Displaying More Complex Data
I'm going to take a brief break in the sacred cow series to address something that came up in my 9-to-5. It was one of those situations where it was clear there was a need for a better solution, but it wasn't obvious exactly what that solution was. This did not involve presentation slides, but it is no less relevant to similar situations that happen to involve slides.
I was asked to review a report on an evaluation of some solutions against a list of criteria. At the end was a chart much like this one to the right. (The data in this and all following examples are not the same as what I encountered (for hopefully obvious reasons), but should be similar enough in concept to be illustrative.) As you can see, even when you click on the chart to see the full-sized version, it's unreadable. The story that the chart is trying to tell isn't at all obvious and it takes far too much effort just to read it, data point by data point. There had to be a better way.
Remembering what I learned from Edward Tufte, I suggested that perhaps this is a situation where a data table would actually be more appropriate. However, I also added that we might want to use some color to help convey the story rather than make the reader make heads or tails of 64 numbers that look similar enough to visually blend in together.
What I got back was something like this. By this time, we didn't have time to continue to tackle the problem and it was a valiant effort on their part, but this too had its problems. On the positive side, there was good color contrast to visually separate the values qualitatively. However, what hurt this design was how the text was unreadable in some colors. Changing the text colors in the red and green cells only probably would not have helped the readability either. There was also the issue, in my mind, of too many qualitative distinctions. The scale wasn't logical, but adjusting the scale with the four qualities intact didn't improve things either.
Since there was no more time to make modifications, this is what we were left with. What I did do, though, was to tackle this problem as an academic exercise.
The first changes I made were to change the number of quality distinctions from four (Great, Good, OK, Bad) to three (Good, Acceptable, Poor) and try to make the text more readable. To make the numbers easier to read, I got rid of the colored cell backgrounds and instead applied the color to the text. To keep the reader from getting lost in the data, I used alternating shading for the rows, a subtle, but effective technique. What I had now was better, but still could use improvement.
The next change I made was simple, but yet yielded a much easier to read data table. I split the categories up into groups of four. This could represent groupings of categories or it could merely be a visual break; a chunking of data, if you will. Breaking data up into manageable chunks makes it easier for the reader to consume and remember the data you're providing.
Now, this seemed to be a workable solution. I then asked myself what other ways I could realize the same or better effect. At this moment, I remembered the well known and higly effective tables that are found throughout Consumer Reports magazines. Sometimes they contain data and sometimes they just contain symbols. These symbols could take the place of the colored text to provide a more meaningful table. This next version contained my variation of this technique. I created symbols similar in concept to those in the famous magazine and placed them along with the data, which are now in a simple black typeface.
My next thought was, "What if the raw data is not necessary for this given audience? What if the high-level meaning or importance of the values needs to be conveyed and not the values themselves? What we have now is a table with just the symbols and no data, save for the total values at the bottom. Now, instead of giving the reader a whole lot to read and consider, we're giving them what's important to them: the simplified significance of the values.
You can, of course, apply the chunking of the data to these symbols as well. These symbols are information to be consumed just as the raw data was.
The lesson from this whole exercise was that you should always consider and reconsider how you display your data. Consider an approach that is different than what you would normally take. Put yourself in your reader's or audience's shoes and don't stop improving it until it has the effectiveness that you would expect it to have.
Sacred Cow #9: The Audience Cares
We've all heard it before. "They want to hear what you have to say." So often, little effort is put into preparing a presentation because it's just assumed that because the audience is there, they'll be hanging on every last word you have to say. In many instances, that's a dangerous assumption to make. If you're speaking at a seminar or conference where the attendees paid to be there, then it's probably a safe assumption that the audience does care about what you have to say. However, if it's a meeting at your place of employment, be it a committee meeting or a status meeting, chances are, it's safe to assume the attendees would rather be somewhere else.
Unfortunately, this often isn't considered. Whether it's organizational narcisism or general lack of empathy for the audience, presentations are often developed as simple rote regurgitation of facts. There's no attempt to engage with the audience or make it meaningful for them. The message, inadvertent or not, is that the speaker does not value them or their time.
If the audience is there against their own free will, then that's already one strike against you. If you fail to gain their attention, that's strike two. Send a message that you don't care and it's strike three.
Show empathy. Understand why they're there. You may be a member of the committee. Thus, it's probably quite obvious to you why they're there. However, consciously remind yourself of this when you're preparing your presentation. Having a genuine understanding of where your audience is coming from and how they value their time in this meeting is crucial for establishing true empathy for them.
Give your message real meaning. Why does what you have to say even matter? Why should your audience even bother listening to what you have to say for the next fifteen minutes? Give them a reason to not sit there and mindlessly doodle while they wait for you to shut your trap.
Offer real value. If, at the end of your fifteen minutes, they don't have something of value to take away with them, then you have just wasted their time. The value can be in the form of a call to action for them or the group to follow through with. It can be in the form of a message they can apply to their lives, projects, etc.
If your audience isn't there because they chose to be there, then don't make the assumption that just because you care about what you will be talking about, they will too.
Top Image credit: Jeremy et al, used under a Creative Commons license.
Sacred Cow #8: The Laser Pointer Is A Useful Tool
We've seen these people. They're all over the place. In some organizations, it's institutionalized. What I'm concerned about is the laser pointer. Not everyone uses them, but I don't see anyone standing up and pleading for these people with frickin' lasers in their hands to stop. It seems, at least in my stomping grounds, that it's just accepted that laser pointers, being presentation tools are wholly appropriate. I've had one offered to me after making quite clear (politely) that I do not use them because I don't use "Reading Rainbow" slides.
It's not malicious. They don't know they're harming their presentation. They think they're being helpful. However, except for the extremely rare occasion, they're not.
One of the reasons people use these devices is to make sure people can see what it is they're talking about. If you need a pointing device to emphasize some text, then you've got way too much text. If you need a laser to point out an element in a diagram or chart, then it's way too complicated. Use of laser pointers is most often a symptom of a greater problem; namely the slides are not designed appropriately as visual reinforcements. Unfortunately, laser pointers don't help. The audience is still going to be overwhelmed by excessive or excessively complex slide content. The small laser dot just forces them to try to concentrate on yet one more thing, which brings me to my 2nd point.
In a normal bad slide situation, you basically have 2 points of interest competing for attention:
- the presenter
- the slides
Your brain can only pay attention to one thing at a time, so this is already a nearly impossible task for the audience. When you introduce a laser pointer, you double the points of interest competing for attention.
- the presenter
- the laser pointer
- the little red dot
- the slides
While trying to listen to the presenter (1), you're looking at the presenter's (2) hand with the laser pointer to gain an initial visual reference for the location of the little red dot (3) as they address the content on the slide (4). Occastionally, the audience will go back to the hand (2), especially in cases when the little red dot (3) is moving around a lot. Asking anyone to be able to follow along and remember the message is just asking too much.
If you feel compelled to use a laser pointer, stop. Evaluate your slides. Are the diagrams complicated? If so, simplify them. Are they text heavy? If so, reduce the text so that no more than 3 seconds is required to absorb the message of the whole slide. You should even consider using something more visual. The written word is a terribly inefficient form of communication. Text is recorded by the brain as a complex visual, specifically as a sequence of shapes, and then processed by the verbal section of the brain. That's twice the effort of a visual alone, or even the spoken word (verbal) alone.
So, please, put that laser pointer down and back away.
Top Image credit: Ushlambad, used under a Creative Commons license.
Breathe
This last week, I got to give a presentation in the office. Time to get the conference room set up was short, but the slides were ready and I had practiced ahead of time. It was one of those days where there were back-to-back meetings with other responsibilities keeping me running around.
It happens. It goes with the territory.
Well, when it came time for the presentation, I was scrambling to get the laptop set up, the virtual machine launched, and everything else that needed to be hooked up hooked up. Desptie all this, there was a good reason to not abandon the slides. There were some key visuals in there, that if not used, would have made comprehension of the material much, much more difficult.
After I got everything all set up and configured, I was already 5 or so minutes late in getting started. As soon as I was sure that everything was set to go, I started with my presentation.
Big mistake.
With the adrenaline pumping from the effort to get set up as quickly as possible, I dove right into the talk without giving myself a chance to catch a breath. I was a few words per minute slower than John Moschitta in the famous FedEx commercials. OK, that's a bit of an exageration, but you get the idea. If I had taken just ten seconds to catch my breath, my pace would have been more measured and would have conveyed the confidence and authority that I needed.
Ten seconds out of a twenty minute presentation in a fourty-five minute meeting.
If circumstances out of your control force you to rush to get set up, invest in a brief pause to catch your breath and relax. You don't have to look like you're doing it. You can also use it as a moment to get your audience to get quiet to listen to you.
Image credit: dlemieux, used under a Creative Commons license.
