Full video

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Player number eight, Michael Jarman.

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The first 5 minutes is just absolute

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bedlam as everyone's just trying to get

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something on the board to not be the

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first person out.

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Welcome to the Excel World Championship

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in Las Vegas.

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Yeah!

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Michael Jarman!

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And here's the current world champion,

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Michael Jarman, who turns formulas into

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a superpower.

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I just have zero coordination. I cannot

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kick a ball. I can barely hit one or

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throw one. And I'm the one who's now on

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ESPN doing, you know, these e-sports.

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[Applause]

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I am excited for our MWCC and MECC world

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finals.

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Competitive Excel's been a thing for

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about 12 years now. Um, but it generally

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started more in sort of financial

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modeling.

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They decided that that might not be the

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most interesting thing to watch people

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do. So, they now have this Microsoft

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Excel Championship, which is sort of

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slightly more gamey to try and sort of

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make them a little more sort of

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approachable for, you know, people just

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tuning in.

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Every champion has an origin story, and

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Michael's began with a conversation with

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a work colleague who introduced him to

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the world of Excel battles. The first

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time I tried doing any competitive Excel

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was 2017. I entered ModelOff, which was

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the old financial modeling competition.

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Thought, you know what, I'll enter. I

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definitely won't get anywhere. And then

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I came third, and I was like, what?

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How has that happened? Three, two, one,

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and go! Founded in 2020, the Financial

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Modeling World Cup was a driving force

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behind global spreadsheet competitions.

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There was no audience. There was no

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media attention. If you won, you won a

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bit of money, but there's nothing to

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write home about. It was nothing like

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what we have now.

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After a rebrand, the championship final

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is now held in Las Vegas and is even

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shown on ESPN.

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Are we ready for the team finals?

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Last year, like, the size of the crowd

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compared to 2023, we almost sort of were

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filling up the arena. Seeing the growth

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of it and just how many sort of people

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are getting excited and involved in it

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is great to see.

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Let's explain how this crazy contest

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actually works.

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Players face elimination in every match,

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and each round lasts 30 minutes with

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ascending levels that get harder and

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harder.

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Players race for points, grab risky

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bonus questions, and every 5 minutes the

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lowest score is eliminated until only

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the top competitor remains. Our next

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elimination. Nick! Nick!

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>> What a Nick!

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Amazing effort.

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Each level you're given, like, you know,

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a variety of different scenarios and

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essentially have to, you know, give the

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answer of what happens. Last year, it

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was World of Warcraft themed. Uh, there

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have been, like, detective thriller

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ones. We've had code-breaking ones.

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We've had Scrabble. It's so cool to see

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the ideas people come up with.

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Three, two, one!

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Excel!

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>> All right. Even though it's only half an

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hour, like, it is mentally very

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exhausting. The finals in Vegas, got to

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do two difficult cases back-to-back with

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all the lights, the glitz, the glamour,

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the cheering, whatever. I'm not going to

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sit here and claim I'm a marathon

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runner, but it certainly does have a

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mental fatigue on things. Michael Jarman

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has taken an early

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100 points already. Okay. I just have

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zero coordination. I cannot kick a ball.

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I can barely hit one or throw one. And

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I'm the one who's now on ESPN doing, you

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know, these e-sports.

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Yeah!

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Michael Jarman! Look at that! Look at

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that!

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In the 2024 final, Michael finally

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achieved his goal.

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When I won, there was a big sense of joy

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and also a lot of relief. I was trending

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on TikTok, which I never thought I'd do.

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I was front page of the New York Times.

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It's been very bizarre just how much

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people have sort of taken an interest in

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it.

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>> Congratulations, my friend.

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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But this quirky sport isn't just about

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winning formulas. It's bringing a

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community of spreadsheet enthusiasts

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together.

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It's just nice to meet up with people

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who, you know, share your passion for

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problem-solving and this weird niche-y

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sport that we've seemed to make out of

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it.

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I hope a lot of people who sort of, you

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see me and this around, you know, are

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inspired to, like, give it a go cuz if

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you're the sort of person who likes

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problem-solving and likes spreadsheets,

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you will find it a lot of fun.

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[Music]