We see a lot of the same mistakes being made on a regular basis. Here’s our assessment of them and how you can avoid them in the future.

1. Top Three Mistakes
Data-driven Teams Make With Their Decks

2. 2
About The Instructor
Hi, I’m Keane.
I’m an ex-strategist turned
presentation consultant.
11-year, award-winning
advertising strategy career
Presentation professional since 2017
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3. Neglecting to tell a story
with the data.
Mistake 1
3

4. What did we do?
Why did we do it?
What did we find?
What should we do now?
Issue: Throwing in every graph possible into a really long deck.
4
This doesn’t usually
answer these questions

5. Beginning – Set the stage
Middle – Show your work
End – What should we do?
People remember stories, not
data – so tell the story that the
data is telling you.
Curate it!
Follow a three-act
structure in the deck
Stick with three to
five major themes
Slide after slide of charts will
slowly liquify your audience’s
brains.
Only show what’s necessary
and cut the rest.
Appendix anything
unnecessary
Solution: Craft a story, appendix everything else.
5
1 2 3

6. Not knowing data-viz
fundamentals.
Mistake 2
6

7. Issue: Drawing inaccurate conclusions based on confusing graphs.
7

8. Issue: Drawing inaccurate conclusions based on confusing graphs.
8

9. Solution 1: Ruthlessly remove “chart junk”.
9
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Chart Title
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
35%
29%
11%
10%
8%
7%
35%
29%
11%
10%
8%
7%
35%
29%
11%
10%
8%
7%
35%
29%
11%
10%
8%
7%

10. Solution 2: Make each graph tell a story on its own.
10
14% 18%
13% 17% 15%
24%
12%
27%
20%
24%
22%
22% 23%
24%
23%
23%
18%
19%
21%
17% 19%
18%
20%
15%
17%
15%
20% 17% 16%
13%
19%
12%
17%
16% 17% 18% 18%
16%
16%
12%
10% 6% 7% 7% 6% 4% 7% 6%
Rhom
bus
Trapezoid
Parallelogram
Sphere
Triangle
Nonagon
Diam
ond
Hexagon
65+
45-54
55-64
35-44
25-34
18-24
What shape is most popular with 25 – 34 year olds?

11. Solution 2: Make each graph tell a story on its own.
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20%
22%
22%
23%
23%
23%
24%
24%
Rhombus
Parallelogram
Sphere
Diamond
Hexagon
Triangle
Nonagon
Trapezoid
Trapezoid and Nonagon are tied in popularity
with 25 – 34 year olds at 24%.

12. Failing to understand
and set expectations.
Mistake 3
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13. Issue: Frequently encountering “speed bumps” while presenting.
13
Running over the time allotted.
Restless audience.
Discussing one slide for too long.
No time for discussion at the end.

14. Solution: Acknowledge the constraints before writing a single slide.
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Purpose Context Time
What is your deck
supposed to do?
What isn’t it
supposed to do?
How much prior
knowledge does your
audience have?
How is it likely
to be viewed?
How long is
your meeting?
How long do you want
to save for discussion?
2 minutes per slide

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The ACTION Program
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16. Think your team could use some help?
Let’s chat!
+1.720.316.7720
Keane@DeliverableCoaching.com
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