Shreds And Patches

Bob Phillips — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:24:00 GMT

"Man is physically as well as metaphysically a thing of shreds and patches, borrowed unequally from good and bad ancestors, and a misfit from the start" (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A number of us British Excel’ers (I nearly said English, Roger would never forgive me) have been holding Excel conferences for a few years. It had been a paid event, but there was no such event in 2008 as the 2007 event was not well enough attended. In 2009, we decided to try something different, and make the event free! Naturally, interest was high, and at the conference (held at Microsoft’s Victoria Street offices) we had over 100 delegates each day, and had to wait-list another 100+. Because of the fantastic interest, and the general good reception to the first event, we have decided to hold a second conference in October, offering first choice to those wait-listed at the March event.

Conferences are great opportunities for like minded saddos like us to get together and talk about the things our partners just pretend to be interested in. Microsoft have very generously provided a room with all of the presentation facilities needed, and provide coffee and lunch on both days. This support from Microsoft is what makes it possible to hold a free event, conference facilities are very expensive, and to have a central London location is fantastic.Again, many thanks to Microsoft, and the UK MVP leads, Vicki Collins and Akim Boukhelif, for their help in setting this all up.

The conference is free, but of course the cost of accommodation and meals, outside of the lunch and coffees provided during the event, are the delegate's responsibility. This applies to the presenters as well, we are not subsidised by Microsoft or anyone else (of course, if any corporation wishes to do so ...) , we bear our own costs. We like these events; we like the socialising and meeting Excel colleagues that we may know virtually but have not yet met in person, and of course, talking Excel over a beer in the evening is no bad thing.

As socialising, or to use that hideous term, networking, is an important facet of these event, we will be organising a group meal (again at own expense) on the Wednesday evening so that we can carry on great conversations that develop throughout these days.

The details of the event are:

Microsoft London (Cardinal Place)

100 Victoria Street
London SW1E 5JL
Tel: 0870 60 10 100

The agenda is below

Agenda Wednesday 7th October 2009

Time	Event	Speaker
9:15am - 9:45am	Registration & Coffee
9:45am - 10:00am	Welcome and Housekeeping	Nick Hodge
10:00am - 10:45am	Working Smart with the Excel Grid	Simon Murphy
10:45am - 11:45am	Intermediate Functions	Bob Phillips
11:45am - 12:15pm	Coffee
12:15pm - 1:15pm	What's in a Name?	Charles Williams
1:15pm - 2:00pm	Lunch
2:00pm - 2:45pm	Excel as an Enterprise BI Tool	Carl Mackinder
2:45pm - 3:30pm	Tips and Tricks in Charting	Andy Pope
3:30pm - 4:00pm	Tea & Coffee
4:00pm - 5:00pm	Pivot Tables	Roger Govier
5:00pm - 5:30pm	Pre- submitted Q&A	All
5:30pm – Late	Drinks, Dinner and Socialising	All (Inc Delegates)

Agenda Thursday 8th October 2009

Time	Event	Speaker
8:30am - 9:00am	Registration & Coffee
9:00am - 9:15am	Welcome and Housekeeping	Nick Hodge
9:15am - 10:00am	Data Exchange	Nick Hodge
10:00am - 11:00am	VBA - It's in Everyone's Reach	Simon Murphy
11:00am - 11:30am	Coffee
11:30am - 12:45pm	Information - Visualising Data In Excel	Andy Pope & Bob Phillips
12:45pm - 1:30pm	Lunch
1:30pm - 2:15pm	Arrays and Array Functions	Bob Phillips
2:15pm - 3:15pm	Speeding up Excel	Charles Williams
3:15pm - 3:45pm	Tea & Coffee
3:45pm - 4:30pm	Pre-submitted Q&A	All
4:30pm	Close

I hope to see you there.

Excel Do, Dynamic Does : Pope, 2009

Shreds And Patches

Microsoft London (Cardinal Place)

Agenda Wednesday 7th October 2009

Agenda Thursday 8th October 2009