2024 College Football Bowl Pick'em and Playoff Bracket

It's the most wonderful time of the year - college football bowl season! The college football conference championships were played this past weekend which means the 2024 NCAA college football bowl season is here again. It’s time to make your picks and predictions about who you think will win each bowl game. One of the best times of the holiday season is being able to talk trash to your relatives about their terrible bowl picks.

This year has the added bonus of the new, expanded college football playoff - growing from four to twelve teams. As such, I've included a college football playoff bracket within this Excel file. There is the option to play just the bowls, just the playoff bracket, or both! If you've used my Super Bowl Squares template, you'll be familiar with how it works - there is a setup screen where you pick your options then click a button and the spreadsheet adjusts to how you want to play.

The bowl prediction sheets include the football helmet designs for every team (taken from my college football helmet schedule spreadsheet), their win-loss record, and the logo for all bowl games. I added the helmets so those players who aren't big college football fans can pick a winner based on their favorite helmet design!

There are multiple ways to play college football bowl pick'em. What I call "regular" is every game is worth 1 point. The other way I call Confidence Picks: each player "bet" points 1 to 35 on each game based on how confident they are their choice is correct. Player with the most points wins                 Example: player bets 35 points and gets it correct = 35 points. Bets 25 points on another game, gets it wrong = 0 points awarded.

For the college football playoff bracket, the pool manager can decide if each game is worth the same amount (1 point) or if each round the points increase: round 1 = 1 point, round 2 = 2 points, etc.

Download the 2024 CFP Bowl Prediction Pool Manager.xlsm file here

2024 College Football Bowl TRIVIA

• First year of 12 team playoff bracket
• 35 bowl games with 70 teams
• No teams with a losing record
• Best record: Oregon 13-0
• There are only 2 teams left in the Pac-12
• The Alamo Bowl features two teams from the same conference (Big 12 vs Big 12)
• 18 teams with 6-6 record (21 teams last year)
• 21 teams with double digit wins (23 in 2023,  16 in 2022, 23 in 2021, in 2020 there were 5, 22 in 2019)
• One loss teams: Army, Indiana, Notre Dame, Boise State
• Lopsided matchups (in terms of records): Memphis 10-2 vs WMU 6-6, UNLV 10-3 vs Cal (6-6)

Download the CFP Pool Manager and Single Entry Form here

Have fun! As always, I welcome any feedback or ideas for improvement.

Generate A Random Number In Google Sheets

I was thinking about trying to transfer one of my most popular spreadsheet templates, Super Bowl Squares, from Excel to Google sheets. However, macros do not work in Google sheets. I was thinking about trying to recreate at least some of them, and the first problem to solve was how to make a random number generator script in Google Sheets.

Here's how you can create a Google Apps Script to generate random numbers between 0 and 9 in cells A1 to A9 without any repeats. 

Steps to Create the Google Apps Script:

1. Open your Google Sheet.
2. Click on Extensions in the menu.
3. Select Apps Script.
4. Delete any existing code in the script editor, and paste the following code:

function generateRandomNumbers() {
  // Create an array with numbers 0 to 9
  var numbers = Array.from({length: 10}, (_, i) => i);

  // Shuffle the array
  for (var i = numbers.length - 1; i > 0; i--) {
    var j = Math.floor(Math.random() * (i + 1));
    var temp = numbers[i];
    numbers[i] = numbers[j];
    numbers[j] = temp;
  }

  // Get the active spreadsheet and sheet
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();

  // Place the shuffled numbers in cells A1 to A9
  for (var k = 0; k < 9; k++) {
    sheet.getRange(k + 1, 1).setValue(numbers[k]);
  }
}

5. Save the script by clicking the disk icon or pressing Ctrl + S. You can name it something like RandomNumberGenerator.
6. Close the Apps Script editor.
7. Back in your Google Sheet, go to Extensions -> Macros -> Import and then select your generateRandomNumbers function.

How to Run the Random Number Generator Script:

• To run the script, go to Extensions -> Macros -> generateRandomNumbers.
• The script will place random numbers between 0 and 9 in cells A1 to A9, with no repeats.

If this is your first time running the script, Google Sheets may ask you for permission to run the script. Approve the permissions to proceed. 

In my templates, I make macros easy to use by running them from a button click. Yes, you can run the script from a button in Google Sheets too! Here’s how you can set it up:

Step 1: Create the Script

1. Open your Google Sheet.
2. Click on Extensions in the menu.
3. Select Apps Script.
4. Delete any existing code in the script editor, and paste the script provided above.
5. Save the script by clicking the disk icon or pressing Ctrl + S.

Step 2: Add a Button to Google Sheets

1. Insert a Drawing (for the Button):

   • Go to your Google Sheet.
   • Click on Insert -> Drawing.
   • Click on the Text Box icon in the Drawing toolbar and draw a text box.
   • Type in a label for your button, such as "Generate Numbers."
   • Format the text and shape as you like.
   • Click Save and Close. The button will now appear on your sheet.

2. Assign the Script to the Button:

   • Click on the drawing (the button) you just created.
   • Click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the button, and select Assign script.
   • In the text box that appears, type the name of your script function, which is generateRandomNumbersInRow.
   • Click OK.

Step 3: Use the Button

• Now, whenever you click the button, the generateRandomNumbersInRow script will run, and random numbers will be placed in the cells G3 to P3.

This provides a user-friendly way to trigger the script without needing to go through the menu every time. The first problem is solved! Onto the next one...

Weighted Olympic Medal Count 2024

In honor of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games currently being held Paris, France, I've updated my Microsoft Excel spreadsheet template for the medal count as I did for the 2022 Winter Games, 2020 (2021) Summer Olympic Games, 2018 Winter Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympic Games, 2014 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. 

There are two primary methods most websites appear to be ranking the 2024 medal count. Most sites rank countries by the total number of Olympic medals won. Other sites, like the International Olympic Committee (or IOC) rank countries by their gold medal count. And others rank by other factors like per capita or GDP.

Pictured below is a bar chart showing all medals won for the top countries (as of the time of this posting on 2-14-22). The bar chart is created in Excel by highlighting the data then going to Insert>Bar>Stacked Bar chart. Change the colors of the bars by right clicking on them then use the drop down menu to select the data you want to change.

See the latest official medal count here.

I’ve devised my own ranking system to give each Olympic medal a weight where the silver is worth half a gold medal and a bronze is worth only a quarter of the gold. Based on this new scoring system, previous Olympic results suddenly became quite interesting. However, for the 2024 Summer Games not too much actually changes (so far, will revisit after more events are completed). The first five countries ranking is unchanged. It gets really interesting in the 25-35 range.

Download the 2024 Olympic Games medal count spreadsheet and see for yourself. 

I’ve shared my Olympic Medal Count spreadsheet and listed out the Olympic medals by country. How would you weight each medal against the others? Comment below and share any of your Olympic medal rating systems!

NFL 33 Pool Template

If you've been following me for any amount of time you know I love a good football spreadsheet game, like Super Bowl Squares or College Football Bowl Pick'em. Recently a reader made me aware of a new game I had never heard of before and I just had to turn it into an Excel template to play this fall.

Introducing the NFL 33 Pool spreadsheet!

Here's how to play: players are assigned an NFL each week of the 18 game season and if your team scores 33 points, you win!

But that's not all. If that was the only way to play the spreadsheet would have been far too simple to make. My Excel template allows the pool manager to select different options so you can play how you want to. 

First, select the number of players, which can be between 1 and 32. 

Second, choose if you want the target score to be the same every week, or change every week. 

Next, choose if the winner requires hitting the exact target score, whoever gets closest on a weekly basis, or add up the scores for the whole season. 

Finally, choose if you want players to keep the same NFL teams all season or to be assigned a different team every week.

How to Play NFL 33 Game

Watch the video below to learn how to play football 33 and see how the spreadsheet works:

How the NFL 33 Pool Spreadsheet Works

In the Pool sheet from column C to T a random number is generated. Each number corresponds to team on the Lists sheet. Change the numbers manually if you want to manually change the teams. Uses conditional formatting to turn cell green if scores exactly match. This sheet uses macros. Macros must be enabled. Document must be saved in trusted location. Go to Trust Center settings to modify if needed.

Download the NFL 33 Pool template here. 

Have you ever played a NFL 33 Pool game before? Is this your first time hearing about it? Let me know in the comments below.

Facebook Marketplace Sales Tracking Template Updated

 I've sold 227 items on Facebook marketplace. Here's what I've learned:

The day of the week when I make the most sales on Facebook marketplace is Wednesday, followed by Tuesday and Sunday. The worst day of the week for sales is Friday, followed by Saturday and Monday.

I've been selling on Facebook Marketplace since July 2020 and by far the best months for most sales have been November and December, with February and April being the worst.

56% of my sales have been picked up by the customer in-person, while 44% paid for shipping on top of the cost of the item.

The average length of time to sell an item on Facebook Marketplace is 112 days. The longest sale took 828 days (or 2.2 years)!

54% of customers will try to barter or negotiate a lower price than what you have initially listed the item for. On average, customers will try to reduce your price by 20%, so you should account for this when listing your items.

Example: if you want to make $50 off a product, list it for $60.

Do you want to track this data for yourself? 

Download my free Facebook Marketplace Sales Tracking spreadsheet here.

I recently updated my template. You can now use this one spreadsheet to track sales for various marketplaces, such as Mercari, Ebay, Craiglist, Whatnot, etc. Previously you had to manually drag down formulas and added new listings at the bottom. Now you simply click a button and a new row is automatically added via VBA macro at the top for you to add the listing info. All the data is in the Summary sheet and update automatically via Excel formulas.

Have you ever sold anything on Facebook Marketplace and if so do you track your sales? Have any tips for me or questions? Let me know via comment or email!

NFL Helmet Schedule 2024 Spreadsheet

 The 2024 NFL schedule was released yesterday and since I used my Excel skills to automate the creation of this spreadsheet I was able to create the NFL Helmet Schedule in less than a minute! All 32 teams, all 18 weeks of the season (now 17 games plus one bye week), all in one spreadsheet. But instead of looking like this boring mess:

You can see all 544 helmets!

Get the 2024 - 2025 NFL Schedule with Helmets here

Watch the video below to see just how easy it is to update the NFL helmet schedule spreadsheet since it has been automated:

As you can see, the NFL helmet schedule is printable too. You can save the spreadsheet as a PDF file or print it out and pin it up in your cubicle at work. If you do, please email or tweet me a picture of it hanging up - I'd love to see it!

Please note, an email is required to download it. I do this so you will be automatically updated you if changes or additions are made and will update you when the next year’s schedule is ready. I do not use your email for anything else.

As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions about how to fix or improve the sheet! How can I improve this football spreadsheet into something you’ll use all the time during pro-football season? What future features would you like to see?

Girl Scout Cookie Tracking Spreadsheet Template

My daughter is in Girl Scouts and her troop wanted to sell Girl Scout cookies for the first time this year. In order to sell Girl Scout cookies you need an adult to be the TCPC: Troop Cookie Program Coordinate. Or as my daughter said, "We need you to be the Cookie Daddy!" I figured all this meant was they needed someone to manage an Excel spreadsheet for all the cookie sales so I agreed.

Little did I know what was in store as there is much more to it. First is all the training and webinars, background check, volunteer forms, etc. Then when it comes to finally sell cookies, there are no spreadsheets; they've got Digital Cookie online selling platform and eBudde management system. While the eBudde system and tools seem to have all the information needed on the backend, the front end is very confusing for a new user. It's very confusing and cumbersome and the key information the TCPC needs to know is spread out over different pages. Seriously, if you have to have numerous training sessions to explain how everything works and people are still asking tons of questions, your system is too complicated.

So I decided to make a spreadsheet!

Introducing the Girl Scout Cooking Tracking Template:

With this spreadsheet you still have to manually input all the cookie sale information from eBudde but now all the information you need to know is shown visually on just two sheets and is easy to understand. Here's how to use the cookie tracker:

On the sales summary page, copy and paste your Girl Scouts. Then input each of their Digital Cookie sales, which are broken into four categories: 

1. Cookies to be hand delivered (from the Initial Orders page in eBudde)

2. Donated cookies for Operation Salute

3. Any cookie sales from paper order forms that need to be input manually

4. Orders that will be shipped direct from the bakery (from the Girl Orders page)

Next, you can input each Girl Scout's goal for how many packages they want to sell. These will add up at the bottom to show the overall Troop Cookie Goal. There is a donut graph to show the troop's progress towards their goal.

On the right it shows the Instant Rewards and how many packages it takes to reach. Once a girl has reached the goal, the formula automatically shows as having achieved it.

On the next sheet, we have a breakdown of how many of each type of girl scout cookie has been sold (thin mints being the most popular, obviously). As the cookie daddy and the person responsible for picking up the cookies from the cookie cupboard to distribute to the troop, the most important info is the number of cases of each type of cookie I need to pickup. 

There is another sheet in my template that explains some of the terminology, the key being the word "box" is never used. The girls sell "packages" of cookies and 12 of those packages make up a case. The cookies are never mixed up in different cases and if you only sell one package of LemonUps, you have to pickup an entire case of LemonUps.

The Girl Scout Cooking Tracking Spreadsheet shows you exactly how many cases of each cookie you need and how many unsold packages in each case. The unsold cookies from the initial order can be used to sell in-person during the booth phase.

I added a sheet you can use as a template for booth signups.

Download the Girl Scout Cookie Tracking Spreadsheet Template here.

2023 College Football Bowl Prediction Pool

The college football conference championships were played this past weekend which means the 2023 NCAA college football bowl season is here again! Therefore, it’s time to make your picks and predictions about who you think will win each bowl game. One of the best times of the holiday season (other than giving and receiving gifts) is being able to talk trash to your relatives about their terrible bowl picks.

This year has the added bonus of not just single bowl games but the tenth and final year of a four team playoff to determine the national champion. Starting in 2024 the college football playoff will expand to twelve teams (couldn't have been one year earlier, could it). Can't wait to see how that plays out!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves and just enjoy that fact that the SEC was ALMOST left out of the playoff for the first time. It's good to see at least one new team make the CFB playoff. Here's the full breakdown of bowl teams per conference:

There are multiple ways to play Bowl pick'em. Features for this year's bowl prediction pool over the previous college football bowl pool manager spreadsheets include the following:

• Easy method to make each bowl game worth a different point value, so the national championship game and semi-finals can be worth more points, or however you want to customize it.

• Updated leaderboard tab with new stats

• Separate entry sheet to pass out to participants or co-workers that can be imported automatically by a built-in macro

• Complete NCAA college football bowl schedule with game times and TV stations

• New stat sheet to track each conference's record during bowl season. Graph shows total conference teams and total conference wins

The bowl prediction sheets include the football helmet designs for every team (taken from my college football helmet schedule spreadsheet), their win-loss record, and the logo for all bowl games. I added the helmets so those players who aren't big college football fans can pick a winner based on their favorite helmet design!

Download the CFP Pool Manager and Single Entry Form here

Bowl Pick'em Game For Google Sheets

Unlike many of my other spreadsheets, macros are not critical for the Bowl prediction pool. If you have a Google drive account you should be able to upload the pool manager and use it inside Google sheets. Participants can make their picks directly in the sheet using the drop down lists and everyone can see the scoreboard update in real time. All the formulas should work. Insert new columns where it says in order to add more players. The macro to import single player picks won't work but it is not needed. Try it if you want to play that way and let me know if you find any issues in Google sheets.

College Football Bowl Pick'em with Confidence Points

If you watch the video above you can see how this works. Each player can select confidence picks where they rank each game according to how confident they are in their pick. If you're super confident Georgia is going to roll over Ohio State you would rank that game 42 from the drop down list and would receive 42 points if you're correct. If you're not so sure Michigan will beat TCU you might only rank that game 1 or 2 points. 

Download the 2023 CFP Bowl Prediction Pool Manager.xlsm file here

Have fun! As always, I welcome any feedback or ideas for improvement.

2023 NFL Helmet Schedule Spreadsheet

The 2023 NFL schedule was released yesterday and since I used my Excel skills to automate the creation of this spreadsheet I was able to create the NFL Helmet Schedule in less than a minute! All 32 teams, all 18 weeks of the season (now 17 games plus one bye week), all in one spreadsheet:

A job that used to take hour by moving helmets manually is now so easy to do. Yes, that's why I love the power of macros and automation. I wrote the macro myself but nowadays you could probably just ask ChatGPT to write the macro for you.

On previous versions of the sheet I divided out the two conferences on separate sheets: NFC and AFC. This year, I’ve put all the teams into one sheet. However, there is a new filter option where you can filter by NFC or AFC or even by division: AFC North, AFC South, etc.

Download the 2023 NFL Helmet Schedule Spreadsheet here


Watch the video below to see how the filter works. I also so a tip in Excel how to select multiple objects at once with the mouse. And I walk through the populate helmets macro code as well. Lots of good stuff here!

As you can see, the NFL helmet schedule is printable too. You can save the spreadsheet as a PDF file or print it out and pin it up in your cubicle at work. If you do, please email or tweet me a picture of it hanging up - I'd love to see it!

Please note, an email is required to download it. I do this so you will be automatically updated you if changes or additions are made and will update you when the next year’s schedule is ready. I do not use your email for anything else.

As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions about how to fix or improve the sheet! How can I improve this football spreadsheet into something you’ll use all the time during pro-football season? What future features would you like to see?

Super Bowl Squares 2023 - Unlimited Ways to Play

Since 54 ways to play still wasn't enough, I've created a new version of my Super Bowl Squares template that should allow nearly limitless ways to play. I'm going to show you how to use it and what make it awesome. But first, let's take a quick look back at the evolution of my football grid game template.

I’ve been making Super Bowl Squares templates available for you to download for over 10 years now. The first version in 2012 was very plain and simple and was basically just meant to be printed.

I started adding more features and automation in 2014, beginning with a button you would click that runs a macro to generate the random numbers. 

The problem I soon discovered is there are countless ways to play Super Bowl Squares. Initially, I tried to account for different ways to play by having multiple sheets within the workbook. But this got very messy very quickly. A new user would open the template and could be very confused by all the sheets. I wanted a better solution.

In 2021, I released a new version that featured 54 different ways to play Super Bowl Squares all contained within one easy to use spreadsheet. When you first open the sheet, it has a nice clean look with only one sheet visible. You select the options for how you want to play, click Generate Squares, and it sets up the sheet exactly for the version you want to play.

The way it works is all the scoring systems are already built into the sheet. If you go to the Squares or the Manager sheet you will find many hidden rows or columns. The Generate Squares macro simply hides or unhides the data based on the user’s selections.

54 ways to play is a lot – but it is still not enough. Over the years I continued to receive countless requests for different ways to play. I don’t have time to make very specific sheets for each individual request – I needed a solution to account for unlimited ways to play. 

That’s when I had the idea for Super Bowl Squares Unlimited. The main difference in how it works is there are no pre-built scoring systems. Instead, they are built on the fly by macros. 

If you’re using iOS or cannot enable macros you will not be able to use this sheet, sorry. The is a simple printable PDF in the download and here is a Google sheet.

The first thing you’ll want to do is go to the Manager sheet and complete columns B and C by inputting all the player names and using the drop down to select how many squares for each. You can type the names manually into each square but you would also have to list the names on the Manager sheet and make sure they match (no typos). 

Back to the Squares sheet, the buttons in the Grid Tools box are pretty self explanatory. On the squares sheet, click the Random Names button to populate the grid with the player names in random positions. Click Randomize Numbers to generate the list of random numbers. Similar to previous sheet.

The main difference that gives this sheet more flexibility is the score boards are not built in, they are generated when the user clicks the Generate Scoreboard button every time there is a scoring event. Meaning, the settings can be changed. Let’s look at some examples.

Download 2023 Super Bowl Squares here

So that’s how you use the Super Bowl Squares Unlimited spreadsheet template. I’m excited to hear your thoughts. Is it better than the previous sheet? This is brand new and hasn’t been tested too much so there could be some bugs. But I’d love to know your thoughts on which sheet you will use and why so leave me a comment or email. Thanks for watching and have fun playing Super Bowl Squares!

Elevate Your Sports Betting Game with Our Free Excel Tracking Tool

Sports gambling just became legal here in Ohio and we've been flooded with sign-up offers. Since just about every sportsbook will give you free bonus bets (around $200) for a small ($5 or $10) deposit, I decided to dabble a little bit into sports betting to see what all the fuss is about. I signed up for three different sportsbook sites and quickly realized I needed a way to organize and track all my bets.

Naturally, I decided to make an Excel template to track which bets I'd made, track my earnings, and make sure I was still making a profit. First, I created a Lists sheet for all my drop down lists including which sportsbook, which sport, result, and so on. Personally, so far I've only stuck to football because that's what I follow the most and already have some interest and knowledge in it.

The Bet Tracker sheet is used to track every individual bet including the odds, wager amount, and formulas to determine the potential winnings and the actual result.

When you bet with your own money, if you win the bet you get the winnings plus your original bet back. But when you use Bonus money to place your bet, that "fake" money is not added to the winnings. I had to account for this in my Potential Winnings column formula.

If your own money then: Winnings = ((Odds/100)*Wager)+Original Wager

If bonus money then: Winnings = (Odds/100)*Wager)

=IF(E2="My$",((G2/100)*F2)+F2,((G2/100)*F2))

If you get lucky and win a bet, you'll be able to withdraw the money into your own bank or Paypal account. There's a summary sheet to track exactly how much money you've put in versus what has come out. The most important stat to me is my running total, and making sure it is well in the positive otherwise it's time to quit. 

How have I done? In the past two weeks, I placed 33 bets and won 8 of them. I've only had to input $27 of my own dollars, while I've gotten to bet $650 bonus bucks. I'm not huge into taking risks, so instead of betting on crazy parleys with larger payouts, I've bet on safer, more likely outcomes but with smaller rewards. What do I plan to do with my winnings? Probably invest in an AI company since they're changing the game.

In all my years of making sports related Excel spreadsheet templates, I've never really gambled on sports. I'm not sure I'll keep gambling once my free funds run out, but it is a fun experiment while it lasts. Like playing fantasy football or Super Bowl Squares, it gives you an extra incentive for watching the game. Hey, speaking of Super Bowl Squares, I've got a new version coming out this weekend and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it...

.Download Sports Bet Tracker.xlsx file here

2022 NFL Helmet Schedule Spreadsheet

 As I explained last year, I finally automated this spreadsheet so I was able to create the 2022 NFL Helmet Schedule in less than a minute! All 32 teams, all 18 weeks of the season (now 17 games plus one bye week), all in one spreadsheet:

A job that used to take hour by moving helmets manually is now so easy to do. Yes, that's why I love the power of macros and automation. See how fast the sheet can be created by watching this clip:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick (@ntweisen)

On previous versions of the sheet I divided out the two conferences on separate sheets: NFC and AFC. This year, I’ve put all the teams into one sheet. However, there is a new filter option where you can filter by NFC or AFC or even by division: AFC North, AFC South, etc.

Download the 2022 NFL Helmet Schedule Spreadsheet here


Watch the video below to see how the filter works. I also so a tip in Excel how to select multiple objects at once with the mouse. And I walk through the populate helmets macro code as well. Lots of good stuff here!

As you can see, the NFL helmet schedule is printable too. You can save the spreadsheet as a PDF file or print it out and pin it up in your cubicle at work. If you do, please email or tweet me a picture of it hanging up - I'd love to see it!

Please note, an email is required to download it. I do this so you will be automatically updated you if changes or additions are made and will update you when the next year’s schedule is ready. I do not use your email for anything else.

As always, I welcome any comments or suggestions about how to fix or improve the sheet! How can I improve this football spreadsheet into something you’ll use all the time during pro-football season? What future features would you like to see?

PS. I will not be rooting for the dumpster fire known as the Cleveland Browns this season so if any fanbases want to recruit, now's your chance to pitch me on your favorite team!

Free Meeting Scheduling Excel Template

How often do you ask friends, family, or coworkers which day is the best to get together? Whether it’s a meeting, party, trip, or some other occasion I find myself in these situations all the time. There are several apps and online calendars available to help you coordinate which day works for everyone involved. I used to use a site called Doodle all the time.  The problem with these services is they are not always free, they’re constantly changing and you have to keep relearning how to use them, you have to make an online account, and so on. So I did what I always do – I decided to make an Excel template to determine which day works best for meetings and events!

I used a lot of the same concepts and macro code from my Super Bowl Squares spreadsheet. When you first open the spreadsheet you are greeted by a simple, clean setup page. Here you’ll manually input the number of participants, meeting subject and description.

Next, you’ll enter the start and end dates of the days you want the participants to choose from. It’s very important that these two cells ONLY contain dates. To restrict a user to only being able to enter a date in a cell, go to Data > Data Validation. Under Allow select Date. Be sure to enter a custom error message so if a user makes a mistake they understand what needs to be entered.

When the user clicks Generate Schedule the Schedule sheet is unhidden. The schedule can handle up to 100 participants and up to 365 days. However, you probably won’t need all that so the macro will automatically hide all the rows and columns not needed to make it easy for the user to input their information.

A lot of good Excel tips can be gleaned from examining the event timing spreadsheet. Here's a quick summary of what can be learned by dissecting this free Excel template:

• How to add and use Option buttons
• How to use data validation to restrict entry in a cell to a date
• How to use data validation to restrict entry in a cell to an email address
• How to get the day of the week from a date
• How to use command buttons and assign specific macros to them
• How to send emails from Excel with hyperlinks
• How to use a formula to show only weekends in Excel
• How to use conditional formatting to change cell color based on cell value
• How to hide command buttons by macro

Download the Meeting Scheduler Template here.

Watch How to Coordinate Meetings with Excel

If you want to see how this spreadsheet works and some tips like how to limit a cell where a user can only input a date then watch the video below:

Try it out and let me know if you think it’s a legitimate replacement for Doodle, Calendly or whatever meeting scheduling apps you currently use. 

Weighted Olympic Medal Count 2022

In honor of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games currently being held  Beijing, China, I decided to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet template for the medal count as I did for the 2020 (2021) Summer Olympic Games, 2018 Winter Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympic Games, 2014 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. 

There are two primary methods most websites appear to be ranking the 2022 medal count. Most sites rank countries by the total number of Olympic medals won. Other sites, like the International Olympic Committee (or IOC) rank countries by their gold medal count. And others rank by other factors like per capita or GDP.

Pictured below is a bar chart showing all medals won for the top countries (as of the time of this posting on 2-14-22). The bar chart is created in Excel by highlighting the data then going to Insert>Bar>Stacked Bar chart. Change the colors of the bars by right clicking on them then use the drop down menu to select the data you want to change.

You can update the chart yourself by download the Excel file here.

As of 2/14/22

 

I’ve devised my own ranking system to give each Olympic medal a weight where the silver is worth half a gold medal and a bronze is worth only a quarter of the gold. Based on this new scoring system, previous Olympic results suddenly became quite interesting. However, for the 2020 Summer Games not too much actually changes (so far, will revisit after more events are completed).

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you’ll probably know I’m a roller coaster enthusiast, so you probably won’t be surprised that the Olympic event that intrigues me the most is the bobsled and luge. As they said on the broadcast of the monobob following the Super Bowl, “this track more than any other is similar to a roller coaster” as it has 4 uphill sections and a helix. It’s over 4,000 feet long, has a total elevation difference of 117 meters (383 feet), and bobsleders were hitting 75 miles per hour while sustaining 4gs up to 7 seconds at a time. That’s intense! A ride on a bobsled would scare me more than any roller coaster that’s secured to the rails, as you could legit crash! What Winter Olympic sport do you like to follow?

Download the spreadsheet and see for yourself. 

I’ve shared my Olympic Medal Count spreadsheet and listed out the Olympic medals by country. How would you weight each medal against the others? Comment below and share any of your Olympic medal rating systems!