Data Visualisation & Storytelling
This 2-day data visualisation training in Malaysia course teaches participants how to turn complex business data into clear, persuasive visual stories using tools they already have: Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
Built for senior associates and anyone who presents data to management. This is a HRD Corp claimable course.
per person
Level
Duration
Training Delivery Format
Face-to-face / Virtual Class
per person
Level
Duration
Training Delivery Format
Face-to-face (F2F) / Virtual Class
Class types
Public Class
Private Class
In-House Training
Bespoke
About this course
This course bridges the gap between data analysis and business communication. Participants learn to identify the right message in their data, choose the right visual format, simplify complex findings for non-technical audiences, and structure a narrative that senior management can act on.
The programme covers both the thinking and the doing; visual design principles, audience-centric storytelling, slide structure, and a final presentation exercise using real business data. No programming, no Power BI, no advanced statistics required. Participants work entirely in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
This is a practical, hands-on course. Every module includes a real activity with expected output.
Who should attend?
This course is designed for:
- Senior associates and executives who present data reports or dashboards to management
- Analysts and operations staff whose findings need to reach decision-makers clearly
- Finance, HR, and project management professionals who use data regularly but struggle to communicate it effectively
- Team leads and managers who review or approve data presentations before they go upward
- Anyone whose charts and slides get met with blank stares or too many follow-up questions.
Learning Outcome
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Select the right chart type based on data, message, and audience
- Remove visual clutter and redesign weak charts into clear, focused visuals
- Write strong insight statements using the “what happened, why it matters, what should be done next” framework
- Tailor data narratives for senior management versus operational teams
- Build a management-ready slide deck with executive summary, key insight, supporting visual, and recommendation
- Apply before-and-after visualisation techniques to improve existing reports and dashboards
- Deliver a short data-driven presentation with confidence
Prerequisites
Participants are expected to have:
- Basic working knowledge of Microsoft Excel (able to create or read charts)
- Basic experience creating or reading reports, dashboards, or presentation slides
- Familiarity with common business data such as sales, operations, or KPI data
- Basic knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint
No programming, statistical, or business intelligence background is required.
Course Content
Foundations of Effective Data Visualisation and Insight Communication
- Module 1: Overview of Data Visualisation and Data Storytelling
- What data visualisation and storytelling mean in a business context. Differences between reporting, visualisation, and storytelling. Common problems in data presentations: poor chart selection, visual clutter, unclear messages, and weak recommendations. How cognitive load affects data interpretation.
- Activity: Participants review sample charts and identify what works and what causes confusion.
- Module 2: Understanding Audience Needs and Key Messaging
- Identifying what different stakeholder levels need from data. Turning data into decision-supporting messages. Writing clear insight statements. Avoiding overly technical language when presenting to non-technical audiences.
- Activity: Participants develop different messages from the same dataset for different audience groups.
- Module 3: Identifying Key Insights and Translating Data into Clear Messages
- Exploring a dataset for patterns, trends, comparisons, and outliers. Prioritising what matters most. Separating key insights from supporting details. Using chart titles to guide the audience. Presenting data responsibly.
- Activity: Participants select the most suitable chart type for a set of business questions.
Designing Simple Visuals and Delivering Persuasive Data Stories
- Module 5: Designing Effective and Simple Visuals
- Principles of effective visual design. Removing clutter and improving readability. Using labels, titles, annotations, and callouts. Applying colour, contrast, and visual hierarchy. Improving weak charts using before-and-after techniques.
- Activity: Participants redesign a cluttered chart into a cleaner, more persuasive visual in Excel and PowerPoint. Output: Before-and-after visual comparison.
- Module 6: Structuring Data-Driven Stories
- How to build a persuasive data narrative from context to recommendation. Creating an executive-level presentation flow. Moving from showing data to guiding decisions. Using slide titles as message headlines.
- Activity: Participants convert a set of charts into a short management-style story. Output: Draft data story flow with key messages and supporting visuals.
- Module 7: Building Management-Ready Data Presentation
- Slides Characteristics of effective executive slides. The one slide, one key message principle. Reducing text-heavy explanations. Presenting technical findings to non-technical stakeholders. Creating action-oriented conclusions.
- Activity: Participants build an executive summary slide, key insight slide, supporting visual slide, and recommendation slide.
- Output: Management-ready slide mini-deck.
- Module 8: Final Data Storytelling Activity and Presentation Practice
- Participants apply everything covered across both days. They identify the key business question in a dataset, select appropriate visuals, design clear slides, structure the narrative, and present their findings.
- Output: Final management-style data story with key business question, main insight, supporting visualisation, and recommendation.
What participants take home: Sample Excel datasets, before-and-after visualisation examples, chart selection guide, data storytelling framework, executive presentation slide template, and a practical checklist for improving future data presentations.
At this time, this course is available for private class and in-house training only. Please contact us for any inquiries.