COURSE NUMBER:  MBA291D.1

This course is dual-listed with the Evening-Weekend MBA Program

COURSE TITLE: Data Visualization (expanded from Presentation Design for Analytical Communication)

UNITS OF CREDIT:  2 units

INSTRUCTOR:  Kevin Hill

E-MAIL ADDRESS:  kevinshill@berkeley.edu

PREREQUISITE(S):  None

CAREER FIELD: See Abstract of Course’s Content below

CLASS FORMAT:

• Reading + discussion                ~10%
• Lecture                                     ~50%
• Team/partner exercises             ~40%

REQUIRED READINGS:  ~17 short articles

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: In-class attendance and participation, pre-work, assignment, group project and final project.  In the projects I will look for adherence to principles taught and clarity of insights.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT:
The ultimate value of data is to help leaders make better decisions, which calls for being able to quickly and unambiguously extract the key insights hidden in data. Data visualization techniques and tools enable us to summarize data details and patterns into graphically- expressed representations, which lend themselves to actionable conclusions. The way we present data this to stakeholders may be the difference between a well-informed or very misguided decision. This course covers the concepts involved in visualizing data for decision makers, including visualization techniques, data structure, color theory, dashboarding tools, presentation structure, as well as audience roles and learning styles.

Students will learn presentation design principles necessary to communicate quantitative business information clearly and efficiently, including learning to use Tableau as part of the group project.

THIS COURSE IS:

• Appropriate for folks in any functional area who are (or will be) responsible for presenting data analysis & insights, and will help in presenting to any level of an organization
• For people who want to grow more comfortable in what to present, and how to communicate quantitative insights to their audience most effectively
• A collection of practical frameworks & tools to help you design analytical presentations for maximum audience comprehension
• A hands-on introduction to Tableau. Although I will not give a formal endorsement of this specific tool over other dashboarding SW

THIS COURSE IS NOT:

• For experienced presenters who already have a high degree of comfort presenting analytical information
• A detailed training on strategy & analysis. I will touch on it briefly, but I assume proficiency based on core Strategy & Marketing coursework
• An expert-level course in Tableau. However, this course neither implies nor requires understanding of advanced analytical tools

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Appreciate the roles internal partners and stakeholders play in preparing quantitative analysis, and identify the most value-added efforts to take before data is presented
• Understand the different ways people learn, and how to cater to diverse learning styles
• Critically evaluate the principles and techniques of data visualization for big data analysis and decision making. Recognize common design errors, what to do instead, and why
• Acquire basic understanding of Tableau dashboarding and related best practices
• Learn practical frameworks for presenting quantitative information, including order of operations, chart selection, and presentation structure. Formulate and apply visualization techniques to a complex problem and associated data set in order to generate business insight

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Kevin Hill is professional faculty at UC Berkeley Haas, teaching Data Visualization to full-time and evening-weekend MBA students and Data-driven Decision-making to Executive Education clients. He is also Principal of Heights Consulting, where he delivers strategy, analytic and operational leadership to an array of clients, including Johnson & Johnson, BabyCenter, Intuit, Cisco, Blue Prism, Mintigo, Stanford Heath Care, Fisher Investments and others. Kevin founded and led the market intelligence practice at Autodesk for eight years, and covered technology companies in the financial markets for five.

Kevin earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in 2007. He started his career and developed his passion for tech while working in Equity Research for RBC and Canaccord Genuity, covering the dynamic software industry. Originally from Cleveland, OH, he earned a BA in Finance from Ohio University.