Have you ever been on that big stage? If your answer is “YES,” then you know it can be both intimidating and confusing. Where should I stand? Can I walk over here? What should I do with my hands? If your answer is “NO,” then get ready… because your day is coming! After working in public …
5 Tips to Untangle Your Data Presentation
Is Your Data Presentation a Tangled Mess? Computers have brought us to an age where data can be wrangled 8 ways to Sunday in a matter of nano-seconds. Some people call that the “heavy lifting” of data analytics. In my opinion, the toughest lifting of data analytics is when the data has to be communicated …
3 Ways to Fix the Data Dump Presentation
“We really want to help our technical teams communicate better.” This was the request from our data analytics customer when I asked, “What are you trying to change with training?” This is not an uncommon request. I’ve heard it increasingly over the past ten years. When I probe further to ask what they mean by …
4 Messaging Approaches for Data Analysts
“Why are my leaders always questioning my data results?” This was the question from my data analytics student and he was frustrated. So, I asked him, “What do you mean? Can you give me an example?” “Sure. Every time I give them the test results and I tell them what the results mean, they start …
What Planet Are You From?
Alien translator… That’s genius! As a child of the 70’s and 80’s I’m willing to admit… I’m a Star Wars fan. But I’m even more of a Boba Fett fan. Recently, while watching an episode of the streaming series The Book of Boba Fett, I noticed one of the aliens (I don’t know what they’re …
How to Make Your Stories More Visual
Patricia Fripp once said to me, “Craig, people will not remember what you say as much as they will remember what they see when you say it.” In other words, we have to make our speeches very visual in order to have the deepest impact. Here are 3 ways to accomplish this: 1) Put your …
Eliminating the Eye-Chart
“Visuals should be used to enhance an audience’s understanding of a concept, not used as cue cards.” – William Kreiger I am sitting in an elementary school lunch room with several dozen other parents listening to the Parent Teacher Association give an accounting of the previous year’s projects and expenses. Like most presentations, this one …
Death by Coconut
We hear a lot about “Death by PowerPoint” (a business phenomenon caused by poor design and delivery of slides). However, in the last 50 years, there are more documented deaths (8) that occurred from coconuts falling from trees and striking people on the head, than people dying during a PowerPoint presentation (0). Maybe we should …