Last week I took a one-day class from Edward Tufte in Palo Alto. I didn't know too much about Tufte, although I know he wrote "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", I'd seen the famous "Napoleon's March" poster at every company I've worked for, and I've met programmers who revere him.
The class cost $320 and was a joy to attend, well worth the time and money. Students get in for $160. The class turned out to be, basically, Edward Tufte Live in Concert. You get all three of his books at the start of the day, and much of the class consists of him pointing out stuff in the books and amplifying it with further discussion and visual aids (of course). He brings a few really cool artifacts, including some hundreds-year-old books that show things we're still not getting right today (pyramids that pop up out of the page, little pictures that flow inline with the text).
Tufte is smart and engaging. He listens to his own advice and is a wonderful presenter. I agree with most of what he says about how to present information (respect your audience, use passion, show all relevant data, content is most important) and disagree with a little (for example, he talks a lot about the importance of information density in presenting materials, but not enough, I think, about simplicity for certain presentations).
The class absolutely jammed a ballroom at Rickey's Hyatt (the same room where I was awed by a secret presentation of the Apple Lisa in November 1982). I guessed about 600 people were there.
Attend this class if you can.
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