Meet Will Sutton, former Iron Viz Champion

Iron Viz is the world’s largest data visualization competition. What began as a breakout session at Tableau Conference 2011 has grown into a global phenomenon and become a core part of the Tableau Community. Three Iron Viz contenders take center stage and have 20 minutes to tell the most compelling story using the same data set. The 2022 competition saw the crowning of Will Sutton as champion. On behalf of the Data Visualization Society’s Early Career Committee, I asked Sutton a bit more about himself and his win.

How long had you been doing dataviz when you entered the IronViz competition and were you making a living doing dataviz at that time?

I’d been working in data analytics for about 8 years before I arrived at the Iron Viz stage. However, it was only about three years before the contest that I really started focusing on improving my dataviz and Tableau skills. At the time, data visualisation was certainly an important part of my role, but so were the technical skills of SQL, R, and Python.

Can you walk us through the preparation process you went through for Iron Viz? What were some of the key steps or strategies you think contributed most to your success?

Preparing for Iron Viz was very challenging. In the final, you are given 20 minutes to build a data visualisation live on stage against two competitors, using a given dataset. It’s hard enough telling a compelling data story, but against a time limit and a live audience, it really adds a lot of pressure.

This was a real step out of my comfort zone, so rather than focusing on winning the contest, I aimed to make a win on my own terms. Let me explain. Career-wise, I was in a difficult spot: half of my team at work had been made redundant, my wife and I were having difficulty getting a mortgage, and I had just been selected for the final.

It was a lot to go through at the time, so I took a long weekend trip to Wales. Whilst I was out there, I realised what an opportunity I had—not the prize money, but the chance to show my skills to thousands of employers. So I viewed the final more as a showcase of what I could do with Tableau, rather than worrying about being first, second, or third. With that in mind, it got me thinking more about the positives that could happen after the event.

The competition environment can be intense. How did you manage the pressure and incorporate any feedback you received along the way?

I found it important to identify the main aspects that were causing me stress about the competition and to reframe them. The stress was only going to distract me from performing my best. One big hurdle I was facing was presenting in front of an audience of 5,000 people. Public speaking wasn’t my thing. I’m certainly not the most outspoken person, and when it came to presenting, I just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Thinking back to my purpose—that thousands of people were going to see my work—I realised I really needed to sell my skills. So I approached it with the mindset that this was a skill I could improve, and if I could get through this event, future work presentations would be much less daunting.

I spent a long time reviewing TED Talks on education, which was the dataset I would be working on. The content was useful for ideas, but importantly, I could see and understand how other speakers approached the presentation aspect. I found great tips, such as starting the presentation with a question to get the audience thinking and adding more emotion-driven words to build interest in the topic. Once I realised the techniques being used, it gave me much more confidence in my ownpresentation delivery.

What was the very first indication that your life had changed after the win?

The first sign that things had changed was the sudden recognition. At the conference, people I’d never met were coming up to me, congratulating me on my presentation and sharing how it resonated with them. It was surreal to receive that kind of attention. But it came with lots of new opportunities: chances to speak at user groups, collaborations, and job leads.

The Tableau “DataFam” community is unique for a software program/tool. It’s well-known for being an accelerator in building skills in the program. How instrumental was it in contributing to your win?

Absolutely instrumental. The community truly helped me gain the skills I needed to win the contest. I had been part of community projects like #MakeoverMonday, which focused on regularly building data visualisations with simple datasets. My initial attempts certainly wouldn’t win any awards, but by seeing what others submitted and receiving feedback on my work, I saw a rapid improvement in my dataviz portfolio.

The support and feedback from the community helped me grow and pushed me to improve. It then gave me the confidence to do more of my own projects and even help set up the community project #GamesNightViz, which was all about visualising data about games. Funnily enough, how I ended up in the final was from a visualisation I built to promote the #GamesNightViz initiative.

Data visualization competitions are all about standing out and pushing the envelope. Where did you find inspiration for your winning visualization, and how did you balance creativity with clarity?

For me, it comes back to the question: “What do you enjoy?” Since I was using the contest to showcase my skills, I didn’t want to become known for something I wouldn’t want to do in the future. Plus, I think when you enjoy a topic, you’re naturally more interested and creative in what you create.

A big deciding factor for me was how the visualisation would be viewed. In the first round of the contest, I knew the work would go to a panel of judges who would take their time reviewing it, so I could create a bit more of a personalised user experience. Here, the user would play a game, which would add their results to the survey data I had collected, making the data more interesting as it was relative to them—for example, “You chose X, and Y% of respondents agreed with you.”

For the final, it’s a three-minute presentation. There’s less need to dive into details or go overboard with creativity, as it’s all about the clarity of the message. Having said that, as a presenter, you’re in control of what is displayed on screen and how the content is consumed. So you can direct and twist the story as you present it. This worked well with my love of animations to get my audience’s eyes back on the screen when I shared the next insight.

I see from LinkedIn that your Tableau consultancy The Information Lab started in June 2022, just after you won IronViz. Can you talk about that and how was it influenced by your achievement?

Winning Iron Viz definitely opened up new opportunities. Shortly after the competition, I received a lot of job offers and, yes, joined The Information Lab shortly after the contest win. They’re a Tableau partner, very well known in the community, and it was too good of an offer to refuse. Speaking with other competitors, past and present, Iron Viz allowed them to change and develop their roles regardless of the result in the final.

It’s been approximately 2.5 years since you won IronViz 2022. You mentioned that a lot has changed for you career-wise. Aside from The Information Lab, how has winning affected your career or invited other opportunities?

It has been fantastic for meeting new people. Before we headed on stage, they played a little intro video that showed us in our hometowns, so the bright lights of Las Vegas got to see me running around sleepy Suffolk. I had folks come up to me saying they were from a small town too and loved the video.

I’ve also become more involved in the Tableau community, contributing to projects and attending events to help others develop their skills. It’s also helped with working more with Tableau. Lately, I have been working on incorporating LangChain (an AI framework) into Tableau, which is something I’m super excited about and calls for a new set of skills. Overall, winning Iron Viz opened doors and gave me the confidence and contacts to pursue new and exciting opportunities.

You mentioned that post-contest life called for a new set of skills. Can you talk more about what this means specifically?

In the build-up to the contest, I was heavily working on my dataviz skills. After the contest, public speaking became a big part of my life—I had to get comfortable presenting in front of large audiences and engaging with people at events. I still find it tiring as an introvert, but it’s been so beneficial to develop confidence in this area.

Since the contest, I’ve been pursuing developments in AI, building on what I’ve learnt about dataviz. It’s a very different set of skills, with much more jargon, but it’s been very rewarding to find new solutions with this technology.

Aside from recommending that they win Tableau IronViz, what’s the most important advice you would give to early career data-vizzers?

Let your interests lead you. When you’re genuinely interested in a topic, it shows in your work. You’ll put in more effort, be more creative, and produce visualisations that really resonate with people.

Also, focus on what skills you want to gain and what a win looks like on your terms. Whether it’s technical abilities, storytelling, or design principles, knowing what you want to improve will guide your learning.

Will’s final viz

The viz that got Will into the finals