Infographics at SxSW V2V in Las Vegas

Next week on Monday, July 20th I'll be hosting a Mentor Session at the SxSW V2V conference in Las Vegas! The goal of the mentor program is to help conference attendees benefit from the knowledge of an established professionals in a one-on-one career counsel setting.  Mentor sessions are essentially individual Ask Me Anything consulting sessions where it's first come - first serve to talk about infographics, data visualization, business plans, presentations, marketing strategies, visual content, SEO or just running a small startup business.

Infographics Meetup! Additionally, on Tuesday, July 21st at 8-9pm I'll be hosting a DataViz and Infographics social meetup at the Lily Bar in the Bellagio. This will be a great opportunity to grab a drink and chat all things design, data, and of course infographics. Even if you're not attending the SxSW conference, come join me!

Send me a note on Twitter @rtkrum if you'll be at the SxSW V2V event, or just want to meet in Las Vegas!

DFW Data Visualization & Infographics Meetup Group

Announcing the launch of the local DFW Data Visualization & Infographics Group through Meetup.com. The group is free to join, and I’m partnering with SMU CAPE to provide us with a location to meet in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. If you’re in the area, please join and share the group with your friends and coworkers!  We strive to be a group of visualizers that includes a mix of marketers, entrepreneurs, managers, researchers, teachers, scientists and of course designers. Anyone that deals with presenting or communicating data.

I’m also looking for potential speakers and future event ideas, so let me know if you, or anyone you know, would be interested in engaging with this group. I would love to schedule a full range of beginner to advanced topics covering data visualization, data communication, infographics, data analysis, charts and graphs, presenting data, visual marketing, infographic resumes, content marketing and more!

Our first event will be November 12th in the SMU CAPE building (Continuing and Professional Education). I’ll give a presentation sharing many Innovative Ways Companies are Using Infographics, and the group will have an open discussion about the kinds of speakers, topics and events that we would like to see from this group in the future.

We are also looking for interested partner companies to help sponsor the group by providing refreshments, event locations or funding for future group events and speakers.

If you love the idea, but aren’t in the DFW area, check out these other great DataViz Meetup Groups across the country:

• Washington, DC - Data Visualization DC
• Portland, OR - PDX Data Visualization
• New York, NY - New York Data Visualization and Infographics
• San Francisco, CA - Data Visualization Group in the Bay Area
• Boston, MA - Boston Data Visualization
• Chicago, IL - The Chicago Data Visualization Group

Also, check out The Universe of Data Visualization Meetups infographic which a great visualization design by Voilà Information Design in Montréal, Canada to find many more active groups.

An Infographic Guide to Wedding Roles

The Ultimate Visual Guide to Wedding Roles from Great Speech Writing helps clarify the complicated and misunderstood traditions behind who does what in a wedding.

Thinking about proposing; recently proposed; or just worried about what planning a wedding actually involves?  Big or small, at home or in a venue, it’s going to tale a lot of organising. When it comes to the wedding speeches we take the strain.  But there’s also a guest list to compile, a venue to book and countless people to arrange.  And in most cases, it’s something we only do once!  So here is the Great Speech Writing contribution: a wedding infographic to print-off, pin on the fridge and help you focus on who does what and when.  It’s not going to be easy, but at least you won’t have to worry about the speeches.

In terms of relevance, this is a great topic selection for an infographic from the publisher, Great Speech Writing.  It’s related to their business, but it is also a general interest topic that will be informative to a broad audience.

The topic also has a long Online Lifespan, which is how long the infographic will remain relevant to readers and continue to generate page views and back links.  Since the topic isn’t tied to any current events in the news, the infographic will be relevant for years to come.

The design is overly text-heavy, but I understand the design challenge.  Each action item should probably have an associated icon or illustration like the Joint Responsibilities section.  For example, a silhouette of a stripper pole dancing for the “Organise and host a memorable stag party” action item.  The design of an “Ultimate Visual Guide” should be much more visual!

The footer has the URL to the main front page of the Great Speech Writing site, but that doesn’t help readers find the original full-size infographic.  There isn’t a link to the infographic on the front page.  So the infographic should include the URL directly to the infographic landing page, so readers can find it even when people share the infographic in social media without an active link.

Thanks to David for sending in the link!

Live Events in Washington DC and Florida

If you’re located near Washington, DC or Fort Lauderdale, FL, I’ll be there next week!  I have a packed schedule of both public and private events, so check your schedule and join me if you can!  I’ll be presenting about data visualization and infographics, and signing books.  I look forward to meeting you!

Washington DC

Monday, Feb 10th, 3:00pm CBO (Congressional Budget Office) - private event and book signing

Tuesday, Feb 11th, 12:00pm, Noblis Tech Tuesday - private event and book signing

Tuesday, Feb 11th, 6:30pm, Data Visualization DC Meetup group - PUBLIC presentation, book signing and data drinks!

Register here: http://www.meetup.com/Data-Visualization-DC/events/164211042/

Wednesday, Feb 12th, Greater Washington Board of Trade Morning Star Speaker Series - PUBLIC event

* Discount for Cool Infographics readers - use the code “Cool*Infographics” at checkout to get the member price even if you’re a non-member ($25 discount)!

** No book sales allowed in the Ronald Reagan Building, so you must purchase a book beforehand if you would like me to sign it at the event.  You will be offered the chance to buy a book during online registration.

Register here: http://www.bot.org/events/programs/morning-star-speaker-series/randy-krum.aspx

Miami, FL

Thursday, Feb 13th, 11:00am, University of Miami - Guest Lecturer in Alberto Cairo’s Visual Journalism Infographics class

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Thursday, Feb 13th, 6:30pm, sfim@ (South Florida Interactive Marketing Association) - PUBLIC event and networking

Register here: http://www.sfima.com/EventDetail.aspx?id=872

You can always find my current list of upcoming events on the Appearances page!

Update on Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 1:51PM by Randy

The presentation slides from a few of the events are available on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/rtkrum/data-visualization-dc-meetup-cool-infographics-presentation-feb-2014