Pivot Like a Pro: Turn Data into Powerful Insights in Excel
Kirk Paul Lafler
Saturday, April 25, 2026
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm PT
90-Minute Virtual Workshop
$10.95
Workshop Tags
Excel, Pivot Tables, Data Analysis, Business Intelligence, Spreadsheet Skills, Reporting, Data-Driven Decision Making
Workshop Description
Still spending hours, or longer, sorting, filtering, and manually calculating in Excel?
In Pivot Like a Pro: Turn Data into Powerful Insights in Excel, you’ll learn one of Excel’s most powerful features – Pivot Tables – and how to use them to instantly transform raw data into meaningful insights.
This highly practical, beginner-friendly workshop walks you step-by-step through summarizing complex data to uncover trends – without complex formulas or advanced Excel skills.
Using real-world data, participants will learn how to build pivot tables, analyze real data scenarios, and gain skills that can apply immediately to in your jobs.
By the end of this session, you won’t just understand Pivot Tables – you’ll confidently use them to make faster, smarter, data-driven decisions.
Detailed Course Topics
1. Understanding Your Data (10 minutes)
What each column represents in real-world reporting
Identifying fields for analysis (costs, departments, outcomes, volumes)
Preparing data for Pivot Tables (best practices)
2. What Pivot Tables Are & Why Professionals Use Them (10 minutes)
How pivot tables summarize thousands of rows instantly
Understanding Rows, Columns, Values, and Filters
Common business questions pivots answer
3. Building Your First Pivot Table (15 minutes)
Inserting a pivot table correctly
Creating simple summaries
Modifying calculations (count, sum, average)
4. Analyzing Costs & Performance (15 minutes)
Total and average treatment costs
Comparing departments and admission types
Identifying high-cost areas
5. Measuring Care Outcomes & Experience (15 minutes)
Length of stay by diagnosis
Readmissions analysis
Satisfaction score summaries
6. Creating Interactive Reports (10 minutes)
Using filters & slicers
Exploring data live
Building mini dashboards
7. Best Practices & Common Mistakes (5 minutes)
Refreshing data
Avoiding broken pivots
Keeping reports accurate
8. Wrap-Up + Real-World Applications (10 minutes)
How organizations use pivot tables daily
Applying skills to your own data
Q&A
Workshop Summary
This hands-on workshop teaches participants how to use Excel Pivot Tables to quickly transform raw data into clear, actionable insights. Through guided and applicable examples, attendees will learn to summarize, compare, and explore data without relying on complex formulas or advanced Excel skills. By the end of the session, participants will be able to confidently analyze datasets, answer common business questions, and build interactive reports they can use immediately in their work.
Benefits of Enrolling in this Workshop
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Create pivot tables from raw data
Summarize hundreds of records in seconds
Analyze costs, volume, and outcomes
Compare departments and admission types
Build interactive Excel reports
Use Excel as a true analytics tool
Intended Audience
This workshop is open to all Excel users, including beginner and intermediate users.
Prerequisites
This workshop is open to all Excel users, including beginner and intermediate users.
Basic familiarity with Microsoft Excel (opening files, navigating worksheets, selecting cells)
No prior experience with Pivot Tables or advanced Excel features required
About the Trainer(s)
Kirk Paul Lafler is a globally recognized data scientist, consultant, educator, programmer, author, and speaker with more than 40 years of experience delivering practical, real-world analytics training. His expertise spans SAS, SQL, Python, R, Excel, databases, big data, AI, machine learning, and cloud technologies. Known for transforming complexity into clarity, Kirk helps learners build confidence and proficiency through hands-on, applied instruction.
As the creator, developer, and educator of numerous courses, workshops, and publications, Kirk empowers professionals, students, and organizations to think critically, solve complex problems, and make data-informed decisions. Whether delivering keynote presentations, training corporate teams, or authoring technical content, he connects people with knowledge that drives meaningful impact. Kirk also serves as Adjunct Faculty for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at San Diego State University (SDSU) and is the co-developer and educator of the SAS Programming certificate at the University of California San Diego Extension.
Kirk is the author of several books, including PROC SQL: Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Third Edition (SAS Press, 2019), and has written hundreds of papers and articles. He is a frequent invited speaker, educator, and keynote presenter at conferences, symposiums, and professional meetings worldwide, and the recipient of 29 “Best” contributed paper, hands-on workshop (HOW), and poster awards.