This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. It’s not 1995. Last week, I was leading a post-conference workshop with CQI professionals in California. You can learn more about their annual conferences here. An attendee asked about best practices for adding photographs to our PowerPoint presentations. Before Let’s pretend that you’re […]
Do You Need a Single Map, or Several Maps?
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Here’s a counterintuitive dataviz principle: Sometimes, it’s easier to understand several small graphs than a single graph. I was recently working with an organization to visualize which states were using their software programs. States might use: Software A Software B Or, both software […]
How to Make a Not-So-Scary Starter Dashboard in Excel
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Dashboards aren’t scary! In this video, let’s make a starter dashboard in Microsoft Excel. You’ll learn how to make four quick visuals: Sparklines Data bars Symbol fonts Color scales I use these visuals over and over in my real-life consulting projects. Watch the […]
10 Subtle Signs of “Death by PowerPoint”
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Death by PowerPoint makes our audience scroll through their phone or lose interest. Important information sits on the slide, gathering dust. We’re all familiar with the obvious signs of Death by PowerPoint: Text-wall slides with bullet points for daaaays. Using filler words (um, […]
How to Present Dense Data Visualizations (Without Losing Your Audience)
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Ten years ago, I had terrible insomnia. I was working full-time and finishing graduate school at night. My stress came out as insomnia. I’d get tired of laying in bed… and go make YouTube videos. For me, being up in the middle of […]
How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint by Differentiating Between Slidedocs and Slidedecks
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Do you use PowerPoint? Probably. What do you use PowerPoint for? You might use PowerPoint to: 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 Create documents that someone […]
What Type of Dashboard Do We Need? 4 Types to Consider + Diagram to Download
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. What type of dashboard do we need for our project? I want to talk about something that’s a little controversial in the dashboard space: There are 4 types of dashboards, all of which are correct. You might need one type. Or, you might […]
How to Plan for Your Next Dashboard [Lea Pica’s Present Beyond Measure Podcast]
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. You’ve been asked to make a dashboard—now what?! 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 […]
Dashboard Don’ts: My 10 Worst Mistakes from Past Projects
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Are you working on a dashboard at your workplace? Maybe you’re making a brand-new dashboard? Maybe you’re revamping an existing dashboard to bring it up to speed? Maybe you don’t have a dashboard yet, and you’re wondering if you need one? In this […]
What Makes a Useful Data Story? 5 Questions to Ask
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Ready to tell a story with data? Here’s my definition of data storytelling, in case you missed the previous blog post. Great! Let’s remove the guesswork from our graphs. The next step is to figure out which message we’ll highlight. We can’t visualization everything—that […]