Visualizing information, that is, turning it into charts, graphs, maps, etc., is an important skill to have for anyone nowadays, as it can be used in many contexts and fields.
“Knowing how to develop and deliver a data-driven presentation is now a crucial skill for many professionals, since we often have to tell our colleagues stories that are much more compelling when they’re backed by numbers,” agrees researcher and consultant Alexandra Samuel.
Almost any professional can make use of visual aids to understand data better themselves or make it more accessible to the general public or audience that doesn’t have the technical knowledge required to process it.
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However, creating a clear presentation that visualizes data doesn’t just include putting a bar graph here and a pie chart there. That alone doesn’t guarantee a presentation that is easy to understand. To help professionals out, Harvard Business Review partnered with data and presentation experts to deliver a few pieces of advice on how to display your information like a pro.
The first tip they give is to make sure that your data can be seen. Sometimes what is readable on your laptop might not translate the same way when projected on a screen. Your audience won’t be interested or learn something they can’t see. So try to rehearse the presentation with someone seated from the screen as far away as the actual audience.
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The following recommendation is to focus on the points that your data illustrates. Don’t leave your audience to decode the data presented to them.
“Data slides aren’t really about the data. They’re about the meaning of the data,” explains presentation design expert Nancy Duarte. “It’s up to you to make that meaning clear before you click away. Otherwise, the audience won’t process—let alone buy—your argument.”
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Similarly, experts discourage sharing too many details at once. Present one, and they stress only one major point from each chart you show. To ensure that happens, ask yourself, "What is the single most important thing that I want my audience to take away from the data presented?"
Data-presentation guru Scott Berinato says, “The impulse is to include everything you know, [but] busy charts communicate the idea that you’ve been just that—busy, as in: ‘Look at all the data I have and the work I’ve done.’”
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While crafting a chart, it’s also advised to clearly label its components. Having watched the visualization for a long time, everything might be clear to you, but the audience will look at it for mere seconds. In those seconds, they need to be able to understand the chart clearly. To achieve this, use simple, clear, and complete language to identify the X and Y axes, pie pieces, bars, and other elements included. Avoid abbreviations that might be confusing to others.
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