$599^.00 Register for this workshop → Get a single workshop, or bundle with a conference.

Based on Nick Desbarats’ experiences designing dashboards for over 50 large organizations and teaching dashboard design to thousands of professionals, the Practical Dashboards course uncovers the real reasons why so many dashboards fail to satisfy users and organizations; reasons that go far deeper than the visual design on which most dashboard books and courses focus.

Workshop participants will learn a highly practical, actionable framework for creating a system of different types of dashboards that enable users to find answers to their data-related questions far more quickly and easily, including fundamental questions such as, “Is everything O.K. at the moment?”, often for the first time.

• Understanding that there are nine general types of dashboards that serve very different purposes and that must be designed in very different ways.
• Reviewing the nine types of dashboards and the different design patterns and principles for designing each type:
  • Entity Dashboards — detailed information about a single type of thing e.g., customers, transactions, etc.
  • Area Dashboards — detailed information about an area of the organization e.g., Marketing, Asia-Pacific Region, etc.
  • Role Dashboards — detailed information for a single role e.g., Account Manager, CEO, etc.
  • Overview Dashboards — introductory, highly summarized overview of a single entity, area, or role
  • Strategic Performance Dashboards — 5 to 15 carefully chosen KPIs for strategic planning purposes
  • Canned Analysis Dashboards — automate the answer to a commonly asked analytical question
  • Persuasion Dashboards — persuade the audience to adopt a specific course of action or opinion
  • Explanation Dashboards — explain a specific concept, process, etc. to the audience
  • Engagement Dashboards — draw attention to a dataset, typically among a broad audience
• Design patterns and principles for each type of dashboard are demonstrated (not just explained) through realistic examples and interactive challenges, with plenty of time for Q&A and ad hoc discussions.

Who Is This Workshop For?

This workshop will be of value to those who are responsible for designing and/or developing information dashboards using any major business intelligence product (Tableau, Power BI, Qlik, custom-coded dashboards, etc.), or for decision-makers who would like to provide better guidance to those who develop their dashboards.

What Hardware/Software Do You Need?

No hardware or software is needed for this workshop; all exercises are conducted using printed handouts.

About Nick Desbarats

As an independent educator and best-selling author, Nick Desbarats has taught data visualization and information dashboard design to thousands of professionals in over a dozen countries at organizations such as NASA, Bloomberg, Visa, The United Nations, and Shopify.

Nick is the author of the Amazon #1 New Release “Practical Charts” (2023), and has lectured at Yale, the University of Toronto, and The Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand).

Time & Location

This full-day workshop will take place the day before SmashingConf. The workshop will be running from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM on Monday, October 6.

Schedule for Monday, October 6

8:30 AM – Doors open, Registration
9:00 AM – Introduction & Kick-off
10:30 AM – Coffee Break
12:00 PM – Lunch
1:00 PM – Afternoon Session
2:45 PM – Coffee Break
4:45 PM – The End

Save 100 USD when signing up for the conference and a workshop!