Critical Volleyball Statistics Presentation

tl:dr

• I wanted to practice presenting and using Google Sheets and Google Slides

• Watch my presentation on critical volleyball statistics (see link)

• Two big things I learned were to prepare a script and to practice, practice, practice

Mini-Project 2: Doing a Presentation

I wanted to take a break from the Google Data Analytics courses to do three mini-projects.  They were to create a Tableau dashboard, do a presentation (this blog), and practice using SQL.  This is in an effort to properly learn some things.  One of those things was to present your findings to an audience, i.e. stakeholders.  The Google course outlined ways to structure your presentation and tips on how to present best.  I wanted to put some of that into practice because that is how I learn best (learn by doing).  So I decided to do a presentation on critical volleyball statistics.  A secondary purpose is to use Google Sheets and Google Slides rather than Excel and PowerPoint.  

Critical Volleyball Statistics Presentation

This presentation is essentially an updated version of the blog post, Which Statistics are Critical to Success in Volleyball?  One difference is I wanted to use Points-Scoring Efficiency % rather than the Points Efficiency Ratio used in the original blog.  It should be a superior performance indicator as it takes into account total point-scoring attempts rather than a ratio of points won and errors.  I also wanted to create more compelling graphs compared to what I had in that blog post.  

The Outcome

So this is what I recorded.  You can have a watch and let me know what you think.

So What Did I Learn?

Differences in Using Google Sheets Instead of ExcelBoth are similar but there are a few differences.  One difference in Google Sheets was when I wanted to edit the pivot table.  In Excel, you go via the tab: PivotTable Analyse > Field List.  In Google Sheets, there’s an Edit icon on the bottom-left corner of the pivot table and you go that way.  I felt it was easier to create the pivot table in Google Sheets compared to Excel.  However, it was harder to write up a calculation field in Google Sheets as I had to write it manually whereas in Excel, I can use a dropdown menu to click on the fields.

Linking Charts in Google Sheets in Google Slides One cool thing I learned in the course was if I copy the chart into Google Sheets and paste it into Google Slides, they are linked.  So if I update the chart in Google Sheets, e.g. change the title, I can update it in Google Slides.  I don’t need to continually recopy and repaste it.  

Prepare a Script As I was building the slides, I pretty much knew what I wanted to say.  However, when it came to saying it on video, I stumbled a lot and what I said didn’t flow as well.  However. when I wrote some lines down, especially when linking one slide to the next, it went much smoother.  You can still see some stumbling in the final version and they were parts that I didn’t fully script.  

Practice, Practice, Practice The first time I filmed myself, there were a bunch of “ums” and “ers”.  Obviously, the more times I filmed myself, the fewer they became.  The final version was around the tenth take (with five bad starts so I started over).  The final version still had some “ums” and “ers” but not as many.  

Speaking Clearly There were a few times when I watched it back that I didn’t quite catch what I said.  There was even one bit when I said “Hello” but it came out more like “Hell-row” like some kind of comedy bit by Ricky Gervais.  I may have to read up on tips on how to speak better.

Final Thoughts

Of course, I could have done much better.  When I refer to my Module 6 notes, there were a bunch of things that I didn’t consider, like the steps of crafting a compelling data story (characters, setting, plot, big reveal, aha moment).  There are probably another million other things that aren’t great.  However, done is better than perfect.  I am still early in my Data Analysis career so as long as I am improving then I’m happy with that.