Prepare to Excel

05/09/2026

Sentimental post warning. I love you.

I’m not sure if I’m going a bit batty, but we’ve reached a stage in our family where we say this. Quite a lot. We’ve never shied away from these words.

In person. Before bed. On the phone. It’s our parting comment.

“Right, I’ll let you go. Love ya.”

And I can remember one particularly random example that makes me smile.

I was driving past a service station and spotted my dad filling up his car.

As I was passing we clocked each other. Eyes locked, we shouted “LOVE YOU!” With a beaming smile and a little wave!

And carried on our separate ways.

No awkwardness. No embarrassment. No thought or care of who might have heard us.

Just… love you.

And I think I’ve realised recently how much that little habit means.

Because life is fragile.

You genuinely don’t know how much time you’ve got left with the people you love, or how many more times you’ll get to say those words.

This feels particularly poignant following the sudden passing of my brother-in-law last week.

The words haven’t changed.

But they’ve got more weight now.

More sincerity.

Perhaps we should all say the things that matter a little more often.

Even if someone in the next car is wondering what on earth we’re shouting about.

Love you.

03/09/2026

I’m going to prison. I feel like Harry Potter! They’re finally locking me up for crimes relating to my spreadsheet antics and wizardry!

I’m heading to Northallerton Prison - which has now been transformed into the most amazing office space - and apparently they’ve decided the best place for me is… a cell.

And yes, I’m already thinking about the Excel references. I mean, if you’re going to put me in a cell, you may as well make it an Excel cell. 😉

I’ll be there as part of their Ask an Expert panel - a brilliant panel of people dedicated to helping businesses and individuals flourish.

I’ll be bringing my usual mix of Excel know-how, practical advice and hopefully a few “aha!” moments along the way.

So if you’re coming along, come and find me in my cell. I promise I’ll only lock you in with an Excel spreadsheet. 😆

Grab your free ticket here…

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/treadmills-business-centre-relaunch-week-ask-the-experts-tickets-1995903161083

02/09/2026

Yesterday was a great morning!

I had the pleasure of delivering “Transforming Data Into Decisions” at Springboard Business Centre’s Breakfast Briefing.

In just 45 minutes, we explored how a simple dataset can uncover growth, customer dependency, regional trends and product performance - and then turned those insights into an interactive dashboard.

We also explored how AI can help us ask better questions of our data, rather than simply giving us answers.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along, got involved and asked such great questions - and to Springboard Business Centre and North Yorkshire Council for making it happen.

Also a shout out to Sarah Lea from Si Recruitment for her support and being the best cheer leader a data geek could ask for.

Data doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to tell you something useful.

31/08/2026

Looking forward to this tomorrow :-)

☕📊 Turn your data into decisions

Join us at the next Springboard Breakfast Briefing on 1 September, 9am to 10.30am, for an insightful session with Alison Barratt from Prepare to Excel.

Discover how simple Excel techniques can help you:

✅ Turn data into meaningful reports
✅ Identify trends, patterns and business insights
✅ Use Pivot Tables to simplify analysis
✅ Build simple dashboards that tell a story
✅ Support better decision-making with data

You'll leave with practical ideas you can apply immediately to your own reporting and business data.

🎟️ Free to attend, including refreshments and pastries

⚠️ Pre-booking is essential via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transforming-data-into-decisions-tickets-1991353110760?aff=oddtdtcreator

29/08/2026

A photograph may be worth a thousand words.

But sometimes, you need someone to help you understand the words.

This morning, my son’s tutor invited me to sit in on his GCSE English Literature lesson. I’m his biggest cheerleader, so I jumped at the chance.

He’s studying War Photographer by Carol Ann Duffy.

My son’s autism affects the way he interprets poetry. He can struggle to connect with the emotions an author is trying to evoke, particularly when they aren’t immediately obvious.

But that’s what I love about discussing poetry.

There’s no ‘right’ emotional response.

Sometimes, you just need someone to ask:

Why that word?
Why that phrase?
What does that image make you feel?

And suddenly you see something you hadn’t seen before.

It also got me thinking about photographs.

We are so desensitised to images now.

War. Disaster. Suffering. AI-generated images. Edited images. Fake images. Propaganda.

We don’t automatically believe everything we see.

And that must make the job of a war photographer incredibly difficult.

How do you capture something so horrific that someone thousands of miles away, sitting safely at home, actually stops and feels it?

The Na**lm Girl photograph taken in 1972 did exactly that.

Perhaps in a world where technology can create almost any image, the skill we need most is learning how to look.

27/08/2026

Just a girl, standing in front of a laptop, having the time of her life.

When I teach I have fun. I genuinely love what I do. Whatever disease this Excel thing is that I’ve got - it’s contagious. My learners have fun with Excel too!

Which is not something I take for granted. Excel can be draining!

A one-day training course is a sprint. There’s a LOT to take in, and by the end of the day your brain can quite reasonably be saying:
“Please. No more formulas.”

So I deliberately build fun into my sessions.

We talk.

We debate.

We share ideas.

We work through real-life situations.

I ask questions. My learners ask questions. Sometimes we go completely off-piste because someone has just thought of something they could use when they get back to their desk.

Because training isn’t just about showing you which button to press.

It’s about understanding why you’d use it, when you’d use it, and how it could make your actual working life easier.

The technology is only half the story.

The other half is the conversation around it.

And honestly? That’s the bit I love.

If people leave a day of Excel training feeling like they’ve learned something useful and had a genuinely good day, I reckon we’ve done something right.

19/08/2026

Did we make enough memories? This is a question I always ask myself.

We are finally home and back to reality after our little road trip to Wiltshire. On route we’ve stopped off to see friends or visit places including Lincoln, Skegness, Coventry, Bath, Warminster and Nottingham.

We were gridlocked in a 2 hour traffic jam but we laughed through it made light of it. Two of us fell off our bike and have the bruises to prove it but we got back on and learnt about our limitations.

We have played countless games of power hungry pets, chase the ace, five crowns, hearts, J2s&8s and uno. We have eaten way too much, spent too much and laughed just as much.

As my twins accelerate towards adulthood I find myself asking myself questions. Did they enjoy their childhood? Did we teach them the right lessons? Did we do right by them? I’m thoroughly in awe of these resilient, thoughtful, kind young men.

Wherever their life takes them family will always be my favourite place to be.

07/08/2026

There are at least three perfectly good ways to calculate a percentage.

Some people divide the figure by 100, then multiply by the percentage they need.

Some convert the percentage to a decimal first (20% becomes 0.2) and multiply by that.

And then there are the Excel geeks (myself included!) who simply write:

=A2*20%

Excel does the rest.

Here’s the thing…

I don’t tell people they have to use MY method.

I explain the options, why they work, and let them choose the one that makes the most sense to them.

Because good training isn’t about replacing one method with another just because it’s newer.

It’s about helping people understand.

Once they understand, they’ll remember the method that fits how they think.

There isn’t always a single ‘right’ way.

There are often several correct ways.

As trainers, our job isn’t to force everyone to drink from the same cup.

It’s to help them find the one they’ll actually use.

That’s when learning sticks.

31/07/2026

One more milestone ticked off! I’m pleased to have achieved the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) certification.

Although it’s a fundamentals certification, it covers a broad range of topics including relational and non-relational data, Azure SQL services, Azure Cosmos DB, analytics, data warehousing, and modern data solutions in Azure.

It has given me an even stronger foundation to build on. A big thank you to everyone who has encouraged me along the way. Continuous learning has always been important to me, and it’s something I encourage in every training session I deliver.

Next stop… PL-300: Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst. 📊

30/07/2026

I’m just going to leave this here. Shamelessly stolen from a very recent trailer for Ted Lasso.

I cannot wait to be blown away, humbled and most definitely reaching for the tissues!

One of the things I love most about Ted Lasso is that the biggest lessons have very little to do with football. They’re about kindness, resilience, perspective and believing in yourself.

Here’s to spending a little less time looking back and a lot more time looking ahead.