Why choose this course?

Question-Driven Reporting with Data Studio and AI

A report is an answer to a question. Most reports don't work because they show data instead of answering questions, and the moment someone asks something the dashboard didn't anticipate, the whole thing falls down.
This hands-on course teaches a question-first approach to marketing reporting. You'll learn how to figure out what your stakeholders are actually asking, design reports that answer those questions cleanly in Data Studio, and then extend the same approach to a custom data connection your leadership can query directly with AI, for the questions you can't predict in advance.
While it’s tempting to use the GA4 MCP and call it a day, any LLM will confidently misinterpret seasonal patterns, miss your tracking quirks, and answer a question incorrectly and with conviction. You'll learn what to expose, what to lock down, and how to build the business context layer that keeps the model from giving confidently wrong answers.
By the end of the day, you'll have built a question-driven report in Data Studio, blended and customized data to answer harder questions, and scoped a custom data connection, with its context layer, that you can build using your own data.

Who should attend this course?

This course is for analysts, SEOs, PPC strategists, and in-house marketers who build reports and aren't happy with how they're doing it. No coding experience required.
You must bring a laptop and have:

• A GA4 property you own (the demo property won't work)
• A Search Console property and/or a Google Ads account
• A Data Studio account
• One reporting problem you actually want to solve

Course content

Part 1: Question-driven reporting

1. The three rules of effective reporting
2. The Jeopardy method: rewriting chart titles as questions
3. How to dial back the level of detail
4. Picking the right chart for the question
5. Microcopy, viewer language, and testing reports against real questions

Part 2: Data Studio fundamentals

1. Data sources: creating, naming, refreshing
2. Reports and pages: layout layers, properties, the data pane
3. Essential charts for marketing and when to use each
4. Controls: date ranges, filters, dimension and data controls
5. Navigation, hidden elements, and pre-set filter links

Part 3: Data blending deep-dive

1. Why blend, and the rules that catch people out
2. The "averaging the averages" problem, and how to spot it
3. Blend types and the most useful blends for marketing
4. Blending a data source with itself example

Part 4: Custom fields and parameters

1. Calculated fields: CASE functions, REGEXP functions, null handling
2. Parameters for goals, thresholds, and stakeholder-adjustable values
3. Documenting your calculations so future-you doesn't suffer

Part 5: Custom data connections for leadership

1. Pre-vetting: what data leadership should actually be able to query
2. The context layer: what the AI needs to know to interpret your data correctly
3. Choosing the best implementation option for your needs
4. Guardrails: what to never let leadership ask
5. The handoff conversation: introducing this without overselling

What's included in your ticket?

Book onto this training course and you will get:

• A full day's training on your chosen topic on Monday, September 14
• Breakfast & lunch included on your training day
• Full access to brightonSEO and Hero Conf conferences and all the talks on Tuesday 15 & Wednesday 16 September, 2026
• Bag of merch
• Drinks reception invitation

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Please note: Course content is subject to change.

We may cancel courses which don't have enough enrolments, and if so we’ll let you know and give you the opportunity to swap to an alternative course or have a refund.