The Subtle Ways Your Charts Can Lie With Alberto Cairo

10/11/19 • 78 min

The Present Beyond Measure Show: Data Storytelling, Presentation & Visualization

Alberto Cairo is not only a highly revered mind in the data visualization world, he brings a fresh perspective on keeping your charts honest in his brand new book, How Charts Lie..

If you're looking for a way to create and interpret charts accurately and in integrity, this interview is for you.

Alberto is a celebrated visualization educator, designer, and consultant. He is the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communications of the University of Miami and he is also the director of visualization program at UM's Center for Computational Science.

He is also the author of two other data viz Bibles The Truthful Art, and The Functional Art.

In this episode, Alberto Cairo provides his unmatched wisdom on chart creation and interpretation. He debunks the myth of "a picture speaks a thousand words" when it comes to visualization and shares how to create charts that are as close to the truth as possible.

In This Episode, You'll Learn...

What Alberto's new book explores the different positive and negative influences that charts have on our perception of truth.
What he believes was at the root of #SharpieGate and many other media-fueled debacles over data viz
His thoughts about the myths of charts and how to think about them differently.
How no statement we make is absolutely true and what we can do to try and move toward the truth end of the spectrum.
The importance of expressing your level of confidence in facts you are presenting, but to also understand there may be other interpretations.
The "Me" Factor and how you can use it to make your visualizations more engaging to your audience.
Ecological fallacy and amalgamation paradoxes that should become part of a general knowledge.

People, Resources, & Links Mentioned

How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information by Alberto Cairo
The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication by Alberto Cairo
Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations by Scott Berinato
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Lifeby Mark Manson
Spurious Correlations by Tyler Vigen
Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris
Thinking Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman
INZight
Settlers of Catan Board Game

How to Keep Up with Alberto:

Alberto Cairo is not only a highly revered mind in the data visualization world, he brings a fresh perspective on keeping your charts honest in his brand new book, How Charts Lie..

If you're looking for a way to create and interpret charts accurately and in integrity, this interview is for you.

He is also the author of two other data viz Bibles The Truthful Art, and The Functional Art.

In This Episode, You'll Learn...

What Alberto's new book explores the different positive and negative influences that charts have on our perception of truth.
What he believes was at the root of #SharpieGate and many other media-fueled debacles over data viz
His thoughts about the myths of charts and how to think about them differently.
How no statement we make is absolutely true and what we can do to try and move toward the truth end of the spectrum.
The importance of expressing your level of confidence in facts you are presenting, but to also understand there may be other interpretations.
The "Me" Factor and how you can use it to make your visualizations more engaging to your audience.
Ecological fallacy and amalgamation paradoxes that should become part of a general knowledge.

People, Resources, & Links Mentioned

How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information by Alberto Cairo
The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication by Alberto Cairo
Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations by Scott Berinato
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Lifeby Mark Manson
Spurious Correlations by Tyler Vigen
Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris
Thinking Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman
INZight
Settlers of Catan Board Game

How to Keep Up with Alberto:

Previous Episode

Humanizing Your Audience and Customer Engagement with Carlos Gil

It's rare when I encounter someone at a conference that not only nails the presentation, leaving me wanting more, but also drops wisdom I can easily say I will use for the rest of my speaking career.

Carlos Gil is an international keynote speaker and award winning digital storyteller with over a decade of experience leading social media strategies for global brands.

He is the author of the upcoming book, The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI set to release in October and you can pre-order your copy now.

In this episode, Carlos provides insight around humanizing your brand. His experience on relating to audiences through storytelling and authentically engaging on social media will leave you in awe.

I found myself being blown away multiple times with new concepts and ideas that are easily implemented and impactful.

In This Episode, You'll Learn...

How Carlos dropped out of high school at 17, got his GED, started his career in banking, and then moved into the dynamic presenter and CEO he is today.
What he sees as his hero story and why.
All about his new book, why he believes in the importance of humanizing your brand, and some of the best nuggets of wisdom you will discover when you read it.
Why you need to stop selling on social media and start engaging.
Both Carlos and my pet peeves around presentations and slides.
The three marketing tools that have changed his life.

People, Resources, & Links Mentioned

Preorder "The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI" by Carlos Gil
Carlos's voluminous Youtube channel
"The Only Skill that Matter: The Proven Methodology to Read Faster, Remember More, and Become a SuperLearner" by Jonathan Levi
Get on a special waitlist for my first book, releasing in November 2020 !
Digital Summit Boston
Rand Fishkin, creator of Sparktoro
Lilmiquela, the Instagram account of a robot
Gary Vaynerchuk
Seth Godin
Grammarly

Next Episode

Telling a "DataStory" the Way Your Stakeholders Need with Nancy Duarte

Nancy Duarte is the founder of Duarte, Inc., a global leader behind some of the most influential visual messages in business and culture. It is the largest design firm in Silicon Valley and also the fifth largest female employer in the area.

Nancy is a communication expert and as a persuasion specialist and she has she cracked the code for effectively incorporating story into business communications.

She has been a speaker at a number of Fortune 500 companies and counts 8 of the top 10 brands in her firm's clientele.

She is the author of six books and today, she shares a wealth of information about her brand new book, DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story.

Tune in to this episode where Nancy shares amazing and actionable tips and tricks for storytelling in data, reaching stakeholders and communicating effectively with the executive suite while also sharing about her new book and some of the mind-blowing concepts she introduces.

In This Episode, You'll Learn...

The importance of being able to not only understanding data, but also to communicate the findings effectively with your audience using storytelling.
Best practices for getting seen as a leader and inspiration to others in your workplace.
The three acts of telling your data story.
How stakeholders and people in the executive suite think and how you can best reach them in a positively efficient way.

How to Keep Up with Nancy:

People, Blogs, and Resources Mentioned: