There are some moments, some experiences, that you can't fully appreciate until they are over.
You end up spending time with certain groups of people with whom it is all just so very easy.
You attend some events that you get the sense you were just destined to witness and be a part of.
Never have words felt more true to me as I write this back at home in England, embracing some pretty horrific jet lag, after my week in Las Vegas attending, speaking at, and eventually stepping in to co-commentate on the Excel World Championship Finals 2024.
What is the Excel World Championship?
Let's deal with that elephant in the room for the uninitiated immediately!
Yes, this is a thing.
It's an eSport that's been gaining prominence and interest for a few years now. Throughout the calendar year Excel enthusiasts can sign up to compete in a series of online battles.
These battles involve solving a series of increasingly difficult logical problems to earn points. If you earned enough points in any given round throughout the year, you may secure yourself a spot at the finals in Vegas where a series of final battle rounds whittle the remaining competitors to 24, 12, and eventually just one.
Even if you don't secure your spot before Vegas, there is an in-person last chance qualifying round in the run up to the live finals that offers one "last chance" to get you back into the competition.
The competition at that final stage is fierce. Getting anywhere near that final group is a sign that you're pretty damn good at Excel and problem solving (at insane speed - battles typically only last for 30 minutes and the challenges you have to solve are complex).
Here's a quick recap video of the 2023 finals event, for those of you still struggling to visualise this:
The Titans
Every sport has its superstars, and competitive Excel-world is no different.
This may be slightly subjective, and there are certainly a handful of others who aren't far behind in terms of their level of Excel-community fame, but for me there are three "titans" of the sport right now:
Andrew Ngai - the winner of this competition for the last three years running (until this year).
Diarmuid Early ("the LeBron James of Excel) - winner of the previous competition, ModelOff, and a finalist every year in this new format.
Michael Jarman - the new champion of the world! He's been close every year, but finally has that winner's belt.
The challenge for everyone else competing is that these guys really are complete packages. They are outrageously academically intelligent (advanced mathematics skills come in handy in this sport!), they're VERY experienced when it comes to competitive Excel-ing, and they never stop improving at a rate that's probably faster than everyone else.
Can they be beaten? Sure, anyone can be beaten in live battle formats like these on a given day. The difference is that these guys have to have a really bad day, and the person beating them has to have a really good day. Typically, if any one of these titans has an average / better than average day, everyone else is in trouble.
I will just give Benjamin Weber a shoutout here. Benjamin won the Collegiate version of this competition this year, and made the final 12 of the pro event too. He's still studying at university, and already has more advanced Excel and programming skills than the majority of the adult modelling community.
This guy is a future titan killer... and I suspect they know it!
The Finals
If you have any sort of inner-nerd within you, the finals event at the HyperX eSports arena in Vegas is like Disneyland on speed. It's unique, bonkers, exhilarating... all those things and more.
It's also just surreal. If you actually stop and think about what's going on (an eSports arena full of people cheering on other people who are tapping away at Excel), you'd probably pinch yourself.
But I think the truth is out there and we should embrace it; the vast majority of people have an inner nerd waiting to let loose. And this is about the safest place on earth for us nerds to do exactly that.
We first cheered on University teams and individual students battling it out in their own versions of this competition, before the pro finals took place.
64 competitors became 24 on the final day. 24 became 12. And then the final 12 took the stage.
A few people have commented on this online already, but there was genuinely something about the way Michael walked on stage with his bespoke Excel jacket that made some of us think "he's going to win this."
I was commentating (more on this later), which meant I had the perfect view as Michael stared at the clock for the final few seconds of that final round, knowing he wasn't going to add any more points to the board himself, and clearly just praying to the Excel gods that the other finalists didn't find something to overtake him in those final moments.
No additional points were added, and Michael took the win!
This victory was fully deserved (as it would have been for anyone else on that stage), and brilliantly celebrated by all of the finalists - a great example for all to see of how close and supportive this competitive Excel community really is.
Everyone is happy for Michael, and everyone will be gunning to take that belt away from him next year.
This is some of the most positive, healthy competition between professionals you'll ever see.
My Vegas Experience
I had intense FOMO after reading online about the 2023 event last year.
I was determined to be there this time, and so I was immensely pleased to receive an invite from the FMWC team (the organisers) to speak at the Active Cell event. This essentially confirmed the trip in my head, and my prep work began.
The Active Cell is a multi-day training event in the run up to the finals battles, in Vegas, where a group of very experienced speakers share their knowledge on stage.
I spoke about a topic I am incredibly passionate about; the ever-increasing size of the training journey for "normal" finance people, and how daunting that can be in a world of Modern Excel and data applications.
And I dragged Danielle Stein Fairhurst on stage to wear one of my, now slightly infamous, fur coats at the end.
I told some jokes along the way. People laughed (the thought of nobody laughing kept me up at night more than anything else!).
Job done.... until...
The Commentary Gig Of A Lifetime
On day two of my Vegas trip, I was happily sat at a slot machine, wasting my hard-earned money.
I was relaxed.
I knew I'd win big soon...
And then I received a text from Andrew Grigolyunovich, the founder of the Excel competition. One of the two key commentators for the live finals events, Jon Acampora - a well-known Microsoft MVP and experienced commentator in Vegas at previous finals events - was sick and unable to make the event to commentate.
Andrew asked if I'd like to step up and co-commentate alongside Oz Du Soleil, another legendary Microsoft MVP.
The answer was an immediate "hell yeah".
The details of what that actually meant for me over the course of the upcoming few days would figure themselves out (in my head anyway).
All of a sudden I had 9.... 9 full battle cases to try to get up to speed within in around 48 hours. It can often take me 2 or 3 days to get up to speed with just one battle case if I'm commentating on virtual battles during the calendar year! I now had 9, and the difficulty of some of these cases was pretty high.
To cut a long story short, I did the best I could in the time I had available. By day 2 of the live event commentary, Oz and I definitely got into a bit of a rhythm and had a lot of fun.
I'm pretty critical of myself in everything I do, so I already have a list of things I wish I'd done / said / prepared better! If I ever get the chance to commentate again, that list will resurface I'm sure.
The Road to Vegas 2025
In one sense though, I actually hope I won't be available to commentate in the Vegas 2025 finals. That's because I'm committing to compete in all rounds throughout calendar year 2025, to see if I can get myself in those Vegas finals on merit in December.
Can I defeat a titan? Not a chance in hell. I'd have to have the best day of my life, and have them compete in boxing gloves.
Could I get into the last 64 or beyond? Maybe.
A year is a long time, and if I really put my mind to something I know what I'm capable of.
So we'll see. But rest assured, if I make that stage... I'm getting a custom jacket with "The Humble MVP" on the back, and I'm taking my damn time milking that "ring walk"!
I strongly recommend any of you sitting on the fence join me in this 2025 quest. Just think, you could earn yourself the kudos of beating the humblest MVP in the world!
Thank You
I want to close off by saying a bunch of thank yous.
Thank you to Paul Barnhurst and Oz Du Soleil - our road trip to Vegas was brilliant fun and it'll no doubt be an awesome episode of Excel on the Road once I have it ready.
Thank you to Andrew Grigolyunovich and the FMWC team - for making this event what it is. It takes a hell of a lot of imagination and determination to get an Excel eSport on ESPN and hosted in Vegas! I don't know whether anyone else could have done it, or even come close.
And thank you to everyone I met out in Vegas. MVPs, competitors, students, Active Cell attendees... it was a vibe, that's for sure! Make sure you all come back next year, as I have a feeling this is only going to get bigger and better.
Signing out for now.... humbly.
Giles
