Students in the Data Visualization Certificate Program at the University of Washington, start their learning experience with a course that offers a practical introduction to data visualization theory. During these first 10-weeks, students learn about the science behind visual cognition and perception, the fundamentals of statistics, the history of data visualization, and along the way, students get the opportunity to learn how to choose an effective visual and build basic charts (e.g., bar charts, box plots, line charts, etc.) using primarily Tableau. The course final project challenges students to build effective charts and use them to tell compelling data stories.

This past fall quarter, our student cohort met the challenge of building charts, and most had picked out their final project topic and knew which charts they wanted to use. Still, they needed some guidelines to make sure they articulated their message clearly and concisely. How could we have so many students communicate their message effectively using a minimal amount of time? Fortunately, the students had the perfect resource in their required reading, “Storytelling with Data” by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic.

In Chapter 1 of Storytelling with Data, Cole spells out how to use The 3-Minute Story & Big Idea concept to tell your story effectively. Reading about the concept was helpful, but watching the experts present a message effectively in just 3-minutes, seemed like an even better idea. We contacted the SWD Team, and they agreed to help us out.

Alex Velez from the SWD Team met with me weeks before our ninth class session to prepare for a presentation to our class. Alex learned about the group of students and their interests and learning needs. Alex joined us for our ninth session and taught us about the strategies for delivering a stellar data presentation. Then she presented a 3-minute story for our students as an example.

After participating in Alex’s mini-workshop and following Alex’s 3-minute story presentation example, our students were ready to prepare and rehearse their 3-minute stories with poise and confidence.

An example from Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic’s book, “Storytelling with Data: Let’s Practice!”

The final project presentations were amazing compared to previous presentation class sessions when students did not receive training on how to master the 3-minute story presentation. Providing a framework (using the Big Idea) and spelling out constraints (3-minute limit) made our final project presentation night flawless time-wise. Each presentation effectively piqued the interest of the audience.

Check out some of the amazing visuals shared by students on final project night: