Think Like a Champion: Kat & Nicole, Ready to Answer your Grand Prix Questions!

Hello Alteryx Community!!

We are @kat and @NicoleJohnson! Back in 2018, we took the Grand Prix by storm and made it the year for women solvers, taking the Grand Prix Champion title home at both Inspire Europe and Inspire North America!! We are excited to answer any questions you have today around our Grand Prix experiences: how we prepared for the race, what the competition was like, our favorite tools to use, best songs on our playlists that got us pumped up... whatever you want to know!!

And if you’re interested in competing in the Alteryx Grand Prix (you should!!), check out this blog post about registering for Grand Prix 2021!

We’ll be online for the next hour (10-11am PST) to answer alllll your questions - just leave a comment below! Ready... Set... Go!

Cheers!

Kat & Nicole

PHOTO: Kat & Nicole after Kat's Grand Prix victory in London (along with pit crew extraordinaire, Dan Hare!)

Fun

Virtual Inspire 2021

Accepted answers

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kat

That picture brings back some great memories! 🙂

Taking part in the Grand Prix was such an incredible experience, not one I'd want to have missed.

WillM

I love this! If you could give someone that's on the fence about competing one piece of advice to push them over the edge, what would it be?

CailinS

@NicoleJohnson what would you say to someone who's scared to participate because they're worried they will mess up or under perform?

NicoleJohnson

@WillM - "If you could give someone that's on the fence about competing one piece of advice to push them over the edge, what would it be?"

My advice would be that there is NEVER any harm in trying - especially this year, with everything being virtual!! I am still not entirely sure how I won haha, and there are SO MANY talented people out there who are true Alteryx wizards... but if you don't try, then you definitely won't win, so why not give it a go?? If anything, it's fun to do Alteryx in a "new" way - really really fast, with a lot of cheering fans!! Certainly not something you get every day at work 🙂

kat

Great question @WillM 🙂

Better to try than to miss out on such an experience!

It's an amazing experience and not one that I would want to have missed out on. Yes, it's nerveracking. But it doesn't compare to the feeling of having given it a shot 🙂

NicoleJohnson

@kat - I'm curious if there was a moment when you thought you weren't going to make it... and/or was there a moment when you knew you were going to win?? 🙂

I think I mostly remember being surprised I had finished the third round - it was like I was on auto-pilot at the end there, the focus was so intense!

kat

@NicoleJohnson I remember getting the first question and thinking, OK, I can do this. Just motored through and ignored everything else.

Then in the second (and final round) it got a bit tricky. I remember seeing my answer and thinking it was totally wrong. That's when @ShaanM waved the flag and I was all like 'Whaaaaat?!'

Basically, everything after that was a blur. It took a good couple of minutes to register that I'd won where I was just giving all kinds of answers 😂

How about you?

NataliaV

@kat @NicoleJohnson Will either of you return to the stage to go for the championship one more time? Or come back to the stage as a pit crew?

mceleavey

@NicoleJohnson and @kat ,

as a partner I'm not allowed to compete (that's the only reason. Honest.) Do you think we should be allowed to compete or would you keep it just for customers?

How about a separate partner event?

kat

I'd gladly be a pit crew (if anyone's recruiting, give me a shout 😁), but I think for now that's where it ends 🙂

MaddieJ

Hey @NicoleJohnson and @kat!

Very important question: How incredible did you feel the morning after you won? Maybe you ordered a room service mimosa and started the day off with a dance party? Maybe you were too excited to even sleep?

Would love to hear some behind the scenes details!

LeahK

This question is for both @kat and @NicoleJohnson :

I know both of you leveraged the Weekly Challenges to prepare. What challenges would you recommend users attempt or reattempt to put those Alteryx GP skills into practice? Share your top two recommendations 😉

NicoleJohnson

I am DEFINITELY signed up to try again!! For the past few years, ACEs weren't allowed to compete, so I wasn't able to defend my title... so you better believe now that we are allowed to try out again, I will be there!! 🙂 Not sure lightning can strike twice, but we shall see haha

And @mceleavey I do feel for you on the Partner side... hopefully in future years, we can find a way to have some variations on the Grand Prix structure that will allow ACEs and Partners and ANYONE to compete - maybe a few rounds, with an ACE-Partner-Customer battle at the end or something 🙂 I will be rooting for you if that day comes, you better believe it!

FláviaB

@kat and @NicoleJohnson, it is so awesome to hear about your journeys!!

Now made me wonder what tips or questions our other Grand Prix winners and finalists might have to share! 😊

@LeahK I don't think there's any one challenge that could ever prepare you for the Grand Prix - there's just way too many tools.

That being said, I'd definitely recommend trying out the Grand Prix questions. They give you a proper feel for what it's like. And of course anything you're not too familiar with.

That's probably one of my top tips for the Grand Prix anyway - make sure you don't have any blind spots. Nothing worse than realising on the day you need to use a tool that you've never seen before! You don't need to be a pro on anything, but at least try it out.

NicoleJohnson

I agree with @kat - there isn't necessarily a single challenge or set of challenges that is going to prepare you for the Grand Prix... but what you CAN do is pick a bunch of the intermediate challenges, for example, and then see how fast you can solve them. Don't make them pretty, and don't worry about extra tools & such, but see how quickly you can think ahead and get some answers on the canvas. And THEN, once you've solved it one way, go back and try to do the same thing again, but use different tools... I think that's one of my top pieces of advice. You should always have in mind a few different ways to solve the same task/step - because, inevitably, you're going to have a moment of stage fright where you completely forget how to build a DateTime formula or something. So you'll have to lean on another option - use RegEx, or the DateTime tool, or whatever. So training your brain to think of multiple paths to get to the same outcome is going to be a good way to get familiar with a bunch of different tools & methods, which will come in handy when the lights are blaring and the crowd is cheering and you start to forget how to do things you've done 100 times!! 🙂

tsilva4

Hi Kat and Nicole, did you have any favorite training Alteryx or prep exercises you used to prepare you for the Grand Prix?

kat

Hi @tsilva4, my number one prep was just doing all the weekly challenges. And adding to that, I never looked at the solution before solving it myself, even if it took a really long time (Challenge 100.... 👀). That helps train you to think about the solution yourself and not just recognize a good solution.

I also made sure I was aware of what each tool did so that there wouldn't be any surprises.

Doing the Exam is probably good too, as that is a real-life, under pressure, time-sensitive scenario, really putting you through your paces and highlighting any week spots.

Good luck!!

NicoleJohnson

@tsilva4 - "did you have any favorite training Alteryx or prep exercises you used to prepare you for the Grand Prix?"

I guessed that Predictive would be my weak point (I was correct haha), so I do remember spending a bit of time doing the Predictive weekly challenges to prepare... but as there weren't a ton of them to choose from, I also spent some time dissecting the examples that were available in the tools themselves, and the sample workflows and tutorials in the Help menu. It was good to just get familiar with the tools & some of the ways to configure them, and it was helpful to see some structured examples rather than "just winging it," which is typically how I was approaching the Weekly Challenges 🙂

I will also add that there are SO MANY MORE resources available on the Community now than there were back in 2018... between the plethora of Knowledge Base and Tool Mastery articles, the interactive lessons, the enormous library of videos... this is a gold mine. Focus on your weak spots with the Academy resources, but then also make sure that you are really confident in the things you do know - if you can take care of the data prep & blend super fast because you're a wizard at the favorite tools, you'll have more time to tackle the harder tools to figure them out!

carlosteixeira

Hi girls, congratulations on the grand prix.
You are amazing.

What are the suggestions for the people who are starting now to prepare for the next ones?

Thableaus

Question to @NicoleJohnson

Do you think preparing for a Grand Prix helped you on passing the Alteryx Expert Certification? Even though the format is totally different.

Thanks,

NicoleJohnson

Bit random, but I remember spending a lot of time putting my playlist together for the Grand Prix - I wanted to make sure it was upbeat and motivational, to keep the adrenaline going. However, I only remember 2 songs - the first one that played when I first put my headphones on, which was Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton singing "Say Something"... and then I remember I was getting close to the answer on Round 1, I KNEW I had it, and then AJR's "Burn the House Down" came on, and I legit remember starting to dance a bit on stage. Don't remember any of the other songs, but to this day when I hear one of those songs, it brings me back on stage!!

@kat - did you have a song or two that got you in the right frame of mind??

kat

Thank you @carlosteixeira ! 🙂

I'd suggest just doing any and all weekly challenges left to do and doing them all properly, - i.e. giving it a proper shot before looking at the solution. Would also recommend just familiarising yourself with every tool available - you never know what crazy question they'll come up with!

Hope we'll see you on stage this year @carlosteixeira 😁

NicoleJohnson

@Thableaus - "Do you think preparing for a Grand Prix helped you on passing the Alteryx Expert Certification? Even though the format is totally different."

That's a great question! Yes & no - the Expert exam challenges you to know very particular things about some of the more advanced tools & concepts in Alteryx, so in that sense, being able to quickly get done with the things you do know how to do so that you can focus on tweaking the things you aren't as familiar with was definitely a Grand Prix type skill... but there are distinctly fewer people cheering you on while you're taking the Expert exam, which is really a shame 🙂

I do think that any time you can challenge yourself to think through a problem in your mind, start to finish, and to plan ahead/always be thinking about the downstream steps, you'll be setting yourself up for success, whether that is in a Grand Prix or while taking an Expert exam!

kat

@NicoleJohnson my music story is terrible... I didn't realise that one would have to listen to music. Added to that I normally work in silence. It was my first Inspire and I, super naively, assumed the headphones were so good at cancelling out noise that all I'd need to do was put them on 😂 So day before @CailinS told us we needed to listen to music while there and I panicked a bit. Wasn't sure whether I'd be able to think at the same time... I ended up going with classical music as I figured there wouldn't be any lyrics to distract me. Worked out somehow! The music was probably quite a funny counter point to the madness around me.

While maybe slightly different this year, I would highly recommend practising working with distractions, if that's not something you're familiar with.

Samanthaj_hughes

Solving at speed when under time pressures can really scare people. During our user groups we did fun challenges in front of people to help new alteryx users get over the solving whilst people watch. What tips do you have to help people over those fears of people are watching me do it moments.

Also how did you celebrate afterwards? What really brought it home for you both?

NicoleJohnson

All right folks - this was SO MUCH FUN. @kat and I loved reliving the moment with you all, and we are excited to see some more faces on that (virtual) Grand Prix stage this year - so go sign up!! Here is the link for registration info one more time - you have until tomorrow to sign up! Just go for it - you will not regret it!!

We're off to go do some more Alteryx wizardry and such, so might be a bit slower to respond... but feel free to keep the enthusiasm & the conversation going! Would love to hear stories from others who have competed, or your own plans for how you are going to prepare for the prelims and the big race itself.

Thanks for all the Grand Prix love - we couldn't have done it without you, Alteryx Community!!

Cheers!

Kat & Nicole

DanHare

@kat and @NicoleJohnson , I was the thorn next to two roses !

NicoleJohnson

@Samanthaj_hughes - I LOVE the idea of "practicing" at user groups, that is an excellent strategy! This will definitely come in handy while YOU compete this year - I am so so so glad you signed up!! Now I just have to try to keep up with you haha...

As far as getting over the fear of people watching you solve, here's what you should keep in mind: the problems you are given in the Grand Prix are ALWAYS going to be solvable. Someone told me that before my race, and it really resonated. Think about it: it would be a pretty lame show if there were a bunch of people on stage staring blankly at a screen/getting the wrong answers for an hour. So to begin with, you have to go into it believing that it is solvable... and then you have to believe that YOU can solve it.

There is certainly an element of speed that is helpful, but accuracy is key too, and not making silly mistakes... so do what you gotta do to block everyone else out, and focus on doing what you know how to do. Also, adrenaline can really make you do incredible, superhuman things. So like @kat said earlier - prelims were almost harder. The excitement of the Grand Prix on the day of is unlike anything else - and more than scary or nerve-wracking, it was really just FUN!

The other thing to keep in mind is that people aren't really watching you the whole time - they're trying to solve the problems in their own heads, or they're watching the graphics on the screen, or drinking a beer, or chatting with their neighbors... So that's maybe a good thing to keep in mind too!

And in the end, it's totally worth it even if it is a little scary - the post-Grand Prix celebration in Anaheim was LEGENDARY. I think I shook hands with like 500 people, got a few random job offers, took pictures with strangers, signed someone's nametag... and I can still vividly picture Dean Stoecker yelling and leaping up on stage when they finally announced the photo-finish results. It was insanity 🙂

Also, getting to have that enormous trophy on my desk at work for a year was awesome. You could see it from across the office!

estherb47

@FláviaB

My best advice is don't compete a few hours after you get off of a plane on barely any sleep. (very delayed flight + very rushed tasks to be done at the venue = very poor performance)

Seriously though, take deep breaths, think about the problem before you jump in, and then go as quickly as you're able. It's a ton of fun regardless of anything that happens when you're on the stage.

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