Data Visualization: Describing Trends

In tech, data is your best friend. But a slide full of numbers is boring. You need to tell the story behind the data.

Verbs for Trends

• Upward: Surged, Skyrocketed, Peaked, Doubled.
• Downward: Dipped, Plummeted, Bottomed out.
• Stable: Plateaued, Leveled off, Remained steady.

Describing the "Why"

Don't just say "Revenue went up." Say why it went up.

• "As you can see, our user base surged in Q3, driven by our new referral program."
• "Growth plateaued in July, due to a seasonal dip in traffic."

The "Key Insight"

Every data slide should have one main takeaway.

• "The key takeaway here is that our retention is 2x the industry average."
• "If you look at the blue line, you'll see that our CAC is actually decreasing as we scale."

Alex's Tip: Use your hands (or your cursor) to point to the data you are talking about. It helps the audience's eyes follow your voice.

These phrases direct the audience's eyes to the right part of the visual and tell them what it means.

Explaining a chart

When you show a chart, guide the audience through it:

1. Name what it is. This chart shows our monthly churn rate.
2. Point to the key trend. As you can see, churn dropped sharply in March.
3. Explain why it matters. That drop came right after we launched the new onboarding.

This three-step pattern (name, point, explain) turns a chart from decoration into evidence.

Slide design basics

• One idea per slide. Do not cram.
• Large fonts. Nothing below 24pt.
• High contrast. Dark text on a light background, or vice versa.
• Minimal animation. Use it only to reveal a point, not to entertain.
• Consistent style. Same fonts and colors throughout.

Common mistakes

1. Paragraphs on slides. Split them into keywords; speak the full sentences.
2. Reading slides aloud. Let the audience read the keywords; you provide the meaning.
3. Pointing without explaining. As you can see is useless unless you say what to see.

Practice

Take one dense slide from a past presentation and redesign it:

1. Identify the single key point: _
2. Reduce the text to 5 keywords or one chart: _
3. Write the sentence you will speak aloud to explain it: _

In the next lesson, you will learn to handle questions during and after your presentation.