Think of putting together a puzzle.

First you need multiple pieces, each with their own shape and contour.

Then you start experimenting with how they fit together. Some are bigger, some are smaller. Some have straight edges, some are right smack in the middle of things.

One by one, and after some trial and error, you nestle the pieces together, using visual “clues” like color and imagery to see and feel what works best.

Eventually it comes together, and the final picture emerges into full view.

That’s exactly how it’s felt this week here at Enolytics, as we’ve been preparing for two conferences next week: the British Columbia Wine Industry Insight Conference on Tuesday in Penticton, and the International Institute for Analytics Conference on Wednesday in Portland, Oregon.

We thought of the presentation as a puzzle, one that would be of interest to the different audiences: “wine people” in BC, and “data people” in Portland.

We needed multiple pieces of the puzzle, so we reached out to our ecosystem of data partners and asked for their own, uniquely shaped and contoured “data pieces” that are relevant to BC and Oregon wine.

Some of those pieces are bigger, some are smaller. Some form the boundaries of the puzzle, and some are right smack in the middle of things.

This was the Magic, Step One: the willingness of data partners to pull specific, relevant data and add it to our puzzle. Getting to know the contours of these different data sets, and the different personalities of their owners, has been fascinating.

One by one, and by using “clues” like shared points of commonality, we’ve been working to nestle the pieces together.

That was the Magic, Step Two: the seams where different data pieces meet, and seeing the bigger picture evolve when multiple sets of data merge, side by side.

I can’t wait to present this process, and these steps, and the end results. In the meantime, I am deeply grateful to our partners who support the vision, who continue doing what they do, who keep shaping their own pieces of the puzzle.

It adds up to something special.

Will you be attending either of those conferences next week? Or Prowein in Düsseldorf, next weekend? Please let me know. I’d be psyched to connect IRL.

Thank you, as always, for reading –

Cathy