Visualizing Data: Techniques for Creating Impactful Presentations

Published in

Data Epic

5 min readDec 5, 2023

Today, data has become a major yard stick that is used in any organization, for any business or organization to grow, there are 3 areas to work on PEOPLE, STRUCTURE AND DATA, data presentation today is no longer just about numbers on a screen, making decisions that are impactful and insightful requires data.

To start with, there are 2 stages to creating an impactful presentation:

Things to know Before Creating your Presentation.

What is Data Presentation?

Data presentation is a process of comparing two or more data sets with visual aids, such as graphs. Using a graph, you can represent how the information relates to other data.

Data presentation can be as simple as telling a story or as complicated as decoding cosmic complexities.

The truth is that there is so much that occurs at an event right, but really how much of it does the brain reserve. The brain would only reserve what it counts as relevant right? and discard the rest.

Contrary to many opinions that say you have to choose from various options, such as tables, charts, graphs, maps, or infographics, what format to use, there is nothing stopping you from using as many of each format you find necessary in your presentation.

Simplicity is key-Consistency is vital

To create an impactful presentation, you should avoid unnecessary complexities, too many colors, fonts, labels, or elements and should you also be at the verge of using — use the same style and conventions to help your audience recognize and compare different data sets and categories.

Know Your Audience

70–80 % of your presentation pattern is determined by your Audience, the same information can be communicated without in 3 various ways depending on the audience.

Peers — These are data analysts, data scientists, and anyone in analytics that understands what you’re explaining if you drill down to methodology, analytic approaches, or code. Detailed information is preferable for this audience to share your work and for them to understand your approach and possibly leverage for their projects.

Stakeholders — These are people in the department you support that asks you questions. A moderate level of detail is needed in your presentation for stakeholders to understand the results and make decisions.

Senior leadership — These are people that manage your stakeholders and occupy senior positions in the company. Only high-level information is required that will impact the business. There is no need to go into details that you would with peers or stakeholders.

Create Readable Slides

Make sure your spreadsheet is formatted and labeled exactly how you want it. Think about the message you want to share with your audience and get rid of anything that doesn’t help you tell your story because data that is clean and organized is easier to display and analyze.

It is also good practice to Include how and why you gather this data to provide context. You might share your research questions to preface what the data reveals, identifying the main ideas of your data and research helps organize your presentation and communicates clearly the significance of your presentation.

Practice Your Presentation

As is always said, practice makes perfect, practicing your delivery would always help you communicate your ideas as effectively as possible. Time yourself presenting to ensure you’re speaking in an appropriate amount of time.

What to include in your data presentations

Title and Objective

Needless to say the first thing to be seen in any presentation is the “Title page”, there is a saying that goes thus “first impressions are the most lasting”. While everyone is getting settled, you are all introducing yourselves and the likes, do you now see how necessary it is, meanwhile very little people pay attention to this.

*Title page for Data Presentation — Image source:* Venngage.com

Note: The title must be clear and Informative, nothing too bogus to read or too complex to understand and you are one step in.

Primary Objective / Purpose

Given the scenario where the presentation is to be done and your audience your objective could range from a simple sentence to a paragraph something to wet the appetite of your audience.

Key data points

Present the most essential data points or findings that align with your objective. Are they clear, are they written.
Use charts, graphical presentations or visuals to illustrate these key points for better comprehension.

Visual markers

There are points called the “Aha!” zone, that spot where everything correlates, that point you get to and there is an obvious “oh!”. Visually highlighting the “Aha!” zone itself with a circle or shading helps to reinforce the most important takeaways from your data

Descriptions

Descriptions are different from summaries, in descriptions you are telling your audience know what they are looking at, they need this information before there can be a clear understanding of your summaries. Always make sure they are short and sentence concise, with this your audience get to appreciate how you came about your suggestions.

Summaries

These are implications or actions to be taken from your data, never show any illustration that has no implication or action point.

An image like this is incomplete without a summary, there cannot be an assumption that everyone would understand from the image, what works and what doesn’t. Should the company focus more on the marketing strategy that performed best, change their approach, what are you suggesting.

Time for Questions & Discussion

At the end of your presentation, allocate time for questions and open discussion to engage the audience. It is necessary to give time for the audience to ask questions. This way there is a thorough understanding of your research.

Conclusion

Remember, the goal of data presentation is to make complex topics much easier to understand, and if you’re bringing too much information to the table, you’re missing the point. The more information you give, the more time it will take for your audience to process it all.