Automate PowerPivot Data Refresh in Excel

In many workshops and sessions about PowerPivot the most frequently asked question has always been: how can I automate the PowerPivot Data Refresh in Excel? I talked about that a few weeks ago.

The sad answer is that this feature is not supported in PowerPivot v1. And from what I can see in CTP3, it will still be unsupported in PowerPivot v2, too. However, once you understand that what I'm going to cover is completely unsupported and might damage your PowerPivot workbook making it unreadable (so please make a copy of your original workbook before starting), I think it is a good idea to make a few consideration about that.