Learning advanced Excel functionality directly through practical applications
"I was lucky enough to sit in on George Zhao’s Excel class this past year at Columbia. George’s thorough understanding of the subject allowed him to intelligently lecture on a topic that mystifies most, and also field the many questions with ease. His knowledge and patience makes him a superior lecturer." -Attendee from Fall 2012 sessions
In Microsoft Excel, numerous built-in functions greatly facilitate data analysis, while Visual Basic programming language expands the range of capabilities by writing customized functions. In learning Excel tools, often the biggest hurdle in utilizing them is a lack of awareness in Excel's capabilities.
There are no courses offered at Columbia University that directly teach students the intricate tools of Excel. As a result, the idea of the workshop was conceptualized to provide an opportunity to learn some important problem-solving skills. The philosophy of the workshops is learning directly through practical examples, from creating PivotTable to analyze transaction data to writing fewer than 10 lines of code to convert any data from matrix to vector format with one click.
The workshop was initially launched in the Fall 2012 semester at Columbia University in a series of presentations. Since then, it has expanded beyond the Columbia campus into New York City. Some of the materials from the inaugural series of workshops are available online below.
Over 6 hours of video recordings for the 8 total sessions
Post-recording recap points and remarks on each of the sessions
Presentation Slides, Blank Exercises, Completed Exercises that follow the sessions
3 additional sample assignment exercises and their solutions
Available for purchase, with free sample (first session) to the right
Workshop History
Oct - Dec 2012: series of 8 weekly workshops throughout the semester at Columbia University (resources above)
February 16, 2013: 4-hour workshop at Columbia University, hosted by Columbia China Law and Business Association, attended by 250+ students from colleges around New York region (pictured above)
April 22, 2013: 1-hour workshop at Columbia University, hosted by Alpha Kappa Psi
April 29, 2013: 2-hour sold-out workshop at Alley NYC, attended by 30 students and professionals
July 25, 2013: 1-hour webinar workshop, attended by 200+
September 8, 2013: 1-hour workshop at Columbia University, attended by 100+
November 10, 2013: 1-hour workshop at Columbia University
