The Key that connected the Keynotes at #data15, #tc15, Tableau Conference 2015

There were five keynote sessions at the recent Tableau conference and I had the privilege to attend all of them. First one was from Tableau’s development team. The other four were delivered by eminent orators who have no connection with Tableau. Before we go any further let us understand what ‘keynote’ means.

As per Wikipedia, a keynote speech is something that sets the main underlying theme. “ At political or industrial conventions and expositions and at academic conferences, the keynote address or keynote speech is delivered to set the underlying tone and summarize the core message or most important revelation of the event.” The goal of this article is to explore that common underlying theme (if any) in all these four keynote sessions. Let’s begin with the first one.

Keynote: Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink is the best-selling author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. His speech was primarily centered on 3 topics , Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Before addressing these main topics he stressed upon how fairness is very important when dealing with people.

He used the video from Fran de Waal’s TED talk to illustrate the importance of fairness. The 3 minute video is embedded here.

Dan Pink brought up a few examples on how empowering employees with autonomy changed the fate of several companies. He talked about Zappos and Holacracy and referred the company as ‘Planet Pluto’ as it is at the extreme end of autonomy. But calling Pluto as a planet did land him in trouble as he was mentioned by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist later on. Next example on autonomy Dan Pink gave was that of Netflix’s Policies for Expensing, Entertainment, Gift and Travel which is exactly 5 worlds long. “Act in Netflix’s Best Interest”. He added that the human resource department at Netflix thinks that if an employee cheats on reimbursement, it is not really a reimbursement policy issue. It is an hiring issue. He continued further on how engaging your employees by empowering them with autonomy produces far outstanding results than just asking them to be compliant.

But what really caught my attention is the catchphrase he used. “Data is the new bacon” . How true ! Yes, data is the new bacon, new currency or new oil. You could use data to provide Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose in the organization while making sure fairness is ensured.

Keynote: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil Tyson’s keynote lasted for 3+ hours and is the best of all in my opinion. Before the keynote the arena filled with 10k data artists illuminated with 10k stars (cellphone torches).

Neil Tyson’s theme for the keynote was on how Hollywood committed data related blunders in movies. My plan is not to go into each one of his examples but to pick up some important points that he made during his speech.

My favorite line was when someone asked Neil Tyson what humanity needs most, his answer was that “the world needs leaders that know the difference between objective truth and personal truth”.

And the line that really got attention was #itsallaboutdata

The most important message I took from his keynote is the line he made about ‘Garbage In and Garbage Out’

This message really ties into the keynote delivered our next speaker.

Keynote: Dr. Hannah Fry

Hannah Fry is a renowned Mathematician and she works at University College London Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis. Visualizations that she used in her talk were stunning and very interesting. She brought a great amount of insight using her visualizations and oratory skills. My favorite line from her talk is when she said that ‘Data isn’t end of the story. It’s the beginning’

She cautioned us to be more careful in dealing with data by asking right questions

With a plethora of data being available and a variety of software to choose from, the key according to her is the ‘data scientist’ who can identify the limitations with the data set and someone who can ask the right questions.

My another favorite line in her keynote was that ‘Prediction is the holy grail of data science’. She gave an example of how Apple watch saved a teen’s life to emphasize the importance of prediction in data science.

Keynote: Sir Ken Robinson

Last but not the least a superb keynote from internationally acclaimed leader in development of creativity & innovation, Sir Ken Robinson. Some of my favorite lines from his keynote are:

“Education is too often based on linearity. Life is not linear. It’s organic. We create it as we live it”.

He commended how modest The Dalai Lama was when the latter answered ‘I don’t know’ to one of the former’s questions.

Sir Ken Robinson thinks that the digital revolution hasn’t begun yet.

He thinks we will witness a more profound impact when more people get connected. From that I infer that there will be a greater amount of data and a whole lot of insights will be available once more people get connected.

Sir Ken Robinson said “human beings has untold power of imagination and with this power they can anticipate but not predict future”.

Summarizing all the keynotes from a ‘data’ perspective

All these keynote speakers discussed on a variety of topics and not just data. Being a data and insights freak I tried picking up points that are most relevant to data in these keynotes. The summary here is almost like a self notes for me and I am publishing them here to collaborate with you.

1. Data is the new hot commodity. Data is the new bacon. Digital revolution hasn’t begun yet. Data will grow exponentially. #itsallaboutdata
2. Be careful when using data. Garbage In, Garbage Out.
3. With tons of data being available, the key is applying the human brain to ask right questions and understand the limitations of the data set you are dealing with. Make sure you separate objective truth and personal truth.
4. Prediction is the holy grail of data science. Humans have untold power imagination. With this imagination they can anticipate but not predict the future. human brain + data science can do wonders together.
5. In the end nobody knows everything. Learn to collaborate and be modest. Create your life as you live it.

PS: None of these keynote speakers (except the first session from Tableau’s employees) used Tableau(software) to present their visualizations. Are Animation and 3-D should be the areas that Tableau should focus?