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How to present data: Tips and tricks to deliver a user-friendly presentationChris DowsettT: @chrisdowsettW: http://www.designingdata.cov1 May 2015Over the past 12 years, Ive witnessed a mixture of brilliant and disturbingly bad presentations my own presentations included.

Whenever I put together a presentation, I try to get informal feedback to help improve for next time.

Luckily, a bunch of smart people have been willing to give me some great pointers.

This presentation is a collection of simple tips Ive found really helpful in producing user-friendly presentations.

I wanted to share them in case they help others. Enjoy and please reach out if you have any comments.Great presentations start with the type of audience.That especially goes for presentations on data where the subject can get complicated very quickly.

Take 5 minutes to write out who your audience is, the time you have and what messages you want to get across in that time. Do this before you start the presentation.

For example, when I managed TV advertising analytics for Intuit, I would regularly present a 15 slide deck to marketing managers. It covered all the details.

For heads of department and VPs, I cut that deck down to 5 slides and included only the key findings with a highlight.

For the General Manager, I would cut it down even further to 3 slides. Hello. Im the audience. Help me out.Think audience first.Sketch out a structure as a template for your slides. This only takes a few minutes and can really improve your presentation.

This is important because presenting data can easily become overwhelming for your audience.

Structure reduces the complexity by keeping the layout simple and consistent.

Unstructured presentations give the audience yet another barrier to consuming the data.

For example, I like to structure my slides with the headline at the top, the analysis question, side by side charts and the comments. HeadlineAnalysis questionChartChartComments on chartComments on chartRecommendation or summaryA consistent layout keeps things simple.A Group Director passed on this piece of advice: the headlines in your slides should be your summary points.

I like this advice because it helps clarify what the slide is meant to convey, makes it easy to write your summary slide and this helps pull together the overall story.

It also gives readers a quick overview of what to expect from the slide if theyre pressed for time. Headline 2Headlines should become the summary points.Headline 3Headline 1Summary point 1Summary point 2Summary point 3Summary SlideA Vice President gave me this tip: the best way to get people to understand is to walk them through the summary point and then pick an example of the chart to show that summary point in data.

For example, lets say you present a summary point that products with a trial offer had averaged 15% more sales than those with a subscription offer. You might then pick an example on the chart that shows Product A and Product B had the same marketing plan, however Product A had the trial offer and Product B had the subscription offer. Product As sales over the same time period had increased 15% compared to Product B.

By presenting the summary as well as showing an example, you help the audience by constructing a story from the data that they can see on the charts.Tell a story by combining a summary with examples.Trial offers increase sales by 15%Analysis of trial offers vs subscriptions10 products had a trial10 products had a subscription offerTrial products averaged 15% higher salesEG Product A vs Product BIt helps audiences follow the story when each slide has a similar format.

One format I like to employ is: Headline finding at the topThe analysis questionOverall summary findings An example to illustrate findingsBusiness recommendation

A consistent story on each slide has two main benefits first, it helps the presenter clearly articulate the information. Second, it simplifies the structure for the audience, allowing them to focus how they can apply any data insights.Each slide should follow the same structure.Trial offers increase sales by 15%Analysis of trial offers vs subscriptions10 products had a trial10 products had a subscription offerTrial products averaged 15% higher salesEG Product A vs Product BRecommendation: increase trial offers and monitor12345For more information, questions and other presentations, please visit:http://www.designingdata.co

You can also follow me on Twitter - @chrisdowsettThanks for reading.Hopefully these tips will help with your next presentation or report.