The Art of Making Data Look Cool from Katelyn Davis

We've all been there... a meeting that seems like an eternity of boring presentations. I know all too well about slides after slides of terrible graphs and charts that you can barely read let alone understand.

The key to a successful presentation that includes data is to make it fun and engaging as well as easy to understand and grasp.

This guide will help you make your presentation data look cool so you're not a bore at the next company meeting!

If you're like me and you're very inspired by Mary Barra, check out Laura Colby's new book, "Road to Power: How GM's Mary Barra Shattered the Glass Ceiling" which hit shelves this month.

Things you may have missed in social media and tech this week:

• Instagram Launches Layout, Its Own Photo Collage App - Instagram today announced the debut of a new application called Layout, the company’s next standalone creation tool outside of its flagship photo-sharing application. With Layout, Instagram users will be able to quickly build collages using their mobile photos, which they can then choose to share to Instagram, Facebook, or elsewhere.
• Top Michigan destinations now featured on Google Maps - Flattering 360-degree images of Michigan's most iconic tourist destinations are now featured on Google Maps Street View. More than 44,000 panoramic images of Michigan were shot by volunteers using Google Trekker technology, including from the top of the Mackinac Bridge, on Mackinac Island, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes and other tourism sites around the state.
• LinkedIn Debuts Job Search App - Expanding its mobile efforts, LinkedIn is rolling out a new Job Search app for Android users. The app features left and right-hand navigation menus and an action bar at the top of all main pages.
• Google hires 'the most powerful woman on Wall Street' as new CFO - Google announced Tuesday that it has hired Ruth Porat, the former CFO of Morgan Stanley who has been dubbed "the most powerful woman on Wall Street," to take over as its new CFO.
• Monica Lewinsky: 'Shame is an industry and the currency is clicks' - In one of very few major media appearances in more than a decade, Monica Lewinsky took the TED stage on Thursday to champion online compassion. In the years since arguably the biggest sex scandal of our time, Lewinsky has turned her attention to activism, namely the fight against cyberbullying and public shame.
• BMW's first electric car may be able to communicate with iPhones and Apple Watches - Reports say BMW has been holding "regular talks" with the iPhone maker about "topics like connected car vehicles." The publication went on to say that Apple's operating system would be deeply ingrained into the i3, which is BMW's first mass-produced car with an electric powertrain.

Here's what you may have missed online this week:

• Etsy Files For $100 Million IPO - Etsy, the online seller of hand-knit beard warmers, vintage Madras sportcoats and everything in between, filed for a $100 million initial public offering on Wednesday evening. The precise details of the transaction are subjection to revision and addition, but the basic outline of the Brooklyn-based company's financial details and strategy are unlikely to change much, if at all. Etsy generated $195.6 million in revenue last year, up 56.4 percent from 2013, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Vince Vaughn and Co-stars Pose for Idiotic Stock Photos You Can Have for Free - Stock photos have a bad rap. They're campy and cheesy and the butt of plenty of jokes. But what's great about them is they're often the catalyst for promotions or gags—sort of a comedic blank slate. Enter the new Vince Vaughn movie Unfinished Business, which comes out Friday. Twentieth Century Fox has teamed up with iStock by Getty Images to create a set of stock photos featuring Vaugh along with co-stars Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco and others.
• IKEA Furniture Will Soon Be Able To Wirelessly Charge Your Mobile Device - The Swedish furniture giant announced at Mobile World Congress on Sunday that it is incorporating Qi technology into some of its product offerings. That means you'll soon be able to place mobile devices on the surface of some of its furniture to replenish your mobile device's batteries, eliminating charging stations and cable clutter.
• Tech-Loving Drivers Are Trading in Cars as Often as iPhones - Upgrade envy has helped Apple Inc. sell millions of pricey iPhones. Now, it’s the auto industry’s turn, thanks to a raft of new technologies that make cars safer and easier to drive. Must-have features like parking assist and wireless Web access have helped automakers recover from the 2009 bust and charge record prices for their vehicles. 
• A Woman Has Sent $1 Million Overseas To A Man She’s Only Met Online - A woman has defended her decision to send more than $1 million (around £650,000) abroad to a man she formed a relationship with online but has never met in real life. She tells Dr. Phil that she is “95% certain it’s not a scam.”
• Google Confirms It Wants To Be A Wireless Carrier - Following nearly a year of rumors, Google confirmed on Monday that it plans to offer talk and data plans to customers. Sundar Pichai, senior VP at Google, said on stage at Mobile World Congress during a presentation that the company is working on a wireless service on a "small scale."
• Twitter Joins Fortune's List of Best Companies to Work For - Fortune's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list has included tech companies for years, but for the first time, Twitter has made the list at No. 24. The No. 1 slot on the list is no surprise, however. For the fourth consecutive year, Fortune named Google as the best company to work for.

This week marks the debut of another Made in Michigan innovation, this time from Ann Arbor-based Stratos, who announced last week that it finished raising $5.8 million to fund its growth..

"There's one card and there's one computer embedded with it," Olson said. "We have a unique stripe technology on the back that allows it to change. One second it's swiping as if it's my AmEx card, the next it's swiping as my debit card or my loyalty card."

Post by Stratos.