On the 9th of October, DS53 were tasked with teaching members of the public on Tableau and Alteryx, with myself teaching the Introduction to Filters and Formulas.
Whilst the presentations on client projects, meet & greets as well as my previous public speaking experience gave me confidence in my ability to present, guiding a class of newcomers to a software is not something I have had the pleasure of experiencing before.
Event Structure
The event runs from 09:30 to 16:30 and each cohort splits into 2 teams for each software, 4 on Tableau and 3 of us plus a coach on the Alteryx team. Our day lead with 4 sections; Introduction to Alteryx Designer (Olivia Millar), Formulas & Filters, Transformations (Robbin Vernooij) and Next Level Tools (Joss Lazenby). It is a free session where members of the public can sign up and learn about the software chosen, and hopefully leave the day having learnt some valuable skills.
My section focused on explained what filters and formula tools are, when to use them, and how they work. For the formulas section, I decided to cover a few different functions for the numeric, string, date and conditional types. I created a presentation which explained each of the functions, and provided examples. Alongside these slides, I created an Alteryx workflow that helped walkthrough different examples and use cases for the tools. These materials took a while to compile during the sessions we had in training, but definitely helped me to explain the content to others in a simple and effective way. Inside the workflow, I created a couple of exercises that increased in difficulty for those in the class to work through in the session and in their own time. Below is an overview of the workflow's examples, and how the exercises laid out their steps.
Reflections & Feedback
I was content with the session overall. The pacing of the session worked perfectly, leaving enough time to work through the planned materials and allowing for questions during the session. For the first time presenting a technical session, I felt that I managed to explain and signpost where to find different options or settings as the session progressed.
For the future, I would like to improve on breaking up the session between talking alone and explaining a concept with either asking the audience questions to keep them involved, or have an additional short exercise in the middle of the session to help break up the pace of the session. Another point of improvement is my hand gestures when presenting (my arms sometimes feel like alien noodles that I don't know what to do with), to help explain and grab attention while talking through a presentation. One of my own struggles and problems noted by the audience was the lack of a story or reason why during the walkthroughs. While I explained thoroughly, the lack of a contextual story made it harder for the logic to stick the first time round. Thankfully in the exercises I managed to build in a story, but otherwise I knew this could be an issue.
On some of the technical feedback from the coaches, explaining the folder structure when locating files rather than mentioning the file names alone. A better clarification on the functions and in which situations they would prove useful, in conjunction with messier data used. Whilst the examples of conditional statements worked well, the syntax in the examples on the presentation slides did not match the different structure that Alteryx has.
The lessons from this public teaching session will stand me in good stead for future client project presentations that will take place in Alteryx, as well as on placement when I have to explain my own workflow to a client, or alternatively host workshops!