Nico Weyers

People mistake visualisations for storytelling. Don't. Do not solely rely on people looking at the screen to tell a story. The meeting may as well be an email if you do that. You need to bring some charisma and energy to the meeting where you tell a compelling story, with empathy, about the data. Get to the point fast and early, and that'll allow your stakeholders to buy in and be interested in what you're saying. It's better to get to the point at the start, and people understand why they're there, instead of them wondering for an hour why they're there and "check out" instead. Practice with peers and bring something to the table in addition to what's on the presentation. Otherwise people can just read it at their desks

PEER REVIEW!!! Get other people to help check your work. Once you've presented inaccurate data, the Genie is out of the bottle and will never go back. So make sure you get someone to help check your numbers. Always. Also important, is to make sure you format appropriately. I speak a lot about being considerate of an audience, so limit decimals, format large numbers appropriately (like thousands, millions etc). And honestly, LIMIT use of colour. Everything on a screen takes concentration and mental energy, even colours. So if you need to use it, keep it consistent

Barack Obama famously explained that he wears a limited selection of suits. Reasoning that he can only make so many decisions a day and he does not want to waste decision making energy on nonsense like what to wear. People who present data need to be more aware of this. In a business day, leaders need to make many decisions. Your presentation might be the biggest thing you do in a week, but for a leader it might just be another meeting ahead of an even bigger one. Therefore, BE KIND TO YOUR AUDIENCE. Do not "Assault them with PowerPoint". In addition to limiting jargon and acronyms, don't have 84 slide decks. I've seen people do this - an 84 slide deck with which they assaulted the poor audience. Use less of other people's energy

Google the Lancia Orca and images of its dashboard and compare that to something exquisite like the Bentley Mulsanne. People use far, far too many visuals and clutter screens with data. Some to look impressive, others because they don't know better. The key is not to strain your stakeholders. Limit use of colour and visuals. I often just use plain white icon outlines for images. Everything you place on the screen will require attention and focus from the audience. Limit what you include and they will be able to concentrate better

Be succinct. When presenting a deck, my preference is always to start with the summary, show the end results. I've seen so many analysts do a lot of preparation, struggle to get a senior person in a room, only for said senior to be called to some emergency 10 minutes in the presentation. Starting with the end results gives that person context if they need to leave early. But it also helps build curiosity and engagement from the start. Even then, keep it short and sweet. Just because you have a meeting booked for an hour, doesn't mean you need to use an hour. Respect their time and energy and highlight your point fast. Help them understand the decision they need to make and ensure you've supported that decision with data

A couple of months ago, I bought proper steel segmented Roman armour. The whole thing, even a beautiful folded steel Roman sword. In my excitement, I just loosely slapped it on without fastening the straps. 20kg of steel fell on my bare right foot, nearly breaking it. That's when I had an epiphany about Data Governance. It's not shiny or sexy like the armour or sword. But without the straps, without the Governance, sooner or later the whole thing is going to come tumbling down and break your foot. It's a cheaper prevention but an expensive fix Data Governance isn't a focus until data breaks and that's often too late to address it. Much better to fasten the straps of Governance first, then you can confidently enter the data battle.