MEWC
FMWC
TAC
EEO
The MECC 2026 season has reached its grand finale. The MECC Team and Individual Championships have returned to Las Vegas, bringing together [FILL: number] competitors from [FILL: number] countries for three packed days where skills are sharpened, friendships are made and champions are crowned.
Once again the Championships run alongside The Active Cell training camp, bringing students and industry professionals into the same room. Overall Day 1 attendance reached [FILL: number +], with 14 expert speakers lined up to share everything from data-cleaning shortcuts to AI-powered forecasting over the coming days.
Day 1 took place in the Luxor Egyptian Ballroom and ran on two tracks from the moment the doors opened. In the Masterclasses track, five experts delivered hands-on sessions. Next door, the Excel Esports Gaming Room was open to every attendee, free to play all day. [one line on the atmosphere at registration, e.g. queues, returning faces, first-timers.]
The Masterclasses
After registration, morning coffee and the official opening of the training camp, the Masterclasses opened with a session on one of Excel’s least loved jobs: cleaning up messy data.
Diarmuid Early: Improved Data Cleaning with Regular Expressions
Who better to open the week than the reigning Microsoft Excel World Champion? Diarmuid Early, three-time Financial Modeling World Champion and founder of Early Days Consulting, introduced the room to regular expressions, or regex. Attendees learned to pull mixed dates like 7/17/26, 2026-07-17 and Jul 17th in one go, and fix names stuck together as LastFirst. He also tackled the strange not-quite-a-space characters that come with some downloads, which got a knowing laugh from anyone who has fought them. [a standout moment, quote or audience reaction.]
Oz du Soleil: Build a Reusable Data Cleaning Workflow
The data-cleaning theme continued with Las Vegas local Oz du Soleil, a voice every MECC fan knows. His answer to scattered, messy data was Power Query. In a hands-on session, attendees imported data from files and folders, used core data-cleansing techniques, and built an automated workflow that refreshes when the data changes. He also made a strong case that Power Query belongs in every beginner’s toolkit. And that was just the warm-up. Oz will be back behind the mic this week as one of the MECC casters, ready to call every big solve, every leaderboard shake-up and every nail-biting final second. [a standout moment, quote or audience reaction.]
Jon Acampora: Build Once, Refresh Forever
After a short break, Microsoft MVP and Excel Campus founder Jon Acampora took on the weekly report that eats everyone’s Monday morning. He used Power Query and PivotTables for refreshable reports, XLOOKUP and FILTER for faster answers, and macros and VBA to format workbooks in seconds. Jon finished with a practical framework for choosing the right Excel or AI tool for each task, so attendees left with a method they could reuse, not a single workflow. Jon’s week is only getting started, though. He joins Oz on the MECC casting desk, so the pair who taught the room to automate their spreadsheets will soon be calling the action live, one lightning-fast formula at a time. [a standout moment, quote or audience reaction.]
Lunch & Networking: Where the Connections Happen
When the morning sessions wrapped, the ballroom became one of the busiest spots of the day. Over lunch, students sat down next to analysts, consultants, educators and the same experts they had just watched on stage. Conversations moved easily from the morning’s regex and Power Query tricks to career paths, internships and how everyone first got into Excel.
Students asked professionals what skills actually matter on the job. Faculty members compared notes on bringing Excel Esports into the classroom. Returning competitors caught up with friends from past seasons, while first-timers quickly found out how welcoming the community is. Competitors swapped stories, tips and a few nerves ahead of the rounds still to come.
The Gaming Room stayed open through lunch and the afternoon, so plenty of attendees carried their conversations next door and settled them the Excel Esports way. By the end of the break, many attendees had new connections and plans to catch up again later in the week. [a specific moment, e.g. a student who met a future mentor or a speaker who stayed to answer questions.]
The Afternoon Masterclasses
Refueled and reconnected, attendees headed back into the Masterclasses track, where the afternoon turned to the future of Excel.
Klinsmann Langhanz: How Modern AI Reality Can Accelerate Your Good Old Excel Tricks
Klinsmann Langhanz is a Microsoft MVP, founder of Excel Esports Brasil and author of the “Origami” case from the 2025 MEWC Finals, which Satya Nadella shared on LinkedIn. He took the room on a trip through Excel history, from printed manuals to today’s AI-powered workflows. Along the way he showed how AI can supercharge classic tricks, and how to ask it better questions. With hands-on examples and prizes, it was one of the most interactive sessions of the day. [who won the prizes / a standout moment.]
Gagan Sivia: Master Financial Modeling and Forecasting with the Enhanced AI
Closing the Masterclasses track, Gagan Sivia (CPA, CGA, CFP) brought her FP&A and teaching experience from Rosenberg & Parker and BCIT. Her message was that the best financial analysts don’t simply build spreadsheets, they build confidence in business decisions. Attendees received financial statements from a publicly traded company and built a full forecasting model, then used Microsoft’s AI to challenge assumptions and spot risks. She finished on the part most courses skip: explaining the numbers as a story that holds up in front of a CFO or a board. [a standout moment, quote or audience reaction.]
The Competition Begins: MECC Team Quarter-Finals
While Jon Acampora was automating reports in the Masterclasses, the first competitive round of the Championships was underway next door in the Excel Esports Gaming Room, the free-to-play space where anyone taking a break from the sessions could hang out and discover the world of Excel Esports. [FILL: number] student teams from [FILL: number] countries sat down for the MECC Team Quarter-Finals, each chasing one of 20 places in the Team Semi-Finals. Competing in teams of three on their own laptops, they had 30 minutes to make their mark, and with some schools entering more than one team, there was plenty of friendly rivalry in the room. Only two teams per school could advance, and with a live leaderboard and instant feedback on every level, everyone could see exactly where they stood.
The case, [FILL: case name], was designed by [FILL: case author + one line on who they are]. [FILL: one or two lines on the case theme and what made it fun or difficult.]
The opening minutes were all about finding a rhythm. [FILL: team] put the first points on the board after just [FILL: time], and the rest of the room quickly followed. By the five-minute mark, [FILL: team] had taken an early lead with [FILL: points], with [FILL: team] and [FILL: team] close behind.
As the levels got tougher, the leaderboard started to shift. At the halfway point, [FILL: team] led with [FILL: points], while [FILL: team] were climbing fast. [the turning point, e.g. a big level solved, a bonus question claimed or a late surge]
In the end it came down to the final few answers. [FILL: team] [how they finished, e.g. held on to top spot or snatched it in the last minute], and when the clock hit zero the standings were locked in.
[a team strategy worth mentioning, e.g. seat-switching or splitting levels.]
With a live leaderboard on the big screen, everyone in the room could follow every point as it landed, and the results were confirmed the moment time ran out. [the reaction in the room when the final standings locked in.]
When the dust settled, these 20 teams had booked their place in the Team Semi-Finals on Day 2:
One Final Shot: The Last Chance Qualification Round
The MECC Team Quarter-Finals were only the beginning. Once the afternoon Masterclasses wrapped up and attendees had a short break, every available seat across the conference rooms, from the Masterclasses to the Gaming Room, was set up for the last competitive event of the day: the Last Chance Qualification Round.
Open to every training camp participant, it put students and professionals side by side. For the professionals, it was their first competition of the Championships and a final chance to qualify for the MEWC Quarterfinals. Students could earn a spot too, and those who had not yet qualified were also playing for a place in the Day 2 MECC Individual Semi-Finals. For those who had also played in the MECC Team Quarter-Finals, it was their second competition of the day.
[FILL: number] competitors took part. Up for grabs were [FILL: number] spots in the MEWC 2026 Quarterfinals, plus 10 places in the Day 2 MECC Individual Semi-Finals for students still chasing a spot. The case, [FILL: case name], was designed by [FILL: case author]. With just 30 minutes on the clock, no leaderboard and no feedback on their answers, competitors had no idea where they stood, so every decision came down to trusting their own model. Some hit Submit Early with confidence, while others used every last second to double-check their work. [FILL: a highlight, e.g. a standout student performance or the atmosphere as time ran out]
The suspense continues overnight, as results will only be revealed on Day 2. Until then, nobody knows for sure who has earned their place in the MEWC Quarterfinals and the MECC Individual Semi-Finals. [number of MECC students who took part.]
After Hours Celebrations on the Strip
With the laptops closed, the evening turned to the people who make Excel Esports what it is. The welcome reception filled with conversation as students, faculty and professionals traded highlights from the day. Some relived their toughest moments from the Last Chance Qualification Round, while others caught up with familiar faces from past seasons and last year’s event. For first-time attendees, it was a chance to put faces to the names they had seen on leaderboards all year long. [a specific moment from the reception.]
From there, the party spilled out onto the Las Vegas Strip for the Event Opening Parade, proof that Excel Esports knows how to make an entrance. [one line on the parade itself.]
One day down, and the bar is already set high for the two days still to come. Tomorrow, the Last Chance Qualification Round results will finally be revealed before the action moves to the iconic HyperX Arena, where the MECC Team and Individual Semi-Finals take center stage, followed by the MEWC Quarterfinals.