The Data Point #5: 5 Tips for Excellent Project Presentation

The way you showcase your project to the world makes all difference between whether it gets seen or not.

You may have an awesome project, but if you put people to sleep showing it to them, then you have a problem.

Bulky LinkedIn articles, long PDF presentations, and 15-minutes videos are NOT the way to go.

While none of these are bad mediums for presentation by themselves, the way you go about it matters.

Here are 5 ways to blow away your audience with a top-notch project.

1 | Provide a walkthrough

Keep this concise and engaging.

There are a few ways you could go about this depending on the type of project.

For coding projects, I recommend Snappify.

Snappify beatifies your code and creates visually stunning snippets.

It’s amazing on its own, but combine it with Canva and you have a powerhouse slide deck.

Here’s an example from a SQL project I created some time ago. Simple, clean, and visually appealing.

I generally recommend keeping your slide count below 10 when taking this approach. However, it depends on the complexity of the project. The main point, keep it brief and engaging.

For dashboard presentation, I recommend Loom.

Loom allows you to record your screen. It’s the perfect option for capturing interactivity within your dashboards.

You also have the option of recording audio and selfie cam footage, but I don’t recommend this for dashboards. The problem is it tends to make the video too long for something like this. Just record the dashboard movement alone.

I recommend trying either of these tools out!

2 | Add the project to your landing page.

This is your portfolio landing page. Provide visuals for projects right on the screen.

Here’s an example of how I’ve done this on my personal portfolio

Make them easy to see and access.

3 | Provide a brief description of the project

The keyword here is BRIEF.

Remember earlier when I said that bulky articles won’t cut it? This is what I’m talking about.

Sometimes I see project descriptions that are 10-minute reads. That’s too long.

Again, project complexity will affect the length, but sometimes I see this for relatively simple projects.

Do you think a recruiter is going to take the time to read all of that when they have 200 other applicants to sift through? There’s no way.

Take the time to edit. Here’s one of my favorite quotes ever by Mark Twain.

Writing less is harder than writing a lot. Getting your point across in as few words as possible is WAY harder than word vomiting all over a page.

Apply this to your project descriptions. Keep it as concise as possible. A few paragraphs or a couple of sentences for each section is enough for most projects.

4| List the skills/functions used

I often find that doing this in bullet-point format looks nice. Under your project description, list the specific functions you used.

For an Excel project that might look like this:

• SUMIF

• Charting

• XLOOKUPs

• Pivot Tables

• Conditional Formatting

You could even say a few words about their use. For example, XLOOKUPs to pull customer names from sales table.

Listing out skills will give potential employers an idea of your skill level.

5 | Add the project to your resume

Create a “Project” section and list your top projects.

For those without professional analytics experience or for those newer to the field, you’ll want this near the top.

For those with analytics experience, consider recreating work projects with dummy data. Categorize this on your resume as a “work project.”

Provide bullet points quantifying metrics and describing skills used. Add a hyperlink to each project as well.

Projects on your resume are one of the best ways to show practical use of skills.

Presentation matters, so put in the effort to make your project stand out.

And remember, brevity always wins.

That’s it for this week.

See you next time ✌️

Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. If you’re looking to create a data portfolio but aren’t sure where to start, I’d recommend the following ebook:

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2. For help navigating the data job hunt, consider booking a 1:1 call with me. I can help in the following ways:

   1. Resume, LinkedIn profile, or portfolio review

   2. Career guidance

   3. Interview prep

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