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Oct. 26, 2024

Season Finale and Sabbatical Adventures - 112

Season Finale and Sabbatical Adventures - 112
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How I Met Your Data

Welcome to the season finale of "How I Met Your Data," where hosts Sandy Estrada and Anjali Bansal guide you through the dynamic world of data. In this episode, Sandy shares highlights from her recent sabbatical, exploring the breathtaking landscapes of Olympic National Park and the vibrant culture of Barcelona. Anjali recounts her own summer adventures in Yellowstone and Hilton Head, emphasizing the stunning beauty and wildlife of America's national parks.

As they reflect on the season, Sandy and Anjali discuss listener engagement and the success of various episodes, highlighting insights from data-driven sports success to the evolving landscape of Gen AI technology. 

Join Sandy and Anjali as they wrap up an incredible season, share personal stories, and look forward to new data adventures in the upcoming year. 

Chapters

00:04 - Welcome to How I Met Your Data

00:50 - Sandy’s Sabbatical Adventures

06:05 - Anjali’s Yellowstone Experience

12:58 - Engaging Kids in Nature

13:02 - Season Statistics and Insights

21:44 - The Impact of Gen AI

27:11 - Changes for Season Two

Transcript
WEBVTT

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Hey there! Welcome, and for those returning, welcome back to How I Met Your Data.

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I'm Sandy Estrada, here with my co-host, Anjali Banzal.

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We're your guides through the ever-evolving world of data, where the community

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is as diverse as the stories we share.

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From hands-on practitioners to the ecosystem supporting them,

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we bring you insights and conversations that cover everything data-related.

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Whether you're here for the latest strategies, a dose of inspiration,

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or just some data banter, you're in the right place. So grab a coffee,

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get comfy, and let's dive in.

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And hey, if you like what you hear, help us out by following the podcast or

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engaging with us on LinkedIn.

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We promise we're way more fun than your average LinkedIn feed.

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At least that's my opinion.

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Music.

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Hello, Anjali. Hello, Sandy.

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We have reached the finish line of the season. Can you believe that?

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I honestly cannot. I can't. It feels like it was so far away, but came so quickly.

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So I don't know. I mean, I guess we're good at running marathons. I know.

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I know, right? I have a feeling, though, people probably think we abandoned

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it because we haven't been dropping any episodes as frequently as we have in

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the past, which, you know, I take full responsibility for that.

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I took, for those who don't know, I took a sabbatical of six weeks from work.

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I loved it. I had a really good time. We traveled.

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We saw things. I did not think about data, although I kind of did at times.

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But yeah, it was a fun time. So that's why our episodes have been released pretty

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much once a month at this point.

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And capstone with this one for the season. This will be episode 10.

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Yeah. Might be 11, actually. I think it's 11.

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I think it's 11. But before we move on to talking about our season,

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I want to hear all about your sabbatical.

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I've heard some like real amazing highlights, but what was your favorite part and what would you.

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Never do again. Oh, that's a good one. My favorite part was Olympic National

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Park in Washington State.

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The first part of our trip, we went to Washington State and stayed there for

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a couple weeks and went to every national park in the state.

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My wife and I have this goal of visiting every national park in the country. Oh, maybe. Yeah.

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Although now she's kind of almost backing out of that goal, which I'm a little

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upset about, but we'll figure it out.

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We have the rest of our lives to figure that out so we went to we

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went to all three and olympic surprised me

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it actually surprised me it's gorgeous there's a

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lot of different topographies there and my favorite stop was ruby beach at olympic

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primarily because if you go during low tide there's all these tide pools and

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they have these anemones like many many anemones in these tide pools that are

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massive they're the size of a of a grapefruit really yeah they're so big and

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i have a couple of my i have a fish tank here.

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And I have a couple in there, but they're tiny compared to that. It was unbelievable.

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So I really enjoyed that, just seeing that nature, right?

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But yeah, we wrapped up the two weeks there. We went to all three national parks,

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spent some time in Seattle, went drinking, trying wines.

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There's an area next to the city that has hundreds of wine tasting rooms from

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all the wineries in the state.

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They all decided to have a tasting room in this area. And we spent a couple

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of nights there. So we had fun.

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And literally today I got one of the orders that we, well, the only order we

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put in at the last winery we tasted at, got it today.

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So super excited to pop that open. Oh, fun. Just in time for the weekend.

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Exactly. Exactly. Tonight, I'm going to need it. And then after that,

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I came home, we did some stuff around here for about a week.

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And then we went off to Barcelona, Spain.

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I had been there before, but my wife, it's been on her bucket list, so

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We went for a week, ate all the tapas, drank all the wine, saw all the sights

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you can possibly see, spent some time.

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The cool part of that trip was Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi church.

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Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. I had been there about 20 years ago.

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I went with a couple of friends for my first European trip and just seeing that

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progress was mind-blowing.

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Just seeing the difference and how much they still have to go was absolutely mind-blowing.

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So which is incredible i saw it maybe 15

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years ago and i mean there was so much left to

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do but there were all of these placards saying in

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the next five years in the next you know whatever it's going to be completed

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i i mean it's the never-ending project yeah there's still i thought they were

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just finishing with the towers that they have at the top of the building but

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as we were taking a tour she said there's a third facade and i i was just like

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excuse me she's like oh yeah we have the birth,

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the death, and then there's a third facade,

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I guess, that they have to finish.

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So that's another X number of years because of the artwork, the type of way they do it.

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But they actually, just technology and the way things are, they've moved things,

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progressed things a lot faster now than they used to just by the way of the build.

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But after that, our capstone was Taylor Swift in London.

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We last minute decided to change our flights.

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It was before we took off for barcelona we made the decision worked

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out really well for us and ended up being much cheaper

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than seeing the show in the united states so it's good

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awesome it's a good time we had looked to go to to

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europe to see taylor swift and just in the end couldn't justify it but the price

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differential between the tickets in europe anywhere in europe compared to you

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know any city in the u.s was insane where it was actually more compelling to

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apply to europe stay in hotels and go to the show, right?

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Which would have ended up being significantly less than us going to a show here.

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Crazy. Right. Yeah. So that was the trip. I've been back for,

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I think it's been a month now. Awesome. So what would you never do again?

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I don't know. I think I would do all of it. I would do all of it again.

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And that was an amazing week.

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Absolutely. I want somebody else to train for it. Maybe if somebody else is

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paying for it. You know what? That's fair. That's absolutely fair.

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Well, we are glad to have you back though.

00:06:05.057 --> 00:06:08.497
Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Glad to be back. You had an exciting summer too.

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We did. We were busy. We were very busy. So we started our summer with a trip

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to a national Park as well.

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So we went to Yellowstone, which was incredible pictures.

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Do not do Yellowstone and Grand Teton justice by any stretch of the imagination.

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Just, I mean, just the scenery, the wildlife, absolutely insane.

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It's everything that you could imagine and so much more.

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So the first night that we were there, my husband and I were driving back from

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a restaurant and a baby bear just ran right in front of our car and ran up the side of a mountain.

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And I'm just looking at my husband like, you keep going because if the baby

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bear was there, I don't even want to know what the mom is going to do to us.

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Like, just walk away. Just walk away.

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Yeah. Oh my God. It was just like, it was such a cool experience.

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We saw moose, which was great.

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So many, so many bison were, you know, were everywhere, you know,

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first in like one, you know, one or two at a time. I mean, you're like,

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oh, my God, that's amazing.

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And then you just happen upon the herds of them.

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And it just takes your breath away. So, I mean, that was great.

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The geysers, the thermal pools, just everything.

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So just a really, really great bucket list trip.

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So what surprised you the most?

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I think just the majesty of it all, right? Like I said, pictures do not do just

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the beauty of nature justice.

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So getting there and just seeing the mountains, the open sky,

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all the plants, the greenery, the natural features.

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I've heard old faithful can be a little underwhelming when you go. No.

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I don't know what people are talking about because I just thought it was incredible.

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Yeah. Yeah, it was just that was all really surprising to me that,

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you know, there's people that can say it can be somewhat underwhelming.

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And then you go and you're like, okay.

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I miss that. I must have a very low bar of expectations, I guess.

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I think people are just so used to manufactured entertainment that they forget

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that is nature and it happens.

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You know, they're a geyser that shoots water out every few hours and very high.

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Like that's mind blowing. Very high. And it gets so hot, right?

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Like we were right in front and it gets so hot really quickly.

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So, I mean, that was incredible. And then we were at Biscuit Basin maybe two

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weeks before its grand explosion that like destroyed the walkways and have like

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kind of shut down that area.

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So we were so lucky to be able to see it when we did.

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Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, that was incredible. The last day that we were actually

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driving through and heading on out to West Yellowstone, we were driving past

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River Drive, which is a stretch of maybe two miles.

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That goes right along the water. And there's kind of a mountain cliff on your left-hand side.

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And so as we're driving, my mom, who happened to be in the back seat.

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Says to my husband, stop, stop, stop, I see something.

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So we look, we stop, and we go, you know, kind of looking, and my husband reverses just a little bit.

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And there's a juvenile grizzly bear just hunting for food.

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You look up at the top of the ridge and there's all these cars that have stopped

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to watch the bear just moving around. You see people getting out of their cars.

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Why would you do that? I mean, you suddenly made yourself into bear feed, but okay.

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It was such a prime viewing spot because then the bear started to move forward.

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Like to the front of our car.

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And I don't know what came over me, but I opened the sunroof thinking that the

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bear would cross in front of our car.

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And as I see him like make that turn to go in front of our car,

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I popped out up out of the sunroof, started taking pictures and then came back

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down before I got the bear's attention.

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That's great. That's hilarious.

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Yeah. I mean, that was part of our summer. And then we spent time down in Hilton Head as a family,

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which was which is lovely i think out of the you know

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we go there pretty much every year we have been for the

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last four years and this this year was probably the best weather we've ever

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had yeah it wasn't too hot no rain we got to i got to play pickleball we got

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to golf and my daughter took part in all that too so she's finally big enough

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to do that so that's awesome that's beautiful that's fantastic Yeah, I agree.

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The photos do no justice.

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Sometimes I get questions from people like, why are you going to every national

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park? And I think it's because every time I go, they blow me away.

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There isn't a single national park that I've gone to that doesn't deserve to

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be a national park because there's always some wonder there.

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When we went to Yellowstone, I was excited for Yellowstone and I had zero conception

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of like understanding of the Tetons. But when you see that...

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I mean, I've seen mountains, but the hat is, I mean, I thought I was in Europe. That was incredible.

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It was just so majestic. And just the way the cliffs just run right into the valley is unreal.

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Right you have to see it

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to actually understand it right so and like

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just one last thing about the national parks they do

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a fantastic fantastic job of engaging

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children as well oh yeah so if you yeah like if you go into any of the visitor

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centers this was this was new for me or a new finding for me if you go into

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any of the visitor centers they will give you an activity book for your child

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to fill out and it's age appropriate they have like different challenges by by age group.

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And if you complete the challenge and bring the book back to a visitor center,

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you get like a little National Park badge.

00:12:08.503 --> 00:12:12.343
And the way you're giggling, I'm wondering if perhaps you and Mary do the same

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thing. We have it, but I'm laughing because she will listen to this and turn

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to me and say, we've been buying badges for what?

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Like I could do this whole activity book. And every time we're at Disney,

00:12:21.663 --> 00:12:24.683
she tries to find the activity, like whether it's a scavenger hunt and they're

00:12:24.683 --> 00:12:27.663
kid related, she must do it for the prize.

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So you get deputized as well before you get your badge.

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So that I would love to see video of if you, if you actually take that on. Oh, it is happening.

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It's how I guarantee the next trip that we go to a national park,

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she's going to go get this junior badge for sure. Oh, it's awesome.

00:12:46.663 --> 00:12:51.443
It really is great. And like the kids learn a lot and actually have to spend

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time looking at nature to the point that they forget about their devices, which was amazing.

00:12:58.663 --> 00:13:02.143
Yeah. Yeah. That's a triumph, honestly. Yeah.

00:13:02.343 --> 00:13:08.103
So let's debrief on the season. I think it'd be really interesting to share some statistics.

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I was looking at the data today for our podcast and I admittedly have not looked at

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in probably a month or two, maybe.

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So what did you learn when you met our data? When I met our data,

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I learned that apparently our first rodeo,

00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:36.059
which is our first episode, is the highest downloaded episode from our last

00:13:36.059 --> 00:13:39.119
10 with a good number of downloads, almost 200.

00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:44.799
Oh my God. Yeah, it's wild. And I think, I hope that it's not just my mother

00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:48.039
re-listening to it over and over again, because it's the only link I gave her,

00:13:48.219 --> 00:13:49.799
hoping that maybe it would be a different episode.

00:13:53.119 --> 00:13:57.639
I'll just put an asterisk on that. There's no way that that was 200 people. You know what, Sammy?

00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:02.739
We'll never know, right? We're not going to get a new account.

00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:06.979
We'll never know. It's just my mom listening to her daughter.

00:14:07.659 --> 00:14:13.919
But I will say, I just actually recently had a conversation with somebody new to our organization.

00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:21.439
And, you know, he actually really flattered me in terms of saying that he felt

00:14:21.439 --> 00:14:26.039
like he actually knew me before we met one-on-one because he'd been listening

00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:29.859
to the podcast before he even joined Cervell. Oh, that's sweet.

00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.919
Yeah. I was like, oh, my God. So he may be one of the 200.

00:14:35.179 --> 00:14:38.659
He may be. And thank you for that. Thank you for listening. but

00:14:38.659 --> 00:14:41.819
the follow-up is our episode with

00:14:41.819 --> 00:14:44.879
Erin on data-driven success in sports which

00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:48.139
is not a shocker I knew that as soon as

00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:52.579
we decided to have her on and as soon as we wrapped up that episode I said this

00:14:52.579 --> 00:14:57.219
is gold it is so good so if you have not listened to that one I would highly

00:14:57.219 --> 00:15:01.879
recommend listening to that episode called data-driven success in sports it's

00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:06.039
not what you think it is not about performance of players.

00:15:06.119 --> 00:15:09.619
There's just so much more to that business that we talk about.

00:15:10.249 --> 00:15:14.269
And then the next one, and I do not want to pump his ego up.

00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:16.589
No, is it? I really don't.

00:15:17.509 --> 00:15:20.329
I don't. I know exactly what you're going to say.

00:15:20.809 --> 00:15:25.889
James E. Anderson with Snowflake with a mesh coming in third place.

00:15:26.129 --> 00:15:29.429
You know, he could say it's second, but it's third, James. Sorry.

00:15:29.709 --> 00:15:32.729
You're behind me and Aaron and Anjali.

00:15:35.549 --> 00:15:38.629
So that was third place. And I'm not going to name the rest,

00:15:38.769 --> 00:15:43.449
but those were our top three for this season. So I'm really proud of that.

00:15:43.589 --> 00:15:48.009
I think those were great conversations. I think it just also goes to show the

00:15:48.009 --> 00:15:49.929
type of conversation folks want to listen to.

00:15:50.229 --> 00:15:53.949
So very excited. We'll take that as feedback for next season.

00:15:54.149 --> 00:16:00.309
I think for me personally, I'm curious, Anjali, what surprised you in terms of this process?

00:16:00.689 --> 00:16:05.869
It was a zany idea. We decided just to wing it and do it. And we did.

00:16:05.869 --> 00:16:07.369
What surprised you about it all?

00:16:07.549 --> 00:16:14.829
So I think two things, right? One was our collective excitement and which fed

00:16:14.829 --> 00:16:24.149
into making the kind of the topics and the topic ideation as well as the conversation so easy.

00:16:24.149 --> 00:16:28.689
I don't think or at least I didn't feel like while we're having these conversations

00:16:28.689 --> 00:16:33.909
with our friends, our colleagues, industry leaders, that it was a forced conversation

00:16:33.909 --> 00:16:37.909
in any way that we were trying to manufacture content to push out.

00:16:38.089 --> 00:16:42.389
It was friends chatting about really cool, interesting topics.

00:16:42.689 --> 00:16:47.309
So that was surprising a little bit because I had it in the back of my mind

00:16:47.309 --> 00:16:50.129
like, all right, how are we going to structure the interview?

00:16:50.489 --> 00:16:56.309
What are our outcomes? Very consultant think going into this, right? Yeah.

00:16:56.503 --> 00:17:01.883
And then the second kind of like almost naturally flowing into into this is

00:17:01.883 --> 00:17:07.303
the excitement and engagement of our friends, our families, our colleagues and

00:17:07.303 --> 00:17:09.403
people that we've never met before.

00:17:09.703 --> 00:17:13.263
Actually, like, you know, listening, providing like, you know.

00:17:14.043 --> 00:17:19.543
Relevant, useful feedback to us, feeding us topics that they want to hear and

00:17:19.543 --> 00:17:22.323
volunteering to come join us. Like that was amazing.

00:17:22.583 --> 00:17:26.463
Kind of unexpected, which I love. Yeah, I'm with you on both of those.

00:17:26.683 --> 00:17:34.303
I think for me, the other angle was we work in very stressful environments. We have stressful jobs.

00:17:34.463 --> 00:17:38.923
I'll be honest, folks, consulting is not an easy feat.

00:17:38.943 --> 00:17:44.023
But we found time for an hour every other week to meet and bring somebody to

00:17:44.023 --> 00:17:45.243
the table and have a conversation.

00:17:45.363 --> 00:17:49.443
And I feel like in that hour, and we alluded to this earlier,

00:17:49.643 --> 00:17:50.703
but it was a little bit of therapy.

00:17:50.703 --> 00:17:54.183
And every single time we've had this conversation, like leading up to it,

00:17:54.303 --> 00:17:57.423
it would stress me out that it would be coming because I'd feel unprepared.

00:17:57.423 --> 00:18:01.143
I'd feel like, oh, gosh, I need to be prepared for this person.

00:18:01.243 --> 00:18:04.483
I don't want us to not be prepared for this conversation.

00:18:04.483 --> 00:18:10.803
But at the same time, even if we felt we weren't, it was easy to just talk about

00:18:10.803 --> 00:18:14.323
topics that we're passionate about because we're in it every single day with

00:18:14.323 --> 00:18:16.483
our clients. So for me, that was a surprise.

00:18:16.783 --> 00:18:22.123
I didn't expect it to have that kind of effect on me or us, quite honestly,

00:18:22.203 --> 00:18:23.863
because I feel like you feel the same way about this.

00:18:23.983 --> 00:18:26.463
But it's just been a joy to do.

00:18:26.683 --> 00:18:32.263
And I'm looking forward to bringing more during season two and mixing it up a little bit.

00:18:32.363 --> 00:18:37.023
I think there's room to perhaps have a couple of guests on at the same time

00:18:37.023 --> 00:18:40.123
to make things a little more interesting and provocative for folks.

00:18:40.123 --> 00:18:42.843
I think that is fantastic.

00:18:43.183 --> 00:18:48.483
Other thing that I really enjoyed was learning from others and their perspectives, right?

00:18:48.583 --> 00:18:53.103
I feel like, you know, we're, because of the nature of the work that we do,

00:18:53.243 --> 00:18:58.303
the stress levels that we manage, it's easy to fall into our blinder space,

00:18:58.443 --> 00:19:00.203
right? And just be like, all right, now we're going to do it because.

00:19:00.707 --> 00:19:06.107
I just got to get it done. But to learn from others, I think is what was a great

00:19:06.107 --> 00:19:08.547
opportunity for us as well.

00:19:08.767 --> 00:19:13.347
But bringing more people together to have that conversation and really hearing

00:19:13.347 --> 00:19:17.527
those kind of diverse, diverse opinions and ways of working,

00:19:17.707 --> 00:19:22.667
I think is going to be fantastic as we go, you know, as we think about our season two.

00:19:22.867 --> 00:19:26.287
And, you know, what more can we bring to our friends and listeners?

00:19:26.727 --> 00:19:30.707
Yeah, absolutely. And also just setting our own egos aside for a minute, it, right?

00:19:30.827 --> 00:19:36.207
Because the reality of the situation is I don't profess to be an expert at all

00:19:36.207 --> 00:19:38.827
things data. There's industries I've never worked in.

00:19:39.187 --> 00:19:41.227
There are topics I'm not deep on.

00:19:41.847 --> 00:19:45.047
I'm a pseudo technical person, I always say.

00:19:45.187 --> 00:19:49.227
I know enough to be dangerous. I can architect solutions, but don't ask me to

00:19:49.227 --> 00:19:51.047
go build it. There's teams for that.

00:19:51.327 --> 00:19:56.567
So I think for me, just having that breadth of experience and having people

00:19:56.567 --> 00:20:00.087
come and have those conversations with us and educate us on things that maybe

00:20:00.087 --> 00:20:02.347
we haven't been exposed to has been fantastic.

00:20:02.587 --> 00:20:06.667
And on the flip side, validating from others in terms of what they're seeing

00:20:06.667 --> 00:20:12.087
and how they think about things and that being pseudo aligned to what we've

00:20:12.087 --> 00:20:14.987
been doing as a firm has been validating as well.

00:20:15.167 --> 00:20:18.567
I really, really do have enjoyed that aspect of it. Oh, I agree.

00:20:18.747 --> 00:20:23.747
I agree. That has been fantastic. And that adds to the therapeutic component

00:20:23.747 --> 00:20:27.587
of our hour together every few weeks.

00:20:28.074 --> 00:20:31.794
Yeah, absolutely. I have probably two more questions before we wrap this up.

00:20:32.034 --> 00:20:36.554
One question unrelated to the season, really, you know, time has passed.

00:20:36.734 --> 00:20:42.154
We started this towards the first half of spring and we're ending it now and

00:20:42.154 --> 00:20:43.554
we're going to start it again fairly soon.

00:20:43.714 --> 00:20:50.194
But what technology trends has surprised you in the time that we've kind of

00:20:50.194 --> 00:20:51.394
lived through these episodes?

00:20:51.694 --> 00:20:55.654
It's the one everybody's tired of hearing about yet we can't get away from.

00:20:55.654 --> 00:21:01.074
You know, Gen AI, you know, this time last year, we were going,

00:21:01.274 --> 00:21:04.354
all right, what are we going to do with it? We can't ignore it anymore.

00:21:04.694 --> 00:21:10.554
And then within 12 months, we've seen so many different innovations,

00:21:10.914 --> 00:21:15.694
so many great ideas come up and actually get tested out.

00:21:15.694 --> 00:21:18.974
Right before we joined this call, you know, we started talking today,

00:21:18.974 --> 00:21:21.674
you and I were talking about a way

00:21:21.674 --> 00:21:26.374
in which we accelerate a core migration activity for our clients, right?

00:21:26.874 --> 00:21:30.314
That was something that we, you know, our teams incubated, they thought about

00:21:30.314 --> 00:21:32.594
and said, you know what, wouldn't it be great if we could do this?

00:21:32.794 --> 00:21:35.614
It's going to simplify lives, it's going to accelerate the way,

00:21:35.854 --> 00:21:39.534
you know, where we do things, it's going to promote a better work-life balance

00:21:39.534 --> 00:21:40.674
for our people on the ground.

00:21:40.834 --> 00:21:42.954
And guess what? It actually worked.

00:21:44.594 --> 00:21:48.754
Yeah, it not only worked, it blew us away.

00:21:49.654 --> 00:21:54.574
It's funny because I look at that and I think to myself that in order to compete,

00:21:54.714 --> 00:21:57.994
you have to be more effective, you have to be cost competitive,

00:21:57.994 --> 00:22:00.314
but you also have to enable, right?

00:22:00.314 --> 00:22:04.354
So the beauty of the things that I think that I've seen in the marketplace as

00:22:04.354 --> 00:22:07.954
well, even with our own firm, leveraging technologies like that,

00:22:08.134 --> 00:22:12.334
specifically Gen AI in a way that accelerates something simple, like a migration.

00:22:12.634 --> 00:22:16.914
Migrations are not simple. If you're in the middle of a TSA exit or you're trying

00:22:16.914 --> 00:22:19.894
to modernize as quickly as possible, people have little patience for that.

00:22:20.377 --> 00:22:25.677
Because there's typically very little value in migrating from one solution to another.

00:22:25.877 --> 00:22:30.697
But if you're able to accelerate that down significantly and do it in a way

00:22:30.697 --> 00:22:35.037
that it's accurate, it's understandable, and isn't just a like-for-like migration,

00:22:35.037 --> 00:22:38.857
you're actually modernizing as you go, allows for more value.

00:22:38.857 --> 00:22:43.977
Because if you're doing the things that are minimal value at a much faster rate,

00:22:44.217 --> 00:22:48.197
you then have time to use that budget in other ways that actually bring additional

00:22:48.197 --> 00:22:51.737
value to the business. And I, we've seen that happen with our clients who have

00:22:51.737 --> 00:22:53.117
engaged with us in those ways.

00:22:53.317 --> 00:22:58.577
But the beauty of this is that we've also enabled our clients to leverage these technologies as well.

00:22:58.697 --> 00:23:01.777
So we're not just using it to finish a project. It's like, Hey.

00:23:02.397 --> 00:23:07.097
This is our process. And we're going to enable you as a team to leverage this

00:23:07.097 --> 00:23:09.817
in ways that enable the business as well.

00:23:09.917 --> 00:23:15.097
And I, I, I love that about where the market is going and what people are doing

00:23:15.097 --> 00:23:18.397
and how they're innovating with this. And I know we're not the only ones out there.

00:23:18.517 --> 00:23:22.137
I know there's other firms that are doing this as well, but it's really exciting

00:23:22.137 --> 00:23:25.317
to see that because now we're solving real business problems and focusing on

00:23:25.317 --> 00:23:29.277
real things instead of moving from one tech to another, which is to me,

00:23:29.857 --> 00:23:34.057
yeah, it costs a lot of money, but it also takes a lot of time and it burns people out.

00:23:34.457 --> 00:23:37.917
Clients like business people do not care for that, those kind of projects.

00:23:37.917 --> 00:23:41.177
Right because they're not seeing change they don't

00:23:41.177 --> 00:23:44.517
actually see the chain right the

00:23:44.517 --> 00:23:48.757
data that they had in front of them yesterday is exactly

00:23:48.757 --> 00:23:53.257
the same as the data they have today when we do the lift and shift you know

00:23:53.257 --> 00:23:59.057
the lift and shift work that you know we've we've seen so the only folks who

00:23:59.057 --> 00:24:03.277
are excited about those projects are the data engineers in that organization

00:24:03.277 --> 00:24:06.617
because now they are able to work on new technologies.

00:24:06.797 --> 00:24:11.397
But the reality is, if I give you an Oracle database, or I give you Databricks

00:24:11.397 --> 00:24:15.737
or a Snowflake database, as an end user, you do not care. Right. You do not care.

00:24:16.357 --> 00:24:18.397
So think about it, people.

00:24:22.157 --> 00:24:30.137
But what I also love about this is the fact that we are now enabling our teams

00:24:30.137 --> 00:24:34.617
to work with our clients to actually articulate, identify,

00:24:35.017 --> 00:24:39.257
and really hone in on the data that actually matters to them.

00:24:39.757 --> 00:24:43.297
What data are you truly using day to day?

00:24:43.497 --> 00:24:49.337
So let's really dial into that versus I think this is going to be important

00:24:49.337 --> 00:24:51.397
to us. So let me put that on the migration path.

00:24:51.617 --> 00:24:56.997
So that I think has been just a phenomenal uplift in the value that we're providing

00:24:56.997 --> 00:25:02.397
and where I'm seeing a lot How did the value come from these Gen AI capabilities?

00:25:03.138 --> 00:25:06.478
Yeah, I wasn't excited about it before, but now I am, honestly.

00:25:07.258 --> 00:25:10.938
I think that's why I was so excited about cloud data warehousing when Snowflake

00:25:10.938 --> 00:25:15.598
came out, because I could put myself in projects and things that I've done for

00:25:15.598 --> 00:25:18.618
not only my clients, but also the people I worked for back in the day.

00:25:18.838 --> 00:25:24.518
And I thought to myself, wow, I could imagine I could put myself in those positions

00:25:24.518 --> 00:25:28.998
that I was back then with this new tech and imagine what that had looked like,

00:25:29.098 --> 00:25:30.738
right? The change it would have enabled.

00:25:31.378 --> 00:25:35.598
And I feel the same way now with Gen.ai. We have a client that we've been working

00:25:35.598 --> 00:25:39.938
with for four years, I think maybe five now, five years now, actually.

00:25:40.638 --> 00:25:46.078
And I wish I had this utility five years ago because we would have been done

00:25:46.078 --> 00:25:50.198
within a year and a half instead of taking three years to do what we did.

00:25:50.378 --> 00:25:53.718
So I think about that all the time. I'm just like, oh, my gosh,

00:25:53.838 --> 00:25:58.458
it would have been so amazing to have had this back then. And so I do know the

00:25:58.458 --> 00:25:59.418
value that it's bringing in.

00:25:59.658 --> 00:26:04.598
Yeah, I'm finally excited about it. I really wasn't. I absolutely was not.

00:26:04.758 --> 00:26:06.578
I was so excited about it.

00:26:06.918 --> 00:26:13.358
I signed up to do a whole talk on it that I did a couple weeks ago at Lesbians Who Tech in New York.

00:26:13.438 --> 00:26:16.098
It was a fantastic environment. It might surprise some of you,

00:26:16.178 --> 00:26:20.898
but I've never been in a room with just lesbians before. And it was fantastic.

00:26:21.238 --> 00:26:24.698
It was just the vibe was different. People were super supportive of one another.

00:26:24.858 --> 00:26:28.258
Everybody was clapping at each other. It was so cute. It was so awesome.

00:26:28.538 --> 00:26:34.438
And I was just pumped. I had had two shots of espresso before I went up on stage.

00:26:35.178 --> 00:26:38.998
Ripped through it because I only had 15 minutes to actually give tangible feed,

00:26:39.138 --> 00:26:40.518
like tangible ideas to people.

00:26:40.598 --> 00:26:44.338
So I had a lot to, I had a lot to give because of all the good work our team has been doing.

00:26:44.618 --> 00:26:49.078
And it was, I was just afterwards, I'm like, wow, I'm really excited about this

00:26:49.078 --> 00:26:52.078
topic. I've never been excited about this topic before. So yeah.

00:26:52.777 --> 00:26:57.397
I'm looking forward to the future and we should probably, unfortunately,

00:26:57.577 --> 00:27:01.237
have some Gen AI conversations in the next season.

00:27:01.497 --> 00:27:06.817
Yeah, exactly. I don't think there's any way we can avoid it and still call

00:27:06.817 --> 00:27:08.157
ourselves data professionals.

00:27:08.517 --> 00:27:11.757
Yeah, no, it's impossible. It's impossible. Absolutely impossible.

00:27:11.857 --> 00:27:17.437
In terms of the show, I think we're going to make some changes going forward.

00:27:17.437 --> 00:27:23.057
So for our listeners, we love how engaged you are and how committed you are to our show.

00:27:23.417 --> 00:27:25.857
But we know there's a lot of podcasts out there.

00:27:26.697 --> 00:27:30.997
So what we're going to do is actually release an episode once a month.

00:27:31.157 --> 00:27:35.097
And the goal here is to make sure that we have really good guests,

00:27:35.697 --> 00:27:40.937
incredible content, and keep you guys engaged as much as possible in terms of

00:27:40.937 --> 00:27:42.377
the content that we're putting out there.

00:27:42.377 --> 00:27:45.417
And we also as i said before our

00:27:45.417 --> 00:27:48.077
jobs are quite stressful so we want to make

00:27:48.077 --> 00:27:50.797
sure that we give this you know the the focus it

00:27:50.797 --> 00:27:54.057
needs but also ensure that we give our our clients

00:27:54.057 --> 00:27:57.717
the focus they need as well so once a month is our new cadence probably going

00:27:57.717 --> 00:28:00.997
to make the episodes a little shorter we've usually been tracking to an hour

00:28:00.997 --> 00:28:05.417
i think about 30 minutes is probably more appropriate for today's audience so

00:28:05.417 --> 00:28:09.157
we'll probably be doing that as well and i am thinking and anjali I'm putting

00:28:09.157 --> 00:28:10.837
you on the spot because we didn't talk about this before.

00:28:11.337 --> 00:28:15.617
I'm thinking of starting to release things on YouTube because I've had multiple

00:28:15.617 --> 00:28:17.257
people ask me for this at this point.

00:28:17.737 --> 00:28:21.997
And we'll just have to let our audience, like our guests know that they'll be

00:28:21.997 --> 00:28:24.237
recorded and we'll be releasing it.

00:28:24.397 --> 00:28:29.457
Right. So you're telling me I need to get dressed and do my hair and makeup before we record.

00:28:29.717 --> 00:28:32.297
Is that what? Hey, you look great.

00:28:35.657 --> 00:28:39.877
Yes, that's what I mean. I guess I could do that.

00:28:41.197 --> 00:28:45.957
We'll schedule it appropriately. So, you know, just for our listeners,

00:28:46.297 --> 00:28:50.997
you know, we've been really excited about the topics that we've been bringing to you.

00:28:51.357 --> 00:28:55.797
But if there is something that you really want us to dive into,

00:28:56.417 --> 00:28:59.617
reach out to Sandy and I or one of us. Let us know.

00:29:00.017 --> 00:29:03.177
Yeah. Or just leave a comment. We have multiple ways to reach us.

00:29:03.317 --> 00:29:06.097
LinkedIn is probably the easiest. we have a

00:29:06.097 --> 00:29:09.137
linkedin page for the podcast so if you're listening to this

00:29:09.137 --> 00:29:12.137
and you're a linkedin user maybe go

00:29:12.137 --> 00:29:15.277
on there subscribe to the page subscribe to

00:29:15.277 --> 00:29:18.297
the podcast as well please because then you'll get notified you

00:29:18.297 --> 00:29:22.417
won't miss any the subscription numbers actually help us on the search somehow

00:29:22.417 --> 00:29:27.017
that's what i've been told there's an algorithm i i i do not comprehend it but

00:29:27.017 --> 00:29:31.897
that's what it is very excited and thank you again everybody for joining us

00:29:31.897 --> 00:29:35.697
for our initial season of this podcast,

00:29:35.697 --> 00:29:37.857
we're definitely going to be back for a second.

00:29:38.197 --> 00:29:40.957
So see you then. Can't wait. See you in January.

00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:46.378
Music.