I had the great fortune to attend the two day course by Edward Tufte presented in Palo Alto on Thursday and Friday of last week.  In this course, Mr. Tufte did a chapter by chapter review of all four of his books on analytical design.  Mr. Tufte was describe by Martin Kemp in Nature as, “The world’s leading analyst of graphic information” and that description rang true in my experience. 

As with his books, his speaking style was that of a conversational professor and conveyed his deep knowledge of and passion for the material at hand.  For all of the depth and breadth of the discourse during the two days, I was left with a very serene sense that clearing away the unnecessary and focusing on what is important is the solution to effective data presentation.   That’s a great life philosophy, clear out the cruft and focus on what’s important.

Mr. Tufte also made a the point that most data presentation will fall into one of several categories and that we can use the best examples in a given space as templates upon which to base a new presentation.  This is where his four books serve as a great collection and critique of exemplars of good and bad analytical design.  If you’re ever at a loss for how to present some information, instead of searching in Google for a powerpoint presentation, browse his wonderful books and get real inspiration.