Yeay Simon!  Yes, he is another of our critical Euro-Bros to help get those Euro/Asian/African questions answered before they start to get moldy come sunrise over the Atlantic.  He also has been a great help squashing spam -- which actually has happened today, so thanks Mark and Simon

I agree, he seems to be a Tableau Insomniac but his ever-presence is such a help for people on the forums.  I don't spend much time in the Desktop area so I'm not heavily exposed to the many talented helpers there but I often see his name in the few threads I do see.  Great work, Simon and glad to have ya on our side

Thanks Rody for your kind words...definitely blushing over here in he UK   (and for plugging our new 'fledgling' blog!! ).

I'm sure I speak for many if the 'heavy' community users, when I say that I actually feel I get at least as much out (if not more) than I put in. There is no way I could have gone from Zero-to-Hero (...err well fairly competent! - but that doesn't rhyme!!) in under a year if it wasn't for all the great content (and support) on here.

I advise any Tableau trainee's to spend time on the community...this is what gets you that extra 20-30%...As well as the amazing posts and workbooks, just answering others questions [I've always found it difficult to set myself example questions...either you make them too easy (i.e you already know how to solve them!) or hard (you've no idea an give up!)] really improves your skills...as well as giving me many great ideas

here's an example from yesterday...classic community (great trick/work-around -> extended though conversation -> leading to a new way of combining histograms and scatter plots)

Grouping Bins on a Histogram

Wow Rody, great thoughts! Simon is another one of my favorites on the community, so much of a favorite that I am actually sad I don't get to meet him at the conference. Like I said before, I don't know anyone else on the community who is as innovative as he is with his solutions. He doesn't have one way of doing things, he has like a ton and they are all 'oh-so-innovative'. When I see a question/post on reference lines, I think Simon and this:

Educational Brain Teaser: Change the transparency of a reference band

Plus it is commendable to have done what he did by just being on the community for less than a year. That's a lot of good work for others to benefit from. The best thing I like about Simon is he never EVER lets the OP feel they asked a silly question, he always makes them feel at ease by saying 'we have all been there done that' kinda attitude. There are more than a dozen instances where I have seen someone call him out by tagging him just because he helped them get to the bottom of their 1st question on the community. He is extremely approachable, reliable and very genuine. I agree with you Rody, that he never leaves people just hanging.

Simon, if I ever come to UK, I am going to come and see you so you can give me some of your awesomeness

Thanks for all you do, Simon! I am glad I get the privilege to share the Ambassador title with you.

Pooja.

I also appreciate Simon's work very much!

Hi All,

With all the data monarchs commenting here I do not know if I can contribute as well but I definitely did not want to miss out on this opportunity to thank Simon Runc for all the help he has provided to me and to so many other tableau learners/enthusiasts on this forum.

I have been following his posts and comments and I must say that he is definitely an asset to this community. I notice in his posts that he connects so well with the other ambassadors here creating a comfortable working environment on this forum. Simon shows immense enthusiasm and willingness to take up any problem statement he is approached with. In fact, I often see him going back to old posts and asking users if they still need help with their questions. Likewise, he makes sure he concludes his solutions with the statement requesting users to post back if his answer was not what they were looking for; thereby increasing trust and respect for himself

Like Rody Zakovich rightly mentioned, Simon is always available to guide no matter what time it is. Also, as Pooja Gandhi asserted, he never lets you feel awkward if you happen to post a silly question. I say so because I have approached him with some such questions and he has been very humble and extremely patient with me till we get to exactly what I was looking for. Simon indeed helps users get to their true north with brilliant solutions, maintaining a great level of professional maturity. Also, his explanations are so detailed leaving users with no ambiguity with regards to interpreting the solution.

Thank you Simon! Please keep up the great work!

Best Regards,

Geeta

Whenever I'm zipping through the forums, giving some typical knee-**** responses like 'Got a sample packaged workbook?' I run into stuff where I think: 'Well that can't be done in Tableau.' Luckily before posting this response, I hesitate, and remember Simon seems to be able to come up with some incredibly astounding/creative solutions to almost any request!

Simon, most of the stuff you come up with is genius, truly! I nominate you for next year's corp of Zen Masters, you deserve the recognition.

--Shawn

Thanks Shawn. Those kind comments, from someone of your experience and standing, mean a great deal...much appreciated (...and thank you for your encouragement and help)

He's also a thoroughly nice guy, and a pleasure to work with - great to see the responses here

Simon Runc is definitely the best helper I have ever come across in this community. He deserves applause. Thank You Simon. You have no idea how much you have helped us in our tableau journey.

Thanks Isa...you're too kind

It's been a pleasure, and I've learned quite a few things myself helping out with your questions, in particular...always pushing what is possible.

I'd like to add another "big-up" to Simon for helping me with a question recently. I know it's difficult to find time during the work day to do some essential R&D in Tableau and I'd love to spend all day going through the useful posts on here and learning new ways of doing things.

Time is precious though so it's great that there are so many helpful members on here who have posted some great stuff to help us all.

Keep up the good work guys and gals.

Thanks Naresh...I've got admit I did really enjoy your interesting problem!

The balance between R&D time and "work" is a tricky one, but there have been so many occasions where I've solved a question on the community for the same problem (or very similar) come up at work a few weeks later...where I already have the solution. I've demonstrated to my work many times that a few hours of R&D is got back 10 times over (in both the speed and quality of my work)...as well as finding completely new approaches. I'd certainly advocate that there is a true business case for time on the community. You will come across a far greater diversity of questions and approaches, by being exposed to other people's problems (and seeing the different approaches the helpers take, or by helping yourself), than you would ever come across is your day-to-day job...which really accelerates your learning and experience.