Tableau and I love our customers

For nearly two months I have been touching base with the heart of Tableau; our customers. Every day I have the opportunity to chat with customers about the upcoming Customer Conference. It’s a scary concept being thrown onto the front lines of Customer Conference recruitment. I didn’t know what to expect, I thought I would need to prepare myself to handle rejection better than Macaulay Culkin after he tried to jump start his career as an adult actor. But after being at Tableau for some time, I can report that my job is surely no convincing act and more of a conversation with an old friend.

Be it the content, location or networking, customers love attending Tableau’s Customer Conference. I have talked to customers who have attended the Conference in '08 and '09 and are still pumped about their TCC experience and plan to attend future conferences. I cannot believe how much users enjoy talking to me about their experience and their favorite memory of a past Tableau Conference. The most rewarding part of my job is when I can take customer feedback and instantly reply that we’ve already heard similar feedback from other customers and have implemented their suggestions.

I have come to see that customer feedback is our bread and butter. We constantly take customer suggestions to heart and make the changes customers want. Here are the top conversations I have with customers and thought you might want to hear.

1. What's on the agenda?
   A major question involves conference sessions. Some customers are concerned that they won’t be able to attend all of the sessions they want or there won’t be enough space in the most popular courses. We have bumped up the sessions for TCC12 (180 to be exact). The increase has allowed sessions to be duplicated and made it possible to provide attendees with a larger range of topics. Plus, we will be recording all of the sessions for attendees to watch at their convenience after the conference.

2. Come one, come all!
   We received customer feedback saying they are worried the content level is not hands-on enough or too expert focused and not for beginners. You spoke, we listened! There is content for every skill level, beginning with our pre-conference workshops offered Monday, Nov. 5. The pre-conference workshops are designed to educate users on Tableau regardless of their skill level. This not only advances their knowledge of the software, it also sets them up for even greater success during the Conference. Speaking of the Conference, the large selection of sessions allows more room for variety when it comes to specific areas of focus, i.e. skill level, industry, content type.

3. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
   Customers are excited to learn they can format their session schedule online prior to the Conference to ensure they map out exactly what they want to attend. We want to make it as easy as possible for our attendees to find and get whatever content there are interested in. Along with the schedule of sessions available online, Tableau has created an easy-to-use app for mobile devices. Customers will have the ability to look up sessions, speakers and view a map of the overall Conference. (Coming soon!)

4. Oh the people you’ll meet!
   Networking is an important aspect of any business environment. But the opportunity for our users to connect in person at the conference is more than just your average awkward networking reception. Our customers and employees seek out old friends from past conferences and go out of their way to meet new Tableau users to talk shop and bond over their love of Tableau. I love telling customers the new ways they can connect at this year’s Conference. For example:

   • Why wait until November to start networking when you can jump onto your favorite social media sites and start communicating months in advance. Tableau has provided customers with several mediums to get in touch with one another prior to the Conference; link up on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter (#tcc12) and chat with attendees on Facebook. If you haven’t already, create a Tableau Community account and join the Customer Conference 2012 group. It’s an awesome way to communicate with other TCC12 groupies before the main event.

   • Name tags will identify people with name and industry for easy introductions.

   • And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Tableau rolls out the red carpet for Community Alley. For those of you who do not know, Community Alley is where customers will get a chance to network and discuss topics of their choosing. Believe me when I tell you this gets even the most serious customers excited to stop by and see what the buzz is about. Community Alley will also host this year’s Iron Viz competition as well as the Tableau store and the show-and-tell area letting customers set up their laptops and strut their stuff. It’s a Tableau coffee shop, science fair, town hall meeting place all wrapped into one.

   • The Conference app can also be used as a people finder by using geo-location for any attendee with a profile. This enables group meet-ups and can be accessed easily with your Tableau Community login.

Having the chance to speak directly with you on a daily basis is wonderful. Our customers love Tableau as much as we do and are equally as excited about attending our upcoming Customer Conference. The countdown has begun. Check out the Customer Conference website because the Tableau fun train is leaving in less than 11 weeks and we want you on it!