December 11, 2021. 400,000 Internet users are concentrated on YouTube. A live video from a Youtuber with millions of subscribers? A sports meeting between streamers? Nothing of that. The spectators present that day are focused on the new edition of the Excel World Championship. The existence of the competition is something to smile about, but the hearing shows how the discipline is not confidential, even if it is not directly related to Microsoft.
A success that surprised even the participants. Loïc Coquer, a 27-year-old Frenchman, participated prominently in the event. And this financial auditor says he is “the first to be surprised” by the enthusiasm and audience this unusual contest generates.
Although initially the preserve of accountants and other finance professionals, Excel has managed to become “cool.” More accessible, almost gamified. All thanks to the creation of these World Championships, but also to the content posted on Instagram or TikTok, which sometimes accumulates tens of millions of views.
Accounts with more than 2 million subscribers
Finding videos about Excel on social networks is no longer surprising. What it is, however, is the number of dedicated accounts on the platforms that have multiplied, and especially the views obtained by each one.
Whether with content in English, French or Russian, some of them even reach heights, like @excel.friend who has 2.7 million subscribers on TikTok or @exceldictionary who can also boast of popularizing Excel with 2, 2 million users.
France is not left out either, with several accounts dedicated to learning little-known tricks of Microsoft software. Thomas Coget remarkably launched into this universe two years ago and quickly made it his profession. Known as Thomas l’Exceleur on social networks, this former accountant who has been passionate about Excel since its discovery at school (“I was in 4th grade, a Thursday afternoon in computer class”) today has 181,000 followers on Instagram and 267,000 on Tik Tok. He even embarked on creating an online training program. A surprising success according to him, but one that is still explainable anyway.
Jean-Baptiste Caverne, who runs @tutosurexcel on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn, also wanted to share his insights with French users after discovering videos from American accounts. He hasn’t quit his job in logistics, but he regularly posts videos on his three networks that show “useful stuff in a shocking way.” A way to make it interesting for everyone “software that can quickly become boring if it’s poorly explained,” says the creator.
passion after fear
The success of these how-to videos is further explained by the fact that software has always been a huge area of misunderstanding for most users. “The big problem with Excel is all the freedom behind it. We arrive and there is a blank page. The risk of error is enormous given all the possibilities. It is as if we had a huge Lego construction of 8,000 pieces and without instructions. no I would know where to start”, sums up Thomas l’Exceleur.
The other explanation for this misunderstanding of Excel also lies in the lack of employee training, according to Jean-Baptiste Caverne: “It is the most widely used software in companies, and yet there are many employees who are not trained. Investing 200 euros per employee quickly pays for itself in relation to the time saved.”
And it’s true that Excel enthusiasts are often, if not exclusively, people who work very closely with the world of accounting or finance. The participants in the World Championships are thus enthusiasts of graphics, data and other formulas. The qualities required for this competence are sometimes above all a matter of logic.
Numbers and letters 2.0
Excel proficiency tests are nothing like a quiz on all the formulas in the software. The exercise is quite different: logical tests that require the use of various formulas, all consistently and, of course, fast. Players first compete in ranked stages with multiple cases completing within an hour, before the 1v1 knockout stage.
Loic Coquer notably had to deal with shifumi-style logic games. “We had a series of shifumi results and we had to calculate the participants’ scores based on specific formulas,” he recalls.
An almost playful set of rules that could appeal to content creators on social media. Jean-Baptiste Caverne does not plan to participate in these events “too specific with precise formulas to know and that would require a lot of training.”
But for his part, Thomas Coget would like to be involved, “for [se] take the challenge and know this stress.” Maybe in 2023? For now, the creator prefers to continue tackling his various videos, like one showing how to light your Christmas wreath with Excel.
Because Excel has its own language, VBA, which allows you to code and do (almost) anything using spreadsheet software. A language that must be mastered, but that with a little (a lot) mastery can allow you to achieve wonders, like the Japanese Tatsuo Horiuchi who creates tables in Excel cells. Who said that Excel was the software of suffering?
Source: BFM TV
