# Iron Viz (2021) reaction Livestream - Tableau Conference 2021

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2021-10-31
- **Format:** Video · 1 min read · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation, Community, Industry trends
- **Tools:** Tableau (containers, dashboards, formatting, parameters, prep, reference lines)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/iron-viz-2021-reaction-livestream-tableau-conference-2021
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyQRtCsJ1Tw

Ravi and I run a live reaction stream for the 2021 Iron Viz final at Tableau Conference, after the previous day's stream was knocked out by a rogue Backblaze backup. We explain how the competition and judging work, debate hot topics like pre-prepared calcs and long-form vizzes, then commentate live as Pradeep, Lisa and Sam build and present their music-themed dashboards.

## Key takeaways

- 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.

## Chapters

- 0:00 Back for round two
- 3:48 How Iron Viz works
- 8:21 Other tools, Figma and design
- 11:10 Prepared calcs and Notepadgate
- 15:25 Setting up the stream
- 18:06 Hosts, dataset and trophy
- 23:40 Meet the finalists and suvisers
- 30:12 Judges, rules and the build begins
- 31:21 Commentating the live builds
- 52:20 Pradeep's presentation
- 56:42 Lisa's presentation
- 60:54 Sam's presentation

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/iron-viz-2021-reaction-livestream-tableau-conference-2021

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena