I’m sick today after a trip up north for our quarterly business meeting. Was it the stress from a turbulent flight or the powerpoint charts I’ve been subjected to?
We had work to do at the meeting this time – ideas to present, problems to solve and opportunities to seize. The chief thought it would be great to gather us into teams and make us compete on ideas. Two teams won and I’m told were mostly popularity votes or fear votes (vote your boss’s team first if you know what’s good for you). Funny but not wasted, they weren’t bad.
A lot of ideas came out that afternoon but every team’s presentation troubled me and this isn’t just from my peers alone. I see this 9.8 out of 10 times from contractors, consultants and ad agencies.
I wish people would stop the cut-and-paste of data from statistical reports into a powerpoint. A statistics report does not a slide make. Every chart on a slide should have a story. One story. Then simplify the damn chart and spare everyone the details. Distribute handouts if that .65% means so much. Don’t kill an idea with numbers for crying out loud.
And I wish i could tell them that quality of their idea isn’t filling up an entire slide with a wall of text. I can see their working hard but not working smart to deliver their ideas clearly. We win deals by selling ideas not word count or those multi-colored, bars + lines.
Bubble charts oh how I hate thee. Of all the charts in the world, bubble charts make me cringe. So I spent my sick day today studying charts, hoping to find a bubble chart killer. I found a few really interesting ways to present data graphically and compellingly. They may not all be powerpoint ideals but are interesting to study for their ability to tell a story with vivid images. Take a look from my Vi.sual.us widget below.
Bubble concept minus the bubble:
I about really useful bubbles:
Update (April 14, 2009)
Found Hans Rosling’s presentation on Ted Talks. Very impressive work with bubble charts. I see some good in bubble charts now, just wish the other people who loves presenting with bubble charts can make it as funky as Hans’.
