Excel power users: What finally made you take the plunge into Power Query?

I discovered Power Query last year when a coworker solved an issue I had with simultaneously updating multiple tables. I don’t know how I’d gone so long without having heard about Power Query, but immediately had to figure out how this sorcery worked, and now I can’t imagine using Excel without it. I’ve been spreading the PQ gospel among my coworkers, all very Excel-savvy users who prepare recurring reports with lots of manual data sorting/formatting - the ideal folks to take full advantage of what Power Query has to offer. And, as no good deed goes unpunished, I’ve been asked to give a presentation on Power Query: the basics on what it is, how it can improve the workflow, examples on how I’m using it, and point them towards some learning resources.

So… I’d love to hear from people who were initially on the fence:

• What made you finally decide to learn Power Query?

• What kind of work were you doing before implementing Power Query and what does it look like now?

• How much time and frustration has this saved you?

Bonus: Any "I can’t believe I used to did it this way" stories.

Double Bonus: Any "I tried Power Query and it was a total waste of my time" stories (because I find it hard to imagine any situation where this might be true).

Hoping you guys will share some of your experiences to help others get over that initial learning curve!