Back in 2021, instead of running #IronQuest during the Iron Viz feeder contest, I decided to join forces with other leaders from across the community to establish an Iron Viz feedback initiative. Together, we worked with over 20 participants to provide feedback on their feeder entries, helping them to refine their vizzes and maximise their chances of scoring highly in the contest.

Thanks to its initial success, we grew the initiative in 2022 and supported 43 Iron Viz participants through 49 x 15-minute feedback sessions, equating to over 12 hours of feedback!

I’m excited to announce that the feedback initiative is running again this year and its bigger than ever before!

Everything you need to know about the initiative is included in this post.

How do I sign up?

Feedback sessions can be booked through Calendly here.

We currently have sessions available from October 17th to 28th.

Please note, sessions must be booked at least 24 hours in advance of the chosen meeting time.

Who will be providing feedback?

I’ve assembled a team of 17 experts from across the Tableau Community to support this initiative, plus I’ll also be helping out!

I’m incredibly grateful for the support of these amazing team members! The team includes former Iron Viz finalists and participants, Tableau Visionaries, Tableau Ambassadors, community project leaders, and much more!

To ensure maximum availability, we have team members located in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

How does it work?

Iron Viz participants can sign up for a 15-minute feedback session with one or more of the feedback team. Due to our busy schedules, you’ll be unable to select the specific team members you would like to meet with. Instead, upon booking a feedback session, you’ll automatically be allocated to meet with one or more of us, depending on who is covering the slot you have chosen.

When booking your session, you’ll be prompted to share a link to your viz on Tableau Public. Don’t worry if you don’t have it at the time of booking – it can be shared later. It also doesn’t matter what stage your viz is at, nor does it matter if the viz is hidden from public view. We’re happy to provide feedback regardless of where you’re at in the development process. Sharing the link in advance allows us to review your viz before the call and prepare our feedback.

During the call, we’ll ask you to walk us through your viz. It’s helpful if you explain your design and what you are hoping to achieve with it. This will help us to understand your intentions and any relevant background information.

The feedback we share during the session will be centred around the Iron Viz scoring criteria of Design, Storytelling, and Analysis. We’ll aim to share some suggestions to help improve your overall design and approach. We can even offer technical Tableau help if you need it.

How long is each feedback session?

Each feedback session is 15 minutes long. However, you can book subsequent follow-up sessions if you would like to meet with us again and seek feedback on your updated viz.

Ummm….What is Iron Viz?

If you don’t know what Iron Viz is, find out everything you need to know here.

Common Feedback Points and Viz Pitfalls

Throughout the feedback sessions we supported in 2022, there were a couple of common areas for improvement. If you are considering entering #IronViz this year, these are points you’ll want to consider when building your viz.

Use of Imagery

Images can be used to enhance the viz design and support the overall story. However, images should be selected with care. As a reminder, Section 4 of the Iron Viz 2023 contest rules states:

“the Entry must not contain any material that violates or infringes upon the rights of any third party, including without limitation any copyright, trademark or right of privacy or publicity…”

Before choosing an image, ensure you have the right to use it, being careful not to select images that could infringe copyright. Sites such as Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash offer images covered by licences that state they can be used for free, for both commercial and personal use. 

Incorporating Images into the Design

Continuing with the topic of imagery, remember that Iron Viz is an analytics competition that uses Tableau. Images can be used to complement your analytics, but they should always be secondary to the analytics. If your images take up the majority of your viz, you might want to reconsider your design.

Iron Viz 2022 finalist CJ Mayes touched on this point here:

“The type, size and positioning of still images can make or break a visualisation. Where individuals used images as supplementary aids, it worked really well! But on the flip side, some images can overpower the analytical focus of some visualisations”. 

Storytelling, Context and Narrative 

The Iron Viz scoring criteria focuses on design storytelling and analysis but through the feedback sessions, we noticed that some vizzes were weaker in one or more of these areas; namely storytelling. A viz that looks good but lacks storytelling and analysis is unlikely to score highly. Referencing the sessions he attended, Marc said:

“I often encouraged more analysis and storytelling as well as ensuring the viz gave a good introduction to the (sometimes niche) topic”.

Chimdi also mentioned the importance of creating a narrative to communicate with the audience. Something as simple as explaining the findings of your analysis, in words, and calling out what surprised you, can be an effective approach. Michelle offered a great tip for anyone looking to strengthen the narrative in their viz:

“My favorite piece of advice is to write yourself into the viz. It sometimes felt like people are so close to their topic and had a great passion for it but I often didn’t know anything about it. When someone includes their perspective, it is easier to connect. I also think it improves the storytelling”. 

This is something I frequently encouraged also. Don’t be afraid to explain why the topic is important to you or call out data points that you are more closely affiliated with. For example, if you were doing a viz on the most popular movies, you could highlight which ones are your favourites as a way of writing yourself into the viz. 

Context is also important here. When you have a vested interest in something or are an expert on a subject, we may have a tendency to brush over the starting context as it’s easy to take it for granted. As CJ mentions, 

“From a storytelling perspective, this is like starting halfway through a story and hoping your audience will know what you’re talking about. I’d recommend people really plan out what they want to show as a start, middle and end and consider what you want the viewer to take away once they finish looking at the viz”.

Designing for Accessibility

In an effort to create a stylish design, it can be tempting to use small font sizes, non-standard fonts and lighter tones. However, these approaches can often lead to accessibility challenges. Always ensure that your text is readable. Size, contrast and spacing all contribute to this.

A great resource to learn more about accessibility in data viz is Chartability, created by Frank Elavsky. 

Good luck with your Iron Viz entry!

We look forward to seeing you at a feedback session soon!

Thanks for reading!