Got my Feltron 2014 report!
I don’t have the complete collection, but it’s a nice final addition.
Feltron 2014 – 10th & Final
Categories: Showing Data, Visual Thinking.
Category Archives: Showing Data
Turn Tables into Visuals with Excel Heatmapping
My fellow PowerPoint MVP, Glenna Shaw has written a great tutorial on how to create Excel table heat maps.
Generally, we think of “heat maps” as geographical, shading in countries, states or other regions to indicate relative values. But heat maps can actually much more easily be applied to Excel tables through conditional formatting—rendering a “referanceable” table into a “glanceable” visualization.
An Interesting Chart from The Wall Street Journal
I thought the above chart on the left was interesting, if not quite as effective as another chart might be. Most would have jumped to a pie chart, or maybe a stacked bar chart, but the WSJ today created a…”Dot Bar Graph”? I don’t know what you’d call it, but it did take me a moment to figure it out as a reader. And then after I did figure it out, second guessed myself due to the removal of the %’s after 40%. (Were there only 27 women polled, I wondered?)
After a few moments, I realized that all the numbers (which are percentages) add up to 100%—something that is not so intuitive since the scale ends at 40%.
Perhaps they didn’t want to do a bar graph (which is perfectly acceptable when all values add up to 100%) so as not to confuse things with the bar graph on the right?
So, in the end, it’s “interesting” to me. But maybe a stacked bar chart or tree map would have been better?
10 Types of Stories to Tell with Data
Enhanced SOTU 2015
Many of you know that I’m a big fan of a little-noticed addition our President has made to the age-old tradition of the State of the Union address. The White House has recognized the visual, media-hungry, short attention span society we have become and has responded by adding slides to the President’s annual address of Congress and the nation.
No, there are no screens behind the President, and if you watch on TV, you won’t see the slides. But if you watch online in real-time or afterward, you can view the Enhanced State of the Union that includes composite video of the President and a sidebar of vertical visuals (slides) that hit key points of the President’s speech.
As usual, not every slide is perfect (really, they have got to lose the red text over blue backgrounds…), but I have noticed the visuals getting better each year. And what I noticed most of all this time was an increased use of imagery. The slides continue to become simpler and more effective for communicating their message in fractions of a second.
And if you just want to view the slides, they are on SlideShare.
18 Best Infographics of 2014
Waterfall Charts in PowerPoint and Excel
Waterfall charts are very popular in certain industries and at certain consulting companies that start with “McK,” but Microsoft doesn’t actually give you the ability to create them in PowerPoint and Excel in the way you can create standard bar or line charts.
You can create them through a little creative hacking though.
And Indezine has a nice post up from Taylor Croonquist from Nuts & Bolts Speed Training on just how to do it. Take a look!
Categories: Showing Data.
Presenting the Story of Your Data Webinar
I’m really excited to be doing my second webinar for PresentationXpert on Wednesday, November 12.
Visualizing data effectively and clearly is becoming an increasingly larger part of workflows these days. Tune in to this free seminar to learn how to create better charts and visualizations using the tools you already have on your desktop.
We’ll cover 6 solid techniques for indentifying and telling the story of your data including the all-important “McKinsey Rule.”
We’ll discuss “chart junk,” how to identify it, why it’s counterproductive and how to remove it. We’ll discuss why pie charts suck, how to avoid legends and the reasons why the fewer colors you use the better.
And did I mention that the webinar is absolutely free?
Register now!
Categories: Information Design, Showing Data.
Charts Gone Wild
Categories: Information Design, Showing Data.
Webinar Alert: Presenting the Story of Your Data
I don’t give many webinars or trainings that are open to the public, but next month I will be presenting an online session as part of Ellen Finkelstein’s Outstanding Presentations Workshop.
Presenting the Story of Your Data
with Nolan Haims
Tuesday, September 9th 2pm EST/ 11am PST
The hour-long session will expose you to a portion of what is fast becoming my most popular client training. If you’re like most organizations out there, you face daily challenges of how to communicate increasing amounts of data clearly and effectively using your everyday desktop tools of Excel and PowerPoint.
We’ll cover how to identify and deliver the meaning of your numbers and not just the numbers themselves. Here’s just a little of what we’ll address:
- Picturing numbers without charts
- Leveraging the “McKinsey Rule” in your chart titles and headers
- How to add emphasis and use color effectively
- Why you want to avoid legends at all costs
- Why you lie to your audiences everytime you use a 3D pie chart (just like in that wonderful stock image above…)
- Simplification and elimination of “chart junk”
- Typical charting pitfalls to avoid
I am actually kicking off this year’s series of Outstanding Presentations Workshops. Following me through the end of October is a wonderful group of presentation experts, professionals and trainers. To check out the entire lineup and to register at the ridiculously low early-bird rate of just $10 for access to all sessions, click here. Prices go up slightly September 4th!
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And don’t forget that you can also hear and see me speak at this year’s Presentation Summit in October in sunny San Diego. I’ll be giving the opening keynote presentation on my favorite topic—”Simplicity”—as well a breakout session on the “Secrets of a Professional Presentation Designer.” Spots are still open!
Categories: Showing Data.
