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Iron Viz (2021) reaction Livestream - Tableau Conference 2021

We're back for round two of Iron Viz, and this time nothing is going to go wrong, mainly because I've disabled the backup that nuked yesterday's stream.

Part ofTableau Conference 2021
  • Iron Viz runs through two judging rounds before the final three reach the stage, and the finalists are scored on analysis, design and storytelling, with 90 points from judges and 10 from audience voting.
  • Much of an Iron Viz build's calculation work is done ahead of time in Tableau Prep and through named, pre-built fields, so the 20-minute live build is about assembly and design speed rather than writing logic from scratch.
  • Practical design tricks on show included using reference lines purely to position labels neatly, naming images to match show/hide container buttons, and using worksheet captions instead of text boxes for fast on-canvas text.
  • Recording or streaming a bright, all-white viz is risky because compression and screen brightness can crush contrast, so you should tweak builds to hold up on whatever screen the audience is viewing.
  • Floating layouts and stacked show/hide containers enable the concertina-style dig-in dashboards, but they're really a workaround for the missing Photoshop-style layers and snapping grid many designers want in Tableau.

Join Ravi & Tim as they react live to iron viz 2021 at the Tableau 2021 conference.