[MUSIC] In this video, we'll discuss the best means of incorporating and displaying data to support your key messages. If you completed the last course in the series, you've already learned a lot about the principles and best practices of data visualization. The topics covered in that section directly correspond to how you should display within a deck. When choosing your visuals, understand there are different types of charts. Each of which conveys different types of information. Pie charts or donut charts are good mechanism for showing composition, or parts of a whole. Bar charts are best used for item comparisons, line charts are best for displaying a time series, or for showing frequency. Scatter plot graphs are best for mapping correlations. No matter which visual you use, be sure to make them easy to read and to provide the appropriate context. For example, sort bar charts from greatest to least. Differentiate the color for important items. Use brand colors in your visualization, if your audience understands the market space. Clearly label your charts, so that the audience understands the precise context of your data. Every chart should contain four items. One, a title describing what the chart displays. Two, a description of the data. Three, the relevent data units. US dollars, percentages, millions, billions ectetera. And four, relevent dates including year and month if possible. Your slide should outline key features and or take aways of the supporting data. Relevent, interesting, or unusual elements should be highlighted. And remember you've been immersed in the data for days or weeks, but a client may be unfamiliar with the industry or topic. Your goal is to insure that all data, charts, and graphs are as easy to understand as possible. A reader should be able to easy and immediately follow the data presented and there should be no guessing games. Note that unexplained graphics will undermine the probability of your work being understood and unexplained irregularities on the data may undermine your thesis. There are many formating tools available to you in PowerPoint to help clear find data and bring attention to most important points supporting your governing thought. Use boxes to call attention to key data being discussed. Or use call-out boxes to explain changes in a data series. You should also consider summary boxes at the bottom of slides. Always use forecast boxes or arrows to indicate data such as growth rates, to highlight peaks and troughs, or to reference seasonality in the data. Demonstrate important trends by highlighting relevant data. Group segments of data to improve readability. Include footnotes to explain any irregularities or difficult-to-understand items. Use bold or different colors to highlight points. Use symbols such as Harvey Balls or other such visual aids to help make data more readily understood. And as we discussed in our last video, be sure that your text use consistent fonts, types, colors and sizes. This applies to any print outs that you plan to distribute to your audience as well. Lets review an example together, here forecast data is illustrated. The key growth areas discussed in the lead line are highlighted by red boxes to the legend on the right. The slide demonstrates the design guidelines that we've discussed, including a clear lead line, supporting facts, consistent font styles, cited sources of information and a risk disclaimer. In addition to charts, you can use tables to display your data. You can use Harvey Balls, round ideograms, to evaluate and rate data. This example uses Harvey Balls within a table, to depict a common way to compare data elements and move away from just using numbers. It also provides a good graphical representation, drawing the audience's attention to the most important data elements of the slide. In this case consumer electronics industry ratings compared to others. Here's an example of how to use spider diagram to emphasize which element of the data is the most or least important. In many cases, spider diagrams are used to compare the situation with the ideal state emphasizing the gaps. Again, don't forget to highlight important and relevant data within your visualizations as shown in this example. Use an arrow to indicate the action or use column boxes to add additional data. In this video, we discussed the best means of displaying data on your slides and the impact that it can make. If it's a chart make sure that it's the most effective type, and that's it's information and purpose is clear to the audience. If a table or diagram make sure you draw attention to the most important information. In summary, the way you display your data can make or break the case for your client. Your credibility and the acceptance of your proposed solution depend on the ability of your audience understand all of the data that you're presenting. [MUSIC]
