Apply Anyway: Tableau Ambassador Program Edition
Reflections from a Tableau Public Ambassador
Overview
It’s that time of year!! 🥳 Nominations for the 2024 Tableau Ambassador Program are officially open until July 11, 2024 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. Link
What are Tableau Ambassadors? Tableau Ambassadors embody the spirit of the Tableau community. Tableau Ambassadors teach and share while fostering a positive and supportive space within the community. They give credit where credit is due, and prioritize inclusivity in everything they do. They shine the spotlight on new voices, innovative ideas, and make the communities around them better. Tableau Ambassadors serve in one of seven branches: Forums, User Groups, Academic, DataDev, Public, Social and CRM Analytics. Link
Who can apply? You. No, seriously, if being an ambassador sounds right up your Tableau alley, it’s you. Ambassador positions are for one year. New and returning ambassador candidates are encouraged to apply.
Can I nominate someone? Absolutely. You can nominate anyone in the Tableau community that has inspired you in the past year. You may not know it, but being nominated can mean the world to a person.
Looking Back: Applying to be a Tableau Ambassador
I became a Tableau Public Ambassador for the first time in 2022. While it was my first time applying, it was not the first time I have ever considered it. I’m writing this piece for the skeptic past version of myself who debated on applying for the Tableau Ambassador Program, would ultimately talk herself out of it, and go, “There’s always next year” because she didn’t feel that she fulfilled 100% of the requirements or that her nominations mattered very much. I am writing for the person who quietly asks, “Why should I even bother because I know I won’t get it?” or “Do my nominations even matter?”
Applying can be a small or as big of a personal event as you make of it. For me, applying to be an Ambassador was an important step towards learning to be comfortable advocating for myself.
3+1: The 3 Arguments I had with myself about applying and the 1 Pact that finally got me to apply
Argument One: What if I’m rejected?
Rejection sucks, and I honestly can’t blame people for, when possible, avoiding it. Sometimes, it’s easier to just never go out for something as a way to avoid the hurt that comes from rejection in a true, “You can’t hurt me if I never gave you the opportunity to!” rationale. This is a coping mechanism to protect ourselves, we all have our own reasons for these types of coping mechanisms, and it’s important to recognize the value of that.
Counterpoint: Here’s the thing—never going out for anything means never getting the opportunity for something. You have to open yourself up for something new, even if you later learn that this something new wasn’t for you (yet). However, cultivating resilience and surviving rejection is like exercising–the more you go through it, the easier it gets. Rejection isn’t the most pleasant experience, but it’s a feeling that we can learn to sit a little more comfortably with. Before we can learn to celebrate rejection as a redirection, we have to learn to tolerate it when it’s uncomfortable.
Argument Two: I am not “well known” enough / I am not good enough.
It’s really easy, especially on this internet, to just compare, compare, compare yourself with thoughts like:
I don’t have that many followers on Tableau Public and Twitter
Not a lot of people look at my blog posts, which good riddance, because my writing is AWFUL
I don’t have that many #VOTDs or any other accolades. Like does this even matter?
Ugh, that person has 200+ vizzes and I only have 10. There’s no way I can keep up.
I don’t make the flashiest vizzes and map layers terrify me. I’m a boring Tableau developer.
If no one saw my viz on Twitter, did I really post a viz worth talking about it?
These thoughts, especially when you’re thinking of putting yourself out there, can be so unhelpful. And truthfully? These are the types of thoughts that still sometimes swirl throughout my brain.
Counterpoint: Listen, these are thoughts, not facts. The thoughts may or may not ever go away, but that doesn’t matter, because these thoughts are based on feelings of inadequacy, not objective truth. While the internal evidence can be compelling, Ambassadors come in all different skill levels, popularity, knowledge expertise, and more. And please, don’t count yourself out just yet–you never know, you might matter quite a bit to someone. Applying to be an Ambassador can be an exercise in self-advocacy, in believing in yourself.
Argument Three: What if I apply, I get it, and I end up disappointing everyone?
No one likes being a disappointment, especially me, a self described Taylor Swift loving, “pathological people pleaser.” And yes, knowing that it’s an honor to be an Ambassador within this community (especially when it’s one that matters to you) comes with a special weight. It’s an honor to be an Ambassador, and that honor comes with a responsibility to do the best that you can. For me, I shied away from applying in the past, because I was afraid that what if I *did* get it but I was so bad at it that I ultimately disappointed everyone that ever foolishly believed in me. I know I just said that at the end of the day, all you can do is your best–but what if my best is a disappointment?
Counterpoint: We’re back to coping mechanisms and this one’s an old favorite of mine–expecting the absolute worst out of myself in order to feel some sense of control over a situation that I do not have control over. Here’s the thing, your best is going to look different from day to day given the context of your life. For me, I was aware that my energy and productivity dips, especially when I’m struggling with my mental health, and those mental health struggles are chronic. But when I finally did apply, I felt like I was in a place where even if my best could be better, I would be proud of it regardless. Because I, like everyone here, is just trying their best. And that’s what matters–trying.
“There is another quote first spoken by a very wise, very attractive, occasionally very sweaty philosopher: ‘You gotta try.’ Now, she was talking about making the world a better place, but I think it applies to relationships too.” — Eleanor Shellstrop, The Good Place, Season 3, Episode 10
+1: The Pact that got me to applied
So what finally got me to apply? Did my self doubt and self criticism magically disappear? Not overnight, sorry, but it does get better. I was an anxious self doubting mess applying in 2022, I was a (slightly less but still) anxious self doubting mess applying again in 2023, and I am a much more at ease version of myself applying now in 2024.
It all began with a pact. Elisa Davis (@ItsElisaDavis) and I made a nomination pact for 2022 to apply to be Tableau Ambassadors. I cherish Elisa’s friendship, because ever since I met her during Iron Viz Qualifiers in 2022, she has always asked me (with an irreplaceable gentle support that I hope to never take for granted) to take a risk and be brave. Advocating for yourself is an act of bravery, but when you struggle with self-advocacy, learning and actively advocating for others can be a step in the right direction. If you can, I completely support you making a similar type of nomination pact. For me, filling out an application to nominating Elisa was a two-part benefit:
It felt really great to use the nomination form to celebrate all that Elisa had done, not only for herself but for our #DataFam community. We don’t always get the chance to tell the people that we admire all the reasons why we admire them, and sending a cold DM to someone to do just that feels mortifying even when you know the person well. Nominating someone is a high impact yet anonymous way to let a person know that their presence in the #DataFam matters to you.
For the self applying avoidants out there (it’s me, hi!), you end up going through nearly the same nomination form when nominating someone vs applying yourself. By the time it was my turn to formally apply and complete the form, I was already aware of what I needed to put together in order to fill it all out.
Truthfully, even with the nomination pact, it was baby steps to get me to pull myself together to apply in 2022 for all the reasons I mentioned earlier in this post. Self Doubt is like a weed, it pops up everywhere and anywhere all in your brain unless you’re regularly minding it. And this self doubt influenced my general avoidance of applying until the very last minute because guess what–even if you’re nominated, you still have to fill out the application form for yourself.
From an outsider looking in, applying can be a solitary experience since, for all intents and purposes, it’s just a form you have to fill out. But truthfully, the last gentle push to finish the application came from having friends to emotionally support me through the entire task. I was feeling panic and inadequacy and I was slogging through this task I kept putting off. Instead of letting myself drown in these uncomfortable feelings, I chose to trust on my friends by asking for a little love. It’s okay to confide in a friend or two a feeling of inadequacy in these moments, because friends will (gently) answer your call, pull you aside, and tell you to stop being a bully to yourself. I did the work on my application, but it was Elisa & Adam Mico (@AdamMico1) that gave me that last gentle push to press ‘submit.’ That’s what friends are for. And every year since 2022, applying for myself (and nominating others) became easier. You’ve proven to yourself you can do it once, which means you can do it again and again. It gets easier.
Tldr; Make a pact with a friend to nominate each other. And when it comes time for you to submit the application for yourself, it’s okay to lean on friends to help make it to the finish line.
Okay, I’m game, I’m applying. What now?
Congratulations on finishing the first step! Now where do we go from here?
Read Nicole Klassen’s “How to Succeed in Tableau Ambassador Applications (and Other Self-Advocacy) By Really Trying” blog. Nicole expertly gives tangible strategies on compiling your data to showcase your impact!
Fill out the application. Don’t forget, you have to fill out the full application for Ambassador consideration here. The application form asks you for:
Social account links like XTwitter, LinkedIn, Forums, and Tableau Public (all optional)
A summary of how you have been active in the community over the past year (required)
An explanation of why you want to be a Tableau Ambassador (required)
Any links you think will be helpful for us when we review your submission (optional)
For Academic Ambassadors: There are additional fields about your activities on campus.
Submit before the deadline. The deadline for application and nominations is July 11, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
The 2024 Tableau Ambassadors will be announced in early September 2024. Good luck, and no matter the outcome, I’m rooting for you! 💛
