As part of our training at the Data School, we ran a “Learn What the Data School Learns” day where members of the public joined us to experience what life is like inside The Data School. It was a great opportunity to step out of the usual training mindset and take on the role of teaching something we’ve been developing over the past few weeks.
My session focused on Tableau Prep, introducing how to connect to data, clean it, combine different sources, and carry out simple transformations before analysis. The aim was to give a practical walkthrough of how messy, real-world data can be turned into something usable.
We had two days to prepare. The first day was spent building the content, thinking about how to structure the session so that it flowed logically from connecting data, through cleaning and transforming, and finally into aggregation and output. The second day was focused on practice, which quickly highlighted where explanations needed simplifying. Concepts like joins, aggregation, and calculated fields made sense to me, but translating them into clear, non-technical language was much harder than expected.
Delivering the session itself was a really enjoyable experience. I made an effort to speak to people before the session started, which helped create a more relaxed atmosphere, and throughout the session I focused on getting the audience involved rather than just talking through the slides. When it became clear that some parts were causing confusion, particularly around aggregation and joins, I adapted by turning exercises into guided walkthroughs instead. That ability to read the room and adjust the pace felt like one of the strongest parts of the session.
At the same time, it was clear where I can improve. I occasionally relied too much on technical terms to explain concepts, which made things harder to follow, and there were moments where I could have slowed down and explained why something was happening rather than just moving forward. Small things like filler words and presentation habits also became more noticeable, which is something I’ll take into future sessions.
One of the highlights of the day came afterwards, when someone who attended the Tableau Prep session reached out because they enjoyed it so much. That conversation has since led to them working with the Data School on a client project for another cohort. It was a really nice reminder of the impact these sessions can have, not just for learning, but for building real connections.
Overall, the day reinforced something quite simple. Understanding a tool is one thing, but being able to teach it clearly and confidently is something else entirely.