I’m excited to announce the launch of a new asynchronous data visualization course, The Art and Science of Data Visualization. To deliver this course—that includes more than five hours of content—I’ve teamed up with Skillwave Training, who offer hundreds of hours of training for users of Microsoft BI products, including Excel and PowerBI. This is first and only asynchronous version of my Core Principles of Data Visualization workshop and it will teach you the fundamental skills to create better, more effective graphs, charts, and diagrams. It will also provide you with the steps to create dozens of charts in Microsoft Excel and, coming in November, PowerBI.
What is covered in the course?
Data visualization is the art and science of presenting data in a clear, engaging, and meaningful way. It can help you communicate insights, tell stories, and persuade audiences. Built from a practical point of view, I showcase real-world examples and techniques that you can use right away.
This course is intended for people who analyze and communicate data, but who may have never thought deeply about the best ways to visualize and communicate those data. No coding skills, design skills, or data skills needed: the only requirement is an interest in better data communication. You’ll learn the conceptual underpinnings of creating better data visualizations and then the steps, formulas, and tricks in Microsoft Excel and PowerBI that will save you hours of time, allowing you to focus on the satisfying part of the job: providing the insights that you were actually hired to deliver.
The course is broken down into five main sections:
- Rules of Perception. How do we perceive information? And how, as chart creators, can we use these perceptual rules to more effectively communicate our data? This first part of the course introduces students to the concept of “preattentive processing” and how it can be used to direct people’s attention around the page or screen.
- Expand Your Graphic Literacy. In the second section of the course, I aim to expand your graphic literacy and put more graphs in your toolbox. This will help guide you to choose the graph that is the best fit for your data and will most effectively communicate your message.
- Best Practices for Data Visualization. No data visualization course or book will contain every lesson to create effective graphs, but there are some best practices that can guide your work, so I provide you with many of the basic guidelines for creating better, clearer, and more effective visuals.
- How to Build Visuals in Excel. Following the publication of my latest book, Data Visualization in Excel, this section of the video course shows you how to build more than 50 graphs and charts in Excel (and, sometimes, PowerPoint). The course currently includes about half of these tutorials, with more coming this fall.
- How to Build Visuals in PowerBI (coming in November). Skillwave CEOs Matt Allington and Ken Puls are busy creating the tutorials to building these graphs in PowerBI. By the time we have all of the step-by-step tutorials posted in the course, there will be more than 10 hours of detailed content to help you on your way to creating better graphs, charts, and diagrams.
A Note on Phased Release
To start getting this amazing content into the hands of our students, Skillwave will be releasing the course in two phases.
Phase 1 Now Available. I’ve created all of the content in Phase 1. The first half of the course covers key data visualization concepts and explains different types of charts and graphs, including when and how each type may be used. The second half of the course provides practical, step-by-step coverage of creating some of the most common types of graphs and charts in Excel. These lessons include downloadable example files so you can work along with the videos.
Phase 2 Release & Content. Phase 2 is scheduled to be released by the end of November 2023. The content in this phase will expand upon the practical examples that were released in Phase 1. Skillwave’s Ken Puls and Matt Allington will teach you how to create both the new and previously-covered data visualizations using data stored in the Power Pivot Data Model and/or PowerBI. There will be 6-7 additional hours of content added with Phase 2.
Introductory Offer
Phase 1 is now available at a special introductory rate of $189 US for the first year of access. Anyone who registers in Phase 1 will have automatic access to the Phase 2 content at no additional charge as soon as it becomes available. Once Phase 2 is released, the price of the course will increase to the regular rate of $270 US for the first year of access. (There is an annual renewal rate of $69 US that remains the same for both Phase 1 and Phase 2.) Skillwave also offers discounts to groups, so if you’re organization wants to purchase multiple licenses, reach out to me or them directly and inquire about those opportunities.
By creating this course, my hope is that more people can learn how to be better data communications and visualizers. My partnership with Skillwave also offers learners the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills in even more Microsoft tools, like Power Query, DAX, Power Pivot, Excel, and more. So, head on over to Skillwave today and become a better data communicator!
If you want to learn more about how I put this course together, get discounts, and learn more about the podcast and other things going on in the data visualization world, check out my Substack newsletter. I publish it every other week and include great content and don’t clog up your inbox.
