Each year, Tableau invites users of the BI tool to nominate individuals in the community who have given back in so many ways to earn the coveted title of Zen Master. I’ve been using Tableau for three years now and while I’m not on the panel of judges that determine who becomes a Zen, I have my own idea of the attributes needed to become one. Granted I could nominate a large majority of the Tableau Community, I have nominated three users who have mentored me, inspired me, and with whom I hope to collaborate more in the near future.
Brad Wheeler
First up, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Brad Wheeler; he is by far the best advocate and one of the more advanced users of the tool that I know. I got my start in Tableau thanks to Brad and over the last few years I’ve witnessed him providing his time and tutelage to so many people. Whether it be in the office, at local Tableau User Groups, or through TC sessions such as this one on improving dashboard performance. I’ve been fortunate to learn so many advanced functions such as sheet swaps, parameter actions, and self service analytics from studying Brad’s works. But I also get inspired by some of his cool visuals, some of which have been featured as VOTD, and his latest which rates Beat Saber songs.
Ken Flerlage
There’s been several times where I’ve been stumped on functions or ideas for a certain viz and Ken has always answered the call. One of them involved action filters that only filtered certain marks and Ken was gracious as always to work with me over a weekend to brainstorm some ideas on how to go about that. Ken has always pushed the boundaries of the tool itself through some really creative and must have templates, including the plug and play sankey template which is one of my favorites! Another thing you’ll notice about his work and explanations is that he wants you to understand why we are doing things the way we are to arrive at our final product. He and his brother Kevin recently launched their new collaborative site; you’ll find really great tutorials there to help you on your Tableau journey.
Mariona Banyeres
Finally, this year I nominate Mariona Banyeres because after I saw her visual on Winter in Europe back in 2018, I began to look at dashboards in a different way, one in which you can pack stats into making art. But don’t just take my word for it, check out her Tableau Public page and you’ll see what I mean. Like the other nominees, Mariona is very active in the Tableau Community and is always there to lend her knowledge and provide feedback!
Who’s inspired you? There’s still time to nominate them!
