Dataviz training tailored to your team’s needs
Dataviz training
The process
The starting point: An audit of current data visualisations, reports and dashboards
Before diving into the training, I carry out an audit of existing visualisation outputs (reports, dashboards, presentations). This helps me identify common patterns across the different outputs, and tailor the sessions to address these. This also allows me to establish key types of data visualisations currently used by the team, and suggest alternatives where appropriate.
Typical content
For a full training programme, sessions typically include the following topics. If there are any particular topics you would like us to cover which aren’t listed here, we can discuss how best to incorporate those.
- Choosing the right type of visualisation for your data story (including maps and tables)
- Making good use of colour for intuitive, accessible and visually cohesive visualisations
- Making the most of text, visual hierarchy and annotations
- User-centred design for dataviz and dashboards
- Ethics in dataviz
- Optimising your data-to-visualisation workflow
For shorter one-off workshops, please get in touch to discuss the topic you’d like to focus on, and what delivery method would work best for your team - we can make a plan together from there!
Delivery options
Online
When delivered online, the training takes place over weekly 90-minute sessions. Each session focuses on a set of principles, with worked examples which include dataviz re-dos from the audit. The team are encouraged to have a go at implementing the principles and solutions we discuss between sessions, so that we can address any challenges they’ve come up against at the start of the next session.
For online sessions, I suggest a limit of 15 participants to ensure we can keep the sessions interactive and allow everyone to take part.
In person
When delivered in person, the training takes place over one full day. The discussions that take place naturally over the course of the day as well as the oppportunity to work with participants on their own devices, draw together on pen and paper, and engage in quick feedback loops make for really productive days together.
For in-person days, the number of participants can be higher - if we have more than 12 participants, I will bring along a teaching assistant or two to make sure we are able to help everyone get the most out of the session.
Tools
The training can be delivered as tool agnostic or with a focus on implementation in R and ggplot2.
- Tool-agnostic, focusing on principles you can apply regardless of the software you use. One of my favourite things about running these workshops is watching the team dynamics that emerge when different people find different solutions and share them with the group.
- With implementation in R with ggplot2. In these sessions I use anchor points with code snippets I share with the team to ensure no one gets stuck. The team leave with reusable code snippets and a bespoke team ggplot2 theme which they can apply to future projects.
Getting the most out of the training
Participants are encouraged to bring along a graph they are currently working on, or a question with some data. As we explore each principle, they will be invited to apply it to their own work. This means they are learning with familiar data while building solutions that they can use straight away on their own projects. Throughout the sessions, I signpost resources which are appropriate for the tools the team are currently using, to fast-track the application of the principles we discuss.
### Benefits
Beyond increased confidence in their ability to create compelling visualisations, the workshops give your team:
- A sense of ownership over the solutions we develop together
- A shared vocabulary for discussing future projects
The wider benefits include
- Additional clarity for your end users, saving time getting to grips with graphs in meetings with key stakeholders
- Efficiency in the data-to-viz workflow by providing a set of solutions that can be used across projects
- More cohesive outputs from your team across different settings through the use of consistent design choices, colours and typography
What did recent participants say about the training sessions?
Anna Ali, Regen
“We needed an expanded colour palette with some clear guidelines on how to use it to convey meaning and maintain the brand ‘feel’. Cue Cara Thompson. She built us a data viz guide and recently spent a day with the analyst team… helping us upskill in building stories with data. It was both inspiring and practical - Cara helped us dig into the real message we want to convey with our graphs and charts and introduced us to some really cool tools to help us bring those messages to life.
If your organisation works with data and wants to move with the times, ensuring things like accessibility while also exploring interactivity, or if you just have a five-colour palette that needs expanding into a coherent set of storytelling hues, I highly recommend reaching out to Cara.”
Marina Lewis, Natural England
I really liked Cara’s way of teaching. She was incredibly engaging and made everything interactive. I always felt that if I did need to ask a question, she would be happy to answer. For only one day, I thought she taught us so much, but it did not feel overwheling.
Barry Stockton-Tate, Assistant Director - Commissioning Data & Analytics, NHS England
“I just wanted to re-iterate my thanks for a fantastic and thought-provoking workshop today. The content of the session was extremely engaging and I’m sure we will all have all taken away some valuable learning, which we can apply to improve the quality and impact of our various reporting products and analytical outputs going forward.
It was also really great to be able to bring our analytical teams together, with the structure of the day facilitating a good level of energy and interaction between colleagues both in the room and online.”
Critical Decade postgraduate at University of East Anglia
“The way I approach data visualisation has definitely changed and there are more steps I go through before I even get into coding. I think more about accessibility, colour schemes, key messages etc. My coding skills, especially when it came to data viz were very basic beforehand. This course really has given me more confidence in exploring different options and being more ‘creative’ with the visuals, which, especially working in academia, can feel quite daunting.”
What could this do for you and your team?
Let’s find out! The best plan is to send me an email, and we’ll make a plan from there.
FAQ
My team just use Excel, will this training work for them? Yes! A lot of training I deliver is tool agnostic. There are things we can do with Excel to speed up the data-to-visualisation workflow, and there are plenty of resources out there to help us make the most of Excel.
Do you need access to our systems in order to do the initial audit? No. I’m happy (and in fact happier) to work from images, screenshots, even ones where you’ve redacted some of the information. The main aim is to give me an idea of the visuals you are currently creating so that I can tailor the course to emerging themes, and mock up some alternative ways of visualising the data.
Accessibility is important to us. Can you help us with that? I will show you how to test colour palettes against accessibility guidelines, with the help of colourblindness simulators. We will also check that the text-to-background contrasts meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (known as WCAG) when we discuss annotations and tables. And because accessibility is broader than colour perception, we’ll also talk about additional accessibility principles around text and overall styling.
We make lots of tables. Can you help with that too? Yes, tables are an often neglected type of visualisation. We will explore how to make the most of them!
My team have a real mix of R skills with some really advanced users and some beginners. Great! The R training sessions include reusable code snippets that I share throughout the day. This means that the beginners have code that they can run, and edit if they feel brave. The more advanced users are encouraged to take the bits of code they like and apply them to their own ggplots. Part of the joy in these sessions is seeing the positive team dymanics that emerge from colleagues exploring solutions together.