This article: <https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Using-structured-references-with-Excel-tables-F5ED2452-2337-4F71-BED3-C8AE6D2B276E> describes the use of structured references. I hadn't heard about this, although it's been in Excel for some time.

I'm not wedded to their syntax, but I like the concept. It looks like it would be clearer and more robust for VLookup, Index/Match, and query.

In addition it gives automatic named ranges. E.g. I can do 
 = sum(Tablename[Quarter1][Chicago]:TableName[Quarter3][Seattle])