Yesterday I attended Presenting Data and Informtion taught by Edward Tufte. A number of people that I work with had gone to this one-day session and come back raving, so I finally decided to attend this myself. After attending I can see why they were raving!
If you are unfamiliar, Edward Tufte is one of the leading world experts on visualization of data. I’m pleased to say that not only is Tufte an excellent academic, he’s also a wonderful speaker. He could do a radio program in no time flat. He’s got a great presenting style. I thought the class was going to give him a standing ovation at the end.
I’m not going to repeat the class contents here, I could not do it justice. Check out the website and see for yourself. If you ever have to give presentations, I would highly recommend attending this session.
He’s also a pompous ass. He’s got the goods, but I wouldn’t even want to have a drink with him as he’d probably be drinking out of 500 year old goblet being gently cradled by his white-glove wearing assistant.
I’d tend to agree that he seemed a bit on that side, but given his credentials he maybe deserves some of it. ;-)
The white gloves on the assistant were a bit amusing.
E.T. (self labeled) is a very well spoken and well written individual. His books are wonderful and he offers some excellent insight into the importance of accurate content and representation of data. His emphasis on the data before the display method is something that many junior website designers should pay attention to. Even some of us that have made web sites for years need to be reminded of this. I’d encourage anyone to attend this, or at least buy his books. But be prepared for frequent digressions and a bit of an ego!
Wonder if he likes Skittles? :)
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