In a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining analytics, mastering its integration with common tools like Microsoft Excel is a competitive advantage.
This one-day workshop is designed to fill this skill gap, ushering you into the world of “AI-powered Excel” to enhance traditional Excel functionalities for modern analytics. Covering the statistical core of AI to effective prompt engineering practices, your team will be well-poised to leverage this groundbreaking technology directly from your Excel spreadsheets.
Why AI for Excel?
AI may seem new, but it has been around for a while — even in common tools like Excel. You might think mastering AI means dealing with complex code and that Excel is too simple for serious AI use. Perhaps you’re worried that Excel will become outdated as AI grows.
However, AI is actually a big chance for Excel to stay useful and get even better in the next tech wave. There are many parts of Excel that already use AI — you may have even used them! This workshop aims to show you these connections. Starting from the basics, you’ll learn how AI works and how to organize your data and thinking to make the most of it.
We’ll explore current AI features in Excel like linked data types and formulas by example. We’ll also look ahead at the exciting world of generative AI in Excel, learning how to arrange and think about data for the best results. Excel is a powerful, easy-to-use tool, and understanding AI will make it even stronger.
Workshop benefits
As part of this workshop, your team will be able to:
- Explore the statistical foundations of AI, and why they matter for spreadsheet analytics
- Speed up data import, processing and analysis steps
- Properly code and structure data for use with AI algorithms
- Create safe, efficient, powerful generative AI prompts
What makes this workshop different
I know there are lots of places to learn Excel these days. What distinguishes this workshop is that it’s:
- Participative: A hands-on approach ensures immediate application and better retention of the concepts learned.
- Authoritative: Spearheaded by George Mount, a seasoned analytics consultant, author, and Microsoft MVP.
- Topical: Real, relevant data sets make learning engaging and practical. Customization to use your organization’s data is available upon request.
Due to their hands-on and participative nature, sessions work best for groups of up to 20 in-person or 35 online participants.
Who should attend
Really, anyone who wants to make the most of their data using next-generation features. Typical job titles who could particularly benefit include:
- Data analysts
- Financial analysts
- Marketing coordinators
- Accountants
- Controllers
- Operations analysts
Ideally, attendees will have some familiarity with intermediate Excel topics such as PivotTables or lookup functions such as VLOOKUP() or XLOOKUP(). That said, I’ve had success with learners possessing skills as early as basic formulas and functions.
There is no coding experience required to attend this workshop.
What you’ll get
- One full day of either onsite or online instruction (about six hours of instruction total, plus time for lunch and breaks)
- Step-by-step demo notes explaining the entire course’s content
- Supplemental video content to practice with and share later
- Lifetime access to all slides, datasets and handouts used in the course
Workshop highlights
This is an example of what might be covered in the workshop. Each section includes both instructor demonstrations and time for learner exercises.
- AI-driven data manipulation: Starting with the basics of flash fill, you’ll understand how to harness AI for maximum potential in pattern recognition for data manipulation.
- Advanced data entry and forecasting: Learn how to import, contextualize, and build forecasts with your data.
- AI-powered data analysis: Learn how to structure and represent your data for maximum potential with AI-driven insights, visualizations and summaries.
- Copilot and the future of Excel: Get the most of prompt engineering along with how to quickly and safely get the most of generative AI.
About your instructor
George Mount is the founder of Stringfest Analytics. He has over 10 years of experience in data analytics and holds master’s degrees in both finance and information systems from Case Western Reserve University. George is widely recognized an expert in the fields of data analysis and Microsoft Excel and is the author of Advancing into Analytics: From Excel to Python and R (O’Reilly Media, 2021). He is also a recipient of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for technical excellence and community contributions in Excel.
George has extensive experience in reporting, analytics, and modeling and is a respected trainer in these fields. He provides training for companies throughout North America and beyond.
Software Required
For best results, please have the desktop version of Excel for Windows 365 installed. Earlier versions of Excel or versions for Mac may not track well with everything in the course. Please also have access to either ChatGPT or Bing Chat.
Get started
Ready to get the most of AI with Excel? Drop me a line below. I look forward to building the future of Excel with you!
