Today, it’s live!

You can listen here: https://em360tech.com/podcast/breaking-barriers-data-visualization

This is a short listen (15 min) with some techniques that are hopefully super obvious if you’ve been following my work for a while.

It’s also a good one to forward to colleagues who are just learning about dataviz and accessibility.

Chapters

00:00 – Introduction

00:54 – Defining Accessibility in Data Visualization

02:17 – Big A Accessibility Tips

06:36 – Little a Accessibility Strategies

12:28 – The Future of Data Accessibility

The post Podcast: Breaking Barriers with Accessible Data Visualization appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

In this podcast episode, I sat down with Heather Sager to share behind-the-scenes tips on managing parenthood and entrepreneurship.

How to Listen

• LISTEN to the full  episode on Apple Podcast or Spotify
• READ the episode transcript

What’s Inside

• Owning the ‘make it work’ mindset
• Aligning your work schedule with your energy levels
• Making tough choices around your time
• Ann’s surprisingly simple tip to maintain her business boundaries
• Focusing on financial goals over chasing trends
• The real deal with passive income
• Ways to bring more help into your personal life
• Embracing the long game of entrepreneurship

Episode Quick Guide

• 0:00 Self-Employed Pregnancy and Maternity Leave
• 3:58 Navigating Business and Pregnancy
• 14:18 Transition to Short-Term Projects and Simplify Business Operations
• 20:32 Travel and Work Independently
• 24:58 The Challenges of Performing and Recovering
• 35:31 Balancing Work and Rest in Self-Employment
• 42:06 Simplifying Business and Avoiding Time-Wasting Activities
• 48:31 Shift to Digital Courses
• 58:29 Balancing Personal and Professional Brand
• 1:04:08 Using Your Voice for Marketing Success

The post Entrepreneurial Insights for Expecting Mothers on Heather Sager’s “Hint of Hustle” Podcast appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

Exercise, eat breakfast with the family, work on energizing projects for a few hours… 

… and then call it a day. 

Take the kids to gymnastics. Volunteer at field day.

Take off the entire summer for bucket list adventures.

Months-long road trips around the United States. 

Cruises through Europe.

Passports full of stamps.

Meg K. Wheeler from The Equitable Money Project invited me to speak on her podcast about building a thriving business around your life — not building a life around your business.

Listen to the Podcast

Search for the “Disrupt Your Money” podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Or, listen on Spotify here:

Watch the Podcast

Or, you can watch our conversation:

Learn More

Meg asked me to write a blog post about my experiences, too. You can read that post here.

Inside, you’ll see how my business has evolved over the past decade. I also share behind-the-scenes revenue and expenses info. And, you’ll see five tips for transitioning from burnout to summers abroad.

Your Turn

What types of questions do you have about building a business that fits your family? Comment below!

The post Building a Business that Fits Your Family: Disrupt Your Money Podcast appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

How do we overcome common pain points in data visualization and storytelling??

What’s the most important thing to keep in mind while editing our visualizations???

I recently discussed all these, and more, on the SuperDataScience podcast with the host, Jon Krohn.

With more than 600 episodes and hundreds of thousands of downloads each month, the SuperDataScience is the #1 podcast in the data field. What an honor!

What’s Inside

• My definition of data storytelling
• Common pain points and how to overcome them
• Best practices for data visualization
• Surprising spreadsheet tricks
• When static dashboards are more effective than interactive dashboards
• Top tips for presenting data in a slideshow

You can listen to or watch the episode here. Or, scroll down to read the highlights.

Listen to the Podcast

You can subscribe to the SuperDataScience podcast and search for episode #637.

Or, listen online here:

Watch the Conversation

The video version of the podcast is available on YouTube here:

Read the Transcript

Prefer to read the transcript? Download it here.

This was my favorite podcast conversation so far. I hope you enjoy listening to it!

The post How to Influence Others with Your Data: SuperDataScience Podcast Interview appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

What do you use PowerPoint for?

You might use PowerPoint to:

1. Create slides to accompany a presentation (i.e., you’re getting ready to speak at a conference, meeting, or other in-person or virtual event); and/or
2. Create documents that someone can read on their own (i.e., when you’ll circulate the slides as an email attachment before or after a meeting).

I talked with Boris Hristov on the World of Presentations podcast about this distinction.

Sometimes, we need to use PowerPoint (or Google Slides, or Keynote) for presentations.

Other times, we need to use PowerPoint for standalone docs like email attachments or printed handouts.

Without a clear distinction, we run into Death by PowerPoint — presentation slides that are as dense as reports. Or, reports that are as sparse as presentations.

Boris is the founder of presentation agency 356labs and a PowerPoint MVP. Boris has years of experience as a trainer, mentor, and consultant and has trained and coached not just students, but also people from the IT, sales, marketing and management fields in topics ranging from presentation skills and storytelling through the psychology behind slide design.

You can watch our conversation or read the highlights below.

Listen to the Podcast Episode

You can listen here:

Watch Our Conversation

Or, watch our conversation on YouTube:

How to Differentiate Between Slidedocs and Slidedecks

Here are the highlights from the conversation.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to differentiate between slidedocs and slidedecks when using presentation software like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Slidedecks are presentation slides that accompany the speaker, and they’ll generally have as little text as possible and plenty of high-quality images.

Slidedocs are standalone documents that just happen to be made in PowerPoint instead of Word. Since they’re meant to be reports, they’ll need more full sentences.

You’ll learn about five specific ways to design better slidedecks and slidedocs:

1. Titles and Headings
2. Amount of Text
3. Font Size
4. Visuals
5. Length

Titles and Headings

The first difference we should see between slidedecks and slidedocs is the wording.

In slidedocs, I recommend takeaway titles, which have the “so what?” directly in the headings, subheadings, and graph titles.

In slidedecks, I used to say that topical titles were okay because the presenter would explain the “so what?” with their voice.  But, nowadays, I recommend using takeaway titles for both formats (for presentations and documents). Our audiences are busy, and I can’t risk confusing them.

Amount of Text

In slidedecks, we should aim for as little text as possible. No full paragraphs. No full sentences. Key phrases only. The speaker fills in the information with his or her voice.

In slidedocs, I recommend using full sentences and paragraphs. This is a report, after all. Our readers need to understand the content on their own; there won’t be a presenter explaining the information to them. Our report just happens to be made in PowerPoint.

Font Size

Slidedecks need large font (size 18+ for body text). For in-person presentations, the text needs to be big enough for people in the verrrry back of the room to see it. For virtual presentations, the text needs to be big enough for people to read it from their phone screens.

Slidedocs are essentially just reports, so they need report-size font (~size 11 for body text).

Visuals

I recommend storytelling graphs for both slidedecks and slidedocs.

“The term data storytelling is used different ways,” you’ll hear me say in the podcast. Storytelling graphs have an intentional dark/light contrast, accompanied by takeaway graph titles.

Our brains can’t help but notice dark colors, so choose one key point that you want your audience to focus on, and make that darker.

For slidedecks, I recommend just one graph per slide to focus your audience. That way, the audience members are actually looking at the right graph as you talk about it. If we put too many graphs on the screen at once, we risk losing their attention.

Length

When we’re designing slidedocs, we typically need to stay within page limits. There might be written or unwritten rules about keeping the report to 3, 5, or 10 pages, for example.

When we’re designing slidedecks, we should ignore “rules” about slide limits. Use as many slides as you need! In the podcast, you’ll hear me explain that “You’re clicking through [the slides] at a faster pace, but you’re not slurring your speech or talking really, really fast to get through everything.” You’re showing less per slide, and keeping the pace nice and quick.

Quick Dataviz Wins for Presentations

Finally, in the podcast, Boris asked me for data visualization tips.

I shared several Quick Wins that benefit our busy audiences. “People are very hard working, they’re very highly educated, I think we just don’t have the time,” I explained. “These are some tips to help speed up [the audience’s] comprehension knowing they live in a busy world.”

Quick tips include:

1. Round decimal places to the nearest whole number;
2. Avoid ALL CAPS; and
3. Left-align text instead of centering.

Dataviz Book Recommendations

Boris asked me for book recommendations. Here are the books I mentioned:

• Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer
• How Charts Lie by Alberto Cairo
• Presentation Zen Design by Garr Reynolds

Connect with Boris Hristov

• World of Presentations Podcast: https://356labs.com/podcast/
• Twitter: @brshristov
• LinkedIn: @brshristov
• Present to Succeed Conference: https://www.presenttosucceed.com/

Your Turn

Do you use PowerPoint for slidedecks, slidedocs, or both?

The post How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint by Differentiating Between Slidedocs and Slidedecks appeared first on Depict Data Studio.

Dashboard is a tricky term; it means different things to different people.

In this article, you’ll learn how to:

• choose between various dashboard types (static or interactive, single or series); and
• deal with common dashboard challenges.

Lea Pica’s Present Beyond Measure Podcast

I recently had the chance to be on the Present Beyond Measure podcast, hosted by Lea Pica.

Lea is a seasoned digital analytics practitioner, social media marketer and blogger with over 11 years of experience building search marketing and digital analytics practices for companies.

You can listen to all of Lea’s podcast episodes here.

What’s Inside

Here are some of the topics we talked about:

• All about my journey into data viz and how I leveraged my skills.
• The poll that I use to start the conversation around data dashboards!
• Different perceptions of dashboards and the first steps for client conversations.
• The four types of dashboards and the steps in the planning process.
• The necessary software for dashboard creation and thoughts on the nuances between different programs.
• Tips and tricks for streamlining your data extraction process.
• Challenges that I have seen most often in the dashboard creation process.
• Unpacking the discussion around layout and chart types and my personal approach.
• My recommendation of an impactful book dealing with the power of text placement.
• Why I’m so excited about progress in the field of dashboard creation.

Defining the Term “Dashboard”

I asked Lea to give her definition of a dashboard (hint: there’s a million correct answers!).

Lea said,

“My definition of a dashboard is a single view suite of data chart modules, or data form modules, that are designed to alert a lay audience to the most critical business key performance indicators, business metrics, in a way that they can either make very basic decisions on their own or alert them to ask the proper teams to investigate those chains further.”

Whoa! That’s one of the most sophisticated answers I’ve ever heard.

Different Perceptions of Dashboards

Dashboard software programs are relatively new.

If you’ve entered the field recently, you might associate “dashboards” with specific software programs, like Tableau or PowerBI.

In the past, “dashboards” meant static one-pagers, like a printout or a PDF. For example, you might prepare a one-page handout of key metrics that would be printed and discussed at a board meeting.

How to Plan Your Next Dashboard Project

On the podcast, Lea and I talked about how to plan for your next dashboard project.

Step 1: Define the Term “Dashboard”

First, recognize that each team member has a different idea of the term “dashboard.”

Some people might want to dive in and build a dynamic dashboard.

Others might be envisioning a one-page PDF, or even some slides to discuss at a meeting.

Step 2: Static or Interactive?

Second, talk about whether you need a static or interactive dashboard.

Static means you need a meeting handout or a one-pager of key facts and figures. You could share the one-pager as an email attachment or post it on a website.

Busy leaders don’t have the privilege of time, so providing a one-pager is a gift. It’s like saying, “I’ve already dug through all the messy data, here’s what I think are the key findings for you in this neat, tiny, little package.”

Interactive dashboards (or dynamic dashboards) have drop-down menus, checkboxes, and buttons.  

We’ve all seen and used these dashboards, either on our computers or in our phone apps.

But, sometimes people don’t need or want that much information.

Technical audiences will probably appreciate an interactive dashboard, but non-technical audiences might appreciate a one-pager.

In the podcast, you’ll hear Lea and I discuss the mismatches we see.

Technical people like using interactive dashboards, so we make interactive dashboards. We have to pause and remember that our audiences might be non-technical, and they might prefer a static one-pager.

Step 3: Single or Series?

Third, figure out whether you a single dashboard or lots and lots of matching dashboards.

For example, leaders at a state education agency might need an overview of all the schools, aggregated together.

Principals would benefit from seeing their own school’s data.

Within a single project, you might need a single dashboard (the overview for the state education agency) and a series of matching dashboards (one per school for each of the principals).

Step 4: Choose Your Software Program

Finally, choose your software program.

Audience decisions should come before software decisions.

I’m a big fan of everyday software, so I tend to make most of my dashboards in Microsoft Excel.

Excel, PowerPoint, and Word are the common language among all the groups I work with, and I think people are pleasantly surprised to see how much Excel can do.

Common Dashboard Challenges

In the podcast, Lea and I discussed common dashboard challenges.

Designing Your First Dashboard

Getting your first dashboard set up is the hardest part.

If you’ve got a dashboard, I’d love to give you five gold stars, seriously.

You might have needed to hire new staff, attend training, or spend hours fiddling with that first dashboard. Celebrate your wins, vizard.

Making Sure Your Dashboard Isn’t Too Dense

Then, we talked about some specific design challenges.

The biggest challenge I see is volume, or how much we try to include in a dashboard.

I see a lot of dashboards that look very full. They’ve got so many charts. They’re bursting at the seams.

If that happens in your project, take a time-out. Try to remember which one audience this dashboard is for.

It can’t be for your boss, board members, the public, fellow staff, and your peers.

Each of those groups is going to need different charts, so if you try to fit everyone’s information requests inside a single dashboard, it starts to overflow.

Pick your one audience, and then prioritize the data points that your one audience needs.

Use Familiar Bar Charts, or Variety?

Another common dashboard challenge is choosing the right chart type.

I come from a research background, so my go-to chart type is bar charts.

I have way too many bar charts. My drafts are bar, bar, bar, bar. As I edit, I add more variety.

There’s a delicate trade-off between adding variety and sticking with everyday charts, though.

In the podcast, you’ll hear Lea say that she sees a benefit in using everyday charts.

“People immediately understand what they’re supposed to understand from seeing those [familiar] charts. There’s no learning curve, there’s no training gap,” Lea explained.

In the podcast, you’ll also hear me talk about a recent client. Their dataset has three nested levels (i.e.., categories, subcategories, and sub-subcategories).

We brainstormed several options for their dashboard: a tree diagram, sunburst diagram, and Sankey diagram. Together, we weighed the pros and cons of each approach: What does it highlight? How easy is it for someone else to understand? Is this the pattern we really want to emphasize—or not?

But another consideration is time and software options. Is it worth the staff time to develop those charts for the dashboard? Or do we stick with the usual bar charts?

Book Recommendation: I Am a Book

In the podcast, you’ll hear Lea ask me whether I’ve read any good data or design books recently.

I mentioned I Am a Book. I Am a Portal to the Universe by Stefanie Posavec and Miriam Quick.

This book has my favorite text placement of all time. The Nobel Prize for text placement! It gave me permission to use huge fonts, diagonal fonts, and even circular fonts. What a masterpiece.

The Future of Data Storytelling

Finally, Lea and I talked about the future of data storytelling.

“I can’t wait until I can stop talking about some of the topics I’m talking about,” I said.

“Let’s re-record this in 10 years and our dashboard conversation, I cannot wait for that to be a different conversation.”

I can’t wait to stop saying that some interactive dashboards should actually be static.

I can’t wait to stop saying that non-technical and technical audiences have different dashboard preferences.

I can’t wait to stop saying that the leaders and the doers have different information needs.

Your Turn

What does the term “dashboard” mean to you? Every workplace has a slightly different definition.

What type of dashboard do you need for your project? Static or interactive? Single or series?

What are some of the most common dashboard challenges you’ve seen?

Connect with Lea Pica

Website: leapica.com

The Present Beyond Measure Podcast: leapica.com/podcast

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leapica

The post How to Plan for Your Next Dashboard [Lea Pica’s Present Beyond Measure Podcast] appeared first on Depict Data Studio.