Today's attendees--Thank you for your reporting and dashboard energy this morning!

For those who couldn't make it, here are a few shared ideas from the conversation segments of the co-working time...

• A good way in, if you want to start your learning but don't have a data question in mind, is to explore the pre-built "Tessitura Dashboards" (look for a folder by this name). "Performance Sales Dashboard" within Seats and Tickets may be a good first one.
• Analytics work does not* write back to the database--you won't break important things while you experiment. (*You can save your results into a List, but that's the only thing your work can send back.)
• To reference data not in Analytics, there is the option to embed iFrames as well as other fancier things--open a Support ticket for help starting.
• "Interactions" data cube is on deck with v16. (teaser mention only!)
• A recommended way to start a data project is to build a Pivot Table widget first (this lets you see detail, which helps immensely with troubleshooting), confirm you have the right set up and well-behaved data, and then set up your graphics and prettier representations of the data.
• Book recommendations: Storytelling with Data by Cole Knaflic and Stephen Few's Show Me the Numbers
• Consider what sort of audit cycle to have for your dashboards--set a plan for occasion review to ensure your reports continue to deliver info that is correctly filtered, reflects clean data, etc. And try to plan ahead--how will your widgets incorporate new products/seasons/etc?

Attendees, if you want to chime in to share any other takeaways of your own, please do! (Or correct/elaborate on any of my above summary.)

Also, for the community at large--co-working sessions are relatively easy to convene, so would you like more of these? If so, suggest themes and let us know if there's a frequency or time of the week that makes them most accessible to you.

Today's attendees--Thank you for your reporting and dashboard energy this morning!

For those who couldn't make it, here are a few shared ideas from the conversation segments of the co-working time...

• A good way in, if you want to start your learning but don't have a data question in mind, is to explore the pre-built "Tessitura Dashboards" (look for a folder by this name). "Performance Sales Dashboard" within Seats and Tickets may be a good first one.
• Analytics work does not* write back to the database--you won't break important things while you experiment. (*You can save your results into a List, but that's the only thing your work can send back.)
• To reference data not in Analytics, there is the option to embed iFrames as well as other fancier things--open a Support ticket for help starting.
• "Interactions" data cube is on deck with v16. (teaser mention only!)
• A recommended way to start a data project is to build a Pivot Table widget first (this lets you see detail, which helps immensely with troubleshooting), confirm you have the right set up and well-behaved data, and then set up your graphics and prettier representations of the data.
• Book recommendations: Storytelling with Data by Cole Knaflic and Stephen Few's Show Me the Numbers
• Consider what sort of audit cycle to have for your dashboards--set a plan for occasion review to ensure your reports continue to deliver info that is correctly filtered, reflects clean data, etc. And try to plan ahead--how will your widgets incorporate new products/seasons/etc?

Attendees, if you want to chime in to share any other takeaways of your own, please do! (Or correct/elaborate on any of my above summary.)

Also, for the community at large--co-working sessions are relatively easy to convene, so would you like more of these? If so, suggest themes and let us know if there's a frequency or time of the week that makes them most accessible to you.