Data visualisation masterclass

Learn Data Storytelling

With more than 10 years experience creating award-winning data-driven stories, we teach you the secrets of turning data into powerful visuals to communicate your message and that drive change.
In our hands-on, interactive workshop we'll walk you through the basics of a good visual and the techniques we use to make information rich charts and visuals. By the end of the workshop you'll be making your own charts.

Unlock the communication power in your data

Stop sharing boring charts in your reports and presentations. Learn to make impactful charts that make your point without you needing to say anything. Make your charts and visuals the star of your show.

What we learnt from making more than 600 charts

We've produced and published more than 600 charts over the past two years. In this workshop we share what we learnt about making charts and visuals that others want to republish and share.

Learn ...

  • How to choose the right charts to make

  • How to increase your chart output

  • How to make charts & visuals shareable

  • What makes charts resonate with your audience

  • The tools you need to simplify visual making

An award-winning team

Your trainers

Laura Grant

Laura Grant is an award-winning data journalist who has been training people in the communications business for five years in data and visualisation skills. She is the founder and director of Media Hack Collective and the managing editor of The Outlier, South Africa’s first data-driven online publication.

Alastair Otter

Alastair has been a journalist for more than 20 years. He has won more than 10 national and international awards for data storytelling and visualisation.

Some of our awards

  • 2024 Covering Climate Now winner

  • 2024 WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Africa Best Data Visualisation winner

  • 2023 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Sustainability winner

  • 2023 Sikuvile Feature Story winner

  • 2018 Vodacom Journalist of the Year

Our stories and charts were referenced/republished by other media at least...

50 times in the past 3 months

• Daily Maverick • BusinessTech • IOL • News24 • Daily Investor • MoneyWeb • Engineering News, among others

Why you should attend

What you'll learn

  • Take data from a spreadsheet or table and make it into an eye-catching static or interactive graph using Flourish, an online data visualisation tool

  • Make interactive graphs that can be published on a website

  • Turn a static graphic into an eye-catching social media post using Canva, an online design tool

Who should attend

This 4-hour workshop is for anyone who wants to learn how to communicate effectively with graphs and graphics, such as people working in communications, PR or HR. No previous experience or special skills are necessary, this is a beginner-level course. But an openness to trying something new is compulsory.

💬 What people are saying

Having trained as a scientist, I was sceptical that I would learn anything from this course. But I’m glad to say I was wrong. Laura and Alastair have an incredible depth and range of skills that they've fine-tuned to create one of the best data visualisation machines out there.

James Brown

I left my academic bubble to be inspired by better ways of using data to really "see the story". I was refreshed by the beauty of data and the practical tips to help make it jump out. I loved learning Flourish!

Dieter von Fintel

Course Outline

An introduction to graphs and graphics

  • Why graphs are useful for communicating information

  • Types of graphs you can make.

  • Static versus interactive graphs: when to use them

  • Who is your audience?

  • Where will you use your graphs and graphics? Presentation, social media, media release for republication

Flourish Part 1

  • Data basics: Where to find it. What you need to know about it to turn it into a graph. Note: This includes a very gentle introduction to spreadsheets How to get your data into Flourish so you can start creating

Flourish Part 2

  • How to decide which graph to make

  • What you need to know about headings, subheads, axes and annotations to make a great graph

Flourish Part 3

  • How to publish an interactive chart

  • How to download static charts from Flourish

  • Adding the finishing touches: A beginner’s guide to Canva

  • A quick guide to templates for social media, presentations and more

  • How to get your Flourish graph into Canva

  • The key design skills you need to turn your graph into a great graphic

Johannesburg

  • 8 November 2024

  • 9am - 1pm

  • Workshop17 Kloof Street

R3,000/person excl VAT

© The Outlier. All rights reserved.

Sherry Neville

The How to Tell Stories with Data course was very eye-opening for me. A must for any data professional seeking to tell a story in more imaginative ways than the traditional pie chart or Excel chart.

Kim Jurgensen

The data visualisation training with Laura and Alastair was the best four hours I spent last year. It gave me great insight into how to make our stories more accessible, and easier to understand. So glad I did this course – hope there are more to come!

Anja Smith

I have been working with quantitative data for most of my working life (around 20 years). The data storytelling workshop was incredibly useful in making things that I already know explicit and more conscious. After the workshop, I now have the vocabulary to share or explain to others (in a knowledge transfer context) many of the data storytelling ideas and concepts.

Sophie Gebers

I found the workshop to be highly interactive and engaging. The main message was very clear, and helped me realise what was lacking in my own approach to work: when thinking of your graphics visualisation, you have to think of the target audience, and what key insight you want them to walk away with.

Dieter von Fintel

I left my academic bubble for a day to be inspired by better ways of using data to really 'see the story'. Usually I spend lots of time looking at the details of the data and get stuck in nitty gritty questions. Today I was refreshed by the beauty of data and the practical tips to make it 'jump out'. I loved learning Flourish!

James Brown

Having trained as a scientist, I was slightly sceptical that I could learn anything at this course, but I am so glad that I was wrong! In fact, I think all science undergraduates should be required to take this course (or at least their lecturers!). Laura and Alastair have an incredible depth and range of skills that they've fine-tuned to create one of the best data visualisation machines out there in my opinion.