Workshops

Learn the art and science, the theory and practical hands-on tactics of creating compelling communications experiences based on surveys, scientific research, public or proprietary data sources. Click to learn more.

The secret to good design, writing, storytelling, presentation making…pretty much everything is RUTHLESS editing. In this half-day workshop, we take an over-burdened PowerPoint presentation and systematically strip it down – lightening and tightening it at every turn, until it is a lean and efficient communications vehicle. Click to learn more.

Data literacy is “the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data.” To be proficient working with data, you need to first have a data-driven mindset. You need to be able to speak the language of data. In this class, you’ll learn to first think differently about data. Then we’ll work on some basic data analytics skills. This can be taught together as one workshop or separately as individual half-day workshops. Click to learn more.

Excel is the go-to tool for working with data but most people have a lot of room to improve. This workshop will exercise a few skills that can lead to exponential improvement. We will also introduce Power BI’s visualization capabilities and the incredible Power Query tool, which is also available in Excel, for data transformations. These skills can be taught together in as one workshop or separately as individual half-day workshops. Click to learn more.

Do you have little to no experience working with data and want to start from there and learn data analytics, data storytelling, and visualization? This extended in-depth workshop is like a “beginner-to-master-class” immersion in all the required skills. Click to learn more

D3 has become the standard tool for creating custom, interactive, animated visualizations for the web. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the most critical key concepts to learn in this open source javascript library, while creating an animated, interactive visualization. Click to learn more.

Joe Procopio – International Monetary Fund

Bill Shander’s workshop was perhaps the most highly praised workshop our department’s staff training committee organized this year. Bill was happy to work closely with us before the workshop to help tailor its contents to make it more relevant for our organization’s communications objectives and staff’s current skill level. Everyone left the day energized and more confident in their ability to tackle future data visualization projects.

Joe Procopio
International Monetary Fund
Kristina Gubanov

This was one of the best if not the best learning sessions I’ve seen at IX – immediate gains in my view and I already find myself adjusting how I present my data and I am sure others are as well.

Kristina Gubanov
Index Exchange
Katy Klaproth – Robins & Morton

Bill’s infographics workshop was tailored to my company and team’s needs, allowing us to develop infographics that will be used on presentations in the future. I would highly recommend this training to anyone looking for a way to tell their story in a visually impactful way!

Katy Klaproth
Robins & Morton
Steve Smith – Knauf Insulation

I thought the session this morning was EXCELLENT!! Really useful, expertly delivered and engaging. I’ve seen quite a few talks on data visualization but this stood out and gave me things I’ll try and implement from now on.

Steve Smith
Knauf Insulation
Gretchen Hall – Strategy + Business Magazine

Bill started with a highly entertaining and informative history lesson on data visualization and then took our team through several exercises designed to give us the tools to think about our data and our content more interactively. It was an extremely successful session for us all.

Gretchen Hall
Strategy + Business Magazine
Bridget D’Angelo – Nativo

Bill provided a two day training for our team of Sales, Client Success and Marketing. Not only was it fun and interactive, we all learned a lot and had many immediate ideas to implement. He tailored it to our industry making our takeaways clear and actionable. Using a mix of small group activity and larger group discussion kept us all engaged, even over Zoom. I’d highly recommend bringing in Bill and we look forward to continuing to work with him!

Bridget D'Angelo
Nativo
Jenny Rone – US Department of Agriculture

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!

Jenny Rone
US Department of Agriculture
Heather Huerta – CALPERs

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!

Heather Huerta
California Public Employees' Retirement System
Erin Souza – Charles River Associates

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.

Erin Souza
Charles River Associates
Susan Justus – Betterment

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.

Susan Justus
Betterment
Brian Rus – Acxiom

Bill led our analytics team through a full day virtual data storytelling workshop and did a fantastic job! There was excitement and energy throughout the day with the use breakout rooms and exercises to keep us engaged. Our team has a wide range of data visualization experience and everyone was able to contribute and learn in a collaborative environment. Bill kept the conversation friendly yet productive, and we received outstanding reviews from attendees after the event. I would recommend this workshop for any team that works with data.

Brian Rus
Acxiom
Rachel Richter – Dun & Bradstreet

As an Analytics & Insights team at a B2B company, we are in the depths of data and analysis all of the time and can become disconnected from the needs and preferences of our audience. Bill really helped us think about how to tell a compelling story and visualize data & insights in an engaging way. He worked through specific materials with us and gave us tips & tricks that will help bring our work to a new level.

Rachel Richter
Dun & Bradstreet
Melody Wilhelm

From the moment the team began working with Bill, our data visualizations improved, and we began to tell better stories. Bill’s relaxed style put the team at ease and helped open them up to the possibilities of using data to help tell impactful stories.

Melody Wiilhelm
Electronic Arts

Online Classes

I’ve created multiple courses for LinkedIn Learning, all on the topics of data storytelling, data visualization, and information design.

Offered as a for-credit course to graduate students, undergrads, as well as professional students, my Data Visualization and Communication class launches January, 2021.

This “Big Four” professional services firm has a four-part internal training curriculum focused on Data Analytics and Visualization, which I helped create. I also facilitate about 20-30 of the online classes for them per year.

I have a free online class to learn D3.js Key Concepts on Skillshare.

LinkedIn Learning Student

Bill is just phenomenal! What a great story teller he is and how calm he is when he is explaining things. It’s just so relaxing listening to him and absorbing all the knowledge he is sharing!

LinkedIn Learning Student
Big Four Training Student

Very versed in the subject excellent skills at presenting and engaging the class in the polls and white boards. Verbally offered supportive feedback to all Chat window comments.

Big Four Training Student
Big Four Firm
Big Four Student

Bill was excellent in his delivery of the course. He covered a lot of ground in a restricted amount of time but kept at a steady pace. He provided just the right amount of time for, and fielded, feedback, q&a, comments, etc. He was flexible and down to earth, which is always refreshing. This could have been a very dry course, but Bill livened it up swimmingly. Thanks for sharing your invaluable knowledge with us, Bill!

Big Four Student
Big Four Firm
UVM Student

This was one of my favorite courses I’ve ever taken. It touched on theory and practical applications. I feel like I am walking away with a critical eye for data design that I hope to apply in many projects to come.

UVM Student
UVM
LinkedIn Learning Student

THIS COURSE OPENED MY MIND

LinkedIn Learning Student
Edwin Cruz

The best and most concise D3 guide I’ve found on the internet 🙂

Edwin Cruz
Skillshare Reviewer
Big Four Student

Bill was phenomenal – very knowledgeable, very engaging and was able to transfer and apply his vast knowledge and make it applicable.

Big Four Student
Big Four Firm
Onur R. Yörük

Fantastic intro to d3.js. Bill’s no-nonsense style is contagious! Thanks!!!

Onur R. Yörük
Skillshare Reviewer
UVM Student

This is one of my favorite courses I have taken at UVM because it’s design worked very well for my learning style (visual/kinesthetic, so powerpoints and videos followed by application of taught concepts), the material was introduced at just the right pace and was incredibly interesting, and Bill was an awesome professor to learn from who was super approachable to communicate with.

UVM Student
UVM
Theresa H.

Excellent course, enjoyed it a lot! I do have experience in other coding languages, yet never worked with JS and D3 before. However, due to the nice step by step explanations, I could follow easily. Bill was very responsive and helpful! Recommend!

Theresa H.
Skillshare Reviewer
LinkedIn Learning Student

My favourite course that I’ve taken on LinkedIn Learning so far. Bill structured the course really well and presented his points in interesting ways that made me think about data visualization differerently.

LinkedIn Learning Student
Big Four Training Student

I really enjoyed the presentation. I especially liked that it was interactive. Bill was on point and responded to the comments in the chat. I liked how he concluded the session and explained how this course can enhance our analytical abilities.

Big Four Training Student
Big Four Firm
LinkedIn Learning Student

The course instructor provided tons of great ideas for presenting data. I’m an avid MS Excel user and honestly just had not thought of the many suggestion he gave in regards to creating & presenting data.

LinkedIn Learning Student
Big Four Training Student

Bill was great – great speaker, good at keeping our attention and keeping people engaged.

Big Four Training Student
Big Four Firm
Big Four Training Student

Bill was great. He is very knowledgeable and ensured that there were plenty of opportunity for interaction. He was very responsive in
answering our questions and trying to clarifying things for us.

Big Four Training Student
Big Four Firm
LinkedIn Learning Student

Bill, your interviews and presentations have inspired me to see, think, and act differently in both my professional career and personal life. Many wow moments thanks to you.

LinkedIn Learning Student
Big Four Training Student

Bill was the perfect person to teach this class! His funny disposition and way that he facilitated the entire training was much appreciated!

Big Four Training Student
Big Four Firm
UVM Student

This was such a great course! It was the best online course I’ve taken.

UVM Student
UVM
LinkedIn Learning Student

clear, well structured, enlightening. perfect.

LinkedIn Learning Student
LinkedIn Learning Student

This instructor is the most engaging/interesting instructor I have listened to on LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com). Virtual learning is very difficult for me- oftentimes I become distracted- unfocused- however the approach- style- voice and relaxed demeanor of this presenter makes the learning easy- engaging- and interesting. Too bad he doesn’t teach all courses!

LinkedIn Learning Student