How to Present Data Meaningfully
By: Jimmy Soh
Tags: Management, Presentations, Business Strategy, Data Visualization, Reporting

How to Present Data Meaningfully

Three tips on data presentation for management reporting and analytics dashboards

Photo by Carlos Muza on Unsplash

With analytics getting more prevalent these days and the digitalization of businesses, more data becomes available. Inevitably, management would want to leverage and utilize these data to strategize and make data-driven decisions to move the chess pieces.

The standard way is to present the data in a table format. However, data in a table wouldn’t be able to showcase relationships and patterns. I’ll be sharing some of the ways I’ve adopted to provide more clarity and meaning to the data.

#1: Consider the function of the data

It’s important first to understand the function of the data, whether it’s to compare sales figures, highlight a trend, or demonstrate information flow, etc. With the proper understanding of the context, it gives you a better idea of the audience’s intent, e.g. to assess the health of a sales pipeline and allows you to tailor the presentation of your data, i.e. selecting a relevant chart for the intended outcome.

To understand the function of the data, you must first understand the profile of the audience and the context. Considering senior management as the audience, you’ll be able to get a sense of their priorities and intent, e.g. have better oversight in certain areas to facilitate strategic decisions. Sometimes, it may be useful to frame the purpose as a question, i.e. “How do I know if I have to take pre-emptive action to address red flags in my pipeline just by looking at this set of data?”

#2: Choose an appropriate chart

After understanding the function of the data and the context, the next step is to select an appropriate chart. Using a chart allows your audience to visualize relationships and identify patterns quickly, e.g. identifying potential “red flags”.

For example, the use of a funnel chart in representing sales pipeline data (shown below) allows you to assess the health of your pipeline at a glance quickly.

From the above image, the second and third funnel shapes (from left) indicate a “red flag”, i.e. there are not enough new leads. While it does not explain the reasons behind, it’s an excellent indicator to prompt further analysis and discussion. Nevertheless, you can see how shapes tell the story quickly from the example.

A picture is worth a thousand words. — Fred R. Barnard

You can refer to the visualization below to assess which charts might work best for your situation.

#3: Provide context via a summary

As mentioned earlier in tip #1, the context is crucial. While we allow visualizations to tell most of the story, it’s still essential to include some words to answer the key question and drive home the point.

To put things together, given the:

Question from #1 — How do I know if I have to take pre-emptive action to address red flags in my pipeline just by looking at this set of data? Funnel chart from #2 — The Blockage

The summary could be: “Your pipeline is unhealthy — there is a blockage. Sales leads are drying up, and there isn’t sufficient growth.”

By including the summary, you provide the context by stringing the chart and the question together.