The 37-second mistake ruining your dashboard.


One of the biggest frustrations I hear from analysts isn’t about Tableau.

It’s about what happens after the dashboard is built.

You spend hours designing something thoughtful.
You check the calculations.
You test the interactions.

Then you show it to stakeholders.

And the reaction is… underwhelming.

Sometimes people get lost in the first thirty seconds.
Sometimes they focus on the wrong thing.
Sometimes the conversation drifts away from the insight you were trying to highlight.

None of that means the dashboard is bad.

More often, it means two things are missing.

First, the dashboard structure makes it harder than it needs to be to guide people through the analysis.

Second, the demo itself isn’t designed to help the audience follow along.

Those two problems show up everywhere.

I see them when reviewing dashboards from experienced analysts.
I see them inside companies that have been using Tableau for years.
I even see them from people who are technically very strong.

The dashboard works.

But the message doesn’t land.

That’s one of the reasons Eva and I decided to run a small in-person workshop later this month in Essen, Germany.

The idea is simple.

Spend a few hours working through how dashboards are structured so they’re easier to explain. Then spend time on how to actually present them.

I’ll walk through a full Tableau project using Dynamic Zone Visibility and Map Layers. Techniques that make dashboards easier to manage and easier to navigate.

Eva will focus on the other side of the equation.

How to explain what people are looking at.
How to guide attention.
How to demo a dashboard without losing the room.

Because building the dashboard is only half the job.
The other half is helping people understand it.

If you want to master dashboards AND learn how to communicate them effectively, find the details here.

Build Great Dashboards. Present Them With Confidence

🗓️ March 24
⏰ 9:30AM -1:30PM CET
📍 Essen, Germany
🥣 Optional lunch to follow

Save your spot

We hope to see you there. Questions? Hit reply.

— Andy

St Matthew House, Haugh Lane, Hexham, England NE46 3PU
Unsubscribe

Next-Level Tableau

Join 10,000+ analysts getting weekly Tableau tips, tutorials, and strategies to design better dashboards, speed up workflows, and stand out in your career. Always free, always clear, always practical.

Read more from Next-Level Tableau

I've conducted over 2,000 interviews in my career. Candidates make the same mistakes every single time. Here are the 9 most common and how to avoid them. 1. Not understanding the role Read the job description. Actually read it. If the role excites you, that will come through. If it doesn't, that will too. Reach out to people already in the role. Ask what questions came up in their interview. Use that. Tailor your answers to show exactly why you're the right fit. 2. Not knowing what the...

Something small has been shifting in the way I talk, and once I saw it, I could not unsee it. Specifically, I have been noticing two words I say when I ask someone for something. And one pattern keeps coming up over and over. Things like: I need you to do this. I need you to be there. I need you to help me with that. It sounds completely normal. We all say it. Constantly. Without thinking. But lately I have been more conscious of what saying "need" is actually doing. When I say I need...

Last week, I wrote about starting therapy. So many of you replied with kind words, encouragement, and stories of your own. Some of the emails were short. Some were deeply personal. Every single one meant a lot to me. Thank you. Writing that newsletter felt uncomfortable in a way I’m not used to. I can teach Tableau for hours without thinking twice. I can coach, present, and share ideas with confidence. Writing honestly about myself like that felt very different. But I’m glad I did. And over...