Practical Charts for Finance Teams to Turn Data Visuals into Strategic Tools with Nick Desbarats

Episode notes

In this episode, host Paul Barnhurst is joined by Nick Desbarats, a data visualisation expert, bestselling author, and independent educator, to discuss data visualisation. Nick talks about the skills needed to create effective charts, how to avoid common mistakes, and the importance of understanding the "job" of a chart. He shares his journey from software executive to becoming an authority in the field and explains why the true skill of visualising data goes beyond knowing the software. Nick is the author of Practical Charts (Amazon #1 New Release) and the upcoming Practical Dashboards . He has taught thousands of professionals globally, including teams at NASA, Bloomberg, Visa, the United Nations, Shopify, and more. He is also the first educator authorised by Stephen Few to teach his foundational data visualisation workshops. Expect to Learn: Why understanding the "job" of a chart is more important than the data itself The key skills needed for creating effective charts Common mistakes in data visualisation and how to avoid them Why empathy for your audience is crucial when designing visuals How to decide when to use default charts vs.