Bill Shander teaches teams and individuals how to transform data into compelling visuals, engaging narratives, and actionable insights — so they can cut through the noise, grab attention, and drive real impact.
You spend hours digging through data, analyzing trends, and pulling insights — only to have your work ignored, misunderstood, or misinterpreted.
The problem isn’t your data. It’s how it’s being communicated.
Your audience is overloaded with data — overwhelmed with charts, reports, and dashboards, skimming past anything that doesn’t grab them immediately.
They say they want dashboards, but they don’t know how to read them. They ask for reports, but won’t make it past the first slide. Worse, they assume they understand the data — but without the right framing, they draw the wrong conclusions.
If your insights aren’t clear, engaging, and actionable, they might as well not exist.
Most data professionals focus on reporting the numbers. But numbers alone don’t inspire action — stories do.
To be truly effective, your charts, graphs, and reports need to do more than simply display data. They need to tell a story. A story that grabs attention, clarifies meaning, and guides decisions.
Through high-energy keynotes, online training, and hands-on workshops, Bill Shander equips data professionals with the tools to transform numbers into narratives and design visual experiences that make your data impossible to ignore.
Bill Shander teaches teams and individuals how to transform data into compelling visuals, engaging narratives, and actionable insights — so they can cut through the noise, grab attention, and drive real impact.
Bill’s keynotes help audiences rethink the way they communicate with data, blending sharp insight, practical strategies, and just enough humor to make it stick. From data storytelling to stakeholder alignment, these talks spark real shifts in how people approach their work.
Looking to go deeper? Bill offers hands-on workshops that teach teams how to think critically about data, design communication that connects, and build confidence across functions, from analytics to leadership. These sessions are practical, interactive, and designed for immediate application.
Bill’s new book, Stakeholder Whispering, reveals how to uncover what people actually need before acting on what they ask for. Part mindset shift, part communication playbook, it’s a must-read for anyone tired of misalignment, rework, and wasted effort.
Bill Shander’s data visualization workshops have been well received across all roles and levels at our firm.
Bill Shander’s data visualization workshops have been well received across all roles and levels at our firm. Bill is clearly an expert on the topic and he is also a talented facilitator! His creativity and flexibility in the classroom bode well for true problem solving.
Bill delivered one of the best workshops we’ve hosted all year. Our members were hooked from start to finish. While most people tell you how to present data, Bill shows you.
Bill delivered one of the best workshops we’ve hosted all year. He made data fun, accessible, and deeply engaging, something few can pull off. While we covered data & analytics, his session was also a masterclass in communication, influence, and storytelling with numbers.
Our members were hooked from start to finish. While most people tell you how to present data, Bill shows you. He weaves humor and levity into a topic that’s usually anything but light, and every example lands with insight and practical application. I walked away with actionable takeaways I was able to put into use immediately.
We’ve had Bill join us before for a conversation on his book Stakeholder Whispering, and once again, he proved why he’s exceptional at what he does. He has deep expertise on the art of critical thinking, reading the room, and delivering real value, and even more impressively, he’s mastered how to teach it. Incredibly effective, engaging, and memorable. We can’t wait to welcome him back.
He challenged us to think outside the box by providing helpful frameworks that are tangible and easy to apply immediately.
Bill is an engaging facilitator and very knowledgeable on the topic of Data Visualization. He has a unique way of mixing the lecture with activities to make for an impactful and hands-on learning experience. He also challenged us to think outside the box by providing helpful frameworks that are tangible and easy to apply immediately.
Our team is excited to put to practice his methodology and tools including his memorable acronyms for distilling messages!
We invited Bill to come share his expertise with 24 members of public affairs and stakeholder relations teams. Bill customized a dynamic workshop specific to our needs. Bill provided a format that was engaging, educational, and inspirational. Our team is excited to put to practice his methodology and tools including his memorable acronyms for distilling messages!
“This was one of the best if not the best learning sessions I’ve seen at IX!”
“We saw immediate gains. I already find myself adjusting how I present my data, and I am sure others are as well.”
Bill was a trusted advisor and invaluable partner in shaping our workforce development strategy and cultural engagement programs.
Bill served as the lead instructor for Starbucks’ enterprise-wide data analytics transformation over an eight-year period. His leadership in designing and delivering high-impact learning experiences enabled the upskilling and reskilling of hundreds of partners across functions, accelerating our shift toward a data-first culture. Bill’s strategic contributions were instrumental in embedding analytics into decision-making processes, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and aligning learning initiatives with broader business objectives.
It was tons of fun!
Bill’s class inspired my staff. For example, he effectively led a critique of some draft visualizations, provided pointers, and walked the staff through a ‘before and after’ demo. That “real life” activity, in particular, has helped challenge the staff’s creative thinking and transformed their process and deliverables. It was tons of fun!
We’re excited about raising the bar on our communications and look forward to working more with Bill in the future!
Bill’s program was exactly what our staff needed to breathe new life into our presentation and communication materials. His engaging style, practical hands-on exercises and flexibility to work with us to customize content for maximum effectiveness contributed significantly to the effectiveness of the program. We’re excited about raising the bar on our communications and look forward to working more with Bill in the future!
Learn to uncover what your managers, clients, customers and other stakeholders need before doing what they ask
In Stakeholder Whispering: Uncover What People Need Before Doing What They Ask, Bill demonstrates how to get from your stakeholders’ “order”― what they’re asking for ― to what they really need. You’ll learn how to uncover the real underlying needs of your clients, colleagues, bosses, customers, and other stakeholders based on what they ask for and how they ask for it, and how to deliver products and services that meet those needs.
I never set out to be a data storytelling evangelist, but after years of watching brilliant analysts create dashboards, reports, and presentations that no one actually reads, I realized something:
The biggest challenge in data isn’t analysis — it’s knowing how to tell the story.
But most data teams aren’t trained to think like storytellers. They build dense reports, overcomplicated visuals, and insight-packed presentations — only to have their work ignored or misinterpreted. If people don’t understand your data, it doesn’t matter.
For 30 years, I’ve helped organizations turn complex data into clear, compelling stories that drive decisions. Through my keynotes, in-person workshops, and online training programs, I teach teams how to design visuals that engage, structure content that sticks, and communicate insights in a way people actually remember.
Because once you learn to start telling your data’s story, your work gets noticed, your insights have impact — and let’s be honest, your job gets a whole lot less frustrating.
Want better results with fewer bad requests? Start by getting inside your stakeholders’ heads, without the guesswork.
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