Celebrating one year with Comuni[datos]

The idea of leading a Tableau User Group (TUG) community, especially starting your own, can be overwhelming. However, with a simple goal and a sprinkle of passion anything is possible. It all started during a conversation Tableau User Group Ambassador, Ruy Aguilar had with his Tableau success partner over a shared passion for their culture and deep roots identifying as Latinx. The Latinx culture breathes vibrance and passion, and it only made sense for Ruy to bring this community to life, now known as Comunidatos. Fast forward one year later and the Comunidatos User Group has held 9 user group meetups with over 3,000 members across 600 cities. With one year down, we wanted to take a deeper dive with Ruy and Tableau Public Ambassador and Latinx TUG co-leader, Pablo Gomez to discuss the inspiration behind building this community and what they have planned for the future. 

What was your motivation for starting the Latinx TUG? Feel free to give a shoutout to any other community members involved. 

Ruy Aguilar: The idea of creating a data community for the Latinx community started 4 years ago. I remember meeting Latinx community members at different analytics events. We all had similar experiences working with Latam business teams and helping them extract insights and find opportunities in data. We agreed that there was a  need for in-language support, and we knew that we could gain a lot from getting together and sharing best practices. We also had a passion for supporting other Latinx talent in their career journeys.

Turning this idea into something real would not have been possible if it wasn’t for Francis Dejonckheere. Like many of the best things in life, it just happened to be the right conversation at the right time, with the right person. Francis was our Customer Success Manager, and when talking about Tableau User Groups and mentioning the need to have a Latinx TUG, he just said, “Ruy, I am Latino, and I don’t know why this has not happened. But, you will make it happen, and don’t worry, I will get you some help.”

I’d also like to thank everyone that helped get us off the ground. Sebastian Briceno, Geovana Meier, Julio Toribio, Julia Biedry, Annie Noboa and Sergio Carbajales. A very special thank you to the leaders of this group that, week after week, work hard to put together these fantastic events to benefit the Tableau Latinx Community: Pahola Diaz, Diego Parker, Victor Calderon, and Pablo Gomez.

Pablo Gomez: I would like to thank the current Comunidatos team before I joined. Ruy Aguilar, Pahola Diaz, Victor Calderon for welcoming me so greatly to be part of the team and special thanks to Diego Parker whom not only invited me to speak at March's event, but also invited me to join the team! It has been an amazing experience being part of Comunidatos!

In your LinkedIn post, Happy Birthday Comuni[datos], you mention how perfect the timing was given that your first-ever meeting happened during Hispanic Heritage Month. Can you share a bit more about that and the impact you have seen over the past year?

Ruy Aguilar: Hispanic Heritage Month is a celebration of our heritage, and a time to remember where we come from. The idea that we can give back to the Hispanic community and provide them with opportunities to learn and grow is an incredible honor.

Personally, this has been an incredible journey in my development and my career. To be able to connect with exceptional leaders through this group and learn from each other has been an enriching experience. But this goes further, I’ve gained incredible confidence knowing that my career experience is valuable to others. It’s one thing to know what you have to offer and feel valued in your organization; it’s another to know that you have influenced others and helped them continue their career development. What I truly enjoy is the opportunity to do this through Comunidatos.

What’s the most rewarding part of connecting with this community? 

Pablo Gomez: The most rewarding part of connecting with the community comes from the networking sessions and meeting people. There are so many amazing people out there with different Tableau experiences, making our connections so diverse. We all come from different countries with such rich cultural backgrounds that it makes talking with one another so interesting. 

During User Group meetings, we typically assign a table for each speaker so that after each presentation they can have conversations with other attendees. Since the Comunidatos community is still new, so many of us will connect beyond the User Group on LinkedIn or other platforms to stay in touch. 

Your TUG created a Viz, Comuni[Datos] Primer Aniversario de Latino/a/x Tableau User Group. Can you walk us through some highlights of the viz and why it was created? 

Pablo Gomez: I wanted this viz to tell a story. I created it so it reads like a story book, telling the viewer the story of our community and what it has grown to become. We showed the evolution of our user group and we concluded the viz with a thank you to all of the members who have joined our community in the last year. 

What’s next for the Latinx TUG? What are you hoping to accomplish in the coming year(s)?

Ruy Aguilar: I am sure that we will keep accomplishing many great things with Comunidatos. Every win for our leaders, panelists, and members feels like an accomplishment for our User Group. The recognition of two of our leaders as Tableau Zen Masters, many new Latinx Tableau Ambassadors, an invite to hold a Comunidatos TUG meeting during the Tableau Data Summit LATAM, and now the inclusion of a Tips and Tricks session in Spanish during TC21.

I am sure we will enjoy many more of these achievements in the coming years, but I would love to see more Spanish sessions during future Tableau Conferences, more LATAM TUGs, and many more Latinx Tableau ambassadors. We are also putting a lot of emphasis on motivating Latinx women to become panelists and increase their community participation. 

Get involved and participate in the Latinx TUG 

1. Join the Community Page and engage with the Latino Community.
2. Network on Slack and share career opportunities, ideas and help other members.
3. Sign up to be a panelist at one of their events.
4. Sign up to get invited to our meetings, join a meeting and then stay to network with other Comunidatos members.  
5. Simply create content in Spanish and share it with us. We are on a mission to create more Spanish content for the Latinx community.