BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Growth Dimensions Events BEGIN:VEVENT UID:8ba2bf616183fd21df3f92db37ee742c@www.growthdimensions.org DTSTAMP:20261029T174631Z DTSTART:20261112T133000Z DTEND:20261112T180000Z SUMMARY:815 Elevate Data Analytics Bootcamp DESCRIPTION:815 Elevate: The Leadership SeriesEmpowering Leaders. Elevating Potential. \; \;From Hunch to Evidence: A Data Analytics Bootcamp for Rockford’s Leaders \;On Thursday\, November 12\, 2026\, 815 Elevate participants will take a single question from first draft to finished dashboard and then put artificial intelligence to the test on the same data.One Morning\, One Question\, One Complete Cycle \;The Data Analytics Bootcamp is the newest offering in 815 Elevate\, Rockford University’s leadership series for emerging and experienced leaders across the region. It builds on the full-day bootcamp the University hosted in February 2025 and reshapes it around a single idea: data is not a report you produce once a year\; it is a feedback loop that lets an organization sense what is happening and adjust.That loop has five stages: ask a question\, gather the data\, analyze it\, display it\, and act on it. The bootcamp moves through each stage in order\, and participants work with one realistic case from start to finish. By noon\, every participant will have drafted a survey\, cleaned and analyzed a dataset in Excel\, built a one-page dashboard\, and tested an AI assistant against their own results.This is a hands-on workshop rather than a lecture series. Participants bring a laptop\, and each receives a practice workbook to use during the session and to keep afterward as a reference. \; \; \;What Participants Will DoWhy a Data Approach. The morning opens with a decision audit: each participant names one decision from the past quarter and the evidence behind it. From there\, we examine what it means to be data-informed rather than data-driven\, and why a measure that becomes a target can stop telling the truth (an idea economists call Goodhart’s Law).Locating and Gathering Data\, Including Survey Design. Much of the data leaders need already exists\; the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey\, the Bureau of Labor Statistics\, and Illinois open data portals are free and underused. When existing data falls short\, a well-built survey fills the gap. Participants will rewrite flawed questions\, learn practical ways to raise response rates\, and draft a five-question survey for the case.Data Analysis with Excel. Excel remains the most widely available analysis tool in most workplaces\, and a handful of skills unlock most of its power. Participants will clean a messy dataset\, use XLOOKUP to connect information across tables\, and summarize results with PivotTables.Dashboards. A dashboard is only as useful as the measures it tracks. Participants will select three to five key performance indicators tied to a goal and build a one-page Excel dashboard with charts and filters that a busy team can read at a glance.AI-Assisted Data Analytics and Visualization. Generative AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot\, ChatGPT\, and Claude can write formulas\, summarize data\, and draft charts in seconds. They can also be confidently wrong. Participants will repeat their own analysis with an AI assistant\, compare the results\, and practice the prompting\, verification\, and data privacy habits that make these tools trustworthy at work. The lesson is a simple one: you can only check an AI’s answer if you know what a correct answer looks like.The Schedule \;The bootcamp takes place on Thursday\, November 12\, 2026\, from 8:00 am to noon at the PURI School of Business\, 5100 E State Street\, Rockford\, IL 61108. A light breakfast is available as soon as doors open.TimeSession7:30 amDoors open\; light breakfast available7:45 to 8:00 amCheck-in8:00 to 8:25 amWhy a Data Approach8:25 to 9:15 amLocating and Gathering Data\, Including Survey Design9:15 to 9:30 amBreak9:30 to 10:25 amData Analysis with Excel10:25 to 11:05 amDashboards11:05 to 11:50 amAI-Assisted Data Analytics and Visualization11:50 am to noonClosing: Your One-Page Action PlanNoon to 12:45 pmOptional Office HoursThe optional office hours give participants time with facilitators to work through their own questions: a stubborn spreadsheet\, a survey they are about to send\, or a dashboard they want to build for their team. Participants leave with a practice workbook that includes the case dataset\, step-by-step exercises\, and completed examples to revisit long after the session ends.Who Should Attend \;The bootcamp is designed for professionals who make or support decisions and want a practical method for grounding them in evidence: managers and team leads\, nonprofit directors and program staff\, small business owners\, HR and operations professionals\, and anyone who has been handed a spreadsheet and asked to “find the story.” No prior analytics experience is required\; basic familiarity with Excel is helpful.Participants should bring a laptop with Microsoft Excel 2021 or Microsoft 365 installed\, since several exercises use features unavailable in older versions. For the AI segment\, free versions of ChatGPT\, Claude\, or Microsoft Copilot are sufficient. All exercises use a fictional dataset\, so no one needs to upload their organization’s own data.Investment and Registration \;Registration includes a light breakfast\, coffee\, the practice workbook\, and the optional office hours. Participants may also add a Credly digital credential\, a verified badge that can be shared on LinkedIn\, in an email signature\, or on a résumé as evidence of the skills completed.RegistrationBootcampWith Credly digital credentialStandard$145$195Nonprofit staff\, Rockford University alumni\, or groups of 3 or more$129 per participant \;$179 per participantThe organizations that thrive in the years ahead will not be the ones with the most data\; they will be the ones that know which questions to ask of it. Join us for one focused morning and leave with the skills\, the tools\, and a plan to put evidence at the center of your next decision.Questions about group or nonprofit registration may be directed to cpel@rockford.edu. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR