Introduction to Data Visualization and Storytelling

Returning Course for 2026!

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Course Description:

Step into a world where data comes to life with enchanting data visualizations that tell memorable stories and provide faster insights than tables or reports full of numbers. Creating effective data visualizations can be challenging, even for seasoned data professionals. This course offers an introduction to the fundamental principles and science behind effective data visualization, with an emphasis on transforming everyday charts into powerful communication tools.

Whether you are an executive leading an organization, a manager leading a team or an individual contributor crafting deliverables, you will need to communicate your findings to an audience. This course will also equip you with storytelling and presentation techniques specific to sharing data insights so that you can effectively persuade or inform your audience.

Course topics include:

• Motivation: Discover why data visualization is so powerful and learn about key results from scientific experiments.
• Fundamentals of Data Visualization: Learn the core elements of data visualizations, how they combine to form impactful visuals and use cases for various chart types. 
• Data Visualization Design: Understand design principles used in data visualizations, how to convey messages through graphic representation and how to make visualizations accessible and inclusive.
• Storytelling with Data: Develop strategies for crafting a compelling narrative that highlights insights and drives engagement.

Course Logistics:

• This training will take place on Monday, September 14, 2026 from 8:00AM - 12:00PM ET at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.
• Course length is approximately four hours and offered in-person only.
• Laptops are not required but attendees may bring their own devices.
• Classroom will be set up with tables with electrical outlets to accommodate each attendee.

Beyond Correlation: Using Causal Measurement to Guide Business Decisions

Returning Course for 2026!

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Course Description:

Causality lies at the heart of many critical business questions: Do email promotions increase website traffic? Will the release of a new product cannibalize sales of existing products? How can a business optimize its marketing expenditures? To uncover the true cause-and-effect relationships that answer these questions, we need to go beyond correlations and adopt a structured approach to causal measurement. This beginner-friendly course introduces practical models and analytical frameworks to help distinguish correlation from causation in real-world business settings. Through a sequence of case studies and hypothetical business scenarios, participants will learn the power of counterfactual thinking, why experimentation is the gold standard for causal measurement and how to extract causal insights using modern causal inference techniques.

Course Logistics:

• This training will take place on Monday, September 14, 2026 from 8:00AM - 12:00PM ET at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.
• Course length is approximately four hours and offered in-person only.
• Laptops are not required but attendees may bring their own devices.
• Classroom will be set up with tables with electrical outlets to accommodate each attendee.

Decision Making Under Uncertainty: An Introduction to Monte Carlo Simulation

Returning Course for 2026!

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Course Description:

Uncertainty is inevitable when it comes to making key business decisions, yet some practitioners still tend to ignore it at great risk to their desired outcomes. To avoid these risks, one should embrace and model this uncertainty and inform business decisions using Monte Carlo simulation. With Monte Carlo simulation, your business expertise, and relevant data, you can start making decisions tailored to the specific, uncertain business situations you face. In this course, we will equip you with the tools and insights needed to incorporate uncertainty into your business decision-making process using business case studies and business case studies and several hands-on exercises exhibiting the power of Monte Carlo simulation.

Course topics include:

• Embracing Uncertainty: Why plans based on a limited set of scenarios often go wrong, and what to do about it.
• Modeling Decisions: An introduction to key tools including decision trees and influence diagrams.
• Designing Simulations: How Monte Carlo simulation helps to quantify and incorporate uncertainty into the decision-making process.
• Leveraging Data: Case studies that demonstrate how to model uncertainty using expert judgment and available data.

Course Logistics:

• This training will take place on Monday, September 14, 2026 from 1:30PM - 5:30PM ET at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.
• Course length is approximately four hours and offered in-person only.
• Attendees may bring their own devices. This course includes a hands-on component where participants are encouraged to follow along on their own device in Microsoft Excel.
• Classroom will be set up with tables with electrical outlets to accommodate each attendee.

Driving Better Business Decisions with Mathematical Optimization

Returning Course for 2026!

Click here to Register

Course Description:

Analytics is not just about trying to predict the future; it is about helping to decide what to do next. Mathematical optimization is the engine that powers those decisions. By systematically evaluating choices against objectives and constraints, optimization transforms data into actionable strategies.

Optimization can transform forecasts into prescriptive recommendations, guiding you from "what might happen" to "what you should do." It also addresses challenges beyond forecasting, such as resource allocation, by directly identifying the best course of action based on your objectives and constraints. Optimization can ensure decisions are not just good—they are optimal.

In this interactive, beginner-friendly course, you will learn how to:

• Recognize business problems that can be solved with optimization.
• Formulate objectives, decisions, and constraints using the Optimization Framework.
• Match real-world problems to linear, integer and binary programming models.
• Build and execute optimization models using Microsoft Excel's Solver Add-in.

Through case studies and hands-on exercises, you will discover why optimization is a cornerstone of advanced analytics and how it can supercharge your decision-making in any industry. By the end of this session, you will have the foundational skills to start applying optimization in your own work, and the confidence to make decisions that truly maximize impact.

Course Logistics:

• This training will take place on Monday, September 14, 2026 from 1:30PM - 5:30PM ET at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.
• Course length is approximately four hours and offered in-person only.
• Attendees may bring their own devices. This course includes a hands-on component where participants are encouraged to follow along on their own device in Microsoft Excel.
• Classroom will be set up with tables with electrical outlets to accommodate each attendee.