The Analytics Power Hour
Michael Helbling, Moe Kiss, Tim Wilson, Val Kroll, and Julie Hoyer
Attend any conference for any topic and you will hear people saying after that the best and most informative discussions happened in the bar after the show.
Ready any business magazine and you will find an article saying something along the lines of "Business Analytics is the hottest job category out there, and there is a significant lack of people, process and best practice."
In this case the conference was eMetrics, the bar was….multiple, and the attendees were Michael Helbling, Tim Wilson and Jim Cain (Co-Host Emeritus). After a few pints and a few hours of discussion about the cutting edge of digital analytics, they realized they might have something to contribute back to the community.
This podcast is one of those contributions. Each episode is a closed topic and an open forum with some combination of Michael, Moe, Tim, Val, and Julie - the goal is for listeners to enjoy listening to them share their thoughts and experiences and, hopefully, take away something to try at work the next day.
Ready any business magazine and you will find an article saying something along the lines of "Business Analytics is the hottest job category out there, and there is a significant lack of people, process and best practice."
In this case the conference was eMetrics, the bar was….multiple, and the attendees were Michael Helbling, Tim Wilson and Jim Cain (Co-Host Emeritus). After a few pints and a few hours of discussion about the cutting edge of digital analytics, they realized they might have something to contribute back to the community.
This podcast is one of those contributions. Each episode is a closed topic and an open forum with some combination of Michael, Moe, Tim, Val, and Julie - the goal is for listeners to enjoy listening to them share their thoughts and experiences and, hopefully, take away something to try at work the next day.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 13, 2026 • 1h 1min
#308: AI Changes Everything! Analytical Fundamentals Still Apply!
Daniela Matinho, a marketing science strategist at LinkedIn with experience at Snap, Meta, and PepsiCo, explores AI’s changing role in analytics. They discuss analysts becoming storytellers, using AI as a critical-thinking partner, and why human accountability still matters. The conversation also tackles data quality, governance, junior-level career paths, agentic workflows, and measuring AI by business impact rather than speed.
25 snips
Sep 29, 2026 • 47min
#307: AI Does (and Does Not) Work for Data Storytelling
Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, founder of Storytelling with Data and author of five bestselling books, explores AI’s real role in data storytelling. They discuss when AI helps with brainstorming, critique, accessibility, and tedious production, and when it merely creates shinier slides. The conversation covers better prompting, human judgment, editing, quality control, and why pencil-and-paper thinking still matters.
44 snips
Sep 15, 2026 • 46min
#306: Decision Support Has Been the Point All Along
Zohar Strinka, founder of Analytic Strategies and creator of the Meta-Problem Method, brings a decision-analysis lens to analytics. They explore why data alone cannot guarantee answers, how to uncover the real business problem, and how modeling clarifies trade-offs and risk. The conversation covers marketing proxies, inventory decisions, experimentation, flexibility, and why effective decision support empowers people rather than handing them a score.
Sep 1, 2026 • 1h 4min
#305: Personal Interest + Analytics Chops = Career?
Stephen Follows has spent 15 years turning film-industry curiosity into a career — asking questions like how much movies really earn, why poster colors have shifted over decades, and whether old studio domains are still up for grabs. In this episode, he joined us to talk about building that unusual path, the cautionary tale of TheNumbers.com, and his theory about Sandra Bullock. Go start your passion project. This episode is brought to you, in part, by our sponsors, Prism from Ask-Y and Stape. For complete show notes, including links to items mentioned in this episode and a transcript of the show, visit the show page.
11 snips
Aug 18, 2026 • 1h 8min
#304: I Can Haz AI?
They compare real AI projects they actually built and what broke. They walk through tool choices, agent experiments, and a custom podcast librarian built with RAG and vector DBs. They debate deployment pains, permissions headaches, security risks, and the human work needed to keep AI tools honest.
24 snips
Aug 4, 2026 • 1h 4min
#303: Funnels Assume Progress. Barriers Recognize Reality.
Rusty Rahmer, founder and Starize AI leader and author of Working As Designed, draws on decades in analytics and marketing. He talks about why big tech stacks became siloed, how to flip capabilities toward real customer problems, and why small problem‑focused teams and micro‑journeys beat wall-sized maps. Expect sharp analogies and provocative questions that shake up organizational habits.
12 snips
Jul 21, 2026 • 1h 8min
#302: It Was a Dark and Stormy Insight...
Aleya Harris, strategic storytelling advisor, bestselling author and TEDx speaker who trains leaders in persuasive presentation frameworks. She explains why data alone rarely drives action. She shows how to turn numbers into a clear controlling idea and quick narratives. Practical tips cover stage presence, brief meeting storytelling, and practicing elevator summaries for real-world impact.
22 snips
Jul 7, 2026 • 1h 17min
#301: It Turns Out Analysts Are Natural AI Crafters
Rob Collie, former Microsoft Excel engineer and Power BI founding engineer, now CEO of P3 Adaptive and author of Fair Game. He argues analysts are natural 'crafters' who bridge business and tech. Conversation covers the two gaps crafters must cross to turn chats with LLMs into real tools. Practical tips on starting small, faucets‑first semantic models, and giving AI business context.
33 snips
Jun 23, 2026 • 58min
#300: Are Semantic Layers Really Necessary?
Jacob Matson, developer advocate at MotherDuck with an accounting and ERP background, explores why rigid semantic layers often fail. He contrasts highways vs jungles for data, argues for search- and context-first approaches, and discusses AI-assisted SQL, metric drift, and pragmatic, risk-based tooling choices.
10 snips
Jun 9, 2026 • 1h 1min
#299: AI Can (Help) Build the Dashboard. It Can't Build the Buy-In.
Yehonatan Schwarzmer, Director of Business Intelligence with a background in analytics leadership and organizational change, joins to talk people-first rollouts. He explains why technical builds are easy and why platform moves trigger grief and identity loss. Short practical tactics are discussed: recruit champions, prepare managers, and use pull, social proof, and push to drive adoption.
