Who's Who: Visionaries and Ambassadors
Every year Tableau picks members of the community to be Visionaries (FKA Zen Masters) or Ambassadors. This is a big honor, but it’s not just a fancy title. Visionaries and Ambassadors are selected to serve the community in various aspects. They are often times the face of the community and help welcome new members along with their other roles.
Visionaries - Link
Visionaries are the experts in the field. To be named Visionary is one of the biggest honors in the community. They help share their knowledge with the community and they work with the dev team at Tableau to help improve the software through feedback and suggestions. Like Tableau’s website describes them: “They are, at the same time, our biggest advocates as well as our harshest critics. We are lucky to have them.” Visionaries are pretty awesome because no matter how prestigious the title sounds, they’re there to help and serve the community and they do so in the most generous ways.
Ambassadors - Link
Ambassadors are the front lines in representing the Tableau community. Ambassadors are recognized by their efforts to contribute to the community through the forums, user groups, Tableau Public, social media, and on campus. There are 5 ambassador groups:
Tableau Community Forum Ambassadors
The Forum Ambassadors help maintain the community forums by engaging with users and responding to questions and approving and moderating content on the forums.
Social Media Ambassadors
The Social Media Ambassadors are rockstars in welcoming new members on social media and connecting with the community. They participate in social media campaigns, publish guest blog posts, host livestreams, and more.
User Group Leader Ambassadors
User Group Ambassadors run community user groups in their area and host quarterly/monthly meetings. They help other user groups and engage with the community by bringing in speakers and members to present at their user groups.
Tableau Public Ambassadors
The Public Ambassadors help drive feedback loops, post vizzes on Tableau Public, contribute to “Behind the Viz” blog posts, and are champions and models for those on Tableau Public. They also can be judges for Iron Viz rounds and suggest Viz of the Days.
Tableau Student Ambassadors
Student Ambassadors are responsible for bringing and fostering a Tableau presence on campus. They are tasked with hosting workshops and data activities on campus and helping students start with their student licenses. This can include working with academic leadership and department heads to introduce Tableau into the curriculum and/or focusing on creating a student community.
I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Student Ambassador for their inaugural year. My first semester I taught 7 workshops on my campus and connected with department leads, business fraternities, and students from multiple programs. It’s been amazing to see what Tableau can do for students. The biggest gift, however, has been contributing back to the community. I have gained so much from everyone in the community that I feel grateful that I can give back by encouraging and supporting and building the student community.
If you want to join the community you can be sure that Ambassadors and Visionaries will be right there to welcome you along.
Written by: Maria Brock