We are officially one week into the summer season and there is no better time to kick off the Summer 2021 Data Book Club! If you're not already familiar with the Data Book Club, it's an initiative I started last fall (ish) when the ongoing global pandemic continued to keep all Tableau User Group meetings, Alteryx User Group meetings, and other meetups virtual. While many meetups continued to hold their regularly scheduled meetings, the networking that comes with in-person events was virtually non-existent (pun intended).
How it Started
I was looking for an easy way to get data people together for a casual discussion of ideas. Of course, there were considerations such as keeping the group small so everyone's voice could be heard and providing some sort of direction on the topic. Pair those objectives with inspiration from Christina Stathopoulos's book-a-week challenge, or new books being published by those in the Tableau community, and I had my answer - a virtual book club focused on the data community!
Side note: I recently wrote about how you don't need permission to create wonderful groups, communities, and events like this. If you have any questions about how to get your idea off the ground, feel free to contact me.
How it's Going
We've since completed 2 rounds of the Data Book Club, having read The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver over the winter and How Charts Lie by Alberto Cairo last spring. I was even able to secure a live Q&A with Alberto Cairo! Over the course of these 2 rounds some improvements have been made such as creating a Slack space for members to discuss the book asynchronously. I'm a fan of consistently asking for feedback, truly listening, and incorporating that feedback where it makes sense.
What's Next
If you're wondering how to sign up or looking for more details, you'll want to check out the page on my website dedicated to all things Data Book Club.
The next book we're going to read has been narrowed down to two choices and those who are involved on our Slack space have until tomorrow to vote on their favorite. After that time, I'll send an email with the selection and all the meeting details. We meet every other week while we're actively reading the book, typically on Tuesday at 12pm CT. It takes us about 3 meetings to get through the whole book, which is broken into approximately 100 page chunks. During our virtual discussion meetings breakout rooms are used to make smaller discussion groups.
There is no pressure to attend each meeting, so you can be as involved as you want to be. The goal is to learn something from the book, share ideas with others, and build a networking of data professionals.
