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Tableau Conference 2024 Preview

Tableau Conference is next week — here's how to prep, which sessions I'd run to, and what I think Salesforce will actually reveal.

Part ofTableau Conference 2024
Watch on YouTube
  • Use Monday for trainings, doctor sessions and hands-on help — if you don't solve your problems then, you won't have time on Tuesday or Wednesday
  • Salesforce Plus restreams the keynote and Iron Viz at region-friendly times, so UK viewers can catch up the next morning rather than staying up for Pacific time
  • Tableau's new trail maps group like-minded sessions into themed tracks, making it easy to plan around AI, data modelling or other interests
  • Conference is the ideal place to sit certification exams — the room is set up correctly, support is on hand, and you don't need to take time off work
  • Expect Tableau to push AI features like Einstein Copilot and Tableau Pulse, and to shift partner focus from deploying the platform towards building solutions on it

Tim previews Tableau Conference 2024 — how the schedule works, how to plan sessions using the new trail maps feature, and what he expects Salesforce to announce — so remote viewers and attendees alike can prepare properly rather than turn up unplanned.

Tableau Conference 2024 takes place in San Diego over three days. Tim isn't attending in person this year and explains how he'll cover it remotely via live streams and Salesforce Plus.

The Breakdown
  • Remote coverage plan 0:29

    Tim won't attend in person but will still live stream the keynote and Iron Viz remotely, then break down recorded sessions afterwards — a reminder that you don't need to be on-site to get most of the value from a conference like this.

  • How the three-day structure works 1:18

    Monday is for training, doctor sessions and hands-on help — use it to solve your problems, because if you don't sort things out on Monday you won't get time on Tuesday or Wednesday. Tuesday is built around the flagship keynote and Iron Viz; the rest of the schedule is breakout sessions, only some of which get recorded for later viewing.

  • Working around time zones 3:22

    The conference runs on Pacific time, so put the keynote and Iron Viz in your diary in advance. Salesforce Plus restreams sessions at a region-friendly time afterwards, so you can catch up the next morning instead of staying up live.

  • Using trail maps to plan sessions 4:05

    Trail maps group like-minded sessions into themed tracks (AI, data modelling, etc.), so instead of scanning the whole agenda you can explore a track and pull out the sessions relevant to your interest. You don't have to follow them rigidly, but they're a fast way to build a shortlist.

  • Don't skip sessions on topics you already know 7:40

    As a general tip, deliberately attend a session or two on something you think you already understand — you'll usually pick up a new way of thinking about it rather than wasting the slot.

  • Sit certification exams on-site 8:21

    Conference is a strong opportunity to take certification exams: the room is set up correctly, support is on hand if something goes wrong, and you don't need to take separate time off work to do it.

  • What to expect from Salesforce this year 10:06

    Expect a more confident, settled positioning of AI features like Einstein Copilot (aimed at developers/report builders) and Tableau Pulse (aimed at everyday consumers), plus a return of the vision-style demo seen in prior years. Tim also expects a shift in partner strategy — from partners helping deploy Tableau to partners building solutions on top of it, via things like the migration SDK and charts API.

Worth Knowing
  • Only a subset of breakout sessions get recorded for Salesforce Plus — plan live attendance around the ones you actually care about.
  • Sarah Bartlett's pre-conference blog post is a useful primer if you're new to conference or haven't been in years — it gives context for the keynote and how the event works.
  • Not everything shown at conference ships — Tableau treats it as a safe space to float ideas and gauge community reaction before committing.
Use It When

Reach for this kind of prep before any Tableau Conference (or similar event) — plan your certification and problem-solving for day one, use trail maps to shortlist sessions around your interests, and rely on the restream schedule if you're not in the Pacific time zone.

How this Rollup was made provenance & method

A Rollup is drafted by AI from the video's transcript, then reviewed and edited by Tim. Everything used to produce this one is listed below — the model, the exact prompt, and the source video — so the process is transparent and reproducible.

Transcription
On-device — NVIDIA Parakeet v3 for recent videos, OpenAI Whisper large-v3 for earlier ones. The transcript never leaves the machine or gets published.
Drafting
Claude Sonnet 5 in the cloud, from that transcript.
Prompt
The exact Rollup prompt (v2) — the full system prompt, unedited.
Source video
Watch on YouTube
Drafted
5 July 2026 at 09:38
Reviewed & edited
5 July 2026 at 09:41 · by Tim Ngwena

Model + prompt + video is everything you'd need to recreate a Rollup like this yourself. The one thing we don't share is the transcript.

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