The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet also has its world championship

Forget the Rugby World Cup and the end of its group stage this weekend. Another international competition begins on Saturday October 7: the Microsoft Excel World Championship (MEWC), or Microsoft Excel world championship. For two months, 128 candidates will compete to win the trophy, won in 2022 by Australian Andrew Ngai.

At first glance, nothing seems further than Excel from the most famous competitive video games, like League of Legends Or Counter-Strike. The format of the championship, however, is reminiscent of that of e-sport, with events held online, commented games as well as an envelope – 15,000 dollars, more than 14,000 euros – to reward the first in the ranking. The final, which is scheduled for December 7, will even be held at the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas (Nevada), where video game tournaments are regularly organized.

But unlike e-sports enthusiasts, young controller or keyboard prodigies who make their entertainment a career, MEWC participants do the opposite: experienced professionals, they explore the fun aspects of their work tool.

“I participate in this competition to have fun”explains Barbara Mauric from Nice, 48 years old, management controller for the Italian shipowner Amico. “And it also allows me to improve. I learn various things about the software from other participants and can apply them in other situations”details the one who has used Excel daily since 2008.

Creators from finance

At the same time, Barbara Mauric competes in the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC), a competition whose origins date back to 2012 and which, in its current form, is also organized by AG Capital, the creator of the championship. of the world of Excel. The FMWC – where the spreadsheet is also king – offers different tests during which candidates must use the financial data of a fictitious company to produce a projection of potential performance.

Wishing to reach a wider audience, the CEO of AG Capital, the Latvian Andrew Grigolyunovich, then launched MEWC in 2021. “There are a lot of people who know Excel but who don’t have a background in finance. For example, there are very good mathematicians or engineers who I still wanted to see participate in this type of competition”says the man who himself competed in financial modeling tournaments.

Slot machine screens whose scores must be calculated, automobile circuits to be crossed by drawing dice, tables of results from biathlon competitions to be deciphered… The tests proposed to candidates now resemble puzzles in universes far from reality. business. Bear Island (“Bear Island”), for example, consists of a series of problems to be solved based on the map of an island populated by wild animals, drawn by coloring the boxes.

Each challenge must be solved within thirty minutes, but matches are not just about completing as many tasks as possible in the allotted time. To win, you must instead find the most effective formulas and tools to glean a maximum number of points by achieving predefined objectives. Competition is like Excel: it favors efficiency and rigor.

“What makes the challenges interesting is saying to yourself: “Okay, what approach am I going to take? How will it compare to the others?” »says Nicolas Micot, 27, who reached the second qualifying phase in 2022. “Since we don’t have a lot of time and we’re stressed, there are things we don’t think about. Afterwards, we can watch others stream and say to ourselves: “Damn, it’s true that by doing that, I would have worried a lot less.”adds this risk manager in a company in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Make the spreadsheet a spectacle

But is it really distracting to watch people fill out Excel tables? “From the beginning, I wanted it to be pleasant to watch”, assures Andrew Grigolyunovich. For this, he was directly inspired by the codes of e-sport, notably imagining battle formats, in which up to eight players compete, and called upon a colorful commentator, the Excel trainer and videographer Oz from Sun.

To ensure public loyalty, the organizers also encourage participants to turn on their webcams and highlight some personalities. The Irish virtuoso Diarmuid Early, nicknamed by the community the “Michael Jordan of Excel”thus appears more and more in videos on YouTube or in publications on the social network LinkedIn, just like the reigning world champion.

The competition finally reached a large audience thanks to its broadcast on American television. Since 2022, the championship has been rebroadcast on the sports channel ESPN, which has a program dedicated to the most unexpected disciplines, such as competitive “cat” play. “I’m glad it’s interesting, even for those who don’t work with Excelsaid enthusiastic Barbara Mauric, amused by the success of the program. We’ll see what they come up with in the future to keep us in suspense. »

Not to mention that the interest is obvious for Microsoft. “Watching the matches is a very good advertisement for new versions of the software, do not fail to remind Nicolas Micot. The latest one includes new formulas which are used by certain players. This is sure to inspire other software developers and owners. »