Hi, DFW Alteryx User Group members! Thank you to all who could join us for our October meeting, and to our wonderful guest speakers, Alteryx ACEs Mark Thompson and Andrew Kim! We had an outstanding meeting, full of informative and engaging conversations. We even went over by 30 minutes, since the talks were so insightful!
Mark presented Joins and Unions for Excel and SQL users, and provided excellent graphics to show the various join types that would commonly be used by Excel users and SQL coders. He also explained how to use the Union tool to accomplish the same types of outer joins one would see in SQL.
Andrew expertly presented two use cases utilizing the Clustering tools in Alteryx, including K-Means Clustering tools. A detailed explanation of how clustering is defined was also given, then Andrew featured an Intelligence Suite Assisted Modeling workflow to predict outcomes based on the clusters created earlier. For more information on the Intelligence Suite add-on, please visit Intelligence Suite - Alteryx .
We then expanded our discussion into a more philosophical talk on AI and LLMs, then our conversation journeyed onto a path into entrepreneurship, economy, and attaining career goals with Alteryx. We completed the talk by exploring a question posed by user group member Aimee regarding public speaking, and we received so many beneficial comments from our speakers and members!
Since there were so many valuable resources and points made during the meeting, this recap will be a little longer than usual - I want to be sure to include as many of the helpful comments from the meeting chat as possible!
One of our members and previous guest speaker, Jason Brazeal, is a well-read data enthusiast, and provided some awesome resources in the chat:
Joshua Burkow’s (former ACE and now Evangelist at Alteryx) new book: “Alteryx Designer: The Definitive Guide”
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/alteryx-designer-the/9781098107512/ch06.html
Jason also posted in the chat about various writers and speakers in the data science space, and here are his useful comments:
“Mustafa Suleyman - formerly Google DeepMind, now with Inflection. He has pivoted into using AI more as a conversational computer interface vs keyboard and mouse”
“Ben Jones was on John Krohn’s Super Data Science podcast today as well”
“Great advice all around, thanks. Lea Pica leapica.com just released a book called Present Beyond Measure. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic has a book called Data Storytelling. Jennifer Aaker has several good TED talks on the value of story. One of my fav TED talks is Linus Torvalds, founder of Linux.”
“Brandon Rohrer spoke in 2016 at the Microsoft Data Science conference about discovering your data science superpower. Cassie Kozyrkov was recently on a good DataCamp podcast talking about the wide spectrum of data science and decision intelligence.”
Jason, you are a prolific reader and podcast listener, and I look forward to learning more from these authors and speakers – your expansive knowledge is inspirational! Thank you for posting these!
During our conversation about entrepreneurship and the new work mindset, Andrew responded with https://a.co/d/dwlI2M0 “The Introspective Entrepreneur” by Ben Jones. (I am excited to read this one too!)
I also shared a few resources that may be helpful for those using Excel and / or SQL:
https://www.alteryx.com/resources/product-guides/alteryx-excel
https://knowledge.alteryx.com/index/s/article/The-Alteryx-Guide-for-SQL-Users-1583460904698
Another user asked if there are resources for job opportunities using Alteryx, and we do have a post in our DFW Alteryx User Group page where companies can post openings. Members also can post resumes, LinkedIn pages, and announcements of being available for work: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Dallas-Ft-Worth-TX/Job-Opportunites-for-Alteryx-Users/td-p/55111
In addition, on employment / job seeking websites, try typing “Alteryx” as a keyword, and you can see the numerous opportunities available for those with Alteryx skills!
Andrew also posted the recent call for papers for the upcoming Inspire 2024 (which will be next May) and submissions are due December 20th: https://reg.rainfocus.com/flow/alteryx/inspire2024/inspire2024callforpapers/login
Special thanks to user group member Aimee for sparking an in-depth, compassionate, and inspiring conversation about public speaking / presenting to various types of audiences and ways of approaching being a speaker if you may be more introverted.
Andrew, Mark, and I contributed our viewpoints, tips and techniques, and modes of preparation for public speaking. Mark also highly recommended Toastmasters and explained the various types of public speaking groups available!
Jason posted this helpful resource for great public speaking: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_anderson_ted_s_secret_to_great_public_speaking?language=en
If anyone would like to practice public speaking and presenting, we have a friendly, welcoming audience with our Dallas / Fort Worth Alteryx User Group! You can present on a wealth of topics, such as:
- Alteryx processes and products, such as Macros, Analytic Apps, Optimizing Workflows, etc.
- How to use specific tools or toolsets in Alteryx, like the CrossTab or Transpose tools
- Ways that Alteryx is utilized at your company and the time savings, cost savings and other ROI you are achieving (only non-proprietary data should be shown)
- Something cool you have created or found in Alteryx!
You can also co-present with others, and simply do a 10 or 15-minute presentation as part of a group of speakers.
Please reach out to me via @Deanna if you would like to present; we are always looking for presenters and would love to feature you!
The recording for the October meeting can be found at this link:
https://community-alteryx.zoom.us/rec/share/98N2Cxpps6RiDaI0hutzqEdFEoYOeLHfEswJruT23T-3uAvOaFE3ebgi...
Passcode: !aQ1b6WH
Thanks again to each of our talented speakers, as well as to our members who contributed to such a positive and enlightening conversation! We truly appreciate your involvement, energy, and enthusiasm!
@Deanna
cc: @andrewdatakim @Watermark
Deanna
