800: Make Your Message Clear, with Stephanie Evergreen

Stephanie Evergreen: Build a Data Culture

Stephanie Evergreen is a data visualization and design expert. She has trained future data nerds worldwide through keynotes and workshops, for Fortune 500 clients like MasterCard and Facebook and mission-aligned clients like the United Nations, the Boys and Girls Club, AARP, and The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. She has three books and a popular blog on data visualization.

Data: we’ve all got tons of access to it these days. But perhaps almost too much – how do we actually make sense of it and then communicate clearly with it? In this conversation, Stephanie and I explore how a leader can best use data to make their message land.

Key Points

• Many of us are overwhelmed by access to data, but lots of leaders find that much of the data isn’t actionable for increasing performance.

• Because dashboards attempt to answer many questions, they often result in doing a poor job of highlighting a key message or insight.

• Instead of showing every data point you’ve ever collected, use smart formatting to highlight the single thing your team needs to know.

• Decide in advance what the key message of a slide, chart, or presentation should be. Then, design for that clear message.

• Answer the burning question that your audience is likely asking.

• Leaders set the tone for transparency with data that isn’t good news. Encourage and reward hearing the honest story to establish a culture where truth is shared and addressed.

Resources Mentioned

• Build a Data Culture (buildadataculture.com) by Stephanie Evergreen

• Why Data-Packed Meetings Miss the Mark (And What to Do About It) (stephanieevergreen.com/why-data-packed-meeting…) by Stephanie Evergreen

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