storytelling with data podcast

Latest Episodes:

storytelling with data: #47 the art of the interview Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

Fresh off a successful search to expand the SWD team, Cole chats with SWD advisor, husband Randy Knaflic, about a critical part of the hiring process: interviewing. Randy shares tips learned and stories lived over a career of hiring talent, from Google to SpaceX to storytelling with data. From showing compassion for a nerve-racked candidate to strategies for thoughtfully crafting and effectively addressing interview questions—whether interviewer or candidate—there’s something for everyone in this episode.

Subscribe to the SWD YouTube channel
Watch become a data viz superstar part 1 to see Cole illustrate a data viz progression
Listen to podcast episode 14: learning data viz
For more on OKRs, listen to podcast episode 13: goals like Google

storytelling with data: #46 questions about questions Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

"There's so much value to be gained in the exchange that happens after someone asks a really good question." The Q&A portion of a presentation is important, but the uncertainty can also be intimidating. When should you solicit questions, and for how long? What do you do when a query is off-topic? What if you don't know the answer? Tune in to hear Cole and Alex talk about preparing for successful audience interactions, including strategies for navigating tricky situations. Cole also answers listener inquiries about presenting data visualizations and keeping an audience engaged.

Upcoming Milwaukee workshop (use discount code PODCAST10)
Podcast: it depends!
Blog post: power pairing of color and words

storytelling with data: #45 the power of post-its Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

Tune in to hear Cole discuss one of her favorite low-tech planning strategies: storyboarding. Small, sticky, and sublimely potent when used well—she details her penchant for post-it notes and process of using them to brainstorm, edit, and solicit feedback to create shorter, targeted, and generally more effective communications.

Article: give it time

Book: Info We Trust by RJ Andrews

Book: Let’s Practice! by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

Book: The Big Picture by Steve Wexler

Conversation: my bars don’t start at zero

Exercise: storyboard YOUR project

July 2021 virtual event: a tale of two audiences

SWD community: sign up, explore the starter guide

TC19 presentation: low-tech SUPERPOWERS for data storytelling

Tool: Miro (virtual whiteboard)

Upcoming workshops: storytellingwithdata.com/workshops (use discount code PODCAST10)

storytelling with data: #44 The Big Picture with Steve Wexler May 18, 2021

Show notes

Cole talks with professional “chart looker-atter” Steve Wexler, about his new book The Big Picture: How to Use Data Visualization to Make Better Decisions—Faster. Tune in for a conversation centered around evangelizing the transformative power of data visualization in an organization, including the value of visualizing for “aha!” (not “ooh and aah”), increasing data fluency, and the importance of collaborating with stakeholders for better results. Also hear Steve’s view on why several highly-lauded historical graphs aren’t ones he’d recommend emulating, whether dashboards can tell a story, and more.

LINKS:

Buy Steve’s new book! The Big Picture | download a sample

Follow Steve: @datarevelations | www.datarevelations.com

More by Steve: The Big Book of Dashboards

storytelling with data: #43 misleading graphs May 06, 2021

Show notes

A good data visualization can reveal and communicate insights. But bad graphs abound. In this episode, Cole chats with Ben Jones about misleading graphs. They discuss a number of common issues, including missorted time, miscalculated area, going against expected norms, spurious correlations, and more. Tune in for tips on how to read graphs and spot issues and avoid being duped, as well as strategies to consider when graphing data so the visualizations you create don’t inadvertently misinform.

LINKS:

Ben Jones | @dataremixed | Data Literacy

Books by Ben mentioned: Learning to See Data, Avoiding Data Pitfalls

Ben’s repository of graphical gaffes: What NOT to Do

Book: Mind in Motion (Barbara Tversky)

Book: Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts (Williard C. Brinton)

Article: Linear vs. Quadratic Change (Robert Kosara)

Article: Why not to use two axes, and what to do instead (Lisa Charlotte Rost)

Article: The public do not understand logarithmic graphs used to portray COVID-19

Site: ourworldindata.org

Site: spurious correlations

Site/books: Calling Bullshit (Carl Bergstrom & Jevin West)

Tweet/graph: Who emits the most? (Greta Thunberg)

Resource: Ben’s “16 chart reading tips” checklist

SWD workshops: see upcoming dates & register (use discount code PODCAST10 at checkout)

storytelling with data: #42 there is still an art to feedback Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

Giving good feedback to others—when done well—can help you sharpen your own thinking and approaches for visualizing and communicating with data. We’ll start with this critical topic in our new 10-week course, so it seemed like the perfect timing to repost the original episode of the storytelling with data podcast. I discuss the value of giving and receiving data visualization feedback and potential problem areas to avoid. Hear The Economist’s eloquent response to critique of one of their graphs, plus answers to reader questions on when to use graphs, considerations with dashboards, and data viz book recommendations (updated with some recent publications!).

MENTIONED LINKS:

10-week course & upcoming workshops: storytellingwithdata.com/workshops

Feedback? email feedback@storytellingwithdata.com

Blog post: SWD makeover challenge on The Economist’s hurricane graph

Article: “Design & Redesign in Data Visualization” by Fernanda Viegas & Martin Wattenberg

Blog post: my guiding principles

Article: The subtle art that differentiates good designers from great designers by UX Planet

Blog post: a tale about opportunity

Book: The Big Book of Dashboards by Steve Wexler, Jeff Shaffer & Andy Cotgreave

Book: storytelling with data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

Book: WSJ Guide to Information Graphics by Dona Wong

Book: Show Me the Numbers by Stephen Few

Book: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte

Book: Avoiding Data Pitfalls by Ben Jones

Book: Better Data Visualizations by Jonathan Schwabish

Book: Let’s Practice! by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

Resource: SWD community

Questions? email askcole@storytellingwithdata.com or start a conversation in SWD community

storytelling with data: #41 maps with Kenneth Field Mar 04, 2021

Show notes

“You don’t have to be a cartographer to make a great map.” Cole talks with cartographer Kenneth Field, author of the award-winning book, Cartography. Tune in to hear the thought process for visualizing data when the “where” matters, including different types of maps, how purpose and audience should drive design decisions, and whether there’s any such thing as a truly accurate map. Plus, learn how technology has compressed the mapmaking process (for better and worse)—from graphicacy to objectivity and ethics, it’s an episode not to miss!

LINKS:

Follow Ken: @kennethfield | carto.maps.arcgis.com

Buy Ken’s book: Cartography

Also mentioned: How to Lie with Maps (Monmonier)

Non-cartographers who made exceptional maps: Charles Minard (map), Florence Nightingale (map), Harry Beck (map)

storytelling with data: #40 Data Sketches with Shirley Wu & Nadieh Bremer Feb 15, 2021

Show notes

“For data visualization, you don’t need to be an artist to make good sketches.” Cole talks with Data Sketches authors, Shirley Wu and Nadieh Bremer, about their multi-year project that has been turned into a beautiful new book. Listen as they discuss their exploration of the creative side of data visualization through colors, shapes, math, code, and storytelling. Tune in to learn why you should give a 4-year old a watercolor set, the power of a rainbow palette, using flowers to visualize data, and much more.

LINKS:

Data Sketches: buy on Amazon | datasketch.es | @datasketches

Follow Shirley: shirleywu.studio | @sxywu

Follow Nadieh: visualcinnamon.com | @NadiehBremer

Projects shown/discussed: Nadieh’s Lord of the Rings | Shirley’s Film Flowers

storytelling with data: #39 Better Data Visualizations with Jon Schwabish Jan 21, 2021

Show notes

Cole talks with Jon Schwabish about his latest book, Better Data Visualizations. Tune in to hear about Jon’s goal to make people aware of a wider array of graphs, which less common graphs he wishes people would use more, his favorite Sankey diagram, and how Luxembourg highlighted an important lesson about maps. Jon also addresses viewer questions on fact-checking, communicating qualitative data, and his work on racial equity in data visualization, including things we should all be thinking about when we make graphs.

Pre-order: Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks

Other books by Jon: Better Presentations, Elevate the Debate

Follow Jon: @jschwabish | www.policyviz.com | Data@Urban

Other books mentioned: Storyteller’s Secret, Resonate, Slide:ology, Presentation Zen, How Charts Lie, Avoiding Data Pitfalls

People mentioned: Kim Rees, Ann Emery, RJ Andrews, Moritz Stefaner, Nadieh Bremer, Pedro Cruz

Jon's 2014 article “An Economist’s Guide to Visualizing Data”

Jon’s projects: The Graphic Continuum, One Chart at a Time video series

Exploratory vs. explanatory: Form and Function: Let Your Audience’s Needs Drive Your Data Visualization Choices

Sankey diagram from Reddit: How 52 Ninth-Graders Spell Camouflage

Interactive Sankey from The Pudding: The Gyllenhaal Experiment

Medium article: "Word Clouds: We Can’t Make Them Go Away, So Let’s Improve Them" by Marti Hearst

Research resource: Our World In Data

Medium article: "Applying Racial Equity Awareness in Data Visualization" by Jon Schwabish and Alice Feng

storytelling with data: #38 hi, my name is... Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

Being able to introduce yourself eloquently and in a way that captures and keeps your intended audience’s attention is a hugely important thing. Yet, we don’t commonly devote a lot of time or thought to planning how we do this. In this episode, Cole shares the process that she and the storytelling with data team used to create their intros, plus shares the steps you can use to form your own inspirational introduction. She also addresses listener questions on dot plots, the audience constraint, and tips for slowing down when presenting.

Mentioned Links:

Workshops: storytellingwithdata.com/custom-workshops

Worksheet: the Big Idea worksheet

Exercise: storyboard YOUR project

Article: the structure(s) of story

Exercise: craft your intro

Challenge: let’s plot with a dot

Article: what is a dot plot?

Resource: SWD chart guide

Podcast: it’s for THEM

Conversation: slowing it down

Video: presenting data