Public Speaking Tips for Researchers and Evaluators from Isaac Castillo

Sep 8th, 2020 / Data Visualization
Isaac Castillo is the Director of Outcomes, Assessment and Learning at Venture Philanthropy Partners. He has 20+ years of experience with research, evaluation and measurement. Although Isaac has spent two decades working in research and evaluation, he started his career as a competitive debater and public speaking coach. I asked Isaac for his #1 piece of public speaking advice. Isaac advised us to prepare half as much content as we think we need. Here’s why.
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Can Your Dataviz Have an Influence on School Reopening Plans?

Jul 28th, 2020 / Data Visualization, Presentations, Reports
Our organizations collect all this data—through surveys, assessments, interviews, and so on—and then what? The default: The data just sits there inside a Dusty Shelf Report. But what if your data could actually inform real-life decisions? I recently sat down with Vivian Jefferson from Loudoun County Public Schools, a growing district in the Washington, D.C. metro area who shared that her graphs had been featured on the news (!!!).
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Presenting Data While Working Remotely: Audio, Lighting, and Speaking Tips

Mar 31st, 2020 / Data Visualization
I recently had the chance to talk with my friend Jon Schwabish of PolicyViz. Our latest conversation was part of the Urban Institute’s Data@Urban Digital Discussions series. The intention of these talks are to connect with each other while we’re all social distancing. In it we discuss my work at home setup, my top three tips for presenting data over video calls and lessons learned from teaching online courses.
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How to Declutter Your Cluttered Stacked Bars

Sep 24th, 2018 / Data Visualization, Presentations
I have a love-hate relationship with stacked bars charts. They’re a great way to show part-to-whole patterns (like an easier-to-read pie chart). But, like pie charts, they feel overwhelming once we add a bunch of different categories. Are they the worst chart of all time? Perhaps. Here’s how to make stacked bar charts more bearable.
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