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If you haven’t modernized your data cleaning & reporting processes in Microsoft Excel, you’re missing out on big productivity gains. And if you’re looking to conduct rigorous data analysis, more can be done in Excel than you think. This two-day workshop serves as an introduction to the “Modern Excel” suite of features, along with other powerful tools for analytics.
First, you’ll learn how to build repeatable data cleaning workflows with Power Query. Next, you’ll build relational data models and dashboards straight from Excel with Power Pivot. Finally, you’ll look at new Excel features like dynamic array functions, artificial intelligence-powered insights, and Python integration to accomplish even more with your data.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll be able to build reports and analyses that were previously difficult or impossible to do in Excel.
What is “Modern Analytics?” Why Excel?
Modern analytics refers to the use of advanced tools and techniques to analyze large volumes of data, ranging from simple retrospective analyses to predictive modeling and artificial intelligence. In the evolving landscape of data-driven decision-making, it’s essential to have tools that are versatile and interoperable, enabling users to perform a wide range of analytics activities.
Previously, Excel fell short in meeting these requirements. However, Excel has undergone significant transformation over the past decade, making it a true powerhouse for modern data analytics.
This workshop aims to dispel common misconceptions held by technical professionals about Excel and to demonstrate its capabilities in the modern analytics realm. By showcasing features such as Power Pivot, Power Query, and other modern tools integrated into Excel, this workshop challenges the belief that Excel is limited to basic spreadsheet functions. It emphasizes that today’s Excel has evolved into a robust platform capable of handling complex data analytics tasks.
One goal I have for this workshop is to help managers make informed decisions about investing in expensive analytics software. By highlighting the comprehensive set of features available in Excel, it aims to demonstrate that many of the functionalities provided by specialized software can instead be achieved with Excel at a significantly lower cost. It seeks to debunk the myth that Excel is outdated and to showcase its potential as a modern tool for the ever-changing analytics landscape.
Ultimately, this workshop aims to reimagine Excel as a powerful and versatile tool for modern analytics. It strives to be the ultimate myth buster, guiding technical professionals and managers in maximizing the potential of Excel and harnessing its capabilities for effective data analysis and decision-making.
Workshop benefits
As part of this workshop, your team will be able to:
- Structure data in Excel in a way that maximizes efficiency and minimizes error
- Connect to Excel workbooks, CSV files and other data sources without file conversions or other workarounds
- Defeat Excel’s alleged “million-row limit” for working with data
- Build fully repeatable data cleaning processes that are refreshed and updated with no hassle
- Construct compelling dashboards, visualizations and metrics using relational data modeling
- Leverage artificial intelligence and natural language querying to explore and generate insights
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. The quicker you apply what you learn, the more likely you are to retain it. This is literally a hands-on workshop where attendees will have plenty of time on the keyboard to try the concepts out for themselves with demos, activities and more.
- Authoritative. The workshop is designed and led by me, George Mount. I run my own analytics consultancy and am both an author with O’Reilly Media and Microsoft MVP.
- Topical. No fake, boring data sources and examples here. Upon request, I will design the workshop to use data from your own organization or industry. In any case, I’ll use a variety of real world and fun datasets.
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
- Two full days of either onsite or online instruction (about twelve hours 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.
- Data profiling with Power Query: What is “extract, transform, load,” anyway? We’ll look at how this process works in Power Query and why it matters, along with taking some first steps for profiling and cleaning the data.
- Efficient reporting with Power Pivot: How do you avoid memory-draining “Frankentables” and build relational data models and reports right from Excel? We’ll look at Power Pivot and DAX for data analysis in Excel.
- Efficient analyzing with dynamic array functions: Spreadsheets started as a “visual calculator” and dynamic array functions live true to that conception. Learn how to build quick, responsive formulas for easy analysis.
- Augmented analytics and the future of Excel: Where is data analytics headed, and can Excel keep up? We’ll look at how to use predictive analytics and artificial intelligence inside and outside of Excel to make the most of your data.
- Interfacing with Python: Python has become the glue that binds today’s data analytics stack. We’ll look at how to both automate boring processes and build compelling analyses with this programming language.
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.
Get started
Ready to get the most of modern Excel for data analytics? Drop me a line below and I’ll be in touch shortly to get started.