This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Every time I scroll through social media, someone’s post is telling me: “Want to know the secret to great dataviz?! Know your audience!” “Want to make a great dashboard?! Know your audience!!” I mean… duh. “Knowing your audience” is terrible data visualization advice. […]
Dashboard Design and “The Big Picture” in Dataviz: A Conversation with Steve Wexler
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. I recently had the chance to talk with Steve Wexler, founder of Data Revelations, author of The Big Picture: How to Use Data Visualization to Make Better Decisions- Faster and co-author of The Big Book of Dashboards: Visualizing Your Data Using Real-World Business Scenarios. Steve joined […]
How to Engage Your Audience with “Choose Your Own Adventure” Presentations
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Ready for an advanced presentation technique? Want to make sure your audience is engaged? No, those 10-minute Q&As at the end of a presentation don’t count as adequate engagement. Let’s notch up our engagement! In this blog post, you’ll learn about the “Choose […]
How to Organize Your PowerPoint Slides by Adding Sections
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Want to organize your PowerPoint slides a little better? There’s a behind-the-scenes trick that I love using in my own presentations: Sections! In March 2021, I was speaking with GEDIs about dataviz tricks for presentations. (The GEDI program is the Graduate Education Diversity […]
How to Visualize Qualitative Data with Colored Phrases
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Wondering how to visualize your qualitative data? Maybe you’ve got open-ended survey responses, focus group notes, or speech transcripts. Qualitative data visualization can bring our words and phrases to life. My friend Jon Schwabish from PolicyViz asked me to partner on his One […]
How to Pass the Excel Certification Exam
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Want to pass the Excel certification exam? Maybe you want proof that you can rock Excel for your resume? For your LinkedIn profile? Do you want a confidence boost that, yes, you know Excel? Do you want your boss to feel confidence that, […]
How to Use Vlookup in Microsoft Excel: Two Step-by-Step Examples for Beginners
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. Vlookup is my all-time favorite function in Excel! (Well, the entire lookup family—vlookup, hlookup, index-match, and xlookup.) In this blog post, you’ll learn: What vlookup is used for; Why vlookup can be tricky; and How to fill in the four pieces of the […]
10 Must-Have Analytical Skills
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. That beautiful chart is one of the last steps in the analytical process. For most projects, it goes something like this: Planning. Figure out what data you need. You might get data requests from your boss. You might hold a months-long strategic planning […]
24 Conditional Formatting Visuals in Microsoft Excel that Should Be Retired
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. “You should go work at Microsoft and fix Excel’s terrible formatting.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from workshop participants. Bill Gates, are you reading this?? Microsoft Excel is lonnnnng overdue for some updates. Don’t get me wrong—it’s still […]
How Drawing Makes Us Better at Data Visualization
This is an Eval Central archive copy, find the original at depictdatastudio.com. “Which software program is best for data visualization???” This is one of the most common questions about getting started with graphs, charts, and diagrams. There are plenty of great software programs, like Excel and Tableau—and even PowerPoint! There’s also a lesser-known secret to […]