This month we will be making the ATUG meeting available as a webinar.  The agenda includes:

1. Blend This – Paul Lisborg, Newnan Utilities
2. Parameter Madness – Andy Piper, Norfolk Southern
• Interactive Data Blending
• Dynamic Path Coloration
• Dynamic Table Creation

This will be a hands-on session, so have your laptop and Tableau ready to go.

Webinar details

Meeting Number: 715 959 099
Meeting Password: atug

To join this meeting (Now from mobile devices!)

1. Go to https://nsc.webex.com/nsc/j.php?J=715959099
2. If requested, enter your name and email address.
3. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: atug
4. Click "Join".
5. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Audio conference information
1-866-672-6771
User code 02 56 577#

Location
Norfolk Southern
1200 Peachtree NE, Peachtree Room - 2nd floor
Atlanta, GA 30309
Google Maps

RSVP: http://www.tableausoftware.com/learn/usergroups/atlanta-apr26-12

Agenda

1. Blend This – Paul Lisborg, NetDirect
2. Parameter Madness – Andy Piper, Newnan Utilities
• Interactive Data Blending
• Dynamic Path Coloration
• Dynamic Table Creation

++ Bring your laptop with Tableau, because this will be a hands-on session. ++

For more information, please contact John Hoover.

The ability to display labels onto map locations (and more recently filled maps) has always been present -- simply drag and drop a field you wish to use as the label onto the Label shelf. However, in many circumstances there may simply be too many labels that appear on the map to obtain useful information.
This document will demonstrate how to display labels on a filled map only when a particular criterion has been met (without manually modifying your marks). A measure field called Demand is used in this example, though other measures such a sales, weight, population, etc. can easily be used.  This same process can also be useful when conducting sensitivity analysis.

There's a bad stomach bug going around this part of town and I think I might know part of the reason why. Today, my good friends over at Chart of the Day published this pinwheel pie chart and I think the filling might be bad, because the pie sure looks ugly.

Here are some of the problems with this chart:

1. IT'S A PIE CHART!
2. Colors are re-used, or maybe they are so similar it's hard to tell they're different
3. The slices are not in order, making it even hard to look up the values (notice how Microsoft is listed ahead of Peter Thiel and some others)
4. The dollar amounts are based on their portion of $100B, yet they total up to $101,350,000,000.
5. Correspondingly, the percentages add up to 101.4%. How can you have more than 100% of a total?

To highlight the differences, I created the following charts with Tableau.

What I attempted to do here was show the Stated % Share (gray bar) from the pie chart compared to the "Restated % Share" (black bar). I calculated the Restated % Share with the following formula:

SUM([Stated $ Value])/TOTAL(SUM([Stated $ Value]))

NOTE: A special thank you to Marc Reuter (@tableaujedi) for enlightening the ATUG crowd today with some Jedi magic and for showing how to use the TOTAL function. I had never used it before (and didn't know about it either), but I find it totally awesome! It'll be so useful!

Basically, I'm taking the value stated on the pie chart and dividing it by the total value of the pie chart. This gives you the Restated % Share. The label is the difference between the Restated % Share and the Stated % Share.

The chart on the right represents the % variance number (as identified by the label on the left) multiplied by $100B (the estimated total value of Facebook).

If I were one of these shareholders, I'd be a bit concerned about the math. This isn't chump change! In the end, Chart of the Day may have made a $1.35B miscalculation. Oops!

Download the Tableau workbook here and you will see the original and restated data like this:

While we prefer that you join us in person, this month we are offering the Atlanta Tableau User Group meeting as a webinar.  Anyone is welcome to join.

RSVP (if you plan to attend in person) – http://www.tableausoftware.com/usergroups/atlanta-dec15-11

Please join 5 minutes early as we will start promptly at 1pm.

Agenda:

1. Jedi Tricks – Marc Rueter, Tableau Software
   • In this session, Marc will show ten powerful tricks that will make you truly the master of your analytics.
2. Hands-on Training: Tips & Tricks – Andy Kriebel, Coca-Cola
• Authoring Brilliant Dashboards
• Ten powerful tricks that will speed up your work
3. Information - January & February Meetings

-- This will be a hands on session --

Webinar Login Information
URL: http://bit.ly/drY3e5
Toll free: (877) 906-9811
Conference code: 2561415367

The next ATUG meeting will be December 15 @ 1PM ET

Where – Coca-Cola - 1 Coca Cola Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30313, Nicholson Room – Central Reception Building

Important – You must check-in with security and tell them you are there for the Atlanta Tableau User Group meeting.

Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early!!

RSVP – http://www.tableausoftware.com/usergroups/atlanta-dec15-11

Agenda:

1. Jedi Tricks – Marc Rueter, Tableau Software
   • In this session, Marc will show ten powerful tricks that will make you truly the master of your analytics.
2. Hands-on Training: Tips & Tricks – Andy Kriebel, Coca-Cola
   • Ten powerful tricks that will speed up your work
   • Authoring Brilliant Dashboards
3. Information - January & February Meetings

-- This will be a hands on session - Bring your laptop and Tableau with you --

The next ATUG meeting will be November 17 @ 1PM ET

Who - All ATUG members and guests
What – The November in person hands on meeting
Where – Coca-Cola - 2 Coca Cola Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30313, USA-G

Important – You must check-in with security and tell them you are there for the Atlanta Tableau User Group meeting. They will then call me to come get you. I will have people in the lobby to help usher you to the room.

Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early

RSVP – http://www.tableausoftware.com/usergroups/atlanta-nov17-11

Agenda:

1. Tableau Customer Conference Presentation – The Holy Grail of Strategic Decision Making (Andy Kriebel, Coca-Cola)

2. Training – Iron Viz Challenge: Create a beautiful viz with unfamiliar data in less than 30 minutes (David Newman, CSE Inc.)

3. Open forum –

• Tableau Customer Conference feedback, highlights, etc.
• December meeting – location, time, agenda

-- This will be a hands on session - Bring your laptop and Tableau with you --

Please join Mischa Uppelschoten of UPS and Dan Murray of Interworks as they host the Atlanta Tableau User Group on Wednesday, September 21 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm at UPS.

This event is a time to share, listen, network and discuss experiences and opportunities with other Tableau users.

Information:

• Wednesday, September 21 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm
• UPS, 55 Glenlake Parkway NE, Atlanta, GA 30328

Agenda:

• Introductions / Networking
• Webinar – Tableau @ Oxford University: A Classic Tale of “Land & Expand” – Andy Cotgreave, Tableau Software
• Break / Networking
• Exploratory Vitas: Ways to Become Acquainted with a Data Set for the First Time – Hands-on activity – Dan Murray, Interworks
• November Meeting Discussion

Bring your laptop equipped with Tableau because this will be a hands-on session.

• Outgunned and outnumbered
• Feeling like an outlaw
• No funds, only problems to solve
• Locked-in

Join ATUG today at 1pm ET as special guest Albert Birck from Maersk Line joins us all the way from Europe to present his talk from the European Tableau Customer Conference:

Overcoming Resistance in BI Projects

• Outgunned and outnumbered

• Feeling like an outlaw

• No funds, only problems to solve
• Locked-in

And how 'guerilla-analytics' can help you deal with it

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To join this meeting (Now from mobile devices!)
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1. Go to https://nsc.webex.com/nsc/j.php?J=715230391
2. If requested, enter your name and email address

1. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: stealth

1. Click "Join"
2. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Meeting Number: 715 230 391
Meeting Password: stealth

-------------------------------------------------------
Audio conference information
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USA: 1-866-672-6771
International: +44 20 7198 1751
User code: 02 56 577#

Click here to register

Join us at the Atlanta User Group August 18th from 1-4pm @ Norfolk Southern.

Agenda:

• Introductions & Networking
• Overcoming Resistance in BI Projects - Albert Birck, Maersk Line
• Break / Networking
• Team Activity
• September Meeting Discussion (any volunteers to host?)

This will be a hands-on meeting so please bring your laptop with Tableau.

Who should attend? Tableau User groups are open to any Tableau customers and enthusiasts.

Paul Lisborg of Newnan Utilities, was announced the winner of the ATUG (Facebook, LinkedIn) viz challenge at the July meet-up.  Paul has been a very active member of ATUG since the beginning.  In fact, I don’t believe he’s missed a single meet-up.

Here’s a screen shot of Paul’s interactive viz.  The data source is too large to upload to Tableau Public; click on the image below to download the workbook.

For his efforts, Paul was awarded a pretty cool water bottle and a t-shirt.  Best of all, Paul won the iPad2 given away by Tableau at the 6.1 launch party.  It was only fitting that Paul won.

Tableau 6.1: See Your Data Like Never Before

Click here to register

Tableau’s gone mobile and is making stops at user groups across the country to give customers a first-hand look at what's coming in Tableau 6.1.

Join us at the Atlanta User Group as we raffle off an iPad in 6.1 celebration fun!

Agenda:

A minor release? Think again, come and see all we’ve rolled into the latest release of Tableau.

• Mobile Business Intelligence - Tableau’s new touch-enabled visualizations and native iPad app let you get business intelligence anywhere you need it.
• Localization and Maps - French and German versions of Tableau Desktop and Server and more map options mean that asking “where?” yields richer answers.
• Fresh, Fast Data - It’s even easier to be up-to-the-minute and secure with all your data.

Who should attend? Tableau User groups are open to any Tableau customers and enthusiasts.

At most ATUG (Facebook, LinkedIn) meetings we conduct a group exercise in which the attendees break into small groups, are given an unfamiliar dataset, have 45 minutes to build a dashboard, then present their dashboards.  This past week, due to the richness of the dataset, none of the teams were able to build anything within the time allotted. 

After talking with Tableau, we are turning this into a contest for the ATUG members.  Each member or team that participates will present their dashboard at the next meeting on July 21st (Tableau will host the meeting and present v6.1).  Entries will be judged by John Hoover, Dan Murray and I (and maybe someone from Tableau).  We’re working on a prize with Tableau.

To be eligible, you must attend the next ATUG meeting in person, but if anyone else wants to submit a viz, please do so; it’s a great dataset.  You can post your entries via comment to this blog post.

The contest is based on the Yale University G-Econ research project.  From their website:

The G-Econ research project is devoted to developing a geophysically based data set on economic activity for the world. The current data set (GEcon 4.0) is now publicly available and covers "gross cell product" for all regions for 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005 and includes 27,500 terrestrial observations. The basic metric is the regional equivalent of gross domestic product. Gross cell product (GCP) is measured at a 1-degree longitude by 1-degree latitude resolution at a global scale.

You can find the following at this link (http://db.tt/iM3MdEx):

1. The data in XLS, XLSX and Tableau Data Extract format (I have built a few custom calcs and a parameter into the extract).  The fields have some funky names, so refer to the “definitions” tab in the Excel workbook for explanations (I have renamed a few of them in the Tableau workbook).
2. A Tableau packaged workbook (ATUG June 2011.tbwx)
3. Meeting materials from the last meeting (for those curious to see the content of a typical ATUG meeting)

Below is a sample dashboard I created.  Be patient as the viz loads.  There are 27k+ data points that need to load into each map. 

• You can filter the maps by lassoing an area on any of the maps.  Lasso South America in the Population Change map and you’ll see a cool display in the other three maps.
• Use the Year selector next to the Population Change map to see the population change over time.  Notice how much movement there has been from 2000-2005 versus 1990-2005.

Good luck!  Send me an email if you have any questions.

Please join us Thursday, June 23rd from 1:00 - 4:00 pm at Coca-cola for a hands-on user group meeting.

This event is a time to share, listen, network and discuss experiences and opportunities with other Tableau users.

Information:

• Thursday, June 23rd from 1:00 - 4:00 pm
• Coca-cola, 2 Coca Cola Plaza - Learning Room 6, Atlanta, GA 30313 - Map
• Register here

Agenda:

• Training - Efficient use of Tableau (Laura Hussey, FTI)
• Team Project - TARP: Uncover the data
• Open Forum

Bring your laptop equipped with Tableau because this will be a hands-on session.

IMPORTANT - Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early. You must check in with security and tell them you are there for the Atlanta Tableau User Group meeting. They will call Andy Kriebel to come get you.

We look forward to seeing you!

The next ATUG meeting will be February 17 @ 1PM ET

Who - All ATUG members and guests

What – The February in person hands on meeting

Where – Coca-Cola - 2 Coca Cola Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30313, learning room 6

Important – You must check-in with security and tell them you are there for the Atlanta Tableau User Group meeting. They will then call me to come get you. I will have people in the lobby to help usher you to the training room as the room is across the campus.

Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early

RSVP – http://events.linkedin.com/February-Atlanta-Tableau-User-Group-ATUG/pub/551737

Agenda:

1. Demonstration – Grouping & Joining: Tableau vs. Excel (Bryan Hoskins, Athens Regional Medical Center)
2. Training – Sorting, Grouping & Sets (Bryan Hoskins)
3. Team project – Are you ready for some football?
4. Open forum –
• March meeting – location, time, agenda
• Steering committee changes – who wants to help?

-- This will be a hands on session - Bring your laptop and Tableau with you --