The McCandless method of data visualization and presentation is a set of guidelines for presentations by David McCandless. David McCandless is a British data-journalist, writer and information designer. He is the founder of the visual blog Information Is Beautiful. David McCandless also has a book called Knowledge Is Beautiful and Information Is Beautiful. He also has a new (2022) book called Beautiful News which is currently rated 4.8 at Amazon.com.

The McCandless Method suggests that you start with broad, general ideas and then work your way into the details. I would agree with that approach.

The steps of the McCandless method include:

• Introduce the graphic by name – that is the title right at the top
• Answer obvious questions before they’re asked
• State the insight of your graphic
• Call out data to support that insight
• Tell your audience why it matters

First, it’s helpful for your audience to understand what data was available during data collection. Next, you’ll want to establish the initial hypothesis. Your initial hypothesis is a theory you’re trying to prove or disprove with data. Next, you’ll want to explain the solution to your business tasks using examples and visualizations.

TED Talk

Here is a TED talk of David called The beauty of data visualization.

Some Presentation Tips

Here are some of his tips. It’s the understanding of the data and the impact that it can take that is important. You want your data to help business leaders understand their business even better. That’s an important skill, to be able to take something very technical, like data analysis or machine learning, and explain and teach it well.

• being nervous and excited is normal – try taking deep, controlled breaths
• introduce a data visualization, wait five seconds, then ask if they understand it
• if not, take time to explain it, then give your audience another five seconds
• Start with the broader ideas, then get into specifics
• define your purpose
• keep it concise (not too many words on screen)
• logical flow to your presentation
• visually compelling and appealing

Preparation is key. You may choose to one, two or all three of the following. Write a script and repeat it in your head. Visualize giving the presentation. Hold a dress rehearsal at the presentation location.

Part of the McCandless method is similar to Ben Schneiderman’s Information Seeking Mantra, which consists of overview first, zoom and filter, and lastly details on demand.

One of my favorite visualizations is Best in Show: The Ultimate Dog Data. For more information on the Pomeranian check out Pomeranian Puppies. In popularity and overall quality of the Pomeranian is very good and is similar in rating to the Maltese, Yorkshire Terrier and Shih Tzu. My parents had a wonderful Maltese dog.

Learn with Books

A very popular book on data visualizations is by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic called Storytelling with Data – a data visualization guide for business professionals. It was published by Wiley in 2015. It’s about design, not about how to use the software tools.