In the previous post (Data and graphs in a presentation), we talked about some of the data elements and graphs that would be shown in a presentation; such information is generated from a number of factors, the level to which these need to be shown as well as the detail depends on the audience of the presentation.
In this post, we talk about something that needs careful planning while making a presentation. When you have information and are able to show data and make great graphs, there is a tendency in most cases to do over-kill by trying to present too much data in the form of graphs. This is especially problematic when you are presenting to people who are senior to you and really do not have the time or the effort to go through multiple graphs that are presenting information that is similar. For example, if you are presenting on the current status of your project, especially with respect to the development phase of your project, the maximum focus would be on the defects - and there can be incredible amounts of data that is generated during this phase. For you and your colleagues who are working day in and day out on these defects, a lot of the data may seem relevant. But if you try and present too many graphs, even if they are packaged in a great way, it would still be over-kill. I have seen a case where the audience soon started saying, "Next, next" as soon as they saw another graph.
Such a reaction from an audience means that you have practically lost them. You have to focus on the key data details that you need to present (and I am not trying to tell you what this key data is); talk to your colleagues, get presentations made by other teams, talk to somebody who is more senior and would have attended such presentations, and so on. Make sure that you have done this homework. In one presentation, I saw around 15 different graphs on defects and defect resolution, this was way too much.
Try to finalize on a small number of graphs that you will have in your presentation, it is fine for you to have more detailed graphs in another presentation or in another appendix. There is a small chance that somebody will ask for more data or will get curious about another metric, and having that graph handy shows that you are well prepared and ready for the presentation (at the same time, don't go overboard and have dozens and dozens of graphs ready, those don't give that good an impression though). In fact, during the presentation, you can talk about the key data points for which you are presenting graphs and mention that there are additional graphs available if somebody wants more data (and these graphs should typically be those that your team is anyhow generating for keeping track of defect or coding or other metrics).
In this post, we talk about something that needs careful planning while making a presentation. When you have information and are able to show data and make great graphs, there is a tendency in most cases to do over-kill by trying to present too much data in the form of graphs. This is especially problematic when you are presenting to people who are senior to you and really do not have the time or the effort to go through multiple graphs that are presenting information that is similar. For example, if you are presenting on the current status of your project, especially with respect to the development phase of your project, the maximum focus would be on the defects - and there can be incredible amounts of data that is generated during this phase. For you and your colleagues who are working day in and day out on these defects, a lot of the data may seem relevant. But if you try and present too many graphs, even if they are packaged in a great way, it would still be over-kill. I have seen a case where the audience soon started saying, "Next, next" as soon as they saw another graph.
Such a reaction from an audience means that you have practically lost them. You have to focus on the key data details that you need to present (and I am not trying to tell you what this key data is); talk to your colleagues, get presentations made by other teams, talk to somebody who is more senior and would have attended such presentations, and so on. Make sure that you have done this homework. In one presentation, I saw around 15 different graphs on defects and defect resolution, this was way too much.
Try to finalize on a small number of graphs that you will have in your presentation, it is fine for you to have more detailed graphs in another presentation or in another appendix. There is a small chance that somebody will ask for more data or will get curious about another metric, and having that graph handy shows that you are well prepared and ready for the presentation (at the same time, don't go overboard and have dozens and dozens of graphs ready, those don't give that good an impression though). In fact, during the presentation, you can talk about the key data points for which you are presenting graphs and mention that there are additional graphs available if somebody wants more data (and these graphs should typically be those that your team is anyhow generating for keeping track of defect or coding or other metrics).
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