Excel Development: Building the Naughty-Nice-Ometer from scratch

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This is a high speed video that goes through the details of making the Naughty-Nice-Ometer in Excel.

The demo video is here:

Blogpost:

Excel, Christmas, Krampus & Kids

Download the Naughty-Nice-Ometer here:
http://datascopic.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/NNOmeter-from-scratch.xlsx
It’s a fun little application but there’s a lot going on in what’s basically a tracker. With modifications this can be used to track and summarize just about anything. You’ll see Excel
– Spreadsheet layout
– Tables
– Formula triggers
– Images that change based on cell values
– Data bars
– SUMIFS
– COUNTIFS
– VLOOKUP
– IF
– Hidden columns
– Adding text to shapes

The original video was 48 minutes. I decided not to bore you with all of that, but it shows that this can be created in less than 1 hour.

Hopefully you’ll get something out of this. Let me know. And please ask questions if you have any.

Image credits:
Santa:
http://artbybones.deviantart.com/art/Santa-Under-the-Northern-Light-24012409
Krampus:
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Krampus-147337943

Excel Custom Data Validation to Limit Entries

Use Excel to automatically select the right picture for Christmas

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We’re bringing Excel and technology to Christmas!
In this video I show how Excel can choose the right image based on the contents of a cell.

Thanks to Mynda Treacy for her blogpost that shows how Excel validation can be used to limit the number of entries in a list, and she used a Christmas example.

Let’s have more fun and use Excel to anticipate if a child is going to be visited by Santa or by Krampus. The file can be downloaded here:
http://datascopic.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Naughty-Nice-Ometer.xlsx

Icebucket challenge

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I was challenged by Mr Excel and Charlie Vlahogiannis.
I challenge Mike “ExcelIsFun” Girvin, Melanie Williams and Matt Conlin.

Oz at de Maat Theater 27JUN14

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Performing Stand-up at the de Maat Theater at Second City in Chicago. My apologies for the phone-cam quality. :(

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CaBlazingChileFarm

Oz Samples the White Castle Sriracha Chicken Slider

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It’s probably unfair for me to review the Sriracha Slider. I had to fix it with Scorpion Pepper Sriracha from California Blazing Chili Farms.

1A – Cooking Calculator Intro

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This 9-video playlist will take you through building this cooking calculator. Originally assembled for a class called Excel Uncensored, the ultimate goal is to take students through many of Excel’s features

The Cooking Calculator itself is only a vehicle to show you

– VLOOKUP
– Tables
– Formula triggers
– Dropdown lists
– Formulas
– Control of cell inputs
– IF statements

… and how to weave them together for a practical purpose.

The Power of Excel & Data: Oz at IgniteChicago

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On 2APR14 I had the honor of being a speaker at IgniteChicago. My topic: The Power of Data

My presentation addresses the question: how did you get started using Excel?

I describe a frustration that I had with a job and how this thing called “Excel” helped turn things around. It was the very first serious thing I did with Excel and data, and it got people to listen.

The format of IgniteChicago is 5 minutes to talk about something you’re passionate about. You get 20 slides and they change automatically every 15 seconds.

Things got a bit raucous–in a fun way. By the time I went up in the 10 spot, we were having a funky good time. So much so that a friend helped create this clean version of my presentation.

To see the original:

To see all 11 presentations:

Tour of Excel’s Ribbon & Other Structures | Excel Ignited Day 2 | SSSVEDA

To learn more and submit a request to speak:
http://www.ignitechi.org/

Robust Tasks In Excel Using Dependent Droplists, Tables & A Little VBA

Building Solutions Using: Tables, VLOOKUP, INDIRECT & VBA

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Today we weave together a few Excel features to build out a dynamic solution.
We have Offices, Reps and their Percent of Quota.
Using dependent dropdown lists, we solve a problem of changing the Office selection but the Rep name stays next to the wrong Office.

With the help of Excel MVP Jordan Goldmeier, we use VBA to solve that.

And then we look at the ease of adding data from a new City. By using tables, INDIRECT and VLOOKUP, this is very easy to do.

The blogpost and download link are here:

Thanks for watching the video. Please send any questions. Please subscribe to the channel and let’s work together to keep our data clean!

Excel App for Randomizing Cafeteria Specials

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Here’s a mini app that I developed based on a challenge that Mr. Excel answered:
How do I randomize an alphabetical list of cafeteria specials?

Kevin Lehrbass also took this on with a different spin

http://www.myspreadsheetlab.com/2014/01/helping-dean-pelton-with-his-menu-in-excel/
This whole thing was intriguing to me as I thought about the various problems that would come up as a real Cafeteria Head manages a meal schedule:
– How to make a solution in Excel that doesn’t go overboard?
– What about meals showing up more than 1x within 5 days?
– What about meals that are complicated for the staff to prepare?
– How do I add new specials?

In this video I give you a tour of the what’s what in the app. I don’t go into the fine details because the thought process is what I really want to share.

I am writing a related blogpost. That should be up on Monday, and I’ll also make the file available for download.

Please comment, ask questions, and let me know if this is at all interesting or helpful.

Be good, yawl!