Great news, data fans – Tapestry is happening!

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For those of you who have been anxious to hear whether 2018 would include the 6th consecutive Tapestry Data Storytelling Conference, wait no longer! The dates (November 29-30) and location (Newman Alumni Center, University of Miami) have been finalized and announced, and registration is now open to anyone who would like to attend! I’d recommend booking early, though: registration is very limited, and when it’s full, it’s full.

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Huge thanks to Alberto Cairo, the University of Miami, and the leadership team at Tableau for making this special event happen again, and to Robert Kosara, my colleague at Tableau, for his unyielding efforts all year to make sure this event is on the calendar yet again. Robert broke the news about Tapestry 2018 on his fabulous site, Eager Eyes, this past Wednesday.

If you’ve gone to Tapestry before, you know why this is an exciting announcement. We’ve all been to massive tech conferences, and – as great as those can be – this isn’t one of them. It has been referred to by past attendees as a “retreat”, a “reunion”, and a “getaway”. It’s very intimate – just 100 – 150 attendees are there from a blend of academia, journalism, design and business. And it’s typically at a much smaller venue that has a rich history to it. But it’s no boondoggle; we dive deep into fascinating topics and some of the world’s foremost data storytellers present, discuss and debate.

The speakers are a huge highlight for me each year, and the 44 talented women and men who have presented at past Tapestry Conferences reads like a Who’s Who of data storytelling: Cole Knaflic, Giorgia Lupi, Scott Klein, Hannah Fairfield, Viegas & Wattenberg, Enrico Bertini, Jon Schwabish, Kim Rees, Matt Daniels and Michele Borkin to name a few. Their presentations have been recorded and uploaded to the Tapestry YouTube page, so you can watch them any time you like.

The lineup for Tapestry 2018 is shaping up to be pretty amazing as well: Mona Chalabi, Matthew Kay and Elijah Meeks have all agreed to headline the event with our three keynotes, and we’re accepting applications for the 6 “Short Story” presentations (each 15 minutes in length) now – just email the Tapestry team with your proposal.

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I hope to see you in Miami at the end of November. I’ve attended all 5 Tapestry Conferences to date, and I can’t wait for the 6th!

Ben