World-class data visualization and dashboard design training
Practical Reporting is the consultancy of Nick Desbarats, a globally recognized instructor and best-selling author who has trained thousands of professionals in over a dozen countries at organizations such as…
New! Practical Charts On Demand course
Get the same world-class data visualization training that globally recognized expert and best-selling author Nick Desbarats has delivered to NASA, Visa, Bloomberg, the U.N., Shopify and many other top organizations, but at an affordable price and on your own schedule.
The course includes 6.5 hours of video lessons, complimentary PDF and eBook editions of Nick’s books, and access to live “office hours” sessions.
Upcoming open-registration live workshops
Tallin, Estonia - Sep. 10-13, 2024 (in-person)
Nick will deliver his revolutionary Practical Charts and Practical Dashboards courses in Tallin, Estonia, hosted by Dmitrij Zatuchin of Do OK. To indicate your interest and be the first to know when specific details and registration options are announced, complete this short form (30 secs).
Warsaw, Poland - Sep. 16-17, 2024 (in-person)
Nick will deliver his revolutionary Practical Charts course in Warsaw, Poland, hosted by Dmitrij Zatuchin of Do OK. To indicate your interest and be the first to know when specific details and registration options are announced, complete this short form (30 secs).
Antwerp, Belgium - October 28, 2024 (mini-workshop, in-person)
Nick will deliver a one-day, in-person workshop consisting of key portions of his revolutionary Practical Charts course, in conjunction with the SmashingConf Design and UX conference. Workshop info and registration page.
London, UK - Nov. 4-7, 2024 (in-person)
Nick will deliver his revolutionary Practical Charts and Practical Dashboards courses in London, U.K., hosted by Ian Stuart of Rupe. To indicate your interest and be the first to know when specific details and registration options are announced, complete this short form (30 secs).
Available training courses
Nick currently delivers the following courses as private and open-registration workshops, either online or on-site at client locations.
Practical Charts
Online: Four half-days
On-site: Two days
New! On demand: 7.5 hours
Nick Desbarats’ foundational course that equips participants with the principles and best practices to handle every data visualization challenge that they’re likely to face in their day-to-day work, and to create charts that are clear, compelling and —above all— useful.
Practical Dashboards
Online: Four half-days
On-site: Two days
Nick Desbarats’ groundbreaking course that uncovers the real reasons why so many dashboards fail to deliver real value, and that enables dashboard creators to create dashboards that users actually like.
Graphs for Analysis
On-site only: One day
Teaches participants powerful techniques for exploring, analyzing and making sense of data using simple graphs and visual techniques as opposed to non-visual statistical methods.
What workshop participants are saying
“I’ve held senior business intelligence roles for two decades and am familiar with many data visualization training programs. Nick’s course is currently the best data visualization training in the world. Despite having discussed and studied data visualization with many people over the years, it STILL left me with the feeling of having a reprogrammed brain. I want to go back and redesign every chart that I've ever created.” - Chris Weis, Product Manager - Data Visualization, Kaufman Hall
"This workshop was jam-packed with practical content that will have a major impact on my day-to-day work. The Cheat Sheet handouts alone are unbelievably useful." - Katarina Naddaf, Team Lead, Government of Canada
“It’s been an incredible few days and the time just flew by. I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about a training course! The Practical Charts course definitely lives up to its name and Nick is a fantastic instructor, able to teach extremely valuable, practical techniques and considerations to guide participants on how to communicate data to others in the most effective and useful way.” - Amie Das, Senior Manager, KPMG
Recent talks and interviews
Guest lecture, Yale University - Nov. 2023
Recent blog posts
When looking at a line chart for an important metric, people often panic when the line goes down and celebrate when it goes up, even though those fluctuations can—and often should—be ignored, because they're just random "noise" that doesn't need to be acted on.
There are, of course, also times when a metric genuinely does require attention because it's behaving in way that indicates that something meaningful has occurred and that action may be warranted.
Is there a way to tell the difference between random fluctuations that can be ignored and meaningful patterns that require action? This video covers just that topic!