Chart Champ 2018 | The World Series of Analytics
Hi Peeps :) - I finally have time to give you a summary of our amazing Chart Champ '18 event which took place last month (aided by the new baby time i'm currently utilizing - see pic below :) )
The Setup
As in prior years, Chart Champ is primarily a test of visual analytics prowess, highlighted by our contestants use of Tableau. However, as an added challenge this year, contestants were also provided the opportunity to use both Alteryx (Prep/blend/ETL) and DataRobot (Automated Data Modelling) to enhance their analysis. Contestants were given 1 month to pull together a compelling dashboard and analytic insights out of a MASSIVE data set provided to us by none other than the (soon to be world champion) Red Sox! The data included every single pitch from last year's season for all teams (over 700K pitches!).
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The Prizes
This year we tried to out-do ourselves again on prizes, knowing that our competitors put in a TON of personal time to be able to create amazing submissions, all while balancing work and family life.
1st Prize - 2 Tickets to Hamilton Boston & 4 Star Hotel Stay!
2nd Prize - Beats Headphones
Alteryx & DataRobot Kickers - $100 Amazon Gift Cards
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The Event
When planning this year's event, we thought "if we're doing baseball data....lets go all in and have the event at Fenway!".....and so we did! Not only did we manage to book the truly awesome State Street Pavillion, but we got a world series trophy and Wally to show up as well!!
Sessions Overview
Alteryx Workshop
The Alteryx workshop brought a crowd of 150 data enthusiasts to our event kickoff. Their the attendees fueled up with lunch and pounded keyboard and mouse for our 4 hour workshop. By the end of the session, new users sh
DataRobot Presentation
The presentation from DataRobot primed our audience for automated machine learning awesomeness with DR! The session showed how DR works to bring advanced analytics to you using their amazing AI-Driven tool.
Cocktail Hour
Mingle with like minded Data Artists from around the region, oh and get to hang out with Wally and the world series trophies too!
Chart Champ Presentations
The main event where our contestants showed their stuff to a crowd of 250+. This event isn't for the faint of heart or those who have weak stomach for data :).
Click below to see more pictures from the event!
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The Results
The Winner - David Gamelin
David, coming off his hot streak of winning Chart Champ 2017, does it again this year for his amazing analysis of pitching data. David, as he explained in his introduction, is a baseball nerd....and that might be putting it lightly. Not only did he create an amazing dashboard, but he also integrated his home grown baseball stats database that he uses for his fantasy league and ran multiple models in Alteryx to create some unique predictive insights. Below is a screenshot of David's dashboard, but click the image to interact and dive into the real thing!
Runner Up - Brian Moore
To start, I'd just like to say that the difference between 1st and 2nd place was only 0.2 points on a weighted basis....so it was CLOSE! Brian did a tremendous job not only on his design (which matches the Sox theme perfectly, but he also integrated some great analytic insights AND managed to bring in video cuts from each game to add extra color to the analysis!! Amazing job Brian - check out is dashboard below (click to interact)!
Third Place - Natalia Maksimova
Natalia went DEEP on her analysis using data robot, generating some truly innovative insights with her models. Her focus was pitch velocity, but she also tackled some of the harder pitch prediction questions that were purposed to the contestants by the Red Sox analytics team. Click below to interact with her dashboard!
Fourth Place - David Auerbach
David was another heavy hitter in the DataRobot modelling space, running analyses to produce 7 different pitch prediction models. We have a feeling that if supplementary data was provided, David might have cracked this one wide open for the Red Sox team :).
Fifth Place - Kevin Jackson
Kevin's approach took a new look at the flow of pitches and how they differ by count. We often see pitch counts and results in tabular or totalled form, but Kevin's sankey provided a unique form to drill and investigate each step in the pitch cycle for deeper analysis. Awesome job Kevin!
Conclusion
We would like to thank everyone who made Chart Champ 2018 a HUGE success include our Contestants, Partners (Tableau,Alteryx, DataRobot), and all those who attended the event! We don't know how yet, but we'll top this next year!
Dustin