Data visualizations can enable us to compress data and encode them in ways to aid perceptual, cognitive and emotional capacity required to comprehend, retain and make decisions using this data. It is often cited that we are trying to tell stories through them. Is that really the case? How do we ensure that the audience is able to retain, recall and retell our data-driven stories?

‘Storytelling with data’ is a cross disciplinary activity that requires us to operate at the intersection of a visual designer, coder, statistician, and storyteller. It is both a science and an art. This workshop serves as an introduction to the visual and story techniques that are often employed when developing data-stories. We will cover the basic principles of data visualisation and storytelling, look at how data viz can be used to convey a message, and walk through the process of creating stories with them.

Come and learn the basics, and get the skills you need to tell data-stories in that next staff meeting, marketing presentation, or business pitch.

Prerequisites

There are no pre-requisite skills, knowledge or roles necessary for attending the workshop. Only an open approach to learning through listening, observation, and participation in the workshop activities and discussion is required.

Preparation

We will use pen and paper for many of the workshop activities. However, please do bring along a Laptop with access to a program to view spreadsheets and presentations e.g. Microsoft Office, Apple Works or Google Drive for working with a small dataset during the workshop.