Small Business Data Insights: Highlights from One of the Pace SBDC’s Archived Training Webinars
- Aug 6
- 2 min read
Pace University Small Business Development Center maintains an archive of past webinars covering everything from financing and marketing to legal structuring and certifications, all offered at no cost and open for small business owners to explore anytime.
One recent addition worth highlighting is our session on Data Visualization for Small Business Owners, featuring Dr. Vishal Lala, Professor of Marketing at Pace University's Lubin School of Business, and moderated by Roxanna Astorga, Counseling Coordinator at Pace SBDC, with introductory remarks from business advisor Sandra Cely.
Dr. Lala's message: data is pouring in faster than ever, the challenge isn't collecting it; it's making sense of it.
Why Visualization Works
Natural - brains spot patterns faster than numbers.
Clear -trends hidden in a spreadsheet jump out once charted.
Memorable - a heat map makes flat data instantly engaging.
Persuasive - the same data can convince or mislead, depending on how it's charted.
Dr. Lala closed with a live Tableau demo, reshaping one dataset into multiple charts, including a dumbbell chart built in real time, proving that a few deliberate choices turn busy data into a clean, compelling story.
Bringing the Lesson Home
Our student intern Sanchit Deep Singh recently built an interactive tool mapping our small business counseling clients, showing how our reach has grown. Dots are color-coded by recency, and a built-in timeline lets viewers watch our client footprint expand month by month across the region, turning a spreadsheet into stories our team can utilize for further relationship building and growth. It's a real-world example of Dr. Lala's message in action, built in-house.
We're grateful to Pace University faculty for their instruction. Keep an eye on our events calendar as we host trainings regularly, free of charge, as part of our mission to help small businesses grow smarter. If you would like to meet with a Pace SBDC business advisor, email us at sbdc@pace.edu or visit our counseling request page.