common Reporting Hurdles—and How to Overcome Them

I work with a lot of different groups — government, universities, foundations, nonprofits, for-profits, etc. Every organization has a little bit different communication style… but they all have one thing in common: everyone has reports of one kind or another. I spoke with Alli Torban on her podcast, Data Viz Today to share 3 common reporting hurdles I see and how to overcome them.
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Data Placemats: A 3-Step Process for Increasing Data Use

Want to make sure that your data gets used to inform decisions? Get your stakeholders involved in the sense-making process! Are you familiar with data placemats? Here’s how they work: (1) Design Data Placemats, (2) Facilitate an Interpretation Meeting, and (3) Include those Insights in the Final Report or Slideshow.
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Escaping the Bar Chart

Bar charts aren’t evil. But they’re overused. I talked about Designs to Start Using Instead at the DataScienceGO conference in April 2021. We talked about my three favorite techniques for exploratory data visualization– spark lines, data bars and heat tables– and then I gave them some different options for maps. Are you ready to escape the bar chart?
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