Big data. Analytics. Data science. Businesses are clamoring to use data to get a competitive edge, but all the data in the world won’t help if your stakeholders can’t understand, or if their eyes glaze over as you present your incredibly insightful analysis. This post outlines my top ten tips for presenting data.

It’s worth noting that these tips are tool agnostic—whether you use Data Studio, Domo, Tableau or another data viz tool, the principles are the same. However, don’t assume your vendors are in lock-step with data visualization best practices! Vendor defaults frequently violate key principles of data visualization, so it’s up to the analyst to put these principles in practice.

Tip #1: Recognize That Presentation Matters

The first step to presenting data is to understand that how you present data matters. It’s common for analysts to feel they’re not being heard by stakeholders, or that their analysis or recommendations never generate action. The problem is, if you’re not communicating data clearly for business users, it’s really easy for them to tune out.

Analysts may ask, “But I’m so busy with the actual work of putting together these reports. Why should I take the time to ‘make it pretty’?”

Because it’s not about “making things pretty.” It’s about making your data understandable.

My very first boss in Analytics told me, “As an analyst, you are an information architect.” It’s so true. Our job is to take a mass of information and architect it in such a way that people can easily comprehend it.

… Keep reading on ObservePoint‘s blog …