20 Presenting Visualizations
- Review principles for creating visuals for effective communication
- Understand the expectations for orally presenting visualizations
WHERE ARE WE?!? Data Storytelling
- Data Storytelling is the process of creating a narrative around a dataset. This narrative can be used to inform, persuade, or entertain. It is a way to communicate the insights we’ve gained from our data to others.
20.1 Warm-up
Effective communication = effective visuals + clear narrative
20.1.1 Effective visuals
Let’s review from the beginning of semester.
- Professionalism
- meaningful axis labels
- figure caption
- Accessibility
- alternative text
- color blind friendly colors
- Design details
- consider glyph choice
- consider color choices
- facilitate comparison
- use contrasts to draw attention
- Ethics
- Don’t mislead
- Consider visibility, privacy, power, emotion & embodiment, pluralism, context
Let’s consider a few other visuals. What is effective? What could be improved?
20.1.2 Clear narrative
When preparing to present a visualization, consider the following:
- Motivation & Context
- What is the question you are answering, and why is it important?
- What data context does the audience need to understand the visual? (W’s?)
- Orientation
- What aspects of the visual should you explain to provide necessary orientation?
- Walk through guides (axes, color legend, etc.)
- Highlights
- Hone in on one or two interesting data points and tell the story behind them.
- Explain how the visual aspects of the viz reflect that story (this reinforces how they should interpret the viz).
- Big Picture
- What are the overall trends or takeaways?
- What are the implications for them? Why does it matter?
- What comparison are you wanting to highlight?
20.1.3 Presenting Visualizations
- Speak slowly
- It takes people some time to wrap their heads around a new viz.
- Practice ahead of time with a friend. Practice by yourself. Refine the viz if necessary!
20.2 Exercises
20.2.1 Exercise 1 - Confer with Group
Each person in a project group should make their own unique visualization. Talk with your group about your ideas for a visual.
20.2.2 Exercise 2 - Create a Visualization
Create 1 effective visualization from your project data that tells a story.
20.2.3 Exercise 3 - Group Feedback
Once you make a draft visual, share it with your group. Discuss ways to improve the visualization to make it more effective.
20.2.4 Exercise 4 - Prepare a Presentation
Prepare a 2 minute oral presentation (motivation, orientation, highlights, big picture) of your visualization.
Next week, in small groups of 4 people outside your project group,
- you’ll present your visualization (2 minutes)
- discuss as a group ways of improving the visualization to make it more effective (8 minutes)
Each of the 4 individuals will take a turn to present.