The Data Strategy Show with Samir Sharma

Jan 12th, 2021 / Dashboards
How can we design the best possible dashboards for business leaders? I addressed this question on the Data Strategy Show with Samir Sharma. We talked about challenges companies face when trying to visualize data, what we should be thinking about when creating or re-designing dashboards and how to learn more about data visualization as a whole.
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Women in Data

Dec 1st, 2020 / Data Visualization
In September, I was invited to speak at a Women in Data panel alongside Rebeca Pop. Women in Data is an international non-profit organization started in 2015 whose mission is to bring women together for career advancement and an opportunity to uplift one another. We talked about our start in data visualization, how to approach data viz problems, data integrity and ethics, how get started (and stand out) in the data viz world and what we see coming in the future for the data viz world.
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Listening to What Data Users *Say* They Need… but Giving Them What They *Actually* Need

Oct 27th, 2020 / Data Visualization
I recently had the chance to talk with Zach Bowders on his podcast, Data + Love. Zach is a data analyst, a Tableau Public Ambassador, and passionate about data visualization and data storytelling. We talked about how to distinguish between IT and data professionals, how to narrow what users *actually* need, understanding your audience and how to speak up when data isn’t useful.
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Re-envisioning a University’s Monthly Report: Two Reports with Two Different Purposes

Oct 20th, 2020 / Dashboards
“How can I show my audience that 24,000 is a big number??” an evaluator asked me. She’s right; this is challenging. A single number on its own doesn’t tell us anything. Have you heard those (un)professional recommendations like, “Just type the 24,000 in large font so it grabs attention!” or “Add an icon next to the 24,000 to bring it to life!” Sigh. Want to bring numbers to life? We need to compare numbers to something. Here are two suggestions.
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Customizing Reports for the Audience with Deven Wisner

Oct 13th, 2020 / Data Visualization
When we should follow APA format? When should we not? Earlier this year I sat down with my good friend Deven Wisner about customizing reports for the audience. During this six-minute conversation, we talked about Deven’s current work (he’s a managing partner, professor and student himself!) as well as the advice he gives to his own students.
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