Master Microsoft Power BI with My New Book: Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI

Alexander Loth holding his books Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI, Decisively Digital and Visual Analytics with Tableau
Alexander Loth holding his books Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI, Decisively Digital and Visual Analytics with Tableau

A Comprehensive, Fully Visual Guide to Data Visualization and Analytics

I am thrilled to announce the release of my latest book, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI – a comprehensive and fully visual guide to mastering Microsoft Power BI. This book is designed to help both beginners and experienced users improve their skills in data visualization and analytics using Power BI, a powerful tool that has become an industry standard. In this blog post, I’ll give you a sneak peek into the contents of the book and how it can help you become a Power BI pro.

Why Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI?

Power BI is a robust data visualization software that enables users to transform raw data into meaningful insights through stunning visuals. However, learning Power BI can be challenging, especially for those who are new to the world of data visualization. That’s where Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI comes in. The book adopts a visual learning approach, combining step-by-step instructions with clear screenshots to walk readers through the basic and advanced functions of Power BI.

What’s Inside Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI?

This guide offers a comprehensive learning experience, covering a wide range of topics, including:

  1. Working with, transforming, and processing data sources: Learn how to connect to various data sources, clean and transform data, and create relationships between tables.
  2. Customizing data visualizations: Discover how to create informative and presentation-ready charts and graphs by customizing their appearance, colors, and interactivity.
  3. Advanced Power BI features: Explore app integrations, data access with DAX, and other advanced features that will help you get the most out of Power BI.
  4. Real-world examples and guidance: Apply your learnings to real-world scenarios with practical examples and expert tips throughout the book.

Who Can Benefit from Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI?

This book is suitable for a wide range of readers, including:

  1. Beginners: If you’re new to Power BI or data visualization, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI provides an accessible introduction to help you get started.
  2. Intermediate users: For those with some experience in Power BI, the book offers valuable tips and advanced techniques to enhance your skills further.
  3. Professionals: Data analysts, business intelligence professionals, and managers can use this book to improve their data visualization and reporting capabilities using Power BI.

Get your copy today!

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI is a must-have resource for anyone looking to master Microsoft Power BI. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, this book offers valuable insights and guidance to help you harness the full potential of this powerful data visualization tool.

Don’t miss out – grab your copy today and embark on your journey toward becoming a Power BI pro! Also, follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more insights.

Discover the Power of Honest Data Visualization: Elevate Your Data Storytelling Skills with The Truthful Art

Truthful Art, The: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication
Truthful Art, The: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication

Welcome to the #datamustread book club, where we dive into the world of data with compelling and informative reads. This month, I’ve chosen a book that will revolutionize the way you approach data visualization: The Truthful Art by Alberto Cairo. In this blog post, I’ll provide you with an in-depth look at the book and its valuable lessons, as well as examples and anecdotes that demonstrate its relevance to data enthusiasts like you.

Unleashing the Storytelling Potential of Data

The Truthful Art delves into the principles and practices of data visualization, teaching you how to create graphical representations of information that are both effective and honest. By viewing data visualization as a tool for communication, the book emphasizes its potential to convey stories, arguments, and insights to a diverse audience.

A Comprehensive Guide to Data Visualization

This book provides readers with a deep understanding of data analysis, design, storytelling, and the ethical and practical challenges that accompany working with data. Throughout the book, Alberto draws from his experience as a journalist, professor, and consultant to offer practical advice and insights on creating and evaluating data visualizations.

Real-World Examples and Exercises with „The Truthful Art“

What sets The Truthful Art apart from other data visualization resources is its use of real-world examples and exercises. The book goes beyond theoretical concepts by demonstrating how to apply these ideas to your own projects. This hands-on approach ensures that you can readily implement the techniques you learn, making your data visualizations more effective and honest.

A Manifesto for the Truthful Art of Data Communication

The Truthful Art is more than just a guide to data visualization. It’s a call to action, urging readers to think critically and creatively about data and communicate their findings in a clear and compelling way. The book challenges you to reflect on your biases and assumptions and to consider the ethical implications of your work.

Don’t Miss This Essential Read for Data Enthusiasts

If you’re passionate about data visualization and want to take your skills to the next level, The Truthful Art is a must-read. By offering valuable insights, practical examples, and a focus on ethics, this book is an essential resource for anyone who wants to use data to inform, persuade, or inspire others.

Ready to dive into The Truthful Art and transform your approach to data visualization? Order your copy of The Truthful Art today and support both me and the author in our quest to spread the power of honest data visualization.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section of this LinkedIn post or with a reply on this Twitter thread. Stay connected with me on Twitter and LinkedIn, and don’t forget to explore my new book, Teach Yourself Visually Power BI.

Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals
Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

We know that data can be a powerful tool for decision-making, but it can also be overwhelming and difficult to communicate to others in a meaningful way. This is where Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic comes in. I chose this book for our #datamustread book club because it offers a practical guide to creating compelling data stories that resonate with your audience. Today, as we celebrate International Women’s Day, I’m excited to share this book written by a talented female author.

The Power of Storytelling with Data

In this book, we’ll explore the importance of storytelling in data visualization and how it can make your data more impactful. Cole emphasizes the need to understand your audience and context before creating a data story. Using real-world examples, she will show you how to go beyond the traditional tools to create a narrative that is engaging, informative, and compelling.

Data Visualization Best Practices

The book covers the key principles of effective data visualization. From choosing the right type of graph to eliminating clutter, Cole provides practical tips and tools for making your data visually appealing and easy to understand. She also shows how to use design concepts to make your data more engaging.

The Art of Data Storytelling

We’ll also learn how to craft a data story that resonates with your audience. Cole explains how to use data to create a compelling narrative that leads your audience to the key insights. By harnessing the power of storytelling, you can create visual stories that stick with your audience.

Throughout the book, Cole uses numerous real-world examples to illustrate her points. From the good to the bad, she provides insightful commentary on a variety of data stories. She also shares anecdotes and personal experiences that demonstrate the power of data storytelling.

Order Storytelling with Data Today

This guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to improve their data visualization skills. By following the lessons in this book, you can turn your data into powerful visual stories that resonate with your audience. If you’re looking to make your data more compelling and actionable, I highly recommend this book.

You can order Storytelling with Data using this link, which supports both me and the author. If you want to practice more, consider reading one of the other books written by the same author: Storytelling with Data: Let’s Practice!

Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more insights. Also, be sure to check out my new book Teach Yourself Visually Power BI, a comprehensive guide to mastering Power BI.

The Big Book of Dashboards: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Effective Business Dashboards

The Big Book of Dashboards: Visualizing Your Data Using Real-World Business Scenarios
The Big Book of Dashboards: Visualizing Your Data Using Real-World Business Scenarios

As a data enthusiast, you know that creating an effective dashboard is not just about presenting data, it’s about communicating insights and making data-driven decisions. That’s why I’ve chosen The Big Book of Dashboards (BBoD) for our #datamustread book club. Written by Andy Cotgreave, Steve Wexler, and Jeffrey Shaffer, this book is a comprehensive reference that provides real-world solutions for building effective business dashboards.

Let’s dive into what makes this book so valuable for data enthusiasts.

Real-world solutions for building effective business dashboards

The BBoD covers dozens of examples that address different industries and departments, such as healthcare, transportation, finance, human resources, marketing, customer service, and sports, among others. It also covers different platforms, including print, desktop, tablet, smartphone, and conference room displays. With this book as your guide, you’ll be able to match great dashboards with real-world business scenarios.

Practical and effective visualization examples in The Big Book of Dashboards

The book is organized based on scenarios and offers practical and effective visualization examples. You’ll find an entire section of the book devoted to addressing many practical and psychological factors you will encounter in your work. The expert authors have combined 30-plus years of hands-on experience helping people in hundreds of organizations build effective visualizations. They bring uncommon empathy to help you, the reader of this book, survive and thrive in the data visualization world.

Tools, guidance, and models to produce great dashboards

The BBoD gives you the tools, guidance, and models you need to produce great dashboards that inform, enlighten, and engage. A well-designed dashboard can point out risks, opportunities, and more, but common challenges and misconceptions can make your dashboard useless at best, and misleading at worst. This book will help you avoid those challenges and produce dashboards that truly make a difference.

Examples of modern, effective designs

What sets The Big Book of Dashboards apart from its peers is that it contains a number of examples of modern, effective designs. The examples are of good visualizations, rather than bad, and this focus means that the reader is exposed to a vast range of quality content, rather than endless examples of what „not to do.“

Order The Big Book of Dashboards Today

Once you’ve read the BBoD, you’ll want to keep it nearby as a guide for your data visualization projects. The book provides 20+ high-quality dashboards based on all kinds of data from different industries, with detailed explanations of why certain chart types, layouts, and colors were used, why they work well, why other choices were not good enough, and what could be changed to make the dashboard even better.

Order your copy of The Big Book of Dashboards (BBoD) today with this link that supports both me and the authors. Also, comment on my LinkedIn post below for a chance to enter our book giveaway. Happy reading!

Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more insights, and don’t forget to check out my new book Decisively Digital: From Creating a Culture to Designing Strategy, which dives deep into digital transformation.

Tableau Calculated Field: 20 Essential Tricks for Your Tableau Dashboards – A Comprehensive Guide

Tableau Calculated Field tips: Even more Tableau tricks in these books: “Datenvisualisierung mit Tableau” and “Visual Analytics with Tableau”
Tableau Calculated Field tips: Even more Tableau tricks in these books: “Datenvisualisierung mit Tableau” and “Visual Analytics with Tableau”

Tableau’s Calculated Field feature is at the core of its capabilities, offering powerful data manipulation and insights. In this post, we’ll explore 20 ultimate tricks to elevate your Tableau dashboards with calculated fields. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, these Tableau Calculated Field tips will unlock the full potential of Tableau.

20 Ultimate Tableau Calculated Field Tricks – Simply Explained

  1. 📊 Summing Based on Conditions
    Calculate the sum of sales for a specific region:
    IF [Region] = "West" THEN SUM([Sales Amount]) END
    Great for targeted analysis!
  2. 🔗 Accessing Related Data
    Grab related product names:
    ATTR([Product Name])
    Simplifies data relationships!
  3. 🧠 Row Context Calculations
    Calculate sales amount per Sales ID:
    {FIXED [Sales ID]: SUM([Sales Amount])}
    Unlock the power of context!
  4. 🏅 Ranking Values
    Rank sales amounts in descending order:
    RANK(SUM([Sales Amount]), 'desc')
    See who’s on top!
  5. 🧮 Safe Division
    Avoid division by zero:
    IF [Total Units] != 0 THEN [Total Sales] / [Total Units] END
    No more errors!
  6. 🔄 Multiple Conditions
    Use CASE for multiple conditions:
    CASE [Rating] WHEN 1 THEN "Poor" WHEN 2 THEN "Average" WHEN 3 THEN "Good" ELSE "Unknown" END
    Keep it clean!
  7. 🚫 Removing Filters
    Exclude filters from a calculation:
    {EXCLUDE [Sales]: SUM([Sales Amount])}
    Take control of your filters!
  8. 🧵 String Aggregation
    Concatenate product names:
    CONCATENATE([Product], ", ")
    String it together!
  9. 📆 Year-Over-Year Comparisons
    Calculate the difference in years:
    DATEDIFF('year', [Date], TODAY())
    Time travel with data! #Tableau #Analytics
  10. 🕳️ Handling Missing Data
    Replace zeros with NULL:
    IF [Sales Amount] = 0 THEN NULL ELSE [Sales Amount] END
    Clean up those blanks!
  11. 🎨 Custom Date Formatting
    Format dates your way:
    DATEPARSE("MMM-YYYY", [Sales Date])
    Make dates work for you!
  12. 🎯 Single Value Validation
    Check for a single unique value:
    IF COUNTD([Region]) = 1 THEN [Region] ELSE "Multiple Regions" END
    Validate with ease!
  13. 🕵️‍♀️ Filter Detection
    Detect if a field is filtered:
    IF SIZE() > 1 THEN "Filtered" ELSE "Not Filtered" END
    Be a filter detective!
  14. 📈 Maximum Values in a Table
    Find the max sales amount:
    WINDOW_MAX(SUM([Sales Amount]))
    Reach the peak!
  15. 📉 Minimum Values in a Table
    Find the min sales amount:
    WINDOW_MIN(SUM([Sales Amount]))
    Find the floor!
  16. 🧮 Counting Rows in a Table
    Count rows in a table:
    SIZE()
    Count on it!
  17. 🎲 Counting Unique Values
    Count unique products:
    COUNTD([Product])
    Uniqueness counts!
  18. 🔍 Lookup Scenarios
    Check if a product exists:
    IF CONTAINS([Product], "Product A") THEN "Exists" ELSE "Does Not Exist" END
    Look it up!
  19. 📊 Creating a Series of Numbers
    Generate a series of numbers:
    INDEX()
    Count it out!
  20. 📝 Conditional Formatting
    Apply conditional formatting based on sales performance:
    IF SUM([Sales Amount]) > 10000 THEN "High" ELSEIF SUM([Sales Amount]) > 5000 THEN "Medium" ELSE "Low" END
    Visualize performance at a glance!

Even More Tableau Tricks

📚 If you want to dive even deeper into the world of Tableau, check out my Tableau books 🔗 Visual Analytics with Tableau (Amazon) and 🔗 Datenvisualisierung mit Tableau (Amazon)! These books are packed with even more Tableau Calculated Field tips, tricks, and tutorials to help you master Tableau. Don’t miss out on these invaluable resources!

Want to stay updated with the latest Tableau insights? Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. Share your thoughts, ask questions, and engage with a community of Tableau enthusiasts like yourself.

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