9,200 total participants in my dataviz courses so far (and ~25,000 taught in-person and virtually over the past decade).
A dozen in-person workshops (with trips to Dubai & Tanzania) and several dozen virtual workshops.
32 new blog posts: 28 from me, and 4 from guest authors.
2 more YouTube videos (115 total).
2 more podcast interviews.
2 more babies.
6 months off.
What a year.
Top 23 Dataviz Resources of 2023
Want to do some year-end learning as 2023 winds down?
Here are my favorite data visualization resources from the past year.
- The Progression of Sue Griffey’s Year-End Infographic: Sue Griffey explained how she edited her infographic and we discussed it together during Office Hours. I love going behind the scenes like this!
- Watch Out for Mars! 6 Data Cleaning Steps to Save You Millions: Hudson Kelley teaches us how to check for duplicates; check for changes in the survey instrument; check for outliers; use counts; recode variables with IF statements; and combine datasets with lookups.
- How to Influence Others with Your Data: SuperDataScience Podcast Interview: I was invited to speak on the #1 podcast in the data field. Host Jon Krohn asked me to summarize some of my favorite tips for data storytelling, spreadsheets, reports, and presentations. This is a great listen for people who are new to my work.
- Embedded Legends Aren’t Enough: I see this accessibility mistake way too often. Take a peek and make sure you aren’t messing up your graph titles and legends.
- How to Visualize “Overall” Data or Averages in Bar Charts: Probably my most practical post of the year.
- 39+ Amazing Graphs You Can Make in Excel: Probably the community’s favorite post of the year. This isn’t an exhaustive list, and I’ll add to it someday. In all my spare time.
- 3 Simple Steps that Took My Graph from Good to Great: In this before-after makeover from a museum evaluation project, Maia Werner-Avidon teaches us how to use grouping, spacing, and icons.
- How to Make Great Graphs in Excel: 4 Levels of Excel Vizardry: Probably my personal favorite of the year. Everyone wants to jump into advanced graphs, and then they flail and drown. In this post, you’ll see which skills you should start with.
- How to Analyze Nonprofit Data with Excel’s Pivot Tables (No Formulas Required!): I shared the recording and materials from my how-to workshop at the Good Tech Fest conference.
- Building a Business that Fits Your Family: Disrupt Your Money Podcast: I was invited to speak on Meg Wheeler’s financial podcast. I shared a lot of personal and business details.
- From Formulaic to Meaningful: Constructing a Useful “Table of Contents” Page for an Evaluation Report: Barbara Klugman shared her before-after makeover on the discussion boards inside Report Redesign, and I invited her to write a blog post so others could learn from her, too. Thanks, Barbara!
- How to Visualize Multi-Year Patterns: Another super-practical post. It would’ve been a personal favorite if people on social media didn’t prefer the terrible, horrible, before version better than the redesigned options. Sigh.
- Two Types of Tables: Datasets vs. Tabulations: If everyone followed this advice, I could retire. Someday!!!
- Two Types of Datasets: Contiguous vs. Non-Contiguous: The most important time-saver I’ll teach you all year.
- Two Types of Tabulations: Formulas vs. Pivot Tables: To my knowledge, none of the Excel bloggers worldwide have written about the implications of formulas vs. pivot tables for data visualization. Maybe 5 people in the entire world will appreciate this advanced, niche post. Are you one of those 5 people?
- How to Make Your First Tableau Dashboard: It’ll take less than an hour, promise.
- How to Make a Series of Matching Dashboards in Excel: I gave away all the behind-the-scenes secrets in this one. Companies pay me $10,000 – $30,000 for these types of automations in consulting projects. Please, just follow these instructions and do it yourself. I’d love to retire someday.
- How to Make Interactive Dashboards in Excel: You’ll learn how to link Excel Tables, pivot tables, pivot charts, and slicers.
- Redesigning a Thesis Chapter: Farihah Malik does the very hard work of applying what she learned in Report Redesign to academia.
- Use Icons to Visualize Data (Not Just Decorate): An advanced, niche post that maybe 5 people worldwide will appreciate. Maybe you’re one of them?? It had to be written.
- How to Visualize Small n’s with Icon Arrays: A quick before-after table makeover. Please steal this idea.
- Bring Technical Tables to Life: A real (sort of) before-after makeover from when I keynoted the National Birth Defects Prevention Network Conference in Atlanta this summer.
- Don’t Start from Scratch! Make One of These Dashboards Instead: A few of my favorite dashboard case studies, all in one place, to make them easier for your to find.
Your Turn
What types of tutorials should I create in 2024?
Comment below with your requests!
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