Communicating with Data Bootcamp | Washington, D.C.

About this class

Data visualizations can enable us to compress data and encode them in ways to aid perceptual, cognitive and emotional capacity required to comprehend, retain and make decisions using this data. It is often cited that we are trying to tell stories through them. Is that really the case? How do we ensure that the audience is able to retain, recall and retell our data-driven stories?

‘Storytelling with data’ is a cross disciplinary activity that requires us to operate at the intersection of a visual designer, coder, statistician, and storyteller. It is both a science and an art. This workshop serves as an introduction to the visual and story techniques that are often employed when developing data-stories.

This class will introduce storytelling with real-world data to help you know when to use visualizations and explore charting features. It will incorporate design best practices for data visualizations and effective storytelling strategies for presentations.

Takeaways

• Understand and describe what elements are required to be an effective data storyteller
• Grasp the basics of effective data visualization for communication (and identify common mistakes)
• Gain the ability to challenge (or construct) a narrative based on misleading statistics
• Utilize communication and presentation best practices

Prereqs & Preparation

There are no pre-requisite skills, knowledge or roles necessary for attending the workshop. Only an open approach to learning through listening, observation, and participation in the workshop activities and discussion is required.

For one of the exercises, students will be encouraged to quantify their own story. Bringing a resume (digitally is fine) is a recommended aid.