amy esselman, data storyteller
Specific focus areas: connecting with and supporting university instructors who teach with storytelling with data books
Promotional materials
Need an official bio or photo of Amy to help promote your session? Feel free to use the text and images linked below.
Official bio: click here (or scroll down)
Social media: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn
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In their own words…
Where are you from?
I was raised on a hobby farm in central Minnesota, but I now live in Austin, Texas, with my husband, two daughters, and our rescue dog.
Do you have a favorite chart type?
I like bar graphs because they are so familiar and easy to read. They are a great choice when working with categorical data and offer flexibility for grouping, ordering, and orienting information.
What inspired your interest in visualization?
I have a quantitative background and have always appreciated how visualization helps to discover patterns in data that can answer questions and help solve problems. Summarizing information visually also makes it more accessible to others to learn from.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
Being outdoors and spending time with my family are my favorite things to do. This is one reason why I’ve been the leader of my daughters’ Girl Scout troop for the past decade. I also keep busy teaching statistics and Python programming to graduate students at Texas State University. Lately, most of my personal time has been spent working with my husband on DIY home improvement projects like updating tile, replacing light fixtures, painting, and installing thoughtful landscaping for Austin’s crazy climate.
Videos
Conference attendees, colleagues, user group members, university students, and storytelling with the data community members have heard Amy speak about how to become a better data storyteller. A selection of her videos from the SWD YouTube channel are available for viewing here.
Articles
Below is a small sample of Amy’s contributions to the storytelling with data blog.
from dashboard to story
Dashboard interactivity makes data discovery much easier, but to drive meaningful change, it is usually more effective to craft a separate presentation specific to the story we want to tell. Creating a presentation tailored to our audience lets us deliver our findings in a way that will resonate with them and frees us from having to compete for attention with unrelated charts, filters, and text.
bar charts and dot plots and line graphs, oh my!
You can help your audience understand the key takeaways more quickly and easily by considering how you arrange and emphasize your data. In this transformation, we take intentional steps to understand the context, reduce the effort to interpret the graph, arrange information intuitively, and emphasize data thoughtfully.
what is a flow chart?
In the latest installment of our back-to-basics series, Amy outlines what a flowchart is, scenarios when you might use one, and covers design tips to make an effective one.
Official bio
Feel free to use or share this bio in any printed or promotional materials in support of your event.
Amy has made a career out of discovering and telling the stories hidden in data to enable better business decisions. Through her varied experiences in industry, education, and consulting, she has seen firsthand the real-world positive impacts of effective data communication and enjoys helping others learn how to hone their data storytelling skills. Amy has taught colleagues, clients, and university students how to improve presentations and communicate data to deliver more value. Now, she draws on her experiences and passion for teaching to help storytelling with data clients craft compelling narratives for their data visualizations.