In 2024, I finally got to attend the Tableau Conference in San Diego — the ultimate pilgrimage for someone like me: a researcher who lives to tell stories with data.
For years, TC had been my “someday” dream. Every time I mentioned it to a higher ed data friend, they’d give me the same wide-eyed, you’re really going? look. It was a privilege to be there, and I was determined to make the most of it.
And honestly, I needed it. After two years of working in Tableau, I’d hit a wall. Every dashboard started to feel the same — functional, but uninspired. I was in a creative lull and hoping TC would give me the kind of jolt only a good conference can, where you float home ready to try all the things.
And reader, it delivered.
Yes, I picked up new technical tricks — table calcs, LODs, and tooltip ideas. But the real magic happened in two sessions.
The first was Bo McCready’s Grief, Graphs, and Visualizing Personal Data. He built a dashboard to honor his late father, charting their journey through treatments and doctor visits. He noted that while others might paint or write to process their experiences, he used the skill he knew best: Tableau. You could’ve heard a pin drop in that room. It was the first time I realized data could tell deeply personal stories — not just institutional ones.
The next day, Ghafar Shah’s session on Making Your Data Viz Portfolio Stand Out showed how personal projects on Tableau Public can sharpen your skills and connect you to the broader Tableau community. His portfolio was full of creative, playful dashboards that made me think: Why am I not doing this?
Game. Changed.
I started small — a bookshelf visualization of everything I read in 2023 (inspired by Leah Warner-Tedaldi). Then a Wheel of Fortune-style dashboard from Ginny Moench’s Choose Your Own Adventure challenge. And once I started, I couldn’t stop.
Here’s what I’ve learned — and why I recommend vizzing for fun on Tableau Public to every data viz colleague I know:
1. Freedom from Brand Standards
In higher ed, we live inside brand colors and fonts. Important? Yes. Creative? Not so much. On Tableau Public, you can roam the full color spectrum, experiment with color theory, and make accessibility-driven choices — all without the hex code police knocking at your door.
And here’s the kicker: playing with color has actually made me better at my day job. I’m more intentional now with our brand colors, using them purposefully to highlight the story, not just because I “have to.”
2. Permission to Try Weird Stuff
At work, we mostly stick to the usual suspects: graduation rates, retention, GPA. But out in Tableau Public? You’ll find Sankey charts + Taylor Swift (Leslie Ley) and creative ways to visualize KPIs (Adrian Zinovei). Trying new chart types is the fastest way to learn new techniques — and have fun while you’re at it.
And if you’re thinking, sure, a Sankey chart is cool, but what’s the business purpose in higher ed? Let me introduce you to Kimberly Coutts and her students’ guided pathways visualization — a perfect example of how something experimental can translate into powerful, real-world insight.
Because that’s the beauty of vizzing for fun: what starts as play often becomes the spark for solutions you didn’t even know you needed.
3. Community That Makes You Better
Tableau Public is full of generous, wildly talented creators. Jessica Moon’s ’90s Rewind dashboard inspired my MTV Unplugged viz. Lara Willson’s Workout Wednesday projects push all of us to stretch our skills. Ali Tehrani’s Pixar dashboards offer a reminder that there are beautiful and uplifting data stories all around us—stories that feel like the Saturday mornings and VHS tapes of my childhood. Pure nostalgic joy.
The bottom line - this community will inspire you, challenge you, and make you braver in your work. Tableau Public reminded me that data is everywhere — in the books we read, the music we love, the stories we live. And it turns out, playing with data outside of work makes me a better data pro inside my work.
So, dear data friends: if you’ve lost your spark, my advice is to step outside the brand box. Let’s build something together. I’d love to start a Student Affairs viz circle — a space where we experiment, share, and celebrate. Imagine a monthly or quarterly gathering where we try bold chart types, play with quirky datasets, and cheer each other on.
If that sounds like the creative boost you’ve been craving, reach out. Let’s make this community real — because your next great dashboard might just come from your own life.
Use the comment section or email me - jcbullin [at] charlotte.edu. Let’s connect!
This blog post was written by Jordan Bullington-Miller, Senior Research Associate, Division of Student Affairs, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.