My Tableau Student Ambassador Experience

Posted on: July 30, 2021

Last Updated on: October 14th, 2023

Post Category: Data

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As my time being a Tableau Student Ambassador comes to an end, I decided to reflect on the year that was.

While it was a challenging year (2020-2021), I ultimately enjoyed and got immense value out of the experience, and I am proud with the impact I had on the student community. Through the role, I got the opportunity to organise 10 events (including demonstrations, workshops, an industry panel and a hackathon), engage around 200 event attendees and walk through 6 original Tableau visualisation projects.

In this blog post, I will share a bit about myself, the Tableau Ambassador Program, and finally my experience being part of the program.

For those who don’t know me…

My name is Jason and (as of 2021) I am a third-year student at the University of New South Wales, studying a Bachelor of Actuarial Studies (Quantitative Data Science) and Commerce (Information Systems). I joined Tableau’s Ambassador Program in September 2020 as an Academic/Student Ambassador, after building an avid interest in data analytics/science. I got interested in the field after taking online courses and getting involved in various data visualisation competitions organised by some student societies at UNSW.

A bit of background about the Tableau Ambassador Program…

The Tableau Ambassador Program is a program that recognises leaders in the Tableau Community. They embody the spirit of the Tableau Community, and they do this by teaching, sharing, leading, innovating and inspiring others in the Community and beyond. As of 2021, there are seven different Ambassador branches – each established to connect with the Community in different ways:

• Social Ambassadors
• Tableau User Group Leader Ambassadors
• Tableau Forum Ambassadors
• Tableau Public Ambassadors
• Student Ambassadors
• DataDev Ambassadors
• Tableau CRM Ambassadors

If you want to read more about the Ambassador Program and about what each Ambassador branch does, you can check out the Tableau website, or read through Britt Staniar’s blog post on the 2021 Tableau Ambassador nominations/applications, which I found very comprehensive.

During my time in the program, I sat in the Student Ambassadors branch, which is the branch that recognised student leaders in the Community and aimed to build students’ exposure to the Tableau software. By being a Student Ambassador, I got the opportunity to organise and host events surrounding the software and advance some of the social campaigns organised by the Tableau Academic Programs team. See some of the events/projects I got to work on below:

But not only that, being part of the Ambassador Program presented an opportunity for me to learn more about the Tableau Community.

So… what was my experience like?

My Tableau Student Ambassador experience…

To sum it up, I loved the experience! I got great value from getting involved in the program, as it gave me invaluable opportunities to develop myself personally and professionally, and it was very rewarding to engage with many students at my Uni through the events I got to run.

Here are some of the highlights from my experience:

• The free Tableau swag and free Tableau certification exam. During the onboarding weeks of the program, all Ambassadors got free Tableau swag – including shirts, a keep cup and even a miniature basketball hoop! Unfortunately, my second swag kit got lost while being delivered amidst the pandemic, BUT I was really happy with what I got nonetheless. I was also really lucky, like the other Student Ambassadors, to have gotten a free voucher to sit the Tableau Desktop Specialist certification exam, and that was how I got my first official Tableau certification!
• Developing my skills while working with different student societies and companies to deliver events. Of course, one of the things I enjoyed about the role was the opportunity to engage with students, and to help them build up their skills and understand the value of Tableau. By getting to organise and host many events, I had ample opportunities to develop not only my technical skills with Tableau, but also my project management and presentation skills. The Ambassador experience really enabled me to become a more confident presenter!
• Getting invaluable mentoring sessions from a fellow Tableau Ambassador in the industry, and getting support from the Academic Programs team. All of the Student Ambassadors got the chance to pair up with other, more experienced Ambassadors (from other branches) to engage in mentoring sessions for a couple of months. I was very fortunate to have been paired up with Marc Reid during this mentoring program, as he gave me comprehensive insights into the Tableau Community and the confidence to get more involved. Marc also gave me great support for some of the internship applications I submitted this year. Nevertheless, the Academic Programs team were really supportive when it came to building up our presentation skills, organising and hosting our first events, and giving extra help for our job applications.
• Having my experience highlighted in an interview with American Express – and landing an intern role with them! When I got interviewed for a Co-op placement at American Express (for one of their analyst positions), the experience I had with Tableau as an Ambassador was brought up the most by the interviewer when she went through my resume. And now she is my buddy, supporting me through my placement!

On the downside though, I thought the role could have been more exciting with more in-person events, but obviously this wasn’t possible because of the COVID restrictions. Hopefully, as the situation eases, future Ambassadors can get the opportunity to host more in-person events and connect with other Ambassadors in a face-to-face setting. But overall, the experience was awesome, and it was nice we could still connect with other Ambassadors around the world virtually.

In terms of what I regret about my experience, I probably could have committed more to the Community and tried new things, perhaps new initiatives, different blog posts and data visualisation projects. There was also a time where I took a couple months hiatus when it came to organising events, since I had to juggle various commitments. But the Ambassador role was really flexible, and there were always ample opportunities to contribute, which was something I particularly liked.

And as extra content – my little tips for the future Tableau Student Ambassadors

As I am writing this post, the 2021 Tableau Ambassador applications and nominations have already closed, but here are some of the things I would say to the incoming Tableau Student Ambassadors:

• Obviously, for the experience, you get out as much as you put in. A lot of Uni students out there are not Tableau Student Ambassadors, who get free swag, benefits, exposure, etc. So I suggest you don’t take this opportunity for granted and give it as much as you can because you will get a lot of value out of it.
• Set a few goals for yourself throughout the program. Whether you want to advance your network, start your own blog, get involved in various Community initiatives or do a 100-day data visualisation challenge, the Ambassador program will give you the resources/people and confidence you need to make a start.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions and reach out. The Tableau Community, Academic Programs team and other Ambassadors are very supportive, so I highly encourage you to get in touch with them if you have any questions or have any projects/events you need help with!

If you have any questions regarding my experience or about the Tableau Ambassador Program, I highly encourage you have a read of Britt’s blog post, check out the Tableau website or reach out to me!