It can be tricky to display data in presentations because different rules apply in different contexts. A sales director presenting financial projections to a group of field reps wouldn’t visualize her data the same way that a design consultant would in a written proposal to a potential client.
So how do you make the right choices for your situation? Before displaying your data, ask yourself these five questions:
Context plays a huge role in how best to render data. When presenting data, show the conclusions you’ve drawn, not all the details that led you to those conclusions.
Because your slides will be up for only a few seconds, your audience will need to process them quickly. People won’t have time to chew on a lot of complex information, and they’re not likely to run up to the wall for a closer look at the numbers.
So, think in broad strokes when you’re putting your charts together for your data presentation:
Those are the sorts of questions to answer when you are thinking about how to present data in presentations.
Here is one of the best ways to present data:
And such should provide context, but don’t let them compete with your data. The best way to present data like this is to use a light neutral color, such as gray, for these elements so they’ll recede into the background, and then plot your data in a slightly stronger neutral color. Finally, use a bright color to emphasize the point you’re making, as in this example:
If you are circulating data, a data presentation might not be the best medium. It’s fine to display more detail in documents or in slide decks that you email rather than present. (We call these Slidedocs®.) Readers can study them at their own pace — examine the axes, the legends, the layers — and draw their own conclusions from your body of work. Still, you don’t want to overwhelm them, especially since they won’t have you there in person to explain what your main points are. Use white space, section heads, and a clear hierarchy of visual elements to help your readers navigate dense content and guide them to key pieces of data.
An easy way to start this is to download our free Slidedocs® templates. You can easily build your own visually digestible, data-heavy documents using prebuilt Microsoft PowerPoint templates to get you started. It’s one of the best ways to present data in PowerPpoint.
When you think about how to present data in PowerPoint, one of the first choices is to decide on the type of chart you want to present your data. Remember, when you choose how to visualize your data, you’re deciding what type of relationship you want to emphasize. Take a look at this chart, which shows the breakdown of an investment portfolio:
In the pie, it’s clear that this person holds a number of investments in different areas — but that’s about all you see.
Here is the same data, but now displayed in a bar chart:
Now it’s much easier to discern how much is invested in each category. If your focus is on comparing categories, the bar chart is the better choice. Meanwhile, a pie chart would be more useful if you were trying to make the point that a single investment made up a significant portion of the portfolio.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to the story you are trying to tell with your data. Another easy way to make your charts more effective is to download our free Chart annotation toolkit. It has great expert examples and templates for getting the most out of every chart, every time.
Whether you’re presenting or circulating your charts, you need to highlight the most important items to ensure that your audience can follow your train of thought and focus on the right elements. For example, this chart is difficult to interpret because all the information is displayed with equal visual value:
Are we comparing regions? Quarters? Positive versus negative numbers? It’s difficult to determine what matters most. By adding color when presenting data, you can draw the eye to specific areas:
Now you are telling your audience what they should be focusing on, when, and in which regions revenue dropped.
Sometimes less is more, especially when it comes to a data presentation. Using a lot of crazy colors, extra labels, and fancy effects won’t captivate an audience. That kind of visual clutter dilutes the information and can even misrepresent it. Consider this chart:
Can you figure out the northern territory’s revenue for year one? Is it 17? Or maybe 19? The way some programs create 3D charts can lead one to think that the bar in question is well below 20. However, the data behind the chart actually says that the bar represents 20.4 units.
You can see that if you look at the chart in a very specific way, but it’s difficult to tell which way that should be — even with plenty of time to scrutinize it.
In this data presentation example, it’s much clearer if you simply flatten the chart:
Even if you present your data clearly and accurately, it’s another challenge altogether to make the information stick. Consider using a meaningful visual metaphor to illustrate the scale of your numbers and cement the data in the minds of your audience members. A metaphor can also tie your insights to something that your audience already knows and cares about.
In this data presentation example, author and activist Michael Pollan showed how much crude oil goes into making a McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese through a striking visual demonstration. He placed glasses on a table and filled them with oil to represent the amount of oil consumed during each stage of the production process.
At the end, he took a taste of the oil to drive home his point. (To add an element of humor, he later revealed his prop “oil” to be chocolate syrup.) Watch the video here:
PopTech 2009: Michael Pollan
Pollan could have shown a chart, but this visual aid was more effective because he gave the audience a tangible visual — one that triggered a visceral response.
By answering these five questions as you’re laying out your data, you’ll visualize it in a way that helps people understand and engage with each point in your presentation, document, or deck. As a result, your audience will be more likely to adopt your overall message.
If you want to take the next step in master data storytelling, take our top-selling workshop Duarte DataStory® to really hone and master your data presenting skills.
A version of this article originally appeared in HBR.
This article was originally published on July 31, 2018. It has been updated in September 2024 for relevancy.
